The enterprise value specialists at Ceibass work with lawn and landscape business owners to help them prepare their businesses to achieve maximum value in the event of a sale. Very often in this blog, we report on the best ways that these successful owners move in the marketplace. But what about the less than successful owners? What types of moves do they make that thwart their intentions to increase enterprise value? What should you avoid doing?

“The number one attribute that we see among unsuccessful owners is what we call ‘being casual.’ They don’t seem very concerned about what is happening, what they are doing, and what they are not doing. They are nonchalant about improving their company. Their attitude is too relaxed. They don’t take best practices seriously,” said Tom Fochtman, Ceibass CEO. “Being casual takes on many forms; being too busy, being arrogant, not being accountable, being ignorant, being too complacent, being stingy, being cheap, are just a few examples.”

The team at Ceibass went on to describe other attributes of being casual:

  • Pretending things are better than they are
  • Not taking competition seriously
  • Overvaluing their management skills
  • Not paying proper attention to the development of their team
  • Falling behind on the obligations of new technology
  • Not being disciplined about setting goals and holding people accountable
  • Lack of strategic orientation
  • Being task oriented
  • Neglecting to grow and nurture top customers
  • Too successful, fat and happy with the way things are going
  • Neglecting to deal with operational issues in a timely fashion
  • Not taking on the costs – time, energy, money and opportunity – to increase the likelihood of success in the future
  • Thinking and acting in very short horizons of time
  • Not communicating well with employees
  • Not providing education, training and opportunities for growth among team members

“Being casual is not a posture of top performers. It is not competitive,” added Tom. “Stay vigilant. Be prudent. Do the work that is required. To increase your likelihood of success put aside the trappings of being casual.”