March 26, 2024 • 26 mins
🎙️Today on the Landscape Talk Morning show🌳 we dive into a crucial aspect of running a successful team – the importance of weekly team meetings! 🗣️💼
Gathering both management and field staff together, these meetings ensure everyone is on the same page with current announcements, targets, and the overall mission. It's an opportunity to celebrate the hard work and successes of our amazing crews, while also identifying areas where we can improve. 🙌📈
But hey, it's not just about us talking! We want to hear YOUR stories too! Share your #youcantmakeitupstories about memorable moments or funny incidents that have happened during team meetings. 😄📢
Embrace the power of collaboration and join the conversation! Let's learn from each other and create an engaging and supportive community. 💪🤝
Learn more about LOS here - https://www.scalingscoresystem.com/los
#teamwork #leadership #LandscapeTalkMorningShow #weeklymeetings #inspiration #success #improvement #collaboration #communityspirit
Do you want to grow your business and your profits? Is your business too dependent on you the owner? Improve or implement processes that help you grow. Eliminate stress while improving cash flow. Interested? If so check out LOS. Landscape Operating System with Peer group is for you.
Learn more here https://www.scalingscoresystem.com/los
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning everyone .
Landscape Talk here Just greatepisode today.
Just going to be talking aboutcurrent things, all spring
related.
It is Tuesday, I'm here withBrandon and we're going to dive
into some good things.
Hopefully you've been enjoyingthe content.
We've actually had a couplefunny you can't make it up and I
really love that.
The content.
(00:25):
We've actually had a couple offunny you can't make it up and I
really love that.
So if you're, if you're tuningin for the first time, one of
the things that we share a lotof times is the things that we
see.
You know you can't make it up,so I really love that.
If you're looking to grow yourlandscape business, the show is
sponsored by LOS.
It's a peer group combined witha landscape operating system.
You can, you know, scan the QRcode or check them out, really
(00:46):
helping getting processes inyour business so you can grow
your business and your profits.
So check them out.
Operating system with a peergroup.
So it's kind of the best ofboth worlds Super affordable.
So check them out.
Let them know if you want tojoin or get a demo there.
But, um, so what's going ontoday, ray?
(01:07):
What do you got?
What do you got going on today.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Looks like you're out and about yeah, yeah, out and
about.
Uh have some meetings and uhgot some.
We're doing some training, uhguys just making sure they're,
you know, up to speed on how wedo things and, just, you know,
always trying to help our teamgrow and just get a little bit
better each and every day.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So yeah, what, what you know, what does a?
You know.
Yesterday we actually talked alittle bit about, you know,
onboarding and bringing newpeople on and we talked a little
bit about the importance ofthat.
You know.
I think the other you knowtoday.
You know Tuesday morningmeeting.
(01:50):
You know what is.
You know to you what is theimportance of meetings and you
know, you know why do we do itand you know what was it like
maybe before meetings, like aTuesday morning meeting, who's
involved, what do we do?
And you know why is itbeneficial.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, so you know, for us, for meetings, you know,
usually a Tuesday morningmeeting it's, you know, all of
our field staff and our officestaff and leadership.
So you know, we just review,kind of go over a couple of key
components for the week.
Um, you know what's important.
We talk about a key topic.
(02:30):
We, you know, we talk about astory, um, and it all links up
to, you know, our, our, our keysof our company, our core values
, um, and it just tries to helpdrive home, like why we do some
of the things we do, um, why, uh, you know why things are
important and why's why we do it.
(02:51):
So everyone knows and they canall focus on on the mission and
get the work done.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I think one of the things that you know when I
think of it, I think of you knowactually church and the
announcements.
One of the things I think we'veused that analogy a lot of
times is like if you go to achurch and if you don't go to a
church, you're not familiar withchurch.
Typically, what happens isevery time you know, when you go
into a church service or it,probably you know a lot of
(03:35):
things.
They actually the first 10minutes, sometimes maybe even a
little longer, is like theannouncements, what's going on,
kind of bringing everybody up todate.
And I can remember you know theone church that you know I go
to.
You know they always go overtheir core pillars and some of
those things would be like maybeto serve.
(03:58):
They always talk about you knowgiving you know, because that's
important to make a church go.
That's how they make moneyright, and they always talk
about the same things to startoff every week, and I think
that's a great.
I think we've looked at some ofthose things and said, like,
you know, how do we give theannouncements and share, say the
same things over and over againso that it drives the mission
(04:20):
forward?
I mean, first you got to getclear on those things.
But the more people you know dothat you know, the better.
So I think that's you know,that's really you know really
good.
So what, what all are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I still have a couple of of quotes.
I got a quote to to knock out.
I got networking to do.
I've been meeting with apotential new customer and then
I have training to do with astaff member and then also go
out and just get some guys goingto review a job as well.
(04:58):
So pretty busy day.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, one of the things we talked about previous
and again.
If you're following along, ifyou're watching it daily, great,
you know.
Thanks for tuning in.
If you're not, you know, goback and watch some of the
episodes.
We actually talked about havinga balanced diet.
I think you said it is likefeeding all the you know the
cats or something.
So if you're interested inlearning about that or hearing
(05:23):
some of those funny things youknow, go back and check those
out.
You know, what have you foundto be successful?
I'm going back kind of to themorning, that morning meeting.
So, like on a Tuesday, you saidwe're bringing our staff
together, some of the leadership.
You know what has beensuccessful in there and you know
(05:43):
what impact has it made youknow in in the organization or
for the people um, I thinkclarity has been like a big
thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Um, that's been been really good for people just to
kind of know you know what thegoals are, um, like really
clearly Right, like what wouldbe an example maybe of something
that would help a field staff.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Because I think what I think what most people say is
I don't have time for that,right, so it goes back to the
time.
So if they don't understandwhat the value is of having a
staff meeting once a week, Ithink in the past we were in a
similar boat where we would belike, well, we don't have time
for that, we got to get out tothe job.
You're always scrambling or youfeel like you are until you get
(06:32):
some things in place, but likeI don't have time for that, our
guys have to deliver, we'rebehind, we have so much work.
You know all those things.
So I think you know for peopletuning in, you know I don't know
if there is a specific exampleof something that you've seen
guys improve or what the valueis, because I think at you know
most Scott, you know a lot ofcompanies that we see that are
(06:55):
interested.
I mean, it ranges, but we havea ton of companies that are
between that like one and 10employees.
You know that, that, that thattune, and we have organizations
that you know are from 10 to 50or whatever as well, but I think
when you're in that like one to10, one to 20, you know,
whatever it is, I think acompany that's like 50 starts to
(07:17):
realize like they need to dosomething and they need to bring
their people together.
But I think that the idea oflike these, this show and some
of the things that we're doingwe're trying to help your
business grow, and not only grow, but grow in profits and just
grow in everything, and I thinkyou know some of those meetings
get overlooked.
So just, I think, if they canrelate and say like hey, this is
(07:39):
an area that helped our guys,helped our company grow, maybe
they will, you know, pull acouple, you know their team
together and, um, you and youknow.
And I think the other thing toois we use a lot of buzzwords
within our, our company, like, Ithink we know what clarity is,
but I think if you could expandon, like what that means for the
(08:01):
staff, because I don't knowthat they always know, like
maybe some of our words of likehow it got, how it made it more
clear for us, what is it forthem that you think our staff
has like benefited from, which,in turn, served our customers
better.
Maybe the, you know, themanagement, everything Is there,
anything that kind of comes tomind, that is like helped, help
them or they could see it.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, I think it's.
I think it's like this reallife.
Like you know, we do, we reviewthe numbers from the previous
week and we just have open,honest conversations about you
know, wow, you guys killed it.
You know what went well, youknow, oh, we fell short here a
little bit and you know weweren't able to hit these goals
(08:46):
or the targets.
So I think, you know, one ofthe biggest things for us is
just like actually getting thescoreboard up there or knowing
the bullseye of what everyone'strying to hit and and, uh, you
know we relate to we were ableto review that and open it.
One thing I thought in the pastof you know, we have training
videos that we have everybody onboard and watch and do, and we
(09:10):
had a crew that was doingmulching and instead of like
dumping and spreading the mulch,like dumping a whole
wheelbarrow and then spreadingit out, they were taking it
pitchfork by pitchfork andsprinkling it on and they were
using less material, which wasgreat, but they were taking
(09:30):
about two to two to three timeslonger to spread it because they
were sprinkling everything onlike salt, like salt day was
reviewing the scorecard eachweek and reviewing, like, what
was going on with, um, you knowwhat they were hitting their
(09:53):
budgets or not hitting theirbudgets You're like Whoa,
something's off here.
Like you guys are way overwhat's going on.
Let's talk about it.
Let's walk through the processof like why we're not, why we're
not being successful, and weare able to figure that out.
And we're like, wow, you know,that's a great thing for us to
figure out, because if not, ifwe just let that go, um, and the
pot just keeps boiling over andboiling over, we'd come back to
(10:16):
the stove and wonder why thestove's a mess, instead of like,
you know, there's some keyindicators where we heard, you
know, the water, we heard it, uh, sizzle a little bit, and we're
(10:37):
like whoa, what's that that?
And we went out and checked thepot.
Um, you know, that's that'swhat we did in those scenarios.
Um, and you know I'm a I'm a bigguy for like, proponent for, uh
, for using like analogies andstuff, so I do that all the time
, but to to me, like that waslike a big deal because it's
just able to like we were ableto correct things before they
get out of control.
And then we we also are bytraining guys on this.
They're able to self-correct alot of times, which is huge.
(11:00):
So, like anytime, someone canyou know, handle and do
something themselves, ratherthan us have to do it, it's you
know or us to point it out.
That's, that's amazing.
So you know, anytime thosethings happen, it's really good.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
The other thing I think about is, you know,
communication.
So I I really so as a as aleader, as a you know business
coach and advisor to you knowpeople across the country, as I
hear things like I really get Idon't like the buzzwords, so
like the buzzwords drive mecrazy because they don't mean
(11:31):
anything and people don'tunderstand them.
So communication they're likewe need to improve communication
.
When a customer says that to us, it drives me bonkers because
the first thing I say is like,tell me more.
Like what do you mean?
Like communication?
Was it texting?
Was it updates for the service?
Was it post stuff, stuff?
Was it checking in?
Was it bringing you donuts?
Was it like what does that mean?
(11:53):
I don't know what that means.
Like I don't like that becauseI mean that's a whole nother
topic to to dive into.
But you know, the idea is wehave to communicate with our
people and that that weeklycheck-in is a way to.
Hey, we're gonna have a burgerday.
We're going to have a burgerday.
We're going to have a team day.
Hey, we're off this weekbecause there's a holiday on
(12:15):
Monday.
Hey, we're remember this.
Here's a highlight.
Here's some of the work you'vedone.
Here's, here's all these thingsthat are going on, and it's
just one time to just, you know,kind of rally together a little
bit and and just like, almostlike, celebrate, you know,
celebrate or just educate, and Ithink it's really important to
(12:37):
try to get them involved andshare.
I can think of, you know, thismorning.
So we have a, we have a a textresponse system.
So, again, these are thingsthat we learned through being in
peer groups and communicatingwith other people and and doing
these things.
So, again, you know, shout outto our friends at LOS and, um,
(13:00):
you know, if you're interestedin some of these things like
this is where it comes from.
So, like we, we, we learned inthe journey and uh, but one of
the things we have is a textresponse system.
So, like we TRS, when our crewsgo out, they send a message to
the people where they're goingand then they can interact
through a central thing.
(13:20):
It's not on their phone, likefrom their phone number, it's
from the company phone number.
But we had an example thatthere was a guy he checked in
amazing, great job and thecustomer actually said hey, you
know, could you take care ofwhat was it?
Was it tulips or something Ithink it was, or some tulips or
whatever he wanted removed orsome things.
(13:41):
The guy went and took care ofit because it was direct thing.
So think about efficiency,saving money.
We didn't have to come back andmaybe even build a customer or
whatever, because we could justhandle it on the job.
It was that's what retainscustomers.
But as we were looking throughthe log we didn't see a response
.
So we reached, we reached outto the person and he said hey, I
(14:06):
did take care of that, but Iforgot to message the customer.
So he messaged the customerthen and we used that as an
example and the other peoplecould see a real world example
of why it's important and wherewe kind of fell short.
Again, I think another you know,some morning it would be good
to talk about like calling ballsand strikes, as I call it, but,
(14:29):
like you know, really holdingpeople accountable.
And I think in the meetingtoday we asked, like you know,
can we share your story?
And he was like, yeah, sure.
So I think other people learn.
I think it's just a way ofbringing the team together.
So when you think ofcommunication, like, how do you
communicate?
And then you know, are youmeeting and rallying your people
(14:49):
?
You know, another episode orsomething to talk about is the
format of that, because there'sa format that keeps people
engaged and efficient.
But I would encourage you tomeet Any other things that you
think would be beneficial toshare about, like kind of that
weekly meeting that we do weekly, or yeah, I mean, I think, I
(15:15):
think it's like you know,obviously we highlight people
that are doing a good job.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
You know, we try to do a little bit of a mini
training in there.
It's like you know, here's acouple of things we're seeing or
here's a couple of things youmight run into.
This time of year, we just tryto post photos, to just try to
bring awareness to some thingsbased on, like, feedback that
we're getting from the guys, ormaybe quality checks that we're
seeing.
So it's just like a real, it'sa real good time to just
(15:42):
highlight, hey, these are somethings you might see, these are
some things you might run into.
Here's are some things you guysshould watch out for, cause
we're just trying to reallysupport our people, to be them,
for them to be as successful aspossible, to look to deliver a
great product for our customer,um, you know, and for for the,
for the guys to be successful,and so, and as well as the
(16:03):
company.
So, um, it's a really good time.
It's not a huge long meeting, um, you know, I think we keep it
probably about 20 minutes, 15minutes, something like that, um
, but it's just a good time tojust, um, you know, check in
with everyone, kind of highlightsome things, and if the guys
are seeing something, they'reabsolutely able to bring that up
(16:25):
.
They're like, hey, this issomething I've seen.
And then, you know, if we thinkit's something good for the
group, we'll discuss it right atthat point and we'll say, hey,
that's kind of like anindividual thing, maybe just
related to your property.
You know, right after we wrapthe meeting up, I'll talk to you
about that directly and we can,you know, solve it for them.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
So yeah, yeah.
So ton of ton of value inmeeting.
You know you want to create aculture of you know getting
feedback.
You know I know you know we'llprobably talk about our.
You know you know profitsharing.
You know that we implementedfor our team, but you know we'll
probably talk about our.
You know you know profitsharing.
You know that we implementedfor our team, but you know I can
think of in that meeting eventoday.
(17:05):
You know one of the one of themembers said something about hey
, you know we might be able tolike improve a route, and I just
love that because you know,when you have your people
starting to think like owners,or you know they start to care
because there's a there, youknow, if they get a little bit
more efficient, they canactually get paid more, make
more.
So I really love that.
(17:26):
You know we struggled a lot ofyears to figure out like what
you know what would work andsomething that was simple.
Again, that doesn't mean wehave it all figured out and
(17:52):
that's why we do this.
We just talk about you know,talk about things openly.
But or I'm going to payattention to the route to see if
it could be adjusted better,and I just think that that's,
that's awesome and uh, you know,when you do that, that allows
it to grow.
And I think, like silos, I mean, people are meant to be
together and to like talk andinteract and and do those things
(18:15):
and so many times you have a aone person, a two person, a
three person crew and to geteverybody together just in that
morning is just a checklist andconnection.
I mean there's, you know Ithink you shared it before too
but you know, there's timeswhere they just don't see, you
(18:36):
know you, they don't see me,they don't see.
So you know I, you know, as a,as an owner leader, I try to
make sure that I'm there, youknow, most of the times, so that
I can at least just say, hey,how you doing and do that, and
that I think that you know,hopefully that means something
to the people that you're tryingto build a culture and show
(18:59):
that it's important to be thereand get to see where they might
not.
So if they know you're going tobe there, it just is just a
good thing or they're just likewhat do these people do?
You know, we have that frictionof the office versus the field
that we see in a lot ofcompanies.
So, anything else about themeeting, hey, what, what is?
Uh, I mean, I know I have one,maybe I'll start.
(19:22):
Uh, you know, you just can'tmake it up.
Um, you know, again, this isthings that you see throughout
the day, things that you've seenin other companies or whatever,
and you're just like are youkidding me?
You just can't make this up.
So I'll start today.
I have a good one.
We were actually actually at theshop yesterday and we were
selling a mower.
(19:42):
So a lot of times we'll, youknow, sell old equipment or
equipment that we don't useanymore or we upgrade.
So one of the things that Iwould love to do probably do a
demo on one of these.
But just, you know, got anotherbrand new multi-force, which
you know is a great machine, sowe could do a review on that
coming up.
But we were selling anothermower and we were looking at our
(20:07):
.
You know there was this.
The person that was getting itactually drove to the lane and
then they looked at the lane andthey're like now, let me just
clarify, they came first to lookat the mower and test it out.
So it's the same person.
I got to be very clear aboutthis.
Came first, came to ourfacility.
Now we have tractor trailers.
I want to paint the pictureTractor trailers coming in,
(20:28):
sometimes one or two times a day, dropping off mulch, and they
can turn around and doeverything.
So I just want to paint thepicture of the facility.
We can get tractor trailers in.
They can do what they need todo.
This guy's in a pickup truckCame and looked at it, looked at
the motor, said I want it, I'lltake it.
Great, he comes back with themoney.
(20:48):
So that's good.
He brought the money.
We like that, gave it to ourfleet mechanic and that was good
.
But he comes back and he decidesyou what, this time I'm gonna
back in the driveway with atrailer.
So it took him 20 minutesbecause it has just a little bit
of a curve to it and we havelike some drainage stuff and
(21:09):
he's in the ditch.
He's, you know, for 20 minuteshe's backing up and finally he
gets back to get up the mowerand I'm like, are you kidding me
?
Like you just can't make it up.
You were there before.
You can see that there's plentyof room to navigate.
He decides to back up thedriveway and he can't back up
(21:29):
the driveway.
He's terrible.
It takes him 20 minutes.
Then, on top of that and I knowyou love this one, because when
you get on a new piece ofequipment, nobody just should
just take it super slow you wantto go full throttle as fast as
you can because you've neverused the equipment before.
It makes no sense.
So he gets it.
(21:50):
He's going to load in histrailer this was actually was a
you know a hydro walk behind.
He throws it in high.
You know a hydro walk behind.
He throws it in high.
Now throws it in high.
He's not familiar with thecontrols and almost crashes it
into his new truck.
You just can't make it up.
How about this idea?
You're not used to using apiece of equipment.
(22:13):
Put it in one or low and getthe feel of it first, maybe ask
a question.
But no, I want to back up thedriveway, make it as difficult
as possible, look like agoofball, and then a new piece
of equipment that I've neveroperated before.
I'm going to throw it in highand load on my trailer and
almost crash into my truck.
(22:33):
You can't make it up every day.
I love it.
You can't make it up every day.
I love it.
Share your best story.
Do you have one for today?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, I mean it's funny.
Again, you know, kind of on thesame scheme of things, you know
, I heard someone before sayingabout that they were going to.
They were, you know, askingabout a mower another mower that
we sold before, and they're alittle different.
Again, it was another walkbehind type a mower another
mower that we sold before, and,uh, they're a little different.
Again, it was another walkbehind type of mower.
(23:01):
And the guy mentioned that he,um, he has a property that's
like further away, um, insteadof like servicing the customer
regularly on a weekly basis,just like everyone else, and
cutting at a normal height, hewasn't sure how to adjust the
deck, because this deck's alittle bit different with a the
hydro walk behind, and he wantedto.
(23:22):
He wasn't quite sure and we'relike, yeah, you just adjust it
by pulling the pins and you liftit up or down.
And he said, oh well, we gotta,we gotta put it all the way
down because we gotta cut itshort, so we don't have to go
there as much, so we don't haveto worry there as much, so we
don't have to worry abouttraveling.
So again, there's there'sthere's a lot of good, um
landscapers out there andthere's a lot of bad landscapers
(23:43):
out there.
Um, and it that's a, that's athing where he was going to go
um, you know we talk about awind triangle but he was going
to go out and make it better forhim but make it way worse for
his customer by scalping thegrass.
More than likely he'll probablyend up killing it or at the
very least it's going to lookawful.
And then you know all kinds ofthings that come into that,
(24:10):
because you know he just wantedto make sure he could minimize
the driving out to that property, so he was basically going to
scalp it.
So, you know, you hear allkinds of crazy theories out
there and wild thoughts.
Um, and unfortunately you knowthere's some out there that give
, you know, give some of theother guys a bad name and a bad
rap.
So, um, that's the kind ofstuff here.
You know, like you said, you'refighting against in that low,
(24:32):
low bid.
You know it's usually thoseguys are, the are the low bid
ones, and then those are theresults you get.
So, um, you know it's usuallythose guys that are the low bid
ones and then those are theresults you get.
So you know, low bid more oftenthan not, is not going to work
out for you.
Maybe you get lucky every oncein a while, but usually you know
, with low bid people out, thereyou're going to get shoddy work
.
(24:52):
So that's a, that's a case forme that you can't make it up.
I mean, it was just like one ofthose things you just shake
your head to because this guy's,you know he's going to go out
and just scalp someone's yard,just because he's like, oh,
that'll, that'll, that'll makeit easier, and it just thought
it would be a okay.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
So you just sometimes you can't make it up you can't
make it up, if you have yours,send it in.
We're actually gonna compilethem together.
Do a try to get a champion ofyour story, so submit it to us.
We'd love to hear it.
Tag us like share, subscribe toour show so you get the latest
content.
We put out something prettymuch every day.
It's real stuff.
We want to help you grow andgrow your business by sharing
(25:30):
good, real content, learningfrom our mistakes, sharing some
of the things that we do welland some of the things that
we've learned over the yearssome of the things that we do
well and some of the things thatwe've learned over the years.
And also, if you're interestedin getting in a peer group or
getting some more betterprocesses for you to scale, to
grow not only your business butyour profits.
Reduce some weight on you asyour owners, your leaders, power
(25:51):
, your team.
Check out ILS, a great peergroup and operating system,
super affordable, and yeah, sowe'll see you tomorrow.
Thanks for tuning in and have agreat day.
Good morning everyone .
Landscape Talk here Just greatepisode today.
Just going to be talking aboutcurrent things, all spring
related.
It is Tuesday, I'm here withBrandon and we're going to dive
into some good things.
Hopefully you've been enjoyingthe content.
We've actually had a couplefunny you can't make it up and I
really love that.
The content.
(00:25):
We've actually had a couple offunny you can't make it up and I
really love that.
So if you're, if you're tuningin for the first time, one of
the things that we share a lotof times is the things that we
see.
You know you can't make it up,so I really love that.
If you're looking to grow yourlandscape business, the show is
sponsored by LOS.
It's a peer group combined witha landscape operating system.
You can, you know, scan the QRcode or check them out, really
(00:46):
helping getting processes inyour business so you can grow
your business and your profits.
So check them out.
Operating system with a peergroup.
So it's kind of the best ofboth worlds Super affordable.
So check them out.
Let them know if you want tojoin or get a demo there.
But, um, so what's going ontoday, ray?
(01:07):
What do you got?
What do you got going on today.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Looks like you're out and about yeah, yeah, out and
about.
Uh have some meetings and uhgot some.
We're doing some training, uhguys just making sure they're,
you know, up to speed on how wedo things and, just, you know,
always trying to help our teamgrow and just get a little bit
better each and every day.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So yeah, what, what you know, what does a?
You know.
Yesterday we actually talked alittle bit about, you know,
onboarding and bringing newpeople on and we talked a little
bit about the importance ofthat.
You know.
I think the other you knowtoday.
You know Tuesday morningmeeting.
(01:50):
You know what is.
You know to you what is theimportance of meetings and you
know, you know why do we do itand you know what was it like
maybe before meetings, like aTuesday morning meeting, who's
involved, what do we do?
And you know why is itbeneficial.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, so you know, for us, for meetings, you know,
usually a Tuesday morningmeeting it's, you know, all of
our field staff and our officestaff and leadership.
So you know, we just review,kind of go over a couple of key
components for the week.
Um, you know what's important.
We talk about a key topic.
(02:30):
We, you know, we talk about astory, um, and it all links up
to, you know, our, our, our keysof our company, our core values
, um, and it just tries to helpdrive home, like why we do some
of the things we do, um, why, uh, you know why things are
important and why's why we do it.
(02:51):
So everyone knows and they canall focus on on the mission and
get the work done.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I think one of the things that you know when I
think of it, I think of you knowactually church and the
announcements.
One of the things I think we'veused that analogy a lot of
times is like if you go to achurch and if you don't go to a
church, you're not familiar withchurch.
Typically, what happens isevery time you know, when you go
into a church service or it,probably you know a lot of
(03:35):
things.
They actually the first 10minutes, sometimes maybe even a
little longer, is like theannouncements, what's going on,
kind of bringing everybody up todate.
And I can remember you know theone church that you know I go
to.
You know they always go overtheir core pillars and some of
those things would be like maybeto serve.
(03:58):
They always talk about you knowgiving you know, because that's
important to make a church go.
That's how they make moneyright, and they always talk
about the same things to startoff every week, and I think
that's a great.
I think we've looked at some ofthose things and said, like,
you know, how do we give theannouncements and share, say the
same things over and over againso that it drives the mission
(04:20):
forward?
I mean, first you got to getclear on those things.
But the more people you know dothat you know, the better.
So I think that's you know,that's really you know really
good.
So what, what all are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I still have a couple of of quotes.
I got a quote to to knock out.
I got networking to do.
I've been meeting with apotential new customer and then
I have training to do with astaff member and then also go
out and just get some guys goingto review a job as well.
(04:58):
So pretty busy day.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, one of the things we talked about previous
and again.
If you're following along, ifyou're watching it daily, great,
you know.
Thanks for tuning in.
If you're not, you know, goback and watch some of the
episodes.
We actually talked about havinga balanced diet.
I think you said it is likefeeding all the you know the
cats or something.
So if you're interested inlearning about that or hearing
(05:23):
some of those funny things youknow, go back and check those
out.
You know, what have you foundto be successful?
I'm going back kind of to themorning, that morning meeting.
So, like on a Tuesday, you saidwe're bringing our staff
together, some of the leadership.
You know what has beensuccessful in there and you know
(05:43):
what impact has it made youknow in in the organization or
for the people um, I thinkclarity has been like a big
thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Um, that's been been really good for people just to
kind of know you know what thegoals are, um, like really
clearly Right, like what wouldbe an example maybe of something
that would help a field staff.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Because I think what I think what most people say is
I don't have time for that,right, so it goes back to the
time.
So if they don't understandwhat the value is of having a
staff meeting once a week, Ithink in the past we were in a
similar boat where we would belike, well, we don't have time
for that, we got to get out tothe job.
You're always scrambling or youfeel like you are until you get
(06:32):
some things in place, but likeI don't have time for that, our
guys have to deliver, we'rebehind, we have so much work.
You know all those things.
So I think you know for peopletuning in, you know I don't know
if there is a specific exampleof something that you've seen
guys improve or what the valueis, because I think at you know
most Scott, you know a lot ofcompanies that we see that are
(06:55):
interested.
I mean, it ranges, but we havea ton of companies that are
between that like one and 10employees.
You know that, that, that thattune, and we have organizations
that you know are from 10 to 50or whatever as well, but I think
when you're in that like one to10, one to 20, you know,
whatever it is, I think acompany that's like 50 starts to
(07:17):
realize like they need to dosomething and they need to bring
their people together.
But I think that the idea oflike these, this show and some
of the things that we're doingwe're trying to help your
business grow, and not only grow, but grow in profits and just
grow in everything, and I thinkyou know some of those meetings
get overlooked.
So just, I think, if they canrelate and say like hey, this is
(07:39):
an area that helped our guys,helped our company grow, maybe
they will, you know, pull acouple, you know their team
together and, um, you and youknow.
And I think the other thing toois we use a lot of buzzwords
within our, our company, like, Ithink we know what clarity is,
but I think if you could expandon, like what that means for the
(08:01):
staff, because I don't knowthat they always know, like
maybe some of our words of likehow it got, how it made it more
clear for us, what is it forthem that you think our staff
has like benefited from, which,in turn, served our customers
better.
Maybe the, you know, themanagement, everything Is there,
anything that kind of comes tomind, that is like helped, help
them or they could see it.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, I think it's.
I think it's like this reallife.
Like you know, we do, we reviewthe numbers from the previous
week and we just have open,honest conversations about you
know, wow, you guys killed it.
You know what went well, youknow, oh, we fell short here a
little bit and you know weweren't able to hit these goals
(08:46):
or the targets.
So I think, you know, one ofthe biggest things for us is
just like actually getting thescoreboard up there or knowing
the bullseye of what everyone'strying to hit and and, uh, you
know we relate to we were ableto review that and open it.
One thing I thought in the pastof you know, we have training
videos that we have everybody onboard and watch and do, and we
(09:10):
had a crew that was doingmulching and instead of like
dumping and spreading the mulch,like dumping a whole
wheelbarrow and then spreadingit out, they were taking it
pitchfork by pitchfork andsprinkling it on and they were
using less material, which wasgreat, but they were taking
(09:30):
about two to two to three timeslonger to spread it because they
were sprinkling everything onlike salt, like salt day was
reviewing the scorecard eachweek and reviewing, like, what
was going on with, um, you knowwhat they were hitting their
(09:53):
budgets or not hitting theirbudgets You're like Whoa,
something's off here.
Like you guys are way overwhat's going on.
Let's talk about it.
Let's walk through the processof like why we're not, why we're
not being successful, and weare able to figure that out.
And we're like, wow, you know,that's a great thing for us to
figure out, because if not, ifwe just let that go, um, and the
pot just keeps boiling over andboiling over, we'd come back to
(10:16):
the stove and wonder why thestove's a mess, instead of like,
you know, there's some keyindicators where we heard, you
know, the water, we heard it, uh, sizzle a little bit, and we're
(10:37):
like whoa, what's that that?
And we went out and checked thepot.
Um, you know, that's that'swhat we did in those scenarios.
Um, and you know I'm a I'm a bigguy for like, proponent for, uh
, for using like analogies andstuff, so I do that all the time
, but to to me, like that waslike a big deal because it's
just able to like we were ableto correct things before they
get out of control.
And then we we also are bytraining guys on this.
They're able to self-correct alot of times, which is huge.
(11:00):
So, like anytime, someone canyou know, handle and do
something themselves, ratherthan us have to do it, it's you
know or us to point it out.
That's, that's amazing.
So you know, anytime thosethings happen, it's really good.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
The other thing I think about is, you know,
communication.
So I I really so as a as aleader, as a you know business
coach and advisor to you knowpeople across the country, as I
hear things like I really get Idon't like the buzzwords, so
like the buzzwords drive mecrazy because they don't mean
(11:31):
anything and people don'tunderstand them.
So communication they're likewe need to improve communication
.
When a customer says that to us, it drives me bonkers because
the first thing I say is like,tell me more.
Like what do you mean?
Like communication?
Was it texting?
Was it updates for the service?
Was it post stuff, stuff?
Was it checking in?
Was it bringing you donuts?
Was it like what does that mean?
(11:53):
I don't know what that means.
Like I don't like that becauseI mean that's a whole nother
topic to to dive into.
But you know, the idea is wehave to communicate with our
people and that that weeklycheck-in is a way to.
Hey, we're gonna have a burgerday.
We're going to have a burgerday.
We're going to have a team day.
Hey, we're off this weekbecause there's a holiday on
(12:15):
Monday.
Hey, we're remember this.
Here's a highlight.
Here's some of the work you'vedone.
Here's, here's all these thingsthat are going on, and it's
just one time to just, you know,kind of rally together a little
bit and and just like, almostlike, celebrate, you know,
celebrate or just educate, and Ithink it's really important to
(12:37):
try to get them involved andshare.
I can think of, you know, thismorning.
So we have a, we have a a textresponse system.
So, again, these are thingsthat we learned through being in
peer groups and communicatingwith other people and and doing
these things.
So, again, you know, shout outto our friends at LOS and, um,
(13:00):
you know, if you're interestedin some of these things like
this is where it comes from.
So, like we, we, we learned inthe journey and uh, but one of
the things we have is a textresponse system.
So, like we TRS, when our crewsgo out, they send a message to
the people where they're goingand then they can interact
through a central thing.
(13:20):
It's not on their phone, likefrom their phone number, it's
from the company phone number.
But we had an example thatthere was a guy he checked in
amazing, great job and thecustomer actually said hey, you
know, could you take care ofwhat was it?
Was it tulips or something Ithink it was, or some tulips or
whatever he wanted removed orsome things.
(13:41):
The guy went and took care ofit because it was direct thing.
So think about efficiency,saving money.
We didn't have to come back andmaybe even build a customer or
whatever, because we could justhandle it on the job.
It was that's what retainscustomers.
But as we were looking throughthe log we didn't see a response
.
So we reached, we reached outto the person and he said hey, I
(14:06):
did take care of that, but Iforgot to message the customer.
So he messaged the customerthen and we used that as an
example and the other peoplecould see a real world example
of why it's important and wherewe kind of fell short.
Again, I think another you know,some morning it would be good
to talk about like calling ballsand strikes, as I call it, but,
(14:29):
like you know, really holdingpeople accountable.
And I think in the meetingtoday we asked, like you know,
can we share your story?
And he was like, yeah, sure.
So I think other people learn.
I think it's just a way ofbringing the team together.
So when you think ofcommunication, like, how do you
communicate?
And then you know, are youmeeting and rallying your people
(14:49):
?
You know, another episode orsomething to talk about is the
format of that, because there'sa format that keeps people
engaged and efficient.
But I would encourage you tomeet Any other things that you
think would be beneficial toshare about, like kind of that
weekly meeting that we do weekly, or yeah, I mean, I think, I
(15:15):
think it's like you know,obviously we highlight people
that are doing a good job.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
You know, we try to do a little bit of a mini
training in there.
It's like you know, here's acouple of things we're seeing or
here's a couple of things youmight run into.
This time of year, we just tryto post photos, to just try to
bring awareness to some thingsbased on, like, feedback that
we're getting from the guys, ormaybe quality checks that we're
seeing.
So it's just like a real, it'sa real good time to just
(15:42):
highlight, hey, these are somethings you might see, these are
some things you might run into.
Here's are some things you guysshould watch out for, cause
we're just trying to reallysupport our people, to be them,
for them to be as successful aspossible, to look to deliver a
great product for our customer,um, you know, and for for the,
for the guys to be successful,and so, and as well as the
(16:03):
company.
So, um, it's a really good time.
It's not a huge long meeting, um, you know, I think we keep it
probably about 20 minutes, 15minutes, something like that, um
, but it's just a good time tojust, um, you know, check in
with everyone, kind of highlightsome things, and if the guys
are seeing something, they'reabsolutely able to bring that up
(16:25):
.
They're like, hey, this issomething I've seen.
And then, you know, if we thinkit's something good for the
group, we'll discuss it right atthat point and we'll say, hey,
that's kind of like anindividual thing, maybe just
related to your property.
You know, right after we wrapthe meeting up, I'll talk to you
about that directly and we can,you know, solve it for them.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
So yeah, yeah.
So ton of ton of value inmeeting.
You know you want to create aculture of you know getting
feedback.
You know I know you know we'llprobably talk about our.
You know you know profitsharing.
You know that we implementedfor our team, but you know we'll
probably talk about our.
You know you know profitsharing.
You know that we implementedfor our team, but you know I can
think of in that meeting eventoday.
(17:05):
You know one of the one of themembers said something about hey
, you know we might be able tolike improve a route, and I just
love that because you know,when you have your people
starting to think like owners,or you know they start to care
because there's a there, youknow, if they get a little bit
more efficient, they canactually get paid more, make
more.
So I really love that.
(17:26):
You know we struggled a lot ofyears to figure out like what
you know what would work andsomething that was simple.
Again, that doesn't mean wehave it all figured out and
(17:52):
that's why we do this.
We just talk about you know,talk about things openly.
But or I'm going to payattention to the route to see if
it could be adjusted better,and I just think that that's,
that's awesome and uh, you know,when you do that, that allows
it to grow.
And I think, like silos, I mean, people are meant to be
together and to like talk andinteract and and do those things
(18:15):
and so many times you have a aone person, a two person, a
three person crew and to geteverybody together just in that
morning is just a checklist andconnection.
I mean there's, you know Ithink you shared it before too
but you know, there's timeswhere they just don't see, you
(18:36):
know you, they don't see me,they don't see.
So you know I, you know, as a,as an owner leader, I try to
make sure that I'm there, youknow, most of the times, so that
I can at least just say, hey,how you doing and do that, and
that I think that you know,hopefully that means something
to the people that you're tryingto build a culture and show
(18:59):
that it's important to be thereand get to see where they might
not.
So if they know you're going tobe there, it just is just a
good thing or they're just likewhat do these people do?
You know, we have that frictionof the office versus the field
that we see in a lot ofcompanies.
So, anything else about themeeting, hey, what, what is?
Uh, I mean, I know I have one,maybe I'll start.
(19:22):
Uh, you know, you just can'tmake it up.
Um, you know, again, this isthings that you see throughout
the day, things that you've seenin other companies or whatever,
and you're just like are youkidding me?
You just can't make this up.
So I'll start today.
I have a good one.
We were actually actually at theshop yesterday and we were
selling a mower.
(19:42):
So a lot of times we'll, youknow, sell old equipment or
equipment that we don't useanymore or we upgrade.
So one of the things that Iwould love to do probably do a
demo on one of these.
But just, you know, got anotherbrand new multi-force, which
you know is a great machine, sowe could do a review on that
coming up.
But we were selling anothermower and we were looking at our
(20:07):
.
You know there was this.
The person that was getting itactually drove to the lane and
then they looked at the lane andthey're like now, let me just
clarify, they came first to lookat the mower and test it out.
So it's the same person.
I got to be very clear aboutthis.
Came first, came to ourfacility.
Now we have tractor trailers.
I want to paint the pictureTractor trailers coming in,
(20:28):
sometimes one or two times a day, dropping off mulch, and they
can turn around and doeverything.
So I just want to paint thepicture of the facility.
We can get tractor trailers in.
They can do what they need todo.
This guy's in a pickup truckCame and looked at it, looked at
the motor, said I want it, I'lltake it.
Great, he comes back with themoney.
(20:48):
So that's good.
He brought the money.
We like that, gave it to ourfleet mechanic and that was good
.
But he comes back and he decidesyou what, this time I'm gonna
back in the driveway with atrailer.
So it took him 20 minutesbecause it has just a little bit
of a curve to it and we havelike some drainage stuff and
(21:09):
he's in the ditch.
He's, you know, for 20 minuteshe's backing up and finally he
gets back to get up the mowerand I'm like, are you kidding me
?
Like you just can't make it up.
You were there before.
You can see that there's plentyof room to navigate.
He decides to back up thedriveway and he can't back up
(21:29):
the driveway.
He's terrible.
It takes him 20 minutes.
Then, on top of that and I knowyou love this one, because when
you get on a new piece ofequipment, nobody just should
just take it super slow you wantto go full throttle as fast as
you can because you've neverused the equipment before.
It makes no sense.
So he gets it.
(21:50):
He's going to load in histrailer this was actually was a
you know a hydro walk behind.
He throws it in high.
You know a hydro walk behind.
He throws it in high.
Now throws it in high.
He's not familiar with thecontrols and almost crashes it
into his new truck.
You just can't make it up.
How about this idea?
You're not used to using apiece of equipment.
(22:13):
Put it in one or low and getthe feel of it first, maybe ask
a question.
But no, I want to back up thedriveway, make it as difficult
as possible, look like agoofball, and then a new piece
of equipment that I've neveroperated before.
I'm going to throw it in highand load on my trailer and
almost crash into my truck.
(22:33):
You can't make it up every day.
I love it.
You can't make it up every day.
I love it.
Share your best story.
Do you have one for today?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, I mean it's funny.
Again, you know, kind of on thesame scheme of things, you know
, I heard someone before sayingabout that they were going to.
They were, you know, askingabout a mower another mower that
we sold before, and they're alittle different.
Again, it was another walkbehind type a mower another
mower that we sold before, and,uh, they're a little different.
Again, it was another walkbehind type of mower.
(23:01):
And the guy mentioned that he,um, he has a property that's
like further away, um, insteadof like servicing the customer
regularly on a weekly basis,just like everyone else, and
cutting at a normal height, hewasn't sure how to adjust the
deck, because this deck's alittle bit different with a the
hydro walk behind, and he wantedto.
(23:22):
He wasn't quite sure and we'relike, yeah, you just adjust it
by pulling the pins and you liftit up or down.
And he said, oh well, we gotta,we gotta put it all the way
down because we gotta cut itshort, so we don't have to go
there as much, so we don't haveto worry there as much, so we
don't have to worry abouttraveling.
So again, there's there'sthere's a lot of good, um
landscapers out there andthere's a lot of bad landscapers
(23:43):
out there.
Um, and it that's a, that's athing where he was going to go
um, you know we talk about awind triangle but he was going
to go out and make it better forhim but make it way worse for
his customer by scalping thegrass.
More than likely he'll probablyend up killing it or at the
very least it's going to lookawful.
And then you know all kinds ofthings that come into that,
(24:10):
because you know he just wantedto make sure he could minimize
the driving out to that property, so he was basically going to
scalp it.
So, you know, you hear allkinds of crazy theories out
there and wild thoughts.
Um, and unfortunately you knowthere's some out there that give
, you know, give some of theother guys a bad name and a bad
rap.
So, um, that's the kind ofstuff here.
You know, like you said, you'refighting against in that low,
(24:32):
low bid.
You know it's usually thoseguys are, the are the low bid
ones, and then those are theresults you get.
So, um, you know it's usuallythose guys that are the low bid
ones and then those are theresults you get.
So you know, low bid more oftenthan not, is not going to work
out for you.
Maybe you get lucky every oncein a while, but usually you know
, with low bid people out, thereyou're going to get shoddy work
.
(24:52):
So that's a, that's a case forme that you can't make it up.
I mean, it was just like one ofthose things you just shake
your head to because this guy's,you know he's going to go out
and just scalp someone's yard,just because he's like, oh,
that'll, that'll, that'll makeit easier, and it just thought
it would be a okay.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
So you just sometimes you can't make it up you can't
make it up, if you have yours,send it in.
We're actually gonna compilethem together.
Do a try to get a champion ofyour story, so submit it to us.
We'd love to hear it.
Tag us like share, subscribe toour show so you get the latest
content.
We put out something prettymuch every day.
It's real stuff.
We want to help you grow andgrow your business by sharing
(25:30):
good, real content, learningfrom our mistakes, sharing some
of the things that we do welland some of the things that
we've learned over the yearssome of the things that we do
well and some of the things thatwe've learned over the years.
And also, if you're interestedin getting in a peer group or
getting some more betterprocesses for you to scale, to
grow not only your business butyour profits.
Reduce some weight on you asyour owners, your leaders, power
(25:51):
, your team.
Check out ILS, a great peergroup and operating system,
super affordable, and yeah, sowe'll see you tomorrow.
Thanks for tuning in and have agreat day.
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