What's the difference?

As a contractor, do you provide maintenance or management services? Here are just a few examples of what landscape managers do. They:

> Invest in their employees by providing training and education, a safe working environment, and listening and valuing their ideads and opinions.

> Create Relationships with clients and employees and identify their needs and goals.

> Plan for the future by anticipating clients' needs, for next week or next month, but also for the next several years.

> Treat clients as individuals by avoiding applying a "cookie cutter" approach to every client's property.

Landscape managers are also:

> Committed.
> Consistent.
> Interested.
> Responsive.
> Flexible.

If you already conduct business as described above and call yourself a maintenance contractor, then you are probably selling yourself short. If you don't do these things, then you are selling the industry short. We at Terracare Associates want our industry and our fellow contractors to be perceived now, more than ever, as professionals. Operating like a manager and providing "management" services go a long way toward that end!

Are your clients aware?

We are not unlike most full service landscape management companies. We offer a diverse line of services through several different groups and managers. Offering so many services is a tremendous advantage, but only if clients are aware of them. We cannot assume that they all even view our web site, or our marketing materials. We have a long term client that just discoved we offer aquatic management services. We have offered this for years, but did not communicate it well obviously. Now we may be able to do some of their needed aquatic work. Do not assume, with all the social media now available that your clients will know what you offer as a service. There is nothing like good old verbal communication. Funny, I say this as I am communicating via social media isn't it?

It is sad but true. Many clients have done business with many of our firms over the years and are still unaware of our diverse offerings. As a result, many of us have missed out on some business and growth opportunities. How is this possible? The answer, I suspect, revolves around the word "assumption." Our clients assume that our offerings are limited to what they see on their properties. Our managers assume that a client is already aware of many of our services. I sometimes assume that both clients and mangers do not hold these assumptions at all, because we communicate them well, right?

Throw these assumptions out the window. Send your clients a letter thanking them for their business, and letting them know that there may be other areas in which you can help them. Better yet, have a client appreciation event and tell them personally. Have your managers continue to reinforce what we do and how we may be able to add services they may be looking for. This is less rocket science and more marketing 101. Add value to your clients, and it will add value to your firm.

Sustainability begins at home - Part 2

I do not dislike turf grass, especially since our company does quite a bit of mowing, and again, turf grass in the proper application offers many recreational and ecological benefits. It is the large expanses of turf grass that needlessly suck up huge amounts of potable water, synthetic fertilizer, and fossil fuels to power the equipment needed for its' maintenance requirements that are what I have issue with. As I have the opportunity, I speak to clients and homeowners about alternative landscapes that may include native and edible plants, along with water saving drip irrigation systems.

I must admit, our company may not generate as much revenue maintaining an edible garden, as it would mowing the same area numerous times per year. However, our company is saving our clients and non-clients alike money, and giving them an opportunity to pay more than lip service to sustainable practices. Our soil in Northern California for example is generally very rich. Much of the area in which we work was agriculture land prior to it being caught up in the development of sprawling communities. Our company has an opportunity to return some of that same soil to productivity, while reducing client reliance on water, chemicals, and other costs mentioned previously, that are associated with maintaining turf. Every day I read about sustainable practices. It is easy to talk about, but what are you really doing? As a company we want to be on the forefront of this renewed movement, and we want to do what we believe is right for the small part of the planet that we touch. Many companies and individuals are doing wonderful things with sustainable landscape practices. I applaud them! For me, there was no better place than to start right at home. Join me, would you.

Bill

Sustainability begins at home!

I use the word 'decorative' to describe my front yard, 95% of which is now edible. I consider all of the fruit trees and many varieties of the vegetables, herbs, and other fruit bearing plants to be very colorful and even 'ornamental' if you will. Even the four foot strip of tomato varietes that replaced the turf along the sidewalk add color and interest to my landscape.

I want my neighbors to see what I am doing, and even pick fresh fruit and vegetables should they choose, as they pass by. They have taken me up on this notion often. I did not create this edible garden simply for myself. I want to share the bounty with all! My child is gone, so why did I have grass in my front yard for her to play on anymore? Was it to simply mow, edge and water every week? Was it to simply 'go with the flow'? Not very good reasons in my view. I removed what I term my 'non-meaningful' turf last November. 'Meaningful' turf examples in my humble opinion being turf that people use in parks, athletic fields, and at home where kids can play. For my 'new' garden, I added 40 yards of organic compost created from our companies' landscape maintenance trimmings, drip irrigation, moss rocks, and broken pieces of oak that I pick up on my weekly forays into the hills that surround where I live. I wanted to create a 'semi' natural setting, and to set an example for those who might wish to consider a sustainable landscape alternative to unused turf. You see, I was promoting sustainable landscape conversions at work, but not practicing what I was preaching at my own home. Let's say I had a 'physician heal thyself moment' as I was mowing my lawn last Fall. 'Food for thought'

Bill