Making the most of it

The pandemic has caused consumer behaviors to change. And that was the topic of the “Life Post-Pandemic: Emerging Stronger and Smarter” hosted by NALP’s Women in Landscape Network at LANDSCAPES.

“We chose this topic six months ago when we thought we’d be post-pandemic,” joked Jennifer Burnett, VP of organizational development with LandCare.

Ashly Neneman, general manager of Sun Valley Landscaping, said throughout the entirety of the pandemic, customers are looking to enhance entertainment areas in their yards, and design/build business continues to boom.

Neneman notes that for Sun Valley both homeowners have been home now, so they are communicating with both as opposed to normally working solely with one spouse.

Angela Hieronimus, director of engagement and success with Blades of Green Lawn Care, adds that customers are more apt than ever to buy online.

“It can be a blessing and a curse,” she said. “It’s difficult for someone to buy lawn care online, and then get one application and think they’ll have the best lawn ever.”

Hieronimus adds that in addition to the influx in online approach, there’s also been a trend for more cancellations online as well especially through texting.

“It can be difficult for us to find out what went wrong if they’re cancelling through text messages,” she said.

Becca Presley, director of marking and communication with Senske, also referenced that people are home more with more dispensable income to spend. And with people being home, there’s been an increase in service calls.

“We have eyes and ears there where we didn’t before,” Burnett added to the topic.

All four women said that with more communication with clients, its key to keep lines of communication open and educate them about the services being provided.

From a business perspective, Neneman said the pandemic stressed the importance of having healthy relationships with suppliers.

“We found it difficult to get some of the basic items we needed,” she said. “Those vendor relationships become really important.”

Burnett said purchasing has caused quite a few problems, but to overcome them the company is now planning one or two seasons ahead to ensure it has what it needs when it needs it.

“It’s forced us to be much more innovative,” Hieronimus added. “We’ve had to think on our feet…it’s made us look at our programs more specifically and be more efficient.”

All of these supply chain issues, and lack of materials have caused prices to rise. Neneman adds she expects everyone’s retention rates to dip a little in the near future.

“Consumers will have to start choosing where they’ll pinch those pennies,” Neneman said.

The panelists said that out of all the changes COVID caused, a few might stick around once the pandemic ends.

“While it is great to have everyone back in the office, we’ve realized some functions can be done remotely,” Presley says. “Pre-pandemic we were outgrowing our office and now we’ve expanded our workforce and not had to expand our office.”

Presley added that before the pandemic a lot of training was on-the-fly and about mirroring a peer, so the pandemic forced them to standardize training and improve things since not everyone was working next to one another.

Neneman said she feels weekly Zoom calls will stick around for her team just because of its efficiency.

“Pre-pandemic we were driving back to the office to meet for an hour and then driving back out to the field,” she said. “What a waste of time. I feel that they’ve been eye-opening and really positive.”

Burnett said LandCare has been able to offer even more training opportunities because of the efficiency of Zoom.

While some may think a company could lose its culture while working remotely, the panelists had a few ideas on how to keep employees engaged.

“We did team member spotlight videos because we were hiring individuals who were getting access to one or two people and we wanted others to get to know them,” Hieronimus said. “It’s mostly fun questions and then ‘What do you like about working at Blades of Green?’”

Hieronimus said these videos have even sparked a marketing and recruiting campaign on social media.

Neneman said Sun Valley Landscaping typically holds an award ceremony every year and even held it remotely via Zoom in 2020.

“We did scavenger hunts throughout their house via Zoom, and we delivered pizzas to everyone,” she said. “We tried to make the best out of the situation. We’re still having fun together; it just looks different.”

Burnett said LandCare has been giving employee engagement training to its supervisors.

“We want them to understand it’s their responsibility to provide a culture within their truck and within their crew, so their crewmembers are enjoying their work and enjoying their day,” she said. “I’m excited to see where this goes. I think it shows our supervisors the value they hold.”

Presley said it’s good to be realistic and recognize that things might never go back to the way they were before COVID.

“Even when we are post-pandemic things will look different,” she said.

Hieronimus agrees and says communication and collaboration have been the biggest takeaways.

‘When you encounter something as big as this pandemic your people’s true colors and strengths really come out,” she said. “And we’ve been really proud of that.