Editor's Focus: Oct. 1999

Grow, grow, grow – that’s all this industry has done of late, and 1999 has been no different from the last five or six years.

Our most recent independently conducted research found that Lawn & Landscape readers grew by an average of 19.7 percent in 1998 and expect 1999 to result in an additional 19.5 percent growth. In addition, contractors whose business grew this year outnumbered those whose business didn’t grow almost 7-to-1. And, as our third annual State of the Industry Report illustrates, this growth has been enjoyed across all segments of the market.

This is not to say, however, that all is well in Landscapeland. The labor shortage continues to frustrate contractors and restrict their annual growth by upwards of 10 percent. In addition, while the pace of industry consolidation has slowed since this time last year, the fact of the matter is that TruGreen-ChemLawn and LandCare USA changed the nature of the landscape industry forever.

Being a locally owned company used to be a given in this industry – now it is a marketing strategy. But regardless of how contractors market their businesses and regardless of the approaches they employ to recruit employees, the primary challenge facing contractors in the coming years will be the commitment they make to improving their business management skills.

For many contractors, answering the phones, fueling the trucks and collecting the checks has constituted business management in the past. That will not be the case in the future, which is exactly why now is the time for contractors to improve.

Many contractors would disregard the notion that now is the time for improvement, however. “Business is great right now and I’ve got more work than I can handle. Why do I need to become a better manager now?”

The fact that business is great is exactly the reason why now is the time to improve. Now is when managers can afford to spend time improving their management skills. If your business can’t be run successfully without all of your time being spent running it, then that’s the first thing to focus on improving.

But for managers who wait until this economy turns south – and it will turn at some point – then the time it takes for you to improve as a business manager from that point on is going to be time that your business falls behind the competition.

In the days when selling landscape services isn’t as simple as it is today, companies that adhere to sound management practices – cost management, customer service measurement, route development – will continue to grow and enjoy profitability.

Now is the time to prepare for those days.

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