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From the Editor

Rebranding: What’s In A Name?

Did you know that when Google was developed in 1996, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin named their first search engine BackRub? Yeah. It just doesn’t seem right, does it? Fortunately, one year later, BackRub became too large to operate on the Stanford University servers that hosted the website, so ...

Missing: Customer. If Found, Please Return

As landscape contractors prepare for next year, one thing they are always concerned about is attrition. How many clients are they going to lose and how many clients do they need to gain in order to make up for that loss? A customer is four times more likely to defect ...

Organics’ Day Just Around the Corner, Finally?

Keeping It Green By Ron Hall “You know, sometimes when they say you’re ahead of your time, it’s just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing.” -George McGovern “Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.” -Cowboy proverb. Several ...

Diversification is OK to a Point

Keeping It Green By Ron Hall Many successful professional landscape company owners start modestly and go down one of three well-trodden paths in growing their services businesses. They begin their career journeys by either: 1. mowing properties in their neighborhood; 2. providing relatively modest install projects (plants, pavers, etc.); or ...

Our Race to Lower the Bar

Keeping It Green By Ron Hall The premiere event in field and track is the 100 meters. No other competition in the Olympics excites spectators more. The winner of the 100 meters is sometimes separated from the second place runner by thousandths of a second. Usain Bolt, the Jamaican who ...

Avoid Being Too Busy to Serve

Keeping It Green By Ron Hall Steven Covey in his “Seven Habits of Highly Successful People” writes the following, which expresses what I want to share with you: Once a woodcutter strained to saw down a tree. A young man who was watching asked, “What are you doing?” “Are you ...

Women a Powerful and Growing Force in Our Industry

Keeping It Green By Ron Hall The professional landscape/lawn service industry is a male-dominated industry. At least us males (unthinkingly?) assume it’s so. The numbers are certainly on our side. But, make no mistake about it, women profoundly affect every part of the industry. If you feel I’m overstating the ...

Take Advantage of the Industry’s Best Bargain

Keeping It Green By Ron Hall The two most popular phrases in America are “all you can eat” and “it’s free.” It’s unlikely that any of you reading this are in the buffet business, so let’s talk about the most valuable “it’s free” thing going for landscape and lawn service ...