Day 2 of CENTS: business advice and networking

The second day of CENTS 2011 and the OSU Nursery Short Course brought more foot traffic and well-attended educational courses, as well as certification testing and the ONLA career marketplace. The trade show and educational courses are being held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Traditionally a few hundred students and those looking for new opportunities attend ONLA’s career marketplace, one of the largest networking and job-seeking programs in the area, according to students from the Columbus area. This year, 41 companies, including Five Seasons Landscape Management, The Davey Tree Expert Co. and Environmental Management participated in the job fair.

Students were upbeat about the future of the green industry.

David Smith has been in the industry for several years and is working toward a degree in landscape design/build from Columbus State Community College. He also might work toward a degree in landscape architecture and start his own company. Smith said he is attracted to the industry because of the generosity and passion of the people, and the ability to work outside.

“When you’re out working in the elements every day, it’s a reward to give back to them,” he said.

Tuesday’s education topics tackled social media, pests, water efficiency and customers.

The big lie in business is that companies are able to grow 100 percent by referrals, says Jeffrey Scott, who built his family’s Connecticut-based landscape business from $5 million to $10 million before becoming an industry consultant.

“There is a name for companies who grow only by referrals,” Scott said. “Small.”

That doesn’t mean you can’t make referrals a large part of your growing strategy, he said. In his talk “Create a Stream of Non-Stop Referrals,” Scott went over the seven referral marketing mistakes to avoid.

One of the common mistakes are not measuring the genesis of new clients. Scott recommended going back two years and looking at the data to see how you were gaining new clients. If companies don’t manage their client information, they won’t know how to grow.

“When you go to collect data, you’ll be surprised to find out where your business is coming from,” he said.

Another suggestion was identifying what drives the business and having a direct, to-the-point description of the company. If people can’t describe your business, they can't refer your company to others, Scott said.

Finally, multiple mistakes occur because businesses are not out in the community or networking properly. Scott recommends attending networking events where 80 percent of the people could be clients or influencers, do community service projects and alert clients, media, trade associations and influencers before and after.

The point is to make sure your company name is being heard.

“There are companies out there who know you do good work, there are people out there who know you do good work, and you just think they’re going to refer you?” Scott said. “You need to stay in front of them.”