Landscape Live!

Joe Pedatella, Director of Spa 23 Health & Racquet Club and Kodiak Landscape Design, tells you how to create a successful corporate culture in your business. We will talk about why it is so important to give your customers world-class service and how you can get your team to buy into this concept.Some of the topics in this episode include: -What is world-class service? -The importance of creating world-class service. -Training your employees / team to deliver world-class service. -How this service be applied to any type of company.Pedatella believes successful employees build a successful business and that success lies with the entire team. As a lifelong enthusiast in the fitness field, Joe manages over 140 employees, for which he is responsible for hiring, training, personnel duties. He has provided the business with a Customized Business plan, which has built Spa 23 tremendously since he took on the role of Executive Director.Pedatella has consulted and provided problem-solving techniques f

Do you have an exit plan for your green industry business? Are you counting on your business to fund your retirement or other activities?For most green industry business owners, their business represents their most significant asset and one that they expect to rely on to finance their retirement or the next step on their life's adventure. As important as it may be, few have taken the steps to understand the real value of that asset or how to increase the probability that they can unlock the value of that asset when they want to.Ron Edmonds is president of The Principium Group, a leading advisory firm serving the Green Industry in the areas of mergers b& acquisitions, exit planning and capital formation.For buyers, he assists in developing strategic plans for acquisitions, identifying targets, facilitating negotiations, structuring transactions and conducting due diligence investigations.For sellers, he advises on preparing businesses for sale and represents sellers by marketing their businesses.He is part

Nicole Wise tells us the truth about organics -- and how best to market yourself in the business. Some of her key talking points are:-Bionutrition lessons: Soil food web, how it makes other products more effective and marketing analogies for customers-Marketing in the green industry: Creating a marketing machine/plan, social media and inbound techniquesAfter spending the last 10 years helping build two multi-million dollar companies, Nicole Wise knows her way around the green industry. Originally a teacher, Wise graduated from La Salle University with a bachelor's degree and then Temple University with her master's degree in education. However, she quickly realized that project management, marketing, and business was where she really fit. Shortly after, Wise joined HappyLawn of America, a lawn care service provider, as a coordinator for the company, playing a significant role in creating systems for the fast growth firm as well as generating marketing plans and leading marketing campaigns.Today, Wise is the h

Want to improving your BATting average at work? In order to lead you to the top of your professional career, you will need to focus on three areas for your continued growth and improvement: Behavior, Attitude and Technique. This lesson will show you how your attitude drives everything, your behavior makes things happen and the techniques are the tools you need to get it done. Discover the areas in which you need to personally improve in order to help you be and stay a success.Danny Wood is recognized nationally as a business development expert, specializing in Executive Sales Consulting and Sales Productivity Training. He is an affiliate of Sandler Training and is an 8-time recipient of the Platinum Award for sales excellence.Danny Wood Enterprises specializes in working with business owners, CEO's and senior managers to maximize the return on what is often their most underutilized resource…the sales team. By focusing on buyer's and seller's attitudes and behaviors, not just techniques, Wood's clients are abl

Dominick Mondi, Executive Director of the New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association discusses labor and the landscape industry and how immigration reform could impact the entire horticulture supply chain. He gets into why immigration reform makes economic sense for the green industry, and why, even if you don't use H2B or H2A, the immigration system affects you.Originally entering Rutgers University with the intent of becoming a veterinarian, Mondi ended up being accepted into the landscape architecture program and graduated in 2000. Mondi has worked for several landscape design build and landscape architecture firms, including Lipinski Landscape and Irrigation, now Merit Property Services, one of the top 100 landscape companies in the country. In addition to his professional landscape career, Mondi served as program coordinator for several years at the Rutgers University Office of Continuing Professional Education developing, organizing, and running educational programs for the green industry. Since j

Dave Conklin is a highly energetic and successfully savvy entrepreneur who motivates his audiences by sharing real-world, interactive strategies for businesses to use both in search marketing and social media. Conklin shares his “Should I or Shouldn't I?” checklist so you can easily assess your current performance compared against your business goals, allowing you to make the decision whether or not social media and search marketing should be a tool in your company's arsenal.Topics we discuss include: -How to find out what people are searching for relating to your business -Tools to rank your website for the actual keywords people search for -How to convert your web site traffic into sales and/or leads -Methods to geographically market to your online target audienceConklin's entrepreneurial career started with mowing lawns and a baseball card selling business out of his parent's apartment (grand opening balloons and all) while in the third grade. More recently, Conklin has built three profitable a

Three of the biggest challenges for growers, garden centers, and landscape professionals are meeting the rising demands from homeowners to find plant material that exceeds their expectations for deer resistance, extended impact or bloom time, and lower maintenance. Bruce will detail some of the best solutions to handle these growing demands in the market.As director of Rutgers Gardens, Bruce Crawford oversees a 180-acre outdoor teaching classroom, horticultural research facility and arboretum. He is also adjunct professor in the Landscape Architecture Department, at Rutgers - School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the Director of Rutgers Gardens since 2005. Bruce has addressed numerous horticultural organizations and regularly participates in the Rutgers – Continuing Education Program. His articles have been featured in Fine Gardening Magazine. Most of all he loves plants and gardens!For more information, visit http://rutgersgardens.rutgers.edu/.

If you're spending tons of money on attracting new customers, you're making a huge mistake. Businesses that are growing tend to spend so much of their time and money acquiring new customers that they often overlook their best source of growth: retaining and growing their existing customer base. Believe it or not, it costs five- to 10-times more to acquire a new customer, than it does to keep an existing customer and the best way to retain customers is by promoting customer loyalty. In this episode we discuss: -What is the definition of a loyal customer? - How can you create customer loyalty? - Social media and customer loyalty - Is there really such thing as a satisfied customer? - Under promise and over deliver - Referrals, Referrals, ReferralsTom Shay is a lifelong small business owner and manager and the fourth generation to be involved in the family business.Shay moved to Florida to join his parents in the family operation they had purchased in 1971. Over the next 26 years, the Sh

Believe it or not, there are some basic ingredients to growing your company to a million-dollar business. Now, nobody is saying that the recipe is easy; however, there are logical and achievable steps that you can take to grow your company to become a member of the million-dollar landscape club.In this episode, some of the topics we are going to discuss include: -How to create an annual budget -Job costing do's and don'ts -Estimating for profit -MOR's vs. SOR's vs. T&M -Estimates vs. Proposals -How to create a P & L statement -Man vs. Machine -Adding Managers -Creating a balanced landscape portfolioJoining us is Jerry Gaeta, a Green Industry Business Advisor and Coach helping business owners increase their performance and quality of life since 1994.Gaeta and his business associate started a design/build commercial landscape, irrigation and landscape maintenance firm in 1975 and sold it 28 years later. Gaeta was chairman for the development of the Nursery and Landscape Certif

One of the top three things that clients request for their landscaping project is seasonal color year-round. One of the fastest, easiest and best ways to do this is by including perennials in your installations. The problem is that there are literally thousands and thousands of perennials to choose from, making perennial selections an overwhelming task for most contractors. And the truth of the matter is that you can't just plant daylilies and hostas everywhere.The self-proclaimed Perennial Diva Stephanie Cohen has got you covered. She discusses her favorite tried and true perennials (and some grasses, too) that will give your clients the color that you want, while working within their budget and limiting the amount of maintenance that is required throughout the year.She also goes over: -Perennial garden design basics -Her top 10 tried and true perennials -Sequential color throughout the year -More than just flower color -Divide and conquer -Perennial bed maintenance opportunities -Her bottom 1

As a consultant, Frank Ross is constantly asked questions like “What are the reasons companies succeed?” or “What do other companies do to make more money?”Recently, however, Ross was asked – “What are the Top 10 reasons companies fail?” Typically, consultants tend to be optimistic and think about the positive reasons why businesses are successful and use this information to help their clients grow their businesses. This time Ross is going to discuss the downside risks to running a business and try to help all of us avoid as many as we can.Here are Franks Top Ten Fails (or bottom ten): 1. Lack of Cash Flow 2. Drive by Estimating 3. No Job Tracking 4. No Pricing by Profit Center 5. No Financial Reporting by Profit Center 6. No Budgets 7. No Long Range Planning 8. Lack of Labor Control 9. No Overtime Controls 10. No Ownership of BenchmarksBorn in Charlotte, N.C., Ross is involved in several companies, all having to do with working with contractors to make them more profitable, incl

Growing a successful landscape design/build and maintenance business is incredibly difficult. Not only do we have the traditional headaches of employees and customers, managing payroll and insurance, as well as marketing and advertising. We also have to deal with the weather, language barriers, trucks, equipment, and enough governmental regulations to make you want to scream.Rich Goldstein, Owner and President of Green Meadows Landscape Contractors, gives us: -A step-by-step approach to growing your business -Design/Build vs. Maintenance -Commercial vs. Residential -Best management practices (BMP's) -Job descriptions and responsibilities -The importance of a good estimating system -Top quality customer service -How to attract good peopleGoldstein founded Green Meadows in 1982. His goal was to provide personalized service, high quality maintenance and skilled construction: characteristics that he felt were lacking in the business of landscape contracting.His commitment to customer serv

Whether you have one truck or a fleet of trucks, one employee or a hundred, how you present your company to the public is critical to creating and establishing your own unique image. Too often, landscape contractors fail to be consistent with their “branding and messaging” to their clients, creating mixed messages and causing consumer confusion which will result in lost revenue opportunities and mixed messages.In this episode Adam Sokoloff, President of Sunrise Signs, explains: -What is a logo and why you must have one. -Is it time to update your current logo? -Color definitions and what they say about your brand. -Brand consistency for small businesses. -Small brand changes that can have a huge impact on your company. -How car and truck wraps can help brand your fleet.Sokoloff's career originally began at the High School of Engineering and Science in Philadelphia. After graduating high school, he quickly realized that engineering was not his thing and became a music major in college. Althou

What is a green brand and what is it not? Judith Guido, Chairwoman and founder of Guido & Associates, a business management company, will explain how you can capitalize on this trend that is exploding throughout our industry and around the world. Some of the topics that we will cover include: -What is a green brand and do you create one? -How do you differentiate yourself from the other “green businesses”? -How can you create a greener advantage? -What are some green “myths”? -Tactical tips for profitable and sustainable “green” growth -Green in the white industry. -What is the future of green? Guido & Associates specializes in the areas of Strategy, Branding, Sales, Marketing, Research, Product Development and Mergers & Acquisitions within the Green, Snow and Sustainable markets and focuses on helping organizations grow their people and profits. Guido has been recognized as one of the highest-ranking women in the Green Industry. Prior to founding her own business management

So many landscape companies don't have a clear vision of who they are and what business they are really in or what business they should be in. For those that do have some sort of mission statement most have not articulated that ideal to their employees to help them understand who and what the company stands for.In 2005, Jim McCutcheon recognized that this was the situation at his company, HighGrove Partners, and changed his business model from that of landscape company that provides maintenance services to a service company that does landscape maintenance.McCutcheon is owner and CEO of HighGrove, a $15 million company that provides Land Services, Landscape Maintenance and Water Management to commercial clients in the Metropolitan Atlanta area.He answers common business questions: -What is the role of an owner and CEO? -How can you differentiate yourself in a competitive market place? -What is a service company? -How do you develop a mission statement? -Water management opportunities for the "gr

This episode's special guest is Pat Donovan, retired Police Officer for Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. and owner of Classic Landscaping and Risk Prevention Consultants.With his years of experience from two completely different occupations, Donovan has the ability to understand and demonstrate real world practical experience and put it into layman's terms "in his own upbeat disturbingly honest way" to help his audience understand the risks involved in this "HIGH RISK" business we are all in.You are sure to walk away from this show with valuable information that you can use to run a safe business and sleep better at night!On tonight's show, we are going to focus on: -Truck and Trailer Safety - Title 49 CFR -Protecting Your Drivers and Your Fleet -Weight, Registration and Load Securement -PPE (personal protective equipment) -Risk and Injury Reduction -Minimizing Workers Comp ComplaintsWith 30 years in the Landscape Industry as an owner/operator, and 27 years as a Police Officer for the Port

If you're tired of using the same old, same old in your landscaping or are looking for new and exciting ideas to stimulate your design process and excite your clients, then tune in for this interview with Dave Maciulis, creative genius, principle designer and CEO of Natural Landscapes and the publisher of Natural Landscape Magazine.We discuss what the top designers and design/build contractors in the industry are doing. Listen in as we discuss the hottest trends in landscape design and construction, and how you can become a part of it. We are going to focus on the latest trends in: -Outdoor living spaces -Kitchens, fireplaces and fire pits -Green roofs and living walls -Swimming pools -Extending the season -Sustainable green product trends -Hardscape and landscape materialsMaciulis is the creative genius and principle designer of Natural Landscape Inc., bringing more than 20 years of landscape industry wisdom and experience to every project he touches.Maciulis, never satisfied with the st