The days are getting darker, and in many parts of the country, the landscaping season is coming to a close.
For those companies who don't deal with snow (or who don't live in warmer climates), there may be a feeling of malaise or the desire to slack off a bit, recoup from the 2024 season and coast into the holidays and new year.
While that feeling is understandable, especially given how hard landscape pros continue to work year after year to grow their businesses, many successful landscape pros use those winter months to figure out not only how to keep the lights on, but how to optimize their companies for the future.
Successful landscape professionals are still hard at work, keeping new ideas sparking on items such as how to implement new technology, how to navigate the ever-increasing pressure of inflation, how to better customer relationships and, of course, how the heck to attract and retain star employees.
I've recently returned from Equip Expo, and while the talk of products was strong, the topics above shone brightly in almost every conversation I had with manufacturers, landscape pros and others.
That's why the topic of this issue is so timely. For the first time, Green Industry Pros is presenting its Business Survival Guide, where each of the above topics will be covered via a case study that showcases a company that has excelled in that area.
The goal of this editorial package is to pull landscape contractors out of the “day-to-day” grind and allow them to improve their systems and processes so that they can propel their businesses to the next level. You can find the full story here.
In addition to the Business Survival Guide, you will also find articles on marketing add-on services (p. xx), best practices for organizing shops and trailers (p. xx), how to properly winterize battery-powered equipment (p. xx), trencher safety (p. xx) and much more.
What about you? Have you implemented any new processes or technology that have made your company run smoother and helped you sleep better at night? Is there a topic we missed in putting together this year's Business Survival Guide? I’d love to hear your thoughts—and I’m sure your fellow readers would, too. Email your ideas to swebb@iron.markets or connect with me on LinkedIn by following the link below.
Looking ahead, make sure you check out next month’s issue, where we will cover the current state of the green industry, delving into the top challenges, trends and much more.
Until next time!
