In late February the enterprise value specialists at Ceibass joined 400 ambitious landscape pros from around the country in Denver, Colorado at Grow! 2019, the annual conference held by Marty Grunder and The Grow Group, along with some of the most successful leaders in the green industry.

“This was a great ‘hands-on’ conference to set your year up for success. It was a chance for owners and their teams to take a step back from their day-to-day routines and really think about what changes they want to make in the coming year to move their companies forward,” said Tom Fochtman, Ceibass, CEO. “Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group, is a master at planning, implementing and helping you hold your team accountable for success. Year after year, this approach is going to help you build a great business and take your company to the next level.”

So what were some of the take-a-ways for the Ceibass team?

Build a purpose driven company.
Learn to inspire and motivate your team to achieve new heights by clarifying, strengthening, and living the real purpose of your company. 

Know where you stand.
Design financial and efficiency metrics that you then put in a dashboard and review regularly. You can’t win if you’re not keeping score.

Recruiting and retaining top talent is a must.
Labor continues to be a serious challenge in our industry, but you can gain a real edge over the competition if you build the kind of company people want to work at. Get help here and pay serious attention to it as labor & talent is the number one challenge.

Develop and implement a good onboarding program.
Work very hard to get new hires integrated early because it improves retention. Those who buy into a good culture early on stay longer.

Build a strong leadership team.
No matter your size, you can’t win consistently without one.

Make sure you can scale.
Have your systems and procedures down pat so that you can scale quickly if you need to.

Leverage the power of technology.
From industry-specific software to robotic mowers and social media, tech can help you improve efficiency, reach new clients, and attract talented young people to your company.

Develop the skill of sales forecasting.
Sales to a business is what gasoline is to a car: You aren’t going anywhere without it. So keep track each year and work on the skill of looking into your current contracts & prospects and projecting sales.

Hunt don’t fish for talent.
Go where the people you want to hire are, to seek them out, and to understand their habits. Don’t just sit there hoping and waiting for someone to take your bait.