Long before anyone called it a “daily huddle,” John D. Rockefeller had stumbled upon the value of the short daily meeting.
Rockefeller would walk to work with his brother and three key leaders every morning. During that walk, they discussed what was happening across the business, what decisions needed to be made, and where problems were beginning to surface.
He then walked home with the same group.
It was simple, consistent, and powerful.
Once his wife, Sonya (MBA), joined four years ago as General Manager, they made several big moves together:
Raised pricing and expanded Google-based marketing, Expanded crews and hired production managers, Implemented Aspire, Built a state-of-the-art facility, Developed a leadership team that is helping the owners regain balance
Kevin jokes that he is now able to work part-time: 35 to 40 hours a week.
The team has worked quite hard to get where they are. Kevin is now able to play golf weekly, so things are on the upswing.
Last week I held a 1.5-day roadmap session with their team and then took a wonderful vacation on Vancouver Island with my wife and partner, Corine.
During the roadmap session, we reviewed department and company-wide strategy and refined their Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). We set a much stronger course for the future.
Here are five lessons every owner and leader can learn from.
If your estimators are buried in takeoffs, passing on bids because there just isn't enough time, or manually counting plants for hours on end — this episode is going to hit close to home. Jeffrey Scott sits down with Michael Ding, founder of Bobyard, a San...
As a consulting firm helping more than 120 landscape firms, we see AI moving well beyond basic writing and research.
(See below for 9 use cases.)
The most forward-thinking companies use AI not just to save time, but to think, coach, communicate, and execute faster and better.
That is why we are featuring an AI panel at our Summer Growth Summit. In preparing for it, I asked several panelists how they are actually using AI in their businesses.
Their answers…
A new leadership role is emerging in the landscape industry: Director of Continuous Improvement.
It is not a flashy job, but it reflects an important shift. As landscape companies diversify and grow larger, complexity grows with them.
What once worked through hustle and owner instinct starts to break down under the weight of an increasing number of crews, clients, and moving parts.
At some point, improvement can no longer come from simply relying on the owner to keep fixing everything.
That is where a Continuous Improvement Manager comes in.
In today’s economy, sales success doesn’t happen by working harder. Someone must own the responsibility of building the sales team — hiring, motivating, steering, and managing.
That person has the title of Sales Manager.
Sales management is a strange profession. You can’t study it in school. There are very few books on it. And many “sales managers” are your top salespeople straddling both worlds, perhaps pretending they enjoy managing.
For those committed to mastering this craft, here are seven practical, real-world principles drawn from our upcoming Sales Symposium (taking place March 10th, early bird ends in 16 days).
If you want better sales performance, start with better goal setting.
Traditionally, sales goals are set by leadership and handed down to the sales team. On paper, it makes sense, since leadership sets the budget.
In reality, top-down approaches force compliance over commitment. Salespeople may nod yes — but do they really buy in when things get difficult?
Real performance comes from ownership and understanding. To shift from compliance to commitment, involve salespeople directly in building their goals.
This allows sales managers to shift into a coaching role, helping their salespeople pressure-test their plans.
I get questioned a lot from owners about their current reward system, and whether they should roll out a bonus, incentive or profit sharing system to boost performance.
They ask me things like “Should we start a profit sharing program?” “Do incentives actually work?” “Should I replace our Christmas bonus?”
What they are really asking is “How do I reward my team in a way that they will buy into, that actually changes behavior––without backfiring and hurting morale?”
Being a landscape business owner is a lonely job. The work may be fun, but sometimes you wish that your “boss” had more answers.
What’s the best way to do performance reviews and address compensation?
Is there a sales commission plan that actually works?
When should we hire more managers? Where can I find them?
How much marketing is really necessary?
What’s the best way to smooth out cash flow during the slower months?
How do you handle a crisis such as losing your largest client—or a key employee quitting at the worst possible time?
I’ve spoken with hundreds of business owners in the landscape industry, and I’ve noticed that some contractors simply don’t believe they deserve to be given the right answer.
Think about that for a second…
👉 Register for our Financial Masterclass In this episode, Jeffrey Scott breaks down the complete roadmap to financial mastery for landscape entrepreneurs. Whether you're running a $1 million or $50 million operation, Jeffrey guides you through ten progressive steps...
