PEOPLE SMARTS: Eyeballing 2007

Stop for a minute and think about a few things. For those in the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest, this has been a heck of a year. You weathered a water shortage for both crops and plant material used in property enhancement and beautification. Many suffered through cancellations of both projects and material orders from customers who were uncertain about planting anything in the hot, dry weather. Small and  large landscape companies found themselves scurrying to hang on. Mercifully, the heavens opened and we  got some rain – not enough to solve our annual shortfall but enough to put our drought fears on hold for a while and get a glimpse of the good old times again.

Happy days are here again... or are they?

It’s a good bet we will enter 2007 with a rainfall deficit. Furthermore,  after the fall elections we may have a new slate of House and Senate members in Washington whose priorities, at this point, are anybody’s guess. If you listen to the Wall Street pundits, some predict an economic slowdown. The longer term landscape industry players with solid financial positions and well-defined game plans are focusing on improving their management practices.
 
Business owners were once faced with black-and-white decisions, but now they are many shades of gray. The days of the “seat-of-the-pants” owner are drawing to a close, and improved business management skills are needed now more than ever.
 
I recently attended a major nursery and landscape trade show. Along with the normal show venue, there was a major education and networking component that brought representatives from all size companies together to share ideas. It was apparent that the caliber of this year’s discussions had taken a quantum leap forward.
 
Veteran owners, educated in industry trends, gave incisive commentary on facing the challenges before them. Seasoned professionals talked about the best strategies to add products and services or delete unprofitable ones. On the other end of the spectrum, comments by two young guys from Massachusetts on the verge of starting a residential maintenance company (i.e. “mow, blow and go”), were insightful, as well. When asked what they would do for the other five months of the year, one said, “Count our money.” Go figure.
 
An old business adage implies volume covers a lot of ills. “Bring enough dollars in and I’ll make it up on volume,” some say. This philosophy falls apart when applied to mature industries where competition is keener and efficiencies are gained the old-fashioned way.
 
I am in a part of the country where   people seem willing to spend a lot of money on landscape services and products. That’s the good news. But good times don’t last forever and, like it or not, some profound changes may overtake our industry. Working harder and trying to make it up on volume will not answer these new challenges. Instead, they will be dealt with through good management decisions requiring knowledge of markets, trends and what each of our companies is truly able to do well in terms of capitalizing on those opportunities. We have already had a glimpse of the impact that a natural phenomenon, such as a drought or last year’s horrific hurricane season, can have on our businesses. For some this has been a wake-up call. For others, it will be business as usual.
 
The new year is closing fast. It should be a year in which we examine the ways we conduct business and make the needed improvements.
 
This is the year, right?

Larry Fish is president of GreenSearch, a human resource consulting organization. He can be reached at 888/375-7787, peoplesmarts@gie.net or via www.greensearch.com. PeopleSmarts® is a registered trademark of GreenSearch.