Thanking Mary Ellen Burton: “She’s Totally Freaking Awesome”

Mary Ellen Burton keeps snacks in her car along with a mini fridge stocked with cold drinks so when she’s out in the field with hard-working Level Green Landscaping crews, she can offer them a frosty drink.

When crews pick up the orange safety cones they placed around their trucks earlier in the day, they might find a snack she hid beneath them. 

“That’s how she thinks,” says Dave Keffer, branch manager at Level Green’s Southern Maryland branch and Burton’s boss. “She’s totally freaking awesome.”

That’s a great assessment of Burton, who recently transitioned from her full-time account manager position to part-time as she eyes retirement down the road. But she’s not going anywhere yet. And that’s a good thing, says Keffer, who’s having a hard time imagining Level Green life without her. 

Burton is making it a smooth transition, he says, training the new account manager taking over her many clients and recording her vast knowledge.

“She’s making sure everything she knows is in the computer,” Keffer says, “right down to ‘Dennis has two dogs and they love doggie biscuits.’”

Homemade doggie biscuits. She bakes them herself. 

“My Mind is Always Working”

Burton has spent her entire career in the landscaping industry, starting at age 17 when she worked at her dad’s landscaping company and garden center.

Her grandfather worked in landscaping, too. It’s in her blood. 

“It’s all I’ve ever done,” she says. 

She eventually took over her dad’s 100-employee business, running the place for years until she left for a job at a large landscaping company.

Her vast experience meant she wore a lot of hats during 13 years at the company, but she realized there wasn’t room for growth.

So, she came to Level Green in 2020 as an account manager. She’s been thriving, she says, using her skills, contributing ideas, connecting with people, and improving properties.

“I was 64 when I interviewed at Level Green,” Burton says. “I hadn’t worked out in the field with customers in a while. Right away they empowered me, letting me do what I love to do — working with people day to day, being creative, solving problems for them.”

Her work as an account manager has been a great mix of things she loves, Burton says, from finances to people to the outdoors. 

She’s super detail oriented. When she writes a landscaping proposal, everything is in there, including explanatory photos and maps of everything from where flowers will be planted to what areas of turf need seeding. 

“I think of the next person who will get my project, and what they’ll need to know,” Burton says. “The client has everything they need to know. Then when it goes to my team, they have everything they need to know, too.”

She laughs. “My mind is always working,” Burton says.

“But it’s not just me. I can have the best relationships with clients but if my team can’t back up what I say we’ll do, it doesn’t matter.”

“She’s Always There When You Need Her”

Burton has had the highest enhancement sales at Level Green for the past several years, Keffer says. 

“And that’s not by accident,” he says. “It’s by constant communication and being there when her clients need her. If I had to sum her up in one sentence it’s that — she’s always there when you need her.”

“She has knocked it out of the park,” says Level Green managing member and co-founder Doug Delano. In addition to her top enhancement sales, Burton has had a great customer renewal rate, too, he says, which speaks to her stellar customer service.

Delano tells how one of Burton’s clients, a large shopping center, switched to another landscaping company after being bought by a new owner trying to save money.

“After less than a year, the property manager convinced the new owner to come back to Level Green because our service was so much better than what they were getting from their new provider,” Delano says. “I’m convinced they wouldn’t have come back unless it was for Mary Ellen and her great service to the client.

“If I had any complaint about her,” Delano says, “it’s ‘Why didn’t she come to work for us sooner?’” 

Burton is a closer who always follows through, Keffer says. “She can’t sleep at night until she follows through with what she promised.”

Or even what she hasn’t promised. 

“She bakes cookies and bread and doggie treats for her clients,” Keffer says. “Nobody has time for that anymore, right? Mary Ellen does. Nobody writes letters anymore, but Mary Ellen does, thanking a customer for signing a contract.”

“It’s the little unexpected things that people appreciate and remember,” Burton says. “Baking cookies or bringing beignets or letting them know someone left a couch at the back of their parking lot. Anything to make their job easier.

“It’s a relationship job,” she says. “I love my relationships with clients. I love learning what drives them. Their pets? Golf? One client is a football referee. One lady really loves purple.”

She’s kept detailed notes on all of it. 

“Her clients are sad to see her go, but happy for her,” Keffer says.

She’s pretty happy, too, working part-time remotely as she transitions to retirement down the road.

“I’m still in the loop,” Burton says. “I’m really blessed to be able to work this way.” She laughs. “It’s a struggle to keep it to 20 hours.”

Suddenly, She Has Time — Now What? 

Now that Burton works 20 hours instead of 50 or more, what’s she up to? 

“I can organize my attic,” Burton says, laughing. “I’ve had to put so many things off because I was so busy with work.

“I’m getting things on my calendar now with my sister and my friends,” she says. “Before, my life was all about work. Now I’m getting all booked up.”

An avid baker, she has more time for her sour dough starter and has been turning out crusty loaves of bread and fancy cookies. 

“I’m spending more time with my boyfriend,” she says. “He’s looking at a little RV, so we might be doing more traveling.” She can do much of her part-time work remotely, she says, from the road. 

“I’m  blessed,” she says. “I’d like to think it’s good for my clients, too. It’s a more seamless transition for them.

“As long as it’s a win-win for me and a win-win for Level Green, I’ll keep going,” she says. 

Doing the Right Thing

“I want people to respect that I’ve done a good job, that I’ve brought pennies to the bottom line,” Burton says. 

It boils down to a few key messages she follows. 

“Do what you say you’ll do is probably the biggest thing,” she says. “Over deliver — make customers feel they got more. If you make a mistake, tell them. Then fix it. Follow through. Be their eyes and ears.”

She loves working for a company that shares her core values. 

“I can’t say enough good about Level Green,” Burton says. “I know it sounds corny. But they do the right thing. They say they’ll do something and they do it. I’ve made friends there I’ll have my whole life. And I have the best boss. I just wish I had started there earlier.”

Want to Join the Team?

Mary Ellen is just one of the dedicated team members we have here at Level Green Landscaping. And we’re always looking for hard-working, talented people to join our team.

Are you ready to work for a company that supports its team members through every stage of their careers?