Want to start your season off right? Plan a spring kick-off meeting. A seasonal kick-off meeting is a way to get everyone on the same page, remind them of policies and procedures, review your company values and priorities, celebrate achievements and get excited for the year ahead. It's a great team-building opportunity that will bring everyone together and create a positive company culture. 

Below are some great ideas from an article for Lawn & Landscape by Steve Cesare (original article can be found here).

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A business owner from Massachusetts called me the other day to talk about the annual transition from the snow season to the landscape season, and what he should do to get all the employees on the same page to ensure prompt, aligned and optimal field execution. With 85-90 employees to consider, it is important for the business owner to design a well-crafted, organized “Landscape Kickoff Day” that is informative,...

(Original article by John Janes can be found here.)

Bookkeeper, Controller, CFO. Are you uncertain about what each role emcompasses? Or when you should outsource the role vs. hiring someone in-house? We hope this will help! 

Should I hire a bookkeeper?

I get this question a lot. The truth is that a business of any size needs a person to handle their books. When first starting out, outsourcing a bookkeeper is the best option as it reduces your costs since you only pay for the time you need. And by having a bookkeeper throughout the year, you will save money on your accountant at the end of the year, since there’s less for them to do.

A big mistake that small business owners make is thinking they can do the books on their own. Once the season gets busy, the last thing owners want to do is the books at the end of the day. The result of leaving the books until the off season is a nightmare that ends up costing you more money and more headaches.

So, what does a bookkeeper do? The bookkeeper will enter all the payables, record...

If you are looking for a way to make an immediate impact on your organization with little expense, try implementing the 5S Methodology. 

The 5S Methodology originated in Japan and is a systematic approach to workplace organization, broken down into 5 steps:

Sort - go through each work area and eliminate all unnecessary tools and materials (especially in the shop and yard areas). 

Set in order - arrange all tools and inventory in such a way that the most frequently used items are the easiest and quickest to locate.

Shine - clean and maintain the cleanliness of all the workspaces and equipment.

Standardize - all equipment, tools and workstations should be identical.

Sustain - maintain and review standards regularly to maintain focus on the new way of doing things. 

Have you heard of this before? I love it because I’m big on systems that simplify what we are doing as business owners. 

For more information on the 5S Methodology and a breakdown of each of the...

In my conversations with business owners, there are issues and problems that seem to arise over and over again. They’re the same problems most owners deal with, the same ones I deal with. We found this article by Roberta Matuson to be very practical and helpful - 7 common mistakes business owners make and how to avoid them. I’m all about avoidance when it comes to mistakes! Take a look and let us know what you think. Do you have any other tips to add to the list?

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I've been in business for over 20 years and have seen my share of mistakes made by business owners — many that certainly could have been avoided. Here’s my list of common mistakes business owners make, along with advice on how to avoid following suit.

1. Failure to hire for fit.
Think about a job that you worked in that didn’t work out. Was it because you didn’t have the skills to do the job, or was it because your values did not align with the...

80% of new businesses fail every year. 

While that number seems staggering, it’s not all that surprising. Owners get on the hamster wheel of being a technician and working in the business 24/7 instead of on the business and before long they are burnt out and have no money to show for it.

I have been there; I get it. Thankfully there is a better way.

Today’s book recommendation is a good one for this topic. The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz walks you through a different way to look at and run your business by comparing it to the process pumpkin farmers use to grow the biggest pumpkins year after year.

While there is a tonne of incredible information, there are 3 things that really stood out to me:

1. The way he recommends asking for referrals. Instead of asking clients for referrals, Mike recommends that you ask them for the name of contractors that they are working with and that you build relationships with those people because they probably have a hundred clients...

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 -...

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...

Are you asking for customer feedback after every job? Not some jobs, but all of them?  

Gathering feedback from every client provides you with insight that will help your company understand your customers wants, needs and the necessary information to help you stay relevant in your industry. Surveys are important tools for improving your business and ensuring your customers send you referrals.

Over the years I’ve found customer surveys to be one of the most consistent and effective ways for receiving customer feedback. You can get great insight with only three questions: 

1. How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?
2. What’s the biggest factor in your answer?
3. What can we improve on?

There are a lot of platforms available for surveys, but two that I have found to be easy to use and cost effective are:

Survey Monkey

Survey Sparrow 

Customer feedback is one of the best tools we have - take advantage of it!

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...