We continue to contend as a country with the uncertainty the coronavirus has brought to so many of our lives. That makes even sending out our weekly Great Idea challenging; as soon as we create and schedule it, we learn of yet more breaking news.
But this time the news is GOOD: We have just learned on Saturday evening from our friends at NALP that they have succeeded in getting landscapers on the critical workforce list of the Department of Homeland Services Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
This means that the federal government is now recognizing as essential “landscapers who provide services necessary to maintaining safety, sanitation, and essential operation.” You can read the the DHS’s latest classifications here.
Some of this may remain open to individual states’ interpretation, but we believe in the main that it is a wonderful development for our industry. If you are in doubt about what this means for you, we recommend speaking with an attorney in your state before proceeding.
Read on for our weekly Great Idea below. The GLC team will now be out doing maintenance come Tuesday morning; they’ll also still be working every day to stay above the turbulence, and you should, too.
Have a question? E-mail us at grow@growgroupinc.com and we’ll do our best to answer and share it. Step by step, we’ll get through this together.
With a stay-at-home order in place in Ohio, Grunder Landscaping Co. mostly shut down at midnight last Monday. No crews went out this week. To keep the company running, our leadership team continued to work, remotely or on site but at a safe distance from each other, and another group of “partially essential” staff worked from home three days a week. Everything else ceased.
Needless to say, this was a dramatic change for a company that was ready to go full steam ahead with the promise of spring just a few short weeks ago.
In our webinar this past Tuesday, we shared the factors we considered at GLC before deciding to shut down (the Ohio order did not explicitly stipulate whether landscaping is essential or not). If you couldn’t join us on Tuesday, we’ve posted a recording, along with questions and answers, here.
And we’ll be back online with another webinar this Tuesday, same time, same place, to bring you up to date on what we and other landscaping companies around the country are doing to adapt to this unfolding situation, to discuss the federal emergency-aid bill and what it means, and to answer your questions as best we can.
The webinar is FREE, but sign up now to ensure you get a spot.
For many of us, there’s a lot that feels out of our control right now, but that makes the things we can control even more crucial. Here are a few I’m focusing on:
Keeping to a schedule, even if my company is shut down. Get up, get dressed, and get going every morning like you usually do. I just read an article about how Wal-Mart is evidently seeing a spike in the sale of apparel tops but not in bottoms. Why the disparity? They think it’s because so many people are video-conferencing from home and only care what they look like from the waist up. People, put your pants on! Kidding aside, keep treating work like work, even if you’re shut down, and use this time to be productive. At GLC, we are intently focused on how we’ll make up the ground we’ve lost during the shut-down and have mapped out a plan to ensure we do so quickly (I’ll share details in our webinar on Tuesday).
Communicating. Check in with clients. Call team members. Sell work virtually. If you’re continuing to operate, let clients know what safety precautions you’re taking. This is an opportunity to build and strengthen relationships, along with trust in your brand.
Planning. We know some of you haven’t been impacted much by the coronavirus yet, but we’ve also seen how that can change swiftly. Some landscaping companies have been forced to shut down immediately by local police or legislators. It’s worth spending a couple hours now to map out a plan for your team and your business in the event this happens to you (we’ll discuss this too in our webinar on Tuesday).
Staying positive. Those of you who know me know I like to go, go, go! It’s hard to sit largely on the sidelines at GLC right now, but I’m staying focused on the positive and looking ahead to when we can get back to full operations. I’ve seen and been on the receiving end of a lot of good will and support during this trying situation—including messages of encouragement from so many of you—and that lifts me up every day. Stay above the turbulence, folks.
Have a great week, stay safe, and we’ll look forward to seeing you at our webinar on Tuesday.
Marty Grunder
President and CEO
The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co.
Week Two: Don’t Panic—PLAN!
Practical Tips and Tactics for Responding to the Coronavirus and Keeping Your Business on Course
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
3 P.M. ET