Continual education on business and industry trends is vital for every company in the green industry. And participants of the OSU Nursery Short Course and CENTS 2011 were able to take advantage of four days of educational courses on dozens of topics.
This year marked 82 years that The Ohio State University and Ohio Nursery & Landscape Association have been teaming up to put on the event. Ideas pertaining to sustainability and efficiency were popular topics this year.
“Of course right now everybody is focused on the environmental issues – the greenroofs, the bioswales,” said Pam Bennett, co-chair of OSU Nursery Short Course. “We’re really trying to bring some of the key issues to the forefront and have a lot of research-based information that can help landscape contractors, garden centers, retailers address some of these issues with their clientele.”
Sustainable initiatives
Dr. Robert E. Schutzki, associate professor of horticulture at Michigan State University, talked about opportunities landscapers can take advantage of to make their services greener.
“The first step to being sustainable in our industry is knowing where the resources are,” he said.
Schutzki recommended companies take advantage of the resources and research available through organizations, such as the Sustainable Sites Initiative, LEED and WaterSense.
Business growth
Dozens of courses were designed for companies to walk away with ideas on how to grow and better their businesses.
Jeffrey Scott went over the seven customer referral marketing mistakes to avoid. Common mistakes included: not measuring the genesis of new clients, not networking properly and not spending enough time making an emotional connection with the community. Scott helped build his family's landscape business from $5 million to $10 million before becoming an industry consultant.
Todd Pugh, founder and CEO of Enviroscapes, started his course on growth by saying his company was stagnant for years until he became focused on the details of the business. Pugh said business owners need to ask themselves five questions every year: Why are you in business? What do you love? What are your goals? Why do you want to do this? Do you have a viable model?