On June 23-24, learn how R.P. Marzilli & Company grew to $53 million in annual revenue and manages to recruit and retain their employees. Hosts Marty Grunder, president and CEO of Grunder Landscaping, and Frank Mariani, executive chairman of Mariani Landscape, will dive into the company’s inner workings during the sixth annual NALP Field Trip.
“My team and I have worked closely with the teams at NALP and R.P. Marzilli to design an agenda that lets you get the information you need to make your business better, without spending more time than needed out of the office,” Grunder says. “This event is short, quick-hitting, and you’ll leave with so many takeaways.”
Based in Medway, Massachusetts, R.P. Marzilli focuses mostly on residential landscape construction, but also offers residential landscape maintenance. The company’s core strengths are defined as resourcefulness, responsiveness, dedicated leadership and a phenomenal team.
“There is no better way to learn how to improve your company than by seeing one in action, live and in person,” Grunder says. “Experiential learning is what this event revolves around, and we’ll do a deep dive into R.P. Marzilli and everything they do well. It is a huge opportunity for teams to see how a highly successful company operates, and to take home lessons to improve their own team. R.P. Marzilli is known for the high quality of their work, which is a value proposition I know many other companies in the industry have themselves. This is a great chance to see how they’ve maintained quality as they’ve scaled their company.”
R.P. Marzilli credits their success to their decision to be a bid/build landscape contractor, which allows them to build complex custom landscapes. Their collaboration with others has built them a strong reputation as experts in the industry.
Grunder says one thing that surprised him about the company was the breathtaking jobs they do.
“I knew they did nice work, but holy smokes, their work is incredible,” he says. “We’ll get to see one property they worked on during our evening event this year, Gather in the Garden. That will take us to the Tower Hill Botanic Garden for a night of networking and seeing up close exactly how incredible R.P. Marzilli’s work is.”
Marzilli says their success is also from a combination of true love of the craft of landscape construction, problem-solving, a “can do” attitude, and humility shared by all the RPM team.
R.P. Marzilli will share with owners of small and medium-sized landscaping companies how to establish and nurture strong relationships not only with clients and fellow professionals but with employees as well.
“We are always trying to engage and communicate with our team to ensure they are happy and feel they have a strong future at RPM,” says Bob Marzilli, president and owner.
The company currently has 250 employees across three locations.
“We feel that our focus on elevating the landscape profession and our reputation as an industry leader draw people to join our team,” Marzilli says. “We do not have a description to follow for an ideal team member, but a few words may be a guide: Honest, hardworking, proud of their work, respectful.”
One thing that sets R.P. Marzilli apart from other companies is the fact they do not have a dedicated sales team. Instead, Bob Marzilli, division managers, estimators, and project managers/account managers are all involved in the sales/proposal process. The majority of their leads come from strong referrals.
“It’s different from our model at Grunder Landscaping, but seeing a company who does it differently from us is exactly why we go to events like this,” Grunder says. “You’re never going to get better if you keep doing things the way you’ve always done them. I’m sure we will learn from their selling model and make our selling efforts better and I know the same will be true for everyone who joins us. Just because they don’t have a dedicated sales team doesn’t mean they aren’t selling, and we’ll dive deeper into that at the event.”
