American Home Shield 2002 Annual Report Download - page 7

ServiceMaster 3
Fellow Shareholders,
Grass grows. Bugs hatch. That’s how we began this letter last year. Then, in a
year that was unpredictable in almost every way, guess what happened…
Grass grew again. Bugs hatched. The furnace didn’t come on. Drains backed up
and flooded the basement. Dirt, grime and grease attacked carpets.
It will happen again this year. Homeowners will not step aside and let the grass
or the bugs or the grime take over – nor will business proprietors. Millions upon
millions of them will call on professionals for help.
In making that call, they will have two choices: a national brand, or not a
national brand. It is our challenge, our opportunity, our unrelenting intention
and our passion – to make that choice effortless.
the fully managed service experience
Let’s start with what we know about that moment of choice, when a troubled
homeowner or business proprietor sits down to call an exterminator, plumber
or other service professional. There’s worry and doubt. There’s also hope that
this time they’ll find the right company for the job. This is a situation that cries
out for a trusted brand.
Imagine a national brand that stands not only for solving your problem, but
also for a completely stress-free and convenient service experience, end-to-end –
a fully managed service experience.
A fully managed service experience is a complete and gratifying arc of touch-
points from the time you realize that you need a service we provide, through the
service event itself, to a year or so later – enough time that you’ve had the
opportunity to live with what we did and how we saw it through.
And beyond any single event, you eventually begin to rely on the ServiceMaster
family of brands, distinguished by recognizable attributes from one service line to
the next. Every service is an example of showing up on time, of getting it right the first
time, of doing all the things that make the arc of your service experience satisfying.
As these experiences add up, you begin to recognize that ServiceMaster is looking
after the total needs of your household or commercial property. Whether it’s bugs
or weeds or leaky pipes or something else, we’re anticipating your seasonal needs,
and we’re just a phone call away if something unexpected happens.
Fully managed service experiences do not exist in the marketplace today.
But that is where we are going, and we are aggressively transforming our
company to get there.
Today you see us adding marketing expertise, improving our service levels,
listening better to our customers and to our own employees, building an unwavering
capability to continuously improve and then sharing our best ideas across lines
of business. We’re doing all those things, and each one makes us a better company.
Message from the Chairman