The winter months are a great time for landscape pros to work on their businesses instead of in their businesses, and this is true for owners as well as for every team member on the org chart.

I want to be clear: even in a northern climate, we don't take the winter off. I know many of you reading this in the South work year-round, and many of my fellow Northerners stay busy with snow and ice or with the work we can still do in the winter.

But as the 100 days of victory, the 100 days that lead up to July 4 and are always the busiest time of year for our businesses, approach quickly, I want to encourage you to use the little bit of time left in the cold months to get things done now that you may not have time for come March or April. Some things we're doing are:

Building Our Internal Training Program
We have weekly training for our production teams, and our group leaders manage the plan for what our training will cover. We create a plan based on what crews need to know at different points in the season; for example, we train on spring clean-ups in one of our first sessions. We'll change up the plan if issues arise, but it's still important to have that plan. It keeps you on track and intentional when it gets hectic.

Preparing for our Season Kickoff
Our busy season typically begins around the first week of March, and we'll hit the ground running when it arrives. That means hiring and onboarding new team members now, making sure uniforms are ready to go, and ensuring all of our trucks and equipment are serviced and running well. Anything we can do ahead of time we do.

Rallying the Sales Team
Nothing happens till somebody sells something. Our Grunder Landscaping team is locked and loaded with our overall revenue goals, and each sales professional has a very clear goal placed on them. There will be no confusion as to what we have to do, what type of sales we are looking for, or where the properties we're targeting are located. The clearer we are about what we are selling and how we are going to sell it, the better.

(If you need help with this, our Virtual Sales Bootcamp 1.0 and 2.0 will return this Spring)

Listening to The Grow Show
Learning from other landscape pros around the country is one of my favorite ways to learn. Our industry is so willing to share that so much information is available if you just ask. But if you want to take the easy way out our podcast, The Grow Show powered by STIHL, is a great way to learn from pros from around the country while driving between job sites or client meetings. Are you already listening to the weekly episode we put out on Wednesdays? If not, make this your week to start that habit.

Spring is almost here. I'll talk to you next week!