October means many different things to many different people. The days are flush with falling leaves, the weather is growing colder and there is an excitement for the approaching holiday season. There’s football, the World Series, Halloween and it is normally a time of year when farmers harvest their crops. But for the enterprise value specialists at Ceibass, it is a wake-up call, a time to pay attention.

“For the landscape industry, October is the time of year to get a firm grip on where you stand for the year, a time to take serious inventory, ground your assessments, and get into a kick-ass mode to end the year strong. This is not the time to relax. Put the pedal down and achieve a record year,” said Tom Fochtman, Ceibass CEO. “Symbolically October is a symbol of wealth and prosperity, my guess is it that this interpretation is exactly what many owners will be experiencing if they keep their focus and finish the year rocketing revenues.”

Specifically, the team at Ceibass recommended attention to these details:

  • Ramp up your Holiday services … there’s revenue out there waiting for you! Get your sales team engaged.
  • How is your management team performing? Do you need to make changes? Identify weaknesses and look to upgrade. This is a team effort and every member must pull their weight.
  • How is morale? People overworked? Don’t be cheap. Generously reward top performance. Show appreciation for those good workers, too. Seek to improve your culture and create good moods. Be generous. Reward the worthy.
  • Tend to your equipment. What needs replacement? What repairs are needed? Keep your tools top notch. And remember supply chains are compromised so you may need more lead time.
  • Stay in close contact with your customers. Check in on satisfaction levels. Is it time to renew contracts? Or introduce new services?
  • Check in on your competition and see how you stack-up. Are your prices competitive? Do you need to enhance your capital inventory of offerings and services? Where are you gaining market share? Where are you falling behind?
  • Review and improve your employee retention and recruitment efforts. Finding and keeping good help is getting more difficult all the time. Do not relax here. This is still the number one issue in our industry.
  • Begin the 2022 planning process. Think big. No holds barred. Where are you now? Where do you want to be? How do you get there? October is for exploring and opening-up possibilities. November is where you add the strong dose of reality. Get all kinds of input on ways you can improve.

And finally, remember, money is still inexpensive. Think big, do you have an opportunity to make a key acquisition to really crush your growth goals? Is it time to sell? The experts at Ceibass are here to help you fulfill your ambitions.