Davey Tree Flipbooks

37 36 Growth Rings and commercial landscape sales dropped. Myers also implemented improved finan- cial reporting methods to provide managers with more accurate financial data more quickly to better manage field operations. Still, many employees disagreed with the course Myers was charting for Davey Tree. Differences of opinion over pay, leadership structure, and regional management had started to dampen company morale. Howard Eckel, who retired from Davey Tree in 1985 as an executive vice president and director, said Myers' business background led him to believe tree care work could have set prices – despite the innumerable variables that come with each assignment. It was yet another example of Myers taking a manufacturing-oriented approach to tree care service. "e way he did business was such an abrupt jolt to the way the company had been [running]," Eckel said in a 2000 interview. "Some of the changes ruffled feathers." Eckel further expanded on the important connection between an arborist and the client in his 1990 book, Growing & Staffing Your Business: A Practical, Tried-and-True, How-To Guide. "Successful firms in the green industry do not think of themselves as being in the tree business, the landscape business, or the maintenance business," Eckel wrote. "ese are the services they offer. ey organize their knowledge, equip- ment, people and inventory to serve the customer." Success for tree care firms was inevitable, Eckel said, as long as you understood you were in the service business. Recession in the Mid-1970s and Davey Lawnscape External forces beyond the control of management added to operational difficul- ties. In 1974 the company reported an earnings drop. Revenue growth was down 5 percent in 1973 from the previous year and 3 percent in 1974 – on its way to a 11.7 percent revenue drop from 1974 to 1975. Cutbacks in utility line clearing in 1974 had contributed to the earnings decline along with losses in landscaping sales. But it was more than a short-term drop. A recession had started to set in across the globe. Company management pointed to a squeeze being put on utility clients in the 1974 annual report. "Utility companies are enmeshed between the high costs of necessary construction, poor equity markets and low profit margins," the report states. "is leaves them with no other choice than to reduce costs anywhere possible, such as reducing line clearing; this is feasible for a while, but later on the resulting increase in electrical outages will require increased expenditures because of the extra growth of the trees." e severe recession made it difficult for management to try and forecast for 1975. "e need for our services continues to exist and plans are well under way to institute new services in lawn feeding with insect and weed controls, liquid tree and shrubbery feeding, and an expanded landscaping service at the district level," the 1974 annual report states. "We are confident that the strengthening of our conventional services, as well as the introduction of these new services will continue to keep the company in the vanguard of the home-care and utility market." Davey expanded service options in the residential and commercial markets in 1975 by introducing the Davey Lawnscape program, which specialized exclusive- ly in chemical lawn maintenance. Lawnscape consisted of four spray applications, seasonally timed and precisely formulated with fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides to maximize root growth, green color, and weed and insect control. e program started rather humbly with five employees running four trucks in Ohio for the Kent and Akron markets. In creating and developing Davey Lawnscape, Roger Funk partnered with Myers' son-in-law, J. Martin Erbaugh. Davey Lawnscape provided clients with a broader range of horticultural and landscape services, which put Davey in the lawn care marketplace. Today, lawn care services are part of Davey's Residential/Commercial services – a service offering that might not have developed if not for the support and encouragement of Myers and other Davey family members on the board of directors. Despite growth in service offerings, 1975 proved a rocky year. Financial backsliding continued. Revenue fell due to combined losses in commercial and utility markets. To try and counter losses, the company opened 11 new sales offices, and direct-mail sales were increased by about 300,000 households. Fortunately, the utility market started to make a cautious recovery by the end of the year. is was crucial for Davey, as in 1975 alone sales related to utility line clearing accounted for more than twice the sales of residential tree care services. Management credited that comeback to field employees. "In a year of national and worldwide recession that was particularly difficult for the utility and housing industries, the company was able to hold operating income about level," the 1975 Chapter 2 Davey's Utility services accounted for the lion's share of sales and revenue in the 1970s. In 1977, the utility market accounted for about 67 percent of Davey's overall sales. Residential tree care services constituted about 30 percent of total sales. Lawnscape accounted for about 3 percent of sales companywide. Gene Haupt was named vice president, Pacific region, in 1974. Jack Joy was named senior vice president, operations, Northern region, as part of the 1974 reorganization.

• Cover