We’ll Keep You Sharp
If you think you’re always the smartest person in the room, you’ll greatly limit the growth of your company.
If, on the other hand, you’re humble enough to admit what you don’t know and confident enough to listen to others who challenge your way of thinking, you’ll build a culture and a company that’s open to change and improvement.
Grunder Landscaping Co. is by no means perfect, but they are exceptionally organized, and nearly everyone who goes through their shop remarks on it. There truly is a place for everything, and everything is in its place. Here Marty gives you a peek inside their set-up and into what being organized can do for your bottom line:
Years ago I used to dread this time of year, when temperatures soar and the sun shines bright. At Grunder Landscaping Co., we provide a one-year warranty on all the plants we install, and by the time late July rolls around, I can pretty much count on seeing plants on our clients’ properties that have died because they weren’t watered enough.
I used to pray our clients wouldn’t notice these dead plants, until one day I realized they were actually an opportunity for us to demonstrate our value to our clients and deepen our relationship with them
Recently I asked two of my mentors, Frank Mariani of Mariani Landscape in Chicago and Mike Bogan, CEO of LandCare in San Diego and our host for the 2019 NALP Field Trip, what motivates them to continue to grow their enormously successful companies. Here’s what they shared with me:
Many of us who are owners or managers teach our teams to stand out from the competition by always doing a little more for our clients—taking their trash cans in, picking up their newspaper, saying hello, please, and thank you. But how many of us regularly and reliably apply this same approach internally? How many of us look for and remember to practice small acts of appreciation for our team members?
With June coming to a close and the Fourth of July holiday this Thursday, it’s a good time to take a step back and look at what jobs and prospects you have in your pipeline. At Grunder Landscaping Co., our sales team continues to proactively seek new work, and I am doing everything I can to get in front of as many people as will let me. How do we do this?
In my 35 years of running Grunder Landscaping and another 20 or so running a green-industry consultancy, I have toured more landscaping companies than I can count. And yet I never, ever tire of it. Why? Because, in my experience, it is the single fastest way you can learn ways to make your own business better.
As most of you know, I am a firm believer in the old adage that people do business with people they know, like, and trust. It seems obvious that this is true, but how many of us really keep this top of mind as we try to win at sales and grow our businesses? This week I dropped by one company that sure does and learned about the low-cost, high-dividend event they hold every month to drive client engagement:
