Gardening industry prepared for the future with partnership 

'We're glad we now have a club we can spar with'

Further professionalization of the landscaping industry. That, in a nutshell, is what cooperative Dutch Quality Gardens is striving for. With a comprehensive package of tips and tools, the cooperative wants to prepare horticulture companies for a future where customer demands are becoming increasingly demanding and the sector is constantly changing. For Henry Mulders and Tom Jacobs, owners of the Limburg-based landscaping company Erica Tuinen, another consideration played a role in joining the cooperative in early 2023. "We now have a sounding board of other entrepreneurs with whom we can spar. Alone is also just alone."

It's not that the gentlemen of Erica Gardens are rookies in the industry. The company, which Mulders and Jacobs founded in 2007, has now successfully grown into a two-company organization with a staff of 14. With Dutch Quality Gardens, the gardeners hope to take the next step toward further improvement. "We have already taken a nice step in professionalizing our companies," Jacobs believes. "For example, we have purchased a software package for our administration and we make use of the courses offered by Dutch Quality Gardens. This is greatly appreciated by our staff."

Learning topics

In order to make further improvements, Dutch Quality Gardens organized piling sessions for members on Feb. 7 and 8 during which various themes were reviewed. "That was instructive," says Mulders. "We looked at the customer experience, looking at the whole process from the first conversation to execution through the eyes of the customer. Together we want to arrive at a guideline that is clear to the customer. With a clear process description on the website, the customer knows where they stand when they engage with us."

The ideal quotation turned out to be another instructive theme, according to the gentlemen. "We put several quotations side by side and started looking for handles to come up with a clear quotation," Jacobs explains. "What do you put in it, how do you describe the work? For ourselves, we decided to pay even more attention to the cover page of the quotation in which you give a brief description of the work. That has to be clear and looks very personal and customer-friendly."

Figures

Understanding numbers is indispensable for professional management. A lecture by Richard Maaskant of the Royal VHG taught the gentlemen how to arrive at a realistic hourly rate based on a cost analysis. If you know what your hourly rate is based on, you can explain it much better to the client. Jacobs: "A client naturally only sees two gardeners in his garden, while we also have costs for transportation and an administrator, to name a few."

Quality assurance

All in all, a very successful healing session, according to Mulders and Jacobs. "We are happy that we now have a club that we can spar with. We can just talk openly with each other and that's very pleasant." Huge plus is the additional quality guarantee you can offer as a landscaping company with Dutch Quality Gardens. "In addition, social media and the website are all handled centrally. That sets you apart from the average freelancer," Mulders believes.

Incidentally, Erica Gardens, as a new member at the last Dutch Quality Gardens membership day, immediately fell head over heels in winning the sports competition. Let's call it beginner's luck. "It's up to us to organize the next membership day in September for 120 people. That will be fine."