7 Takeaways from the Summer Growth Summit

7 Takeaways from the Summer Growth Summit

Our Summer Growth Summit at Mariani Landscape in Lake Bluff, IL was the HOTTEST landscape event of the year! Over 3 days, we had 26 speakers covering inspiring and cutting-edge topics to help any attendee grow to their next level of success. The Summit concluded with a discussion between Jeffrey Scott and Frank Mariani regarding how Mariani Landscape grew from 90k in 1973 to 59 million in 2020. Then they discussed what has happened since making a private equity deal in 2020 and where the company is headed now. Frank and Jeffrey were like two old friends talking around the fire pit. They also covered the pitfalls of the 4 day work week, how to solve the labor issue, and how any company could pursue an acquisition growth strategy. Many companies brought their teams, and the energy was palpable. Here are 7 takeaways to get your mind thinking:

read more
Gain an Edge by Hiring a “Continuous Improvement” Manager

Gain an Edge by Hiring a “Continuous Improvement” Manager

Continuous Improvement sounds like a cliche. Just like apple pie and motherhood (fatherhood), it brings a warm feeling to your heart, but it is much more than a platitude. It has the power to greatly tighten up your operations, whomever is leading it. Here’s a quick definition: It is “the ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and sometimes breakthrough changes”. It is mostly associated with process improvement. “How to continually improve processes, to give your clients a better experience, while helping your people become more efficient.”

read more
Unique Ways To Celebrate Your Employees

Unique Ways To Celebrate Your Employees

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.

read more
Give Your Clients the Ultimate Five-Star Experience

Give Your Clients the Ultimate Five-Star Experience

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?

read more
Women in the Landscape Industry

Women in the Landscape Industry

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.

read more
Using Throughput to Drive Sales Profitability

Using Throughput to Drive Sales Profitability

Did you know that you can use “throughput” to guide your sales team on which sales to go after, and even how to price them?Here is a brief case study, with a resource (podcast) at the bottom for you to learn more. Using Throughput To Your AdvantageI met this spring with a green roof company. (They had been to many of my events and finally pulled the trigger to meet with me.) The two owners brought their team to NOLA where we performed a two-day strategic review of their entire business, top to bottom. When we got to the financial analysis, we uncovered something interesting.

read more