Sean Stroub

Manage All Sales Activity in the Chicago and Central Illinois Branches

• Increased Sales Staff by 250% in 2 years
• Responsible for recruiting, hiring & training all sales staff
• Developed sales budgeting & tracking system
• Developed sales analysis CRM, used for refining marketing plan & budgets
• Updated permit process and reduced application re-submittals by 75%
• Manage all Chicago branch operations including production, sales & administration
• Maintained a personal sales quota of over $2.5mil while leading company wide sales to over $7mil+
• Increased customer satisfaction and review ratings with new follow-up process and automated portal system for project updates
• Responsible for reviewing all project designs and approving all customer estimates/proposals
• Negotiated new sub-contractor agreements and instituted new subcontractor agreement forms

Buckley's Prairie Landscaping is one of the largest, independently owned landscape services company in Central Illinois. As a Sr Salesperson/Designer I am responsible for all sales functions including lead qualification, customer contact, design & estimates, and closing sales.  Some of my accomplishments include:

• Design-Build projects averaged over $50K within my first 6 months.  
• All sold projects had 5-star reviews.
• In the process of instituting new sales and management systems for both maintenance and construction divisions. Upgrading paper-based systems, including CRM, estimating, billing and project management.
• Trained design staff on the 3-D design system for all customer sales presentations. Increased company-wide closing rate by 15% on design-build sales.

BrightView Landscapes is the largest provider of commercial landscape services in the Nation with annuals sales of over $2.4bil. As the Branch Manager of the Indianapolis West branch, I am responsible for all management functions of a $9mil leading a team of over 100 production, sales, and administrative team members. Some of my accomplishments within my first year of branch leadership include:

• Managing new sales within the branch for over $1.5 mil of new snow and landscape contracts.
• Increase net profit in snow operations to over 40%, an increase of 20% over the previous year's performance.
• Top performing snow branch by operating profit in both the Midwest & Mid-Atlantic regions.
• Revised branch sales process in 2018 to increase new sales that added profit driven contract work including high profile customers including; Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Village of Plainfield, Colliers International, Cushman/Wakefield, IU Hospitals, and CarDon Senior Living.
• Created sales projection systems to help qualify, forecast and prioritize new sales opportunities within the branch. Forecasting system was then adopted as a standard sales management system within the Indiana and Plains markets.

Cross Points Landscaping is a high end, design-driven landscape construction company.  We are focused on providing custom-designed landscape projects for our customers utilizing high-quality materials installed to the highest standards in the industry. As the owner, founder and Senior Designer for the company, I have a wide range of responsibilities along with numerous accomplishments including:

• Develop all training methods and standards for the company, leading to 5-star ratings on all customer review sites.
• Recruit and train all staff to perform to the highest industry standards along with exceptional customer service.
• Design all marketing programs and social media sites that helped to drive sales from $0 to over $600,000 in under two years.
• Manage all design and sales duties for the company including; prospecting, lead qualification, project design, estimating and sales negotiations.
• Developed prospecting database and leveraged social selling techniques to increase commercial sales and referrals from commercial contractors, real estate companies, builders, and other industry design professionals.

Cross Points Consulting Group is a Green Industry consulting firm focused on helping businesses solve the complex challenges and decisions facing their company today. With over 30 years of leadership experience in the Green Industry, the consultants at Cross Points Consulting Group are prepared to help our clients to maintain and achieve successful businesses with financially and operationally sound practices. We offer advice and support for every process and structure within your company – from short-term solutions to long-term goals.

• Develop all operating systems and processes within the company to meet and exceed performance and financial goals.
• Manage and lead all company staff in day to day operations of the business.
• Formulate and execute all marketing and advertising programs.
• Recruit, hire and train all new staff.
• Manage all financial functions of the company including budgets, P&L's, and asset acquisitions. 
• Developed acquisition plans for acquiring three independent companies in 2011 and 2012. Oversaw the integration of the purchased companies assets, personnel, and customers into Greenleaf's systems and procedures.
• Structured new marketing plan to develop new sales area in the northern region of the Indianapolis Market in 2012. Included staffing all sales and production staff needed to meet goals. Resulted in a first year sales in this territory of $550,000.

• Implemented new operational procedures that increased company-wide profits by over $350K from 2008 to 2009.
• Started maintenance division in 2008. Recruited and trained all new employees, developed all bidding systems and sales guidelines.
• Improved YTD gross margin by over 9% from 2008 to 2009.
• Developed new operations SOP manuals for both Design/Build and Maintenance divisions.
• Managed all operational staffing issues from recruitment to terminations.
• Formatted and negotiated company-wide purchasing agreements with all vendors.
• Developed new subcontracting agreements and procedures, resulting in a 100% increase in subcontracting margins.
• Managed high-end custom projects that included: pools, spas, carpentry, tennis courts, masonry, irrigation, lighting, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, and water features. One of the final projects I managed was an eventual 2015 NALP Grand Award Winner.
• Instituted a new project close-out and aftercare processes that resulted in a 98% customer satisfaction rating.

• Improved management staff retention by over 25%.
• Reduced YTD direct labor cost by over 6%.
• Developed snow bidding templates and estimating guidelines for all regional branches.
• Responsible for control of all budget line items and managing the branch P&L.
• Approved all proposals and new sales contracts.
• In just the first seven months of 2007, I had improved the YTD operating profit by over $392,000 compared to 2006.
• Improved YTD gross margin by 6% from 2006 to 2007.
• TruGreen is the largest company in the Green Industry from the Lawn & Landscape Top 100 rating, and is a subsidiary of ServiceMaster Co., a Fortune 500 company.

• Divisional manager of all operations, production, sales, finance and personnel. Acres Group is a Lawn & Landscape Top 100 company.
• Increased Design/Build sales by over 50% from 2005 to 2006.
• Developed all divisional fiscal budgets and the long-term (2-3 year) forecast budget.
• Developed and implemented all divisional standard operating procedures and processes.
• Managed and led all divisional personnel issues from recruitment to terminations.
• Developed all the marketing and advertising programs for the division that included newspaper advertisements, web site, home show displays and other programs.
• Led the company college recruitment programs and career fairs at various colleges and universities including Michigan State, Purdue University and local junior colleges.
• Was the company representative at various PLANET and ILCA functions including sponsoring and judging student competitions. I also wrote the competition scenario, and was a judge for, the sales competition at the 2006 PLANET Student Career and Competition Days at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
• Developed all the estimating and bidding programs for the Design/Build division.
• Developed a lead tracking and sales forecasting system that tracked each salesperson's sales activities, estimated a two-month sales projection, and documented all leads and sold projects by their marketing source.
• Active in many associations and networking groups including a leadership position in the MyHomeSource.net marketing group. Used membership to negotiate savings of up to 60% on many forms of media advertising and marketing programs.

• Managed all facility-based operations and personnel. Topline revenue for the Roselle facility was over $10 million and included divisions in maintenance, snow, design/build, and commercial installations.
• Responsible for leading, supporting and managing over 10 direct report positions and managed a total of 150+ employees within the branch.
• Managed the branch's snow operations, which were over $3 million annually and would utilize over 400 operators, sub-contractors, and laborers for each full snow removal event.
• Developed operating budgets for all divisions within the facility.
• Negotiated various support contracts for the company resulting in net savings of over $10,000 per month in 2005.
• Started the Design/Build division in 2005. Topline sales for the Design/Build division went from $0 in 2004 to over $1.2 million in 2005.
• Increased the Roselle commercial division's profit by over $300,000 from 2004 to 2005.
• Managed the most profitable snow division within the company from 2004 to 2006.
• Was a member of our company's legislative contact team that met with our congressional representatives on H2B legislation.

• Managed and grew dealer accounts through our distributor network. My accounts included some of the largest hardware and nursery chains in the country including: Ace Hardware, True Value, Do It Best Corp, Menards, Franks Nursery & Crafts, and English Gardens.
• Trained dealers' employees on water gardening techniques through training seminars.
• Presented water gardening seminars to the dealer's customers.
• Participated in over 15 industry and distributor trade shows per year including the National Hardware Show, Ace Dealer Show, and the Do-It Best National dealers convention.
• Worked with the regional independent representatives to increase dealer sales.
• Laguna is a subsidiary of RC Hagen Corp, a $500 million multinational manufacturing company in the home, garden and pet industries.

• Managed all levels of company including sales, finance, operations, and marketing.
• Developed all operational procedures and processes for the company.
• Developed all marketing programs and materials including sales brochures, newspaper advertisements, postcard mailers, web site, and company logo.
• Negotiated all vendor and supply contracts and purchasing agreements.
• Over 75% of the company's customers were from referrals or were repeat customers.

• Lead commercial salesperson for the Chicago division from 1995 to 1997.
• Managed and supervised Landscape Architects and Designers.
• Trained new salespeople on procedures, estimating programs and computer systems.
• Managed the computer based estimating program for the Chicago division.
• A Lawn & Landscape Top 100 company.

• Landscape & Turf Management Certificate
• Landscape Design & Construction Certificate