L&L Insider

The power of personalities

L&L attended the iLandscape show in Illinois and learned how different tpes of people can benefit a business.

By Kate Spirgen

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – Know who you are and don’t try to be someone you’re not. It’s good advice for life in general, but it’s also the way to drive sustainable growth in your business, according to Joe Abraham.

The founder of BOSI Global and author of “Entrepreneurial DNA: The Breakthrough Discovery that Aligns Your Business to Your Unique Strengths” shared the four personality types with iLandscape show attendees, explaining the value of knowing your own personality as well as that of your employees and your customers. iLandscape ran Feb. 25-27 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel.

“A lot of the business decisions we make are based on who we are,” Abraham said.

• Builder: Builders tend to grow a business, acquire companies and spread to multiple locations very quickly. They tend to push employees to the next level and always want to be expanding. “They can get people to do things they wouldn’t normally do,” Abraham said.
  Their weakness tends to be relationships because their ambition can make them think they are more competent than their employees.
• Opportunist: These are the people that can’t make enough money and they’re always after the next big thing. When opportunity comes knocking, they always answer the door. “There’s always a new, shiny object and they have to go pick it up,” Abraham said.
  They want to be reaching for the stars so they need unlimited opportunity. “If you give them a good base income, you’ve completely deactivated them,” he said.
  Every business needs some opportunists, Abraham said, noting that the best sales teams have a lot of this kind of person. Their biggest drive is financial independence, but their biggest weakness is their up and down income.
• Specialist: This is the most common type of person. They tend to look for reliability and consistency, and most of their business comes from referrals and networking. Their businesses tend to grow well and then plateau, “and that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Abraham said. “That’s because they want stability.”
  For these people, reputation is the most important factor, making them analytical and risk-adverse. “They’d rather lose money than lose their reputation,” Abraham said.
• Innovator: Only about 12 to 15 percent of people fall into this group, who love to spend their time creating.
  They measure their success by their mission, so they’re most concerned with whether or not the client likes their landscape. “Every decision an innovator makes is seen through the mission lens,” Abraham said.
  While these types are great for marketing or design, their greatest weakness is management.

Once you realize your own strengths and weaknesses, you can see the gaps in your business and hire the right people for the right positions, Abraham said. For example, if you’re a Specialist who looks for stability, you’ll need a partner or staff member who can generate new leads, like an Opportunist.

And it’s important to look at your entire company to see where your strengths and weaknesses are.

To take the free personality test, visit BOSIdna.com.

Visit bit.ly/ilandapril for more coverage from the iLandscape show.
 

Building on a big year

JCB grew by record numbers in 2014, but company executives still see room to grow in the landscaping market.

By Brian Horn

SAVANNAH, Ga. – While it’s coming off a record year in North America, JCB still has a way to go when breaking into the landscaping market, company executives said during a media event March 5 at the company’s North America headquarters.

Both Arjun Mirdha, president and CEO North America, and Keith Hoskins, vice president of compact products, said they would like to increase awareness of JCB in the landscaping market.

When asked how he thought JCB factored into the landscape market, Hoskins said, “Not well enough.”

Hoskins said he’d like to receive more direct feedback from contractors about what features they want on their equipment. He also said the company will invite local contractors to the JCB headquarters to drive the company’s equipment.

“We hope to have a more dedicated focus (on landscapers,)” he said.

Breaking records. JCB North America increased its sales in 2014 23 percent compared to 2013, marking it the company’s fifth consecutive year of growth. During the past four years, JCB North America has achieved 193 percent growth.

“JCB will be the brand to watch in 2015 and beyond,” Mirdha said. “Investing in our facility in Georgia is a cornerstone of future growth.”

The company has increased its field sales and service staffs, while also adding factory jobs. JCB also expanded its warehouse distribution, most recently doubling the size of its Canadian facility and later adding a new Chicago warehouse which has more than doubled JCB’s total warehouse footprint.

In addition to those investments, the company has big plans for its dealer network.

JCB now has more than 300 North American locations with a growing number of independent, dedicated construction and agricultural equipment dealerships. The company plans to have 500 distribution outlets in place by 2018.

New iron. The company has invested in a number of its compact equipment lines. Those upgrades and new products were unveiled during the media event, which was highlighted by the introduction of company’s largest compact excavator, and Tier 4 updated skid-steers and tractor backhoe loaders.

“Over the past four years, we’ve invested over $60 million to revamp our skid-steer and compact track loader product lines,” Mirdha said.

Visit bit.ly/lljcb for a list of some of the products released by JCB at the event.
 

Create a better team

Consultant Jason Cupp lays out tips on how to improve your company’s culture.

By Brian Horn

CLEVELAND – In what he is calling one of the most exciting times in the green industry, Jason Cupp, former business owner and now growth consultant, gave a number of tips on how companies can capitalize on the positive activity. Cupp was the guest speaker at an Ohio Landscape Association meeting Thursday night, and cited Lawn & Landscape magazine research that showed increased backlog for contractors in 2014, and referenced his own experiences with contractors while travelling the country.

While he did touch on the financial steps owners can take to make sure they are running a profitable company, he laid out simple steps contractors can take to make their companies more appealing to current and potential employees. And with the recent shutdown of the H-2B program, some companies will have to look for other avenues to hire workers for this season.

Some of those steps included:

Have a deep bench. Cupp said owners plan on all aspects of their businesses to be operating 100 percent, but with workers calling in sick, weather and holidays, that’s just not realistic, which is why you have to look for good employees all the time. “You always have to have an ad out there and have to be looking at resumes,” he said. If the process works and you realize you have too many employees, that’s when you have to let go of the weakest employees.

Leave a message. When you run an ad, leave a Google Voice number in it, and ask people to call it and talk about why they want the job and why they are qualified. The service is free and Cupp said laborers are more likely to call a number leave a voicemail basically laying out their resume, instead of putting one together and mailing or emailing it to you. In addition, you can get a better feel for their enthusiasm and attitude via a voicemail, compared to a piece of paper. “You can tell a lot by the voice and what they say,” Cupp said.

Fill their bellies. One client of Cupp’s kept a full fridge in the office full of Gatorade, water and frozen meals. While the liquids come in handy during work days, employees could take the frozen meals as their funds got lower closer to pay day.

Show appreciation. Instant gratitude can go a long way with motivating an employee, but Cupp said sending hand-written notes to the homes of employees can be even better. The actual action of sending it home instead of giving it to them at work allows someone from the worker’s family to open it, creating a sense of pride in the home. “It’s something that gets displayed on the refrigerator,” Cupp said. “I used to spend a lot of time writing these cards when I had my business, and my guys loved it.”

Other tips Cupp stressed to create a better company included having a handbook in place to protect yourself against lawsuits, providing or improving medical benefits and 401k plans, and doing reviews with employees once a year.
 

Planet unveils new name

Ten years after it was formed, the industry’s national association has updated its name and logo as part of a strategic rebranding.

By Chuck Bowen

NASSAU, The Bahamas – Ten years after it was created, the landscape industry’s national association has a new name.

PLANET – formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Landscape Contractors Association and the Professional Lawn Care Association of America – announced Feb. 26 at the opening of its Green Industry Great Escape event that effective April 1, it will change its name to the National Association of Landscape Professionals.

As part of the announcement, the association also unveiled a new logo.

“The brand allows us to raise the visibility of the industry,” said PLANET Executive Director Sabeena Hickman in an interview prior to the announcement. “We will continue to promote – and not only promote – but advocate for the industry. … I think we’re going to see a lot more traction with the new brand. The media and consumers are going to know we are the National Association of Landscape Professionals because the name’s very clear and concise. I think it will definitely benefit the industry.”

According to research that PLANET conducted as part of the rebranding study, 90 percent of members had to explain just what PLANET (an acronym that stands for Professional Landcare Network) meant when they mentioned the group to customers or colleagues.

Scott Jamieson, PLANET president-elect and vice president of Bartlett Tree Experts in Northbrook, Ill., was involved in the rebranding effort, and said not only did members need to explain the association’s name, but the group’s public relations team said it was a hurdle as well.

The decision to change the association’s name spurred more discussion about PLANET’s strategic plan and long-term goals. Hickman said PLANET will now focus on three core areas: advocacy, professionalism and education.

“We realized rather quickly that PLANET was trying to be all things to all people,” she said. “We wanted to focus on things that mattered most to our members.”

Jim McCutcheon, PLANET president and CEO of HighGrove Partners in Austell, Ga., agreed.

“As opposed to us just being this big organization that just flows along in different directions and gets pulled by different folks and does different things, for the first time, we’ve got all of us pulling the same direction and heading in the same direction.”

Hickman said the association plans on “enhancing” many of its signature programs like Student Career Days, Renewal and Remembrance and the Green Industry Conference, as well as member benefits like peer groups and the advisory Trailblazers on Call program, but would not go into detail, citing the need to update the group’s board of directors and membership first.

She also said PLANET is developing a company accreditation for members similar to what the Tree Care Industry Association and National Pest Management Association offer their members, and is exploring online training options.

Jason Cupp, a former PLANET president, was on the board of ALCA when it merged with PLCAA to form PLANET.

“At the time a new brand was essential for the success of our legacy organizations to form a new entity and direction and culture of the association,” Cupp said in advance of the announcement. “I’m excited about the process the PLANET board of directors has gone through for the rebranding and renaming effort, and feel it’s in the best interest of the association to open the door wide open to market the organization and its members to the end uses in the massive green industry.”