Landscape Disruptors

When you think about businesses, most can be profitable, and some can be lucrative, and operating a landscape business is complex. It's heavy on operations. There can be multiple divisions, many people, customers with high expectations, materials and supplies, equipment, weather, and the list goes on. There are many moving pieces, and anything an owner can do to streamline the business or make a process more efficient usually improves profitably or benefits the company in a big way.

More important than ever before, efficiency is the name of the game. Most recently, LMN and SiteOne partnered up and integrated online landscape supply purchases directly through the LMN Estimating software. In theory, when you create an estimate in LMN now, you can order the materials directly through SiteOne Supply which skips a few steps and reducing an estimator's time.

During this episode of the podcast, Stanley Genadek and Sean Kramer talk about the future of landscaping and how the industry is evolving. They cover everything from how Sean got his start in the green industry, his role at SiteOne Landscape Supply, where the green industry is headed, and what landscape contractors need to be conscious of heading into 2021.

So you've built a successful landscape business that services an extensive list of customers, but your ready to retire and not sure how to exit the business, sell the company, or successfully transition the business to a new owner.

Most landscape owners that have been in the business for an extended period of time actually end up in this position more than you might realize. It's the exact reason why LMN CEO Mark Bradley and Ron Edmunds from the Principum Group sat down for a conversation on Landscape Disruptors.

Throughout this episode, Mark and Ron cover mergers and acquisitions, how to build value within your landscape company, how to evaluate your business for what it may be worth, and how to potentially sell your landscape company when you are ready to retire.

But what is succession planning exactly? Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing leaders within your landscape company who can replace the old guard when they leave or retire. This process usually ensures the company can live on successfully long after the owner has exited the business.

Recently down in Anna Maria, Florida, landscape disruptors Brittany and Caleb Auman conceptualized and executed what is known as a Hype House event where creators come together, share ideas, create content, and build momentum.

During the week, some of the guests featured were Brian Fullerton, Shawn and Savvanah Spencer, the Green Industry Podcast, Mitchells Lawncare, and many more. From roundtable meetings conversing about their business ideas and experiences to help each other, visiting job sites, and connecting with landscape construction crews in the local area, the Hype House was an opportunity to connect and learn as much as possible in a short amount of time.

Peer groups and connecting with other like-minded landscape business owners can be incredibly powerful, especially if your peers are willing to share experiences that help expedite and grow your business into a more profitable and sustainable business.

During this episode with Caleb and Brittany Auman, they cover everything from how the Hype House came to be, what working closely with others over the years has taught them in their business, and how you can get more involved with your peers in landscaping.

The continuous improvement method stems from Kaizen, a concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to assembly line workers.

The same methodology could be applied to marketing in the landscape industry. In this episode of the podcast, Kelly Dowell from Keldo Digital covers all the current marketing strategies to enhance your landscape business and help fill the funnel with the customers you want to attract. From Facebook marketing to using text messaging as a tactic and channel to reach new customers, she and LMN CEO Mark Bradley cover it all.

Kelly Dowell specializes in helping landscape contractors build their business. Her services include website development, social media management, content & design creation, marketing & sales systems, recruiting & hiring systems, systems & growth processes.

With each project, she takes a three-step approach.

SCALABLE: She’ll collaborate with you to create proven, manageable systems that your team can execute.

REPEATABLE: Then she’ll set your systems on autopilot. With process automation and personalization, you can do it again and again with confidence in your success.

RELIABLE: When you can depend on your business systems to run smoothly, you can relax away from the office and live the life you always imagined! Growing your business doesn’t have to depend only on you. Contact Kelly to find out how technology might help your sales, marketing, or recruiting processes.

Joshua Martin is the founder and owner of LandOne Takeoff, which he built out of necessity for his own landscape company.

Like most when creating successful products or services, Joshua identified a problem or pain point in his own business and came up with a solution for that. He built landscape software to measure properties for enhancement and to streamline the proposal design process when working with clients and enhancing their property.

In this episode of the Landscape Disruptors podcast, Joshua sits down with LMN CEO Mark Bradley. They discuss all things related to conceptualizing the business idea, executing, and everything that falls in-between when running a landscape company and building takeoff enhancement software.

They also discuss how emerging technologies are changing the landscape of the landscape industry and how contractors are doing business with their customers. The challenges of meeting customers' expectations and needs are becoming more and more time-consuming. The only way to keep the train on the tracks is to keep the funnel full and automate as many parts of your landscape business as possible. With so many complexities to the company, fast speed to value proposition is vital so you can close a sale before a competitor does.

Missy Scherber is literally paving the way for the next-gen construction entrepreneurs, women in construction, landscaping, and skilled trades in general. She manages a family, her ever-growing social media following, and is a boss woman on the construction site.

She initially left her dream job in the not-for-profit sector and team up with her husband at his demolition and excavation specialty company in the greater Minneapolis area. Since becoming the co-owner of T. Scherber Demolition and Excavation, they have become a superpower couple in business and significantly grown their company.

In this episode of the podcast with Stanley Genadek, Missy covers everything from finding the work-life balance for couples who work together and manage it. They also cover the importance of customer service and how each customer should be treated like your very first and for a good reason. Finally, of course, they get into the nitty and gritty of construction and some of Missy's invaluable lessons in business and her next step in the skilled trades.

What are the elements of a good planning meeting, and why is it so important? In Landscaping, it's already pretty well known that talent is hard to find, so maybe the solution isn't always finding the best people, but the ones that are willing to grow alongside the company and have a great work ethic. Eventually, these staff, if given the right opportunity and support, will become the best people.

If you've been running your landscaping business day-to-day in survival mode, as most have been, you might not even have regular staff meetings on your radar, never-mind an all-inclusive annual planning meeting.

No matter the size, every company should be taking time every year to evaluate the past season and make plans for the next ahead. Everyone needs to have a voice and feel like they have a voice, especially if you are all working towards the same company goals.

Every team will be different, but in this episode of the podcast, Ryan Markewich, Owner of Creative Roots Landscaping, and LMN CEO Mark Bradley talk through the importance of getting your team involved high level and how it drastically changes the company culture and motivation.

The goal is always to improve business results and the lives of the people who drive those results. The company is the product, and there will always be room for improvement. If the people are improving, the chances of the business improving are pretty high.

A local service business discoverability is everything in today's world of the internet and social media. With some of the most straightforward marketing strategies and techniques from Dennis Yu, you significantly improve your companies google ranking and visibility today.

Dennis says that business results are the only thing that matters and whether you can tie those metrics to sales in light of all the social media channels out there. Measurable business results are the ultimate currency for any local service business. In this episode of Landscape Disruptors, Dennis walks us through the need to know local service companies' marketing techniques and strategies. From Google My Business optimization to getting all of your social media working with google to help improve your companies visibility and the dos and don'ts in marketing. 

This is how to become the number one ranked landscape business in your local service business in your area. Simple techniques from one of the world's best digital marketers and how to improve your online familiarity so that when a potential does a google search for the best landscape companies near me, they will identify you and contact your company first. Because as the saying goes, it takes a potential customer to see your brand a minimum of ten times before they eventually convert into a sale.

As a Landscaper, what do you know about trees? You might know they are suitable for the environment. Customers usually appreciate them. They are an excellent way to enhance a customer's project while generating more revenue from the job. But beyond that, they have a deep purpose, and there are better ways that all landscapers can begin to approach planting and upselling plants and trees in general.

In this episode of the podcast, Stanley "Dirt Monkey" Genadek and ISA certified Arborist talk about trees. You see, most people think that arborists cut down trees, but they, in most cases, prefer to prune, plant, and maintain trees. Usually, they resort to the removal of a tree if it is hazardous or in severe decline. Eric Batty gets into the real dirt of being an Arborist and how the job title is much more complicated than people might think. He and Stanley also talk about different species, planting techniques, the balance of surrounding species, what's native, and what might serve a customer better in the long term.

If you're into trees and planting and horticulture, this is perhaps one of the most informative episodes we've ever covered on Landscape Disruptors. Enjoy!

What do you know about ecological and organic landscaping? Perhaps it's not part of the future, but more or less a traditional and more sustainable landscaping application to tackle today's environmental challenges. Ecological and organic landscaping is a form of landscaping, avoiding pesticides and herbicides, sourcing mostly or only native plants and organics, and balancing the ecosystem with insects and native grasses. The work is a little heavier on the front end, but once the soil and surrounding ecosystem fully establish, there may be less maintenance.

Richard McCoy is a 30-year green industry professional. He is the visionary behind Richard A. McCoy Horticultural Services Inc.. which he established in 1995. His expertise, attention to detail, and ability to develop an instant rapport with clients is just the beginning of what sets this company apart from others. Recognized by many as an organic and ecological land care thought leader, Richard and the Team at McCoy Horticultural have been offering environmentally and sustainably responsible, fine-gardening design, installations, maintenance, and organic lawn care since 2005.

In this episode of Landscape Disruptors, Richard explains organic and ecological landscaping and its environmental advantages over the traditional landscaping we all know of today. This episode highlights how a company can find a niche or a division within the company, and specialize services based on a customers needs. Restoring the ecosystem as nature intended it to be using native plants, grasses, organics and insects is a fantastic selling point, but are customers adopting it? Tune into the episode to hear it from Richard himself and the successes he’s found in a greener industry.