Employee Retention Archives

Ensure a Better 2024 by Managing Internal & External Uncertainty

Nov 28, 2023 | Employee Retention, Employees, Exit Planning, Financial, Growth Tips, Income, Management, Planning, Pricing, Strategy

I recently spoke with Ron Edmonds, President of the Principium Group, a leading mergers and acquisitions firm serving the Green Industry. Ron and I were prepping for his talk at my Financial Master Class, chatting about how a company’s “value” is driven in part by removing the uncertainties in the business. The lower the uncertainties, the higher the value. Business Uncertainties can be split into two groups: internal and external. Our conversation on uncertainties reminded me of the Serenity Prayer: Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. My version: Know what you can control internally and externally, and focus intently on those elements in your business; don’t stress on the rest. With that in mind, here are a couple examples to get your mind turning:

Profit Sharing Is Not A Quick Fix – But It Works!

Oct 31, 2023 | client, Employee Retention, Employees, Financial, Growth Tips, Incentives, Income, Leadership, Management, Peer Groups

A few weeks back I was honored to speak at the Kentucky Expo / Equip. It was a great show, seeing so many cutting edge technologies coming to market. I gave two presentations (to standing room only). One was on Open Book Management. To add some spice to my presentation, I included a case study from the highly successful Whispering Pines Landscape (“WPL”) in Ontario, owned by my good friend and client, Greg Wildeboer. When he and I started collaborating together in Dec 2015, he was under $4M, with a need to greatly improve cash flow and remove himself from the center of everything.He dreamt of implementing an effective profit sharing. (He had one in place, but it was not working great.)A PROFIT SHARING CASE STUDY: We proved that for Profit Sharing to be effective, you need “two shares”Gains: a fair and motivating way to share the financial gains. Numbers: a simple way to open the books and share the numbers.

Unique Ways To Celebrate Your Employees

Aug 1, 2023 | Employee Retention, Employees, Growth Tips, Incentives, Leadership, Management, Peer Groups

Celebrating your employees. One of my peer groups has been bouncing around the question (and answers) of how companies recognize their employees, especially on their work anniversary? We all like to get presents or cake on our birthdays. (Hint: my favorite is NY Cheesecake, with cherries on top).Same goes for your employees. But I believe even more meaningful is acknowledging their work anniversary.

Give Your Clients the Ultimate Five-Star Experience

Jul 25, 2023 | client, Employee Retention, Employees, Growth Tips, Income, Leadership, Management, Peer Groups, Planning, Pricing, Productivity, Strategy

How do you know if you are giving your clients a five-star experience? You can check your google reviews, but that gives very limited info.Here are two stories to illustrate the need for clarifying your customer service vision in today’s uncertain economy. I was recently helping a friend of mine (an entrepreneur in another industry) with his 3-year growth plans. Over the past few years his business has scaled nicely, and he was enjoying the sweet spot that he called ELF (Easy, lucrative and fun). He wanted to keep growing, but it was not clear what direction he should take his business. Should he change direction, or do more of the same?

Independence Requires Teamwork

Jul 4, 2023 | Employee Retention, Employees, friendship, Growth Tips, Leadership, Peer Groups

I am proud to present my latest interview with two movers and shakers in the landscape world: Loriena Harrington and Shanna Scordo.This interview is valuable whether you are a woman or a man! Women will gather ideas, motivation and empowerment. Men will broaden their perspective, and increase their chances of attracting and retaining women in their company.

Women in the Landscape Industry

Jun 27, 2023 | Employee Retention, Employees, Financial, Growth Tips, Leadership, Management, Peer Groups, Second in Command

Develop “Sticky” Services, the Mariani way

Apr 18, 2023 | client, Employee Retention, Employees, Growth Tips, Leadership, Management, Peer Groups

Last week I shared two things that Mariani does uniquely well.

Here is the third thing they do uniquely well: Selling “premium specialty services” which helps to keep their clients “sticking” around.

Below are 3 examples, plus I explain “what it means for you.”

It’s a brilliant strategy, and one that you can copy.

(Note: Today’s the last day to get the super early bird discount for the Summer Growth Summit.)

Mariani’s Premium Specialty Services.

It’s not enough to do a great job serving your clients with commoditized landscape services.

It helps to find opportunities for additional services that go above and beyond your competition.

Mariani does this well.

What Does Mariani Do Uniquely Well? (Part 1)

Apr 11, 2023 | client, Employee Retention, Employees, Growth Tips, Leadership, Management, Peer Groups

For anyone who watches the show, Shark Tank, you have learned how the Sharks love companies with a unique, hard-to-copy product. It’s even more important for the Sharks that this uniqueness is translated into strong sales and profits.In prep for my Summer Growth Summit, I asked the marketing director at Mariani Landscape, Andrew Gross: What does Mariani do uniquely well? He shared with me 3 eye-opening answers.Over the next two weeks I am going to share those responses with you, in two parts. Here is Part 1.Note, I have included my own assessment on “What it means to you.”

Build a Better Sales Team with These 7 Tips

Apr 4, 2023 | Employee Retention, Employees, Financial, Growth Tips, Income, Leadership, Management, Peer Groups

In order to succeed in this economy, someone needs to be in charge of building your sales team: Hiring, Motivating, Steering and Managing. You need a Professional Sales Manager to do all this. The funny thing about Sales Management: You can’t study it at school, there are not many books about it, and a great many sales managers are really salespeople pretending they enjoy managing. For those of you who are dedicated to this mysterious trade, here are few practical updated tips from my Sales Symposium, that I held last year: 7 Tips To Improve Your Sales Team’s Performance:

The Powerful Role of “Grace” in Business.

Jan 24, 2023 | Employee Retention, Employees, Exit Planning, Financial, Growth Tips, Income, Leadership, Management, Planning

Grace can play a very powerful role in your business, and separate you in a crowded market.

Last week I wrote about my client and friend, Kevin Werbrich, who uses grace when firing employees and when they quit.

He reported that his grace-based “Red Carpet Exit” has created a backlog of past employees who want to return to his company.

He has filled and “re” filled many foremen and high level positions with men who have grown up and learnt their lessons.

They return better people.

It takes real vision to consistently give people the benefit of the doubt and invest in them right as they leave your firm.

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