If your staff are not making a living wage all winter long, chances are they will be looking for employment elsewhere. This can be challenging during winter months when you are reliant on snow events to provide them with hours. You’re going to need to get creative.

Can you work on a banked hours system through the summer? They wouldn’t make overtime but the banked hours could top up their pay throughout the winter months.

What about the SUB program we've chatted about previously? Look into it and see if your staff are eligible for it. You can read more about it HERE.

Can you set up an on-call schedule in advance (like some of our clients do) so that your staff know in advance when it’s their turn to watch the weather as opposed to being on-call all season long?

What about offering them new or late model equipment, training, regular communication and employee events during the winter to maintain culture? Whatever you do in the summertime for your staff - bbq’s, weekly staff meetings...

Are you a snow fighter? Or do you simply plow snow? It may seem like we’re splitting hairs, but author and entrepreneur Brad Caton would argue it’s not. How you see yourself changes how you react in a snow event.

You may remember him from an interview I did with him on the “Nextra Presents…!” podcast last year. If you missed his episode you can listen to it HERE. 

Throughout his book “Brad draws on nearly two decades of experience running his Vancouver-based snow and ice management firm, Invictus Professional Snowfighters, as well as in-depth discussions with industry experts ranging from attorneys, insurers, advocates, property managers, salt distributors, and fellow snowfighters, to present a rare, broad-scoped analysis of the challenges, solutions, and dire importance associated with the snow and ice industry.”

A couple of things stood out to me throughout the book:

1. Brad Caton and his team at Invictus only do snow and are profitable doing it. 
2. They see snow removal as an emer...

How do you handle objections when speaking with potential clients? 

Do they derail you because it feels like rejection? OR do you see an objection as a question - one the client is looking to have answered before they accept the terms and finalize the sale.

In a recent article written by Bruce Wilson, he shares that “objections are simply a sign that a prospect needs more information to make a decision.” It’s a small shift in perspective that can dramatically change your outcomes.

Here are Bruce’s 10 tips on dealing with sales objections:

1. Listen up and validate
2. Rehearse your response
3. Be prepared
4. Isolate the objection
5. Postpone objections
6. Ask questions
7. Talk about money
8. Focus on them
9. Avoid better, faster, cheaper
10. Convert the objection

If you’d like to dig into these a little more, click HERE to read the full article and remember: an objection is not a rejection, but your response to the objection might make it one.

If you joined us in Stoney Creek this week you saw the Metal Pless Live Edge blade in action on the Merlo machine. With that in mind, we are thrilled to hand over the blog to Metal Pless this week as they share more about their company with you. 

Metal Pless of Plessisville, Quebec is a frontrunner in the snowplow manufacturing sector. Clients rely on the company’s products to clear public roadways, commercial and industrial properties, as well as airports during and after a snowfall. It is a task done under intense time pressure and scrutiny; city streets and parking lots must be plowed quickly to maintain access in adverse weather conditions.

The company’s products can be fitted on various vehicles including tractors, wheel loaders, backhoes, skid steers, and tandem trucks. Plows are sold through a North America-wide dealer network. Dealers, in turn, sell to customers – typically snow contractors, Departments of Transportation (DOT), airports, or other government entities. Sales ar...

Have you asked your clients how they prefer to be contacted? Phone? Email? Text?

Choosing to communicate with your clients in the way that they prefer may seem like a simple thing, but it’s a simple thing that shows clients you are truly listening to what they are saying to you. 

If you are using their preferred method of contact, are you communicating well with that format?

Communicating well means being proactive in your communication about their project. Is it going to take longer than expected? Will a rain day or scheduling glitch mean a delay before you're back on their site? Communicate this information with them as soon as you know instead of waiting for them to ask.

Proactive communication builds confidence and trust. People who trust their contractors are more likely to them to their friends and family. It’s the simple things, like texting (if they prefer a text), that can make a huge difference.

Once you have great communication you can use things like a CRM, social medi...

Do you have a client that needs to be fired? Does that question cause you to recoil?

I know it seems counter-intuitive. You feel like you can’t possibly do that; you need the work and you don't want to tarnish your reputation. But hear me out.

I’m not saying you should cancel a contract mid-season, though that may be appropriate at times. What I’m talking about is reviewing contracts at the end of the season and rating them based on a few different criteria to ensure it makes sense to continue a working relationship with them. 

We can often feel like we need to take all the work that comes our way because, well, we need to make money. The problem with that mindset is that we can get booked up with small jobs that aren’t especially profitable and then don’t have time to complete the bigger, more profitable jobs that come our way.

An article from Landscape Management listed these six variables to take into account before you renew contracts:

Revenue size. Generally, larger accounts ...

When we started working with Ryan at Mountview Landscaping, I asked him if he had a budget that they work from and review on a monthly basis, and was pleasantly surprised to hear his answer was yes. You may remember that we interviewed him last year about what they track, why they track it and the difference it has made in how the business is doing overall, as well as the impact it has made for him personally.

All of his insight was compiled into two blog posts and we felt it was worth revisiting. Check out part one below.

Grant: What do you currently measure on a weekly, monthly and annual basis and why?

Ryan: During the winter we track maintenance hours for snow, additional job hours from snow events, salt and ice melt product use on a weekly basis. This translates to lawn maintenance contracts during the summer season.  

We have people on a fixed schedule for snow with staff on duty 24/7. From a business point of view it just makes sense for us. We have people monitoring sites e...

Want to eliminate a lot of stress? Invoice and review A/R & A/P reports on a weekly basis with your team. Too often I speak with owners who have completed a lot of work but haven’t invoiced or collected on those projects and find themselves in a cash flow crunch.

If you review the following items weekly you will always have a clear understanding of where you sit financially. Waiting too long to invoice, or to follow-up on outstanding invoices can often result in the final payment never being collected, since many owners feel awkward trying to collect on a job that’s been completed for a long time. 

Weekly Accounts Payable/ Receivable Checklist:

• Create invoices for work completed in the last 7 days
• Create files for work to completed next week 
• Track incoming receipts per job 
• Follow up on outstanding invoices from the last couple of weeks
• Review incoming payables
• What needs to be paid this week
• What gets paid at the end of the month

Do you avoid reviewing AP and AR...

As I’m sure you will assume by the title of the book, Measure What Matters is about figuring out what really matters and how to measure it.

Author John Doerr does this through the use of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a revolutionary approach to goal-setting, to make tough choices in business. Through a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, John demonstrates the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations.

You’ll learn the 9 steps to implement the OKR system, get an in-depth look at the 4 super powers that come from using the OKR method and learn how to build a positive culture within your organization.

An added bonus in the book is the checklist at the back to help you walk through implementing the OKR process the first time, as well as some tips to make the system work for you. I loved all of the different examples given because it helps you to see the process in action. 

For a more in depth synopsis of the...

Legislative requirements regarding overtime pay are often changing and being updated, making it hard to keep up.  We are all familiar with the classification of “Landscape Gardener” as per the Employment Standards Act and the exemption in the Act for paying overtime, public holiday/public holiday pay and excess hours. (Landscape Gardener Classification Exemption ) 

But are you aware that building retaining walls for structural purposes, installing lightning systems, or spraying roads and industrial sites for weeds would not fall under that exemption? (Landscape Gardener Classification Exemption ) That would mean that any construction, including the building of retaining walls, would be classified under “CONSTRUCTION” and therefore the employee is eligible for different things, such as overtime after 44 hours/week. (Construction Classification Exemption)

The real kicker, though, is Snow Removal business operations. As per the Employment Standards Act and special rules (O. Reg. 285/01 ...