Allin Co.: Education = Success

Author William Feather wrote that education is "being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know; and it's knowing how to use the information once you get it."

For John Allin, president of Allin Co., Erie, Pa., nothing is more important to ensure his company's success than education.

"We (landscape professionals) are going to have to become more educated about business," Allin advised. "Mostly the smaller guys are going to have to learn about business because who knows what the future brings here in the next few years." 

Allin - referring to the global economy - warned that because most of his generation doesn't know what it means to be in conflict with other countries and how that affects business, becoming educated in these matters will be the only way a business can survive. "I think we're in some unchartered waters," he declared. "I don't know what to expect, but we're going to have to learn how to adapt to what's going to be coming down the road. It's going to affect everyone."

In addition to educating himself to become more business-savvy, Allin focuses on keeping his staff trained to continue the remarkable growth his company has seen in both the snow removal and landscape markets. This year alone, the snow business side of Allin Co. has grown at a whopping 700 to 800 percent.

"On the snow side, we've found ourselves a niche and we've had to hold back the growth to make sure we don't go too quickly," Allin remarked. "In 2002, we expect to continue our exponential growth on the snow side and controlled and steady growth on the landscape side."

To keep his employees proficient in both markets, Allin offers an on-going, in-house training program.

"There's one formalized meeting every Monday and individual training in the field," Allin related. "Our production managers are training the foremen, who are training the team. We have formalized our program to make sure that proper training procedures are being followed."

Employees receive promotions by improving upon their skills and moving up through the training program, which also helps ensure that the company constantly employs a competent staff. "I think the days of people walking in off the street with landscaping experience are way behind us," Allin stressed. "We have to be sure that our employees are trained and capable of accepted additional responsibilities."