Voice of the Green Industry

When I became PLANET president last year, I truly didn’t have any idea how the year would unfold. As a long-time lawn care professional and supporter of PLANET, I have a vested interest in the industry, and thought that serving as president would give me an opportunity to promote and help improve the industry. Hopefully, I’ve done my share in that regard and have made a difference. 

What I didn’t know or even expect was how being in this position would impact me both personally and professionally. Over the year, which by the way sailed by incredibly fast, I’ve met new friends, stretched myself socially and intellectually, and have had so many great experiences. I’m living proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks, and I have PLANET to thank for that.

At the professional level, think about why most of us join PLANET, go to events, and volunteer. Yes, we all want to give something back to our chosen profession and industry. Even more important, though, and immediate, is our desire to learn more about the industry, grow our businesses, and help ensure our families and our employees’ families have a bright future. I can say that being PLANET president, and being part of this fine organization over the years, has been invaluable in this regard.

Where else can you exchange business ideas and benchmark with peers? Where else can you develop relationships with people who think like you and have many of the same challenges you have? Where else can you share ideas and find answers to your most pressing questions in a nonthreatening and noncompetitive environment? The answer is nowhere else but here.

PLANET offers all its members a unique opportunity to grow, and volunteering to be on committees and participating in leadership expands that opportunity several fold. And, even though I’ve been in PLANET leadership for several years, what I experienced over those years is only a microcosm of what I’ve experienced this past year. Being PLANET president is like condensing several years of participating on committees, going to events, and making new friends and associates into one fantastic year. 

Highlights for me? Oh, I’ve had several, but I think my favorite one involves attacking the strategic plan and the challenges associated with getting it up and running. I’ll leave it to my successor Norman Goldenberg, Landscape Industry Certified Technician, to follow through with this important agenda item. It is in good hands.

Jerry Grossi, Landscape Industry Certified

2011/2012 PLANET President

April is National Lawn Care month!  This month let’s celebrate all of the great things lawns provide for our companies and our customers. We have all heard about the great benefits lawns have on society and the environment. In our communities and on the news we continue to hear the perceived negatives about our industry and the services we provide. This month let’s stand up and show the world all of the great things we do and how we actually are acting as professionally trained, environmental improvement focused good stewards. I challenge each one of you to make a difference this month and spend some time educating your staff and especially your customers of the many benefits properly maintained turf. When you spend time educating a customer you have an opportunity to gain an advocate for our industry as well as continue to grow a professional relationship with them that will prove to add to your bottom line. 

Below are just a few facts about the many benefits of properly maintained turf you can use to talk with your clients as well as a few ideas on how to add some green to your pocket with “Green Services”

Properly maintained lawns:

1.      Increase property values as much as 18%

In the 2011 Husqvarna Global Gardening Report it was reported that 60% of Americans consider their yard an investment and 72% believe that someone in the neighborhood has a better looking yard than they do.

This is promising for professional lawn care companies.  This information tells us that people care about their lawns enough to consider it an investment and be worried about where they rank in the neighborhood.  This can be used to our advantage when selling lawn care in that we can develop marketing pieces and scripts that speak to exactly what the consumer wants

2.      Provide cooling, water /air filtering, and carbon sequestering

Healthy lawns are known to be up to 30 degrees cooler than asphalt surfaces and 3 degrees cooler than bare dirt.  This helps reduce electricity use for cooling of homes.  Lawns trap and hold run off after a storm and filter contaminants in the water as it slowly recharges the ground water supply.  Think of turf as a giant air filter removing dust and air pollutants making the air safer to breath for our children and families.  Well maintained lawns will consume 5 – 7 times more carbon than the carbon output of mowing.

3.      Reduce Stress and increase mental health

It is well known that well maintained lawns and landscapes have a positive calming effect on people.  In today’s fast paced and highly stressful climate it is more important than ever that people can relax when they are away from work at their homes.

Green Friendly Add Ons

1.      Core Aeration and Topdressing- increase soil microbial activity and will aid in reducing the carbon foot print the customer has.

2.      Lawn Over Seeding- Increases overall turf density leaving the lawn less susceptible to insects and weed invasion which will reduce the use of pesticides

3.      Soil Testing – one of the most important things you can do to make sure a customer can achieve a beautiful healthy lawn without the overuse of fertilizers or pesticides.  You must know what the individual lawns requirements are before you can properly form a plan.

4.      Irrigation Audits – Use this service to help your clients save money on water as well as conserve a valuable resource.

5.      Irrigation Updates and Maintenance – By simply updating old and worn out heads, emitters, and control panels customers can save lots of money on their water bill.  Also, think about adding more service appointments to you annual start up and shut down program to keep heads properly adjusted and timers set properly throughout the season.   It’s a win win for your company and the customer.

At the beginning of a new year, everyone in the industry takes a closer look at cutting costs regardless of how well they did the previous year. Generally we view cutting costs as more money in our pocket as long as we don’t negatively impact the value of what we deliver. Many of us look at cutting costs as a one-time event; you have two administrators that aren’t working very hard, so you dump one and give the other a raise to do the work load of the two. Or, you have traditionally spent 5% on marketing so you cut that by a third and save thousands. These seem like no brainers in the short term but in the long run can have disastrous repercussions. The one highly paid administrator will get burnt out as the business grows, or less new work walks in the front door as brand recognition drops with a cut in marketing.

Lean as defined in PLANET’s Crystal Ball Report #26 titled, Lean Management for the Green Industry, recommends a long term perspective on cutting costs. Instead of looking at what can we cut to put more money in our pocket, we ask ourselves how can we create a culture where all the players look for better ways to provide goods and services so that the client gets more for the same, and/or at less cost to the company?

The importance of this approach is if the company “team” sees that you are willing to fire one person when less busy to save money, then the players will view themselves as a risk and instead of looking for more efficient ways to do work, engage in busy work so they are not at risk. How many times have you seen a crew busy accomplishing less than needs to be done because they are not thinking about the big picture? Examples of this would be loading the truck so that the equipment and/or materials needed for the first job are in the back of the truck, trimming hedges after blowing debris off the lawn, dumping all the receipts into one “in box” without delineating who the purchases were made for, etc. “Busy work” and unconsciously doing things the way they have always been done are the biggest source of waste in any company.

In a “Lean” focused company, the emphasis is always on doing the work efficiently, but never at the expense of the client or crew. To do this, your team needs to know that if ten guys service the same accounts ten percent more efficiently, that rather than fire one of those guys you will use the extra time to look for more effiencies, and give the customer more value. Happier customers means more referrals and more work, eventually you will be servicing ten percent more clients with the same crew and making more money AND have a team that is engaged in the idea of cutting waste while delivering better service. Bonuses and profit sharing during those successes will help this process along of course.

There are many more examples and case studies that can be found in PLANET’s library of Crystal Ball Reports. If you haven’t taken a moment to browse through the 30 books, I encourage you to do so and find some new and lean ways of conducting your business.

I recently visited our certification partners to the north. Last summer as an auditor for the Landscape Industry Certified Technician-Exterior exam test site in Milton, Ontario, administered by Landscape Ontario and this February as a liaison for the International Certification Council (ICC) attending the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association’s (CNLA) Certification Committee meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

For years the U.S. and Canada have been certification partners, especially with the Manager and Technician certification programs. As in the states, the Technician-Exterior (formerly CLT-E) exam is the top draw in Canada. Over 1,280 actively hold this credential in Canada, bringing the total certified Technician count in North America to nearly 4,000. With other designations combined, more than 5,300 are Landscape Industry Certified worldwide.

The pride and commitment that both our organizations show to the Landscape Industry Certified program is amazing. As I attended the CNLA Certification Committee meeting this winter, my colleagues gave their reports, tackled several hot-button issues, and rallied round to pool their resources and bright ideas to advance certification – our common goal and passion. As ICC representative alongside PLANET Certification Director Karen Barnett, we were honored to have a seat at this collaborative table. We gave our report and the synergy between our associations was in high gear.

You see this passion for certification vividly displayed on Technician-Exterior test sites skillfully administered by state and provincial licensees. Dozens of volunteers work hand-in-hand with staff to set up the test site and conduct testing across our two countries. These state and provincial association licensees work long and hard to put on this test. Why do they do it? I invite you to find the answers by watching an excellent video highlighting the value of certification produced by licensee California Landscape Contractors Association and supported by PLANET that captures their efforts in a way words can’t describe.

Though on a personal level, I can say that earning my certification a few years ago has set me on a course that has benefitted my career, opened up many opportunities and introduced me to many people in the industry that I would have never met otherwise. These individuals have become friends and associates on a mutual quest to better ourselves and our profession.

I hope in reading this, you’ll join us on this mission and become certified. My story – and those of my certified colleagues – can easily be yours. I am a Landscape Industry Certified Manager & Technician but it was the Technician designation I sought first. I was the first to pass the test in Ohio so I had “celebrity” status from the start. This helped me to get involved, take on leadership roles, and improve my understanding of this field. I learned to question how I’d done things to that point. The answers I found pushed me to another level in my job knowledge and performance. I wanted to coach and mentor more. For a trainer, those are critical qualities.

After passing the exam, I wanted to be a part of the certification process. I wanted to get involved and help others see the rewards I was enjoying from earning this credential. I became a test site judge, evaluator and auditor – now chair-elect of the ICC. As I said earlier, the friendships, acquaintances and contacts I’ve made along my certification journey have been incredible…and fun!

There’s no better way to show your knowledge than through this hands-on test. It’s dynamic and rewarding. Besides the benefits to you personally and professionally, an employer with certified staff on board can proudly boast the qualities of their team. It’s a competitive advantage, a resume builder, a potential compensation booster and it’s yours to keep throughout your career as long as you maintain it every two years through recertification.

In this Olympic year, go for the gold of our industry…earn your Landscape Industry Certified designation today. Good luck!

David Hupman, Landscape Industry Certified Manager & Technician, is a production specialist with Brickman in Loveland, Ohio. He is a trainer for Brickman offices in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Kansas. As a pastime, he enjoys officiating soccer and hunting deer.  In his role as chair-elect of PLANET’s International Certification Council, he serves as the ICC liaison to the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association Certification Committee. To learn more about certification, contact PLANET at certification@landcarenetwork.org or at (800) 395.2522. Visit the certification center at LandcareNetwork.org.

Before the invention of the magnetic compass, people plotted their journey into new territory by dead reckoning or by celestial bodies like the sun or the North Star. Others followed herds of game or their instincts in search of fertile lands. Centuries later, with the introduction of the compass and map charting capabilities, travelers venturing into new areas could follow the trails of earlier explorers, thereby making their passages much less uncertain and perilous.

Today we have global positioning satellite applications for cars, iPads, phones and even digital cameras. So it is a little ironic in this time of instantly available information for anyone who can spell “Google” to be wandering without guidance in the wilderness of the 21st Century business world. However, almost every business man and woman experiences this phenomenon daily, especially the start-up entrepreneur. I may be the guiltiest person around regarding this provincial behavior pattern. Because of my many years of corporate experience, I thought I knew everything there was to know about starting up and running a small business. Not only did my arrogance camouflage my ignorance, I also believed myself to be a sole pioneer in charting out new territories. In reality I was lost in the wilderness - going in circles and in some cases in reverse. That is until I joined PLANET and began networking with the leaders of the green industry. Upon attending my first Green Industry Conference, it became perfectly clear that I did not have a monopoly on dealing with difficult challenges nor was I alone on this seemingly endless path. I met numerous individuals who had successfully traversed this journey before me, and, best of all, they were more than willing to share their experiences and provide guidance. The power to network with one’s peers has proven to be an incredible force in plotting one’s future.

The opportunity to learn from the experience of others is not just limited to attending conferences, having breakfasts with champions, or watching educational webinars. These are important and widely recognized venues for improving one’s professional knowledge base. But an equally important resource, which must be one of the best keep secrets of the PLANET Universe, is the intellectual treasure trove of information contained in 30 individual Crystal Ball reports available from the PLANET Bookstore. These reports have been produced over the past 35 years by the Crystal Ball subcommittee and published for general distribution to PLANET members. Each report is focused on a specific subject of special interest to the green industry. The committee was composed of experts in the field of study from both land care operators and other professionals from outside our industry who contributed to and helped write the documents. Bottom line, Crystal Ball reports are the best source of information on the chosen topic regarding green industry issues. No other publication can provide the focused know-how, given in layman’s terms by actual operators and contractors, available in these reports.

Here is a sampling of some recent reports that have timely and important information for anyone struggling to navigate in these challenging times.

-      Crystal Ball Report # 30, Innovate (or Die): How Green Industry Companies Will Thrive in the New Economy - Are lowball bidders ripping up your bottom line like piranhas in a feeding frenzy? Learn how green industry companies have innovated their way to success.

-      Crystal Ball Report # 29, Green Industry ECOnomics: Innovating Toward a Sustainable and Profitable Future - Learn how to reclaim the green in the green industry and improve your operating efficiency while leaving a green footprint.

-      Crystal Ball Report # 28, Marketing: Invent Your Future - Pouring your marketing and advertising dollars down a black hole? Are you frustrated by your marketing program? Learn what the experts have to say in this provocative report.

-      Crystal Ball Report # 26, Lean Management for the Green Industry, An Operational Strategy That Delivers Value to Customers and Eliminates Waste. Learn lean management principles that have been adapted specifically for green industry operators. A valuable reference in your journey to increase operating efficiencies and reduce waste.

Do not be like me when I first started in business - wandering in the wilderness needing help without even realizing it. Think of each Crystal Ball Report as a peer networking group in a pocket-size book that you can refer to for guidance any time you feel lost in today’s chaotic business world. Order multiple copies today! You may find these books along with the others in PLANET’s bookstore. For more information about the Crystal Ball, visit LandcareNetwork.org.

As many of you already know, PLANET and PGMS have extended their contracts (and partnerships) with OPEI/GIE+EXPO through 2018. Yes, we enjoy working with both OPEI and PGMS, but that in and of itself would never be reason enough to commit to several more years in Louisville. Instead, the move happens to be a very sound business decision from several perspectives, not the least of which include the venue, the trade show, and PLANET’s educational program.

Let’s start with the venue. Louisville is a midlatitude city that is within driving distance for 60 percent of America’s population. The distance, or lack of distance, is very important to many of our smaller company members who make up a large portion of PLANET’s membership. Simply put, they cannot afford the airfare and neither can many larger companies that have been forced to cut back in recent years. Familiarity with host facilities and downtown Louisville allows advance planning with no surprises, thereby enhancing one’s stay and networking opportunities.

Louisville also sports one of only nine facilities east of the Mississippi that could house the GIE+EXPO, which is now the ninth largest trade show in the country. Furthermore, the other facilities do not offer the outdoor demonstration area that Louisville offers or are as affordable, allowing PLANET to keep registration costs low.

The partnership has been instrumental in creating a quality trade show that continues to attract all segments of the green industry, from top vendors and dealers to association members and other landscape professionals. Last year, that number totaled 18,500, allowing the PLANET brand to reach a broad audience.  

Two years ago, the show attracted another trade group, Hardscape North America. The new exhibitors and an expanded educational program created even more value for attendees.    

This brings us to the important educational perspective. When PLANET and its legacy groups sponsored their own shows, they were much smaller with a limited number of seminars, workshops, and other learning opportunities. Many of our members come to Louisville and GIE+EXPO for the educational experience presented by the Green Industry Conference. Frankly, the depth and breadth of that experience wouldn’t be possible without the support of our sponsors, the trade show, and our partnership with OPEI.

Education is only one of the enhanced member benefits created by the trade show’s positive revenue stream. The profit PLANET brings home goes directly to support other products and services, including an expanded certification program, industry lobbying efforts, a better website, and more resources. In this economy especially, there is not another partnership model that allows the same financial reward as well as support of our supplier members.

I admit the renewed partnership was not welcomed in every corner. It has a few detractors from those who suffer from “Louisville fatigue.” The syndrome usually surfaces in attendees who like to double up their convention time with vacation or use the event as a way to reward staff members. Staying in the same hotels, eating in the same restaurants, and seeing the same sights for them can bring on symptoms. The cure, of course, is to take stock in what the partnership with the city and the GIE+EXPO returns to PLANET members and the overall green industry.

Any partnership, of course, is not a one-way street. The GIE+EXPO, for example, benefits from having PLANET members attend the trade show, and the city’s hotel and restaurant owners enjoy the additional traffic members bring in.

Still, it’s not all about revenue. Knowing that we will be in Louisville for the foreseeable future, PLANET wanted to do something for the city. Hence, on the Wednesday of last year’s GIC, we launched the first annual Louisville community service project called PLANET Gives Back. Approximately 40 PLANET volunteers teamed up with Metro United Way, a local United Way affiliate, to enhance four downtown facilities.

Any partnership has to pay dividends to all partners. Our relationship with OPEI and GIE+EXPO is a win-win for everyone, and that’s a winning formula for a long-lasting relationship.

Happy 2012! PLANET is excited about the upcoming year, and is looking forward to serving you for another year. While 2012 promises to be full of education, events, and networking, the accomplishments of 2011 have surely helped to get us where we are today.

In the spring, planning started for the inaugural PLANET Gives Back, our newest community service project. In October, during the Green Industry Conference, the months spent planning and coordinating came together as close to 40 volunteers worked to enhance four downtown Louisville sites in four hours. Everyone involved was pleased with the results, and it is our hope that PLANET Gives Back can grow to become an annual event.

In the summer, discussions started on developing a new consumer-based Web site, in addition to the existing LandcareNetwork.org. The new site will be geared toward helping consumers find PLANET members who can meet their land care needs, as well as toward answering frequently asked questions, educating them about the PLANET community, providing tips and breaking news, and promoting the importance of certification for lawn care professionals. It is our goal that this new Web site be launched in summer 2012.

In early fall, PLANET officially announced we had adopted a New York City park. Located at the intersections of Laight, Canal, and Varick streets in Manhattan, Capsouto Park is where firefighters and law enforcement officials staged their rescue and recovery efforts on September 11, 2001. At that time, the area was an asphalt parking lot. Since 9/11, PLANET (at the time, ALCA) had worked with the City of New York to build a park on this lot and had raised $86,000 to contribute to the project. After much work and design, the park now includes plantings and contemporary benches around wide walkways, and a 114-foot long sculptural fountain. The overall design won an Excellence in Design award from the New York City Public Design Commission in 2007. PLANET will assist with funding maintenance of the park for the next four years.  

Also, in the fall, the Community Stewardship Award was added to the Awards program. This award aims to inspire members to become leaders in their communities at a grassroots level, and to raise awareness and encourage others to improve the quality of life in their communities, and demonstrate the value of environmental stewardship. Details about this award will be available soon, so stay tuned!

In October, right before GIC, we were delighted to learn that our Director of Government Affairs, Tom Delaney, was named one of the eight most influential people in the green industry by Landscape & Irrigation magazine. The program recognizes those who have had an impact on other green industry professionals. Delaney was honored at GIC, as well as in the January issue of Landscape & Irrigation.

Delaney has also been influential in working toward two major green industry victories last year. The first victory came in November with the Environmental Protection Agency’s removal of the 40 percent turfgrass restriction from the WaterSense program’s landscape specifications. The second came in December with President Obama’s intent to sign into law a bill that will prohibit the implementation of the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) H-2B wage rule for the remainder of fiscal year 2012, which runs through September 30, 2012. The average increase in hourly wage costs as a result of the rule is 40 percent. Members fear that the final rule will stunt, if not reverse, the growth of PLANET’s H-2B members’ businesses and the career opportunities of their year-round U.S. workers.

Last, but certainly not least, PLANET welcomed nearly 300 new members in October alone, following GIC. We are excited to have so many more green industry professionals, students, and state associations join us, and hope that all members continue to take advantage of the educational, networking, and fun events in 2012. We are proud of what we have accomplished, and excited about what the future holds.

Several years ago, we were hearing from other companies in our industry about the Trailblazer program. They said that they were meeting great industry leaders and learning new innovative ideas from these leaders. So, we gave the Trailblazer program a try. The PLANET Trailblazer program has been immensely helpful to our company.

The Trailblazer program allows members to tap into some of the industry’s best business people. Through our involvement in the program, we have met with other great business owners, like Maurice Dowell of Dowco Enterprises, Inc., and Jeffery Scott from Landscape Success Systems.  In particular, the first year we participated in the program, we were teamed up with the former president of PLANET, Jason Cupp.   Jason was excellent to work with.  The expertise and experience he brought to the table helped change the way we hire and manage our employees. Jason’s ideas were such a success that he is now one of our regular consultants and a member on our company’s Board of Advisors. 

All of the various people and the companies involved in the Trailblazer program constantly amaze us with their willingness to share information and to provide advice in helping our company to solve our problems. This advantage is a great way to help your company grow intelligently. 

Josh Kane, Landscape Industry Certified Manager, President, Kane Landscapes, Inc.

As a member of PLANET, you probably already know about most of the great benefits that they have to offer. Most of us have attended at least a few events that PLANET has to offer, but only a few have taken advantage of what I consider the best kept secret in PLANET. So what is the best kept secret of PLANET? It’s the Trailblazer program!  If you have not taken advantage of the Trailblazer program yet, now is the time to check it out.

I have been in the landscape industry for over 25 years and I still love using the Trailblazer program. I have used the program several times now. The one thing I can say is if I never took advantage of the Trailblazer program I would not be where I am today.

Our experience with the program has been nothing but positive. Whether you are just starting out or you have been in the business for years, having someone come in a look at your company from a different point of view is priceless.

Trailblazers come into your business armed with a wealth of information. They can help identify problems in your business that you may not even know about. They will then offer real world experience on how to correct those problems.

If you take the information that they share with you and use it you will definitely see improvement in your company. A day with a Trailblazer can take years off your learning curve.

The Trailblazer program is by far the best kept secret in PLANET. For more information on the program, plan to attend the Trailblazer Program 101 webinar on December 15. Veteran Trailblazer Jim McCutcheon will be providing an overview of the program, as well as answering any questions PLANET members and nonmembers have.

Don’t miss your opportunity to be a part of this program. Sign up today and keep your company growing.

Jeff Rak, Landscape Industry Certified Manager,
Land Creations Landscaping, Inc.

As the weather turns cold on the East Coast, the summer sun is just a memory. But, rather than pining away for those lazy, hazy, crazy days this year, PLANET members have the chance to soak up the sun in March at the Green Industry Great Escape (GIGE) in Nassau.

Like its predecessor, the GIGE (formerly known as the Executive Forum) is an annual destination meeting for upper-level management, owners, and key personnel. It is scheduled for March 1–4 at the Atlantis Resort & Casino, Paradise Island, Bahamas, and this year’s format will focus on informal educational opportunities and peer-to-peer education, as well as networking opportunities and interaction.

But, unlike its predecessor, the GIGE will have a greater balance of work and play. Attendees will have their afternoons and evenings free to explore the resort with their families and industry peers for a spring break they won’t soon forget.

We all know the consequences of all work and very little or no play and that some of the best learning takes place in relaxed, casual atmospheres. We also heard your request that we lighten up on the educational side. With these things in mind, we believe the Atlantis Resort, an all-inclusive island paradise, provides a great backdrop for this newly revamped event.

So, we encourage you to bring the family and escape the winter doldrums in a place where you can swim with the dolphins, feed stingrays, enjoy a wide variety of water sports and water parks, go golfing, or just relax by soaking in the sun and surf. But don’t forget, you’ll need your passport to get there.

We look forward to seeing you at the Green Industry Great Escape in the warm Bahamas.