Kevin KehoeNov 3, 2023
It’s the end of renewal season, and spring work is about to commence. While sitting at your desk late in the day, you receive an email. The message is from a customer. It essentially says, “Thanks for your service, but…
Everything is going up: the stock market, gross national product, the cost of labor, your overhead expenses. Yes, everything is going up except your pricing. Resolve that this year, you will raise your prices. This simple act doesn’t require a…
The secret is not really a secret. Like the secret in life is “hard work,” the secret to sustainable growth is “the system.” There are at least 90,000 landscape maintenance, snow and construction businesses in the U.S. and Canada. Fewer…
Two key parts of a management system are a rolling budget, which points out where problems are, and key performance indicators, which identify what the solutions must be. You hear it all the time – basic blocking and tackling can…
Picture your Monday morning sales meeting: “How are we doing in new sales?” “Good.” “Are we close to getting any new work?” “Oh yeah!” “Really?” “Yeah. Everyone I talked to loves us.” “How many is everyone?” “A bunch.” “What’s the…
LM StaffNov 7, 2023
Small and midsize landscape companies can outcompete larger firms by________. Landscape Professionals Richard Bare Arbor-Nomics Turf Norcross, Ga. “Outsmart, outorganize, outstrategize, outservice. If you can't do all that, maybe you ought to sell.” Adam Linnemann Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping…
Kevin KehoeNov 10, 2023
In March, I was in Provo, Utah, at the National Association of Landscape Professionals’ National Collegiate Landscape Competition. If you have not been to this event (formerly called Student Career Days), you need to go. These kids are your future…
The November election changes everything, as every election does. The question is, “Is there more upside than downside for your business?” Over the past few years, we’ve framed our discussions about growth in terms of sales. Now, we need to…
LM StaffFeb 27, 2023
The Aspire Software Co., a landscape business management software firm, released version 3.2. This release is the first of four updates planned for 2017. The new version is available to all users. It features: Outlook Exchange and Google Gmail recurring…
In case you haven’t noticed, the number of companies doing more than $1 million in annual revenue is growing significantly. In addition, the number of large companies growing via acquisition has increased, as have the number of once small mid-size…
Get ordinary people to do the extraordinary more often than not through company culture. Running a company is exciting until it becomes a slog, isn’t it? A slog is when profits sag, revenue growth slows and you feel like choking…
Too many companies work with bad numbers. They only discover this fact after someone drills in and shows them they’re losing money in areas they assumed were profitable. This scenario is so prevalent that I suggest you review your processes…
Can you really trust your numbers? That depends on how you manage your workflow and transactions. I spoke about this challenge at the GIE+EXPO 2015 and the response was, “Wow, my numbers are only as good as my management system?…
Is your financial reporting system costing you money? Many managers ignore reporting and rely on preconceived beliefs. Sloppy reporting combined with conventional wisdom leads to poor decision making. Even when I demonstrate reality, many managers refuse to believe me. They…
If you work long enough in customer service you can end up hating people, but that’s if you lose sight of realities of human nature. Ending up a “hater” is not a healthy career path if your job is account…
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