Get organized

Time really is money, folks. The late great management guru Peter Drucker said, “Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed." I agree completely with Drucker’s thoughts. This month let’s talk about three things you can do to save time that can be used to make more money. I’m going to touch on a few different areas of your companies.

My office is neat and tidy. There is a place for everything and everything has its place. My phone is close to my computer. I have all my reference material close by and the most important thing in my office – my pending proposals are right on top of my desk every day. Next to my desk is a portable dry erase board. I take this board into our conference room every Tuesday at 11 a.m. for our sales meetings. When I have an idea or a question, I write it down on the board and capture it so I can cover it with my sales team. I have two monitors. It’s amazing how much more efficient that makes you. I have an expensive chair I sit in, but it helps me have good posture and is very comfortable. I spend about 40 hours/week in it, so a good chair is important. But the single most important thing in my office is the photos of my family that sit right above my desk. I can’t help but see them several times a day. Every time you feel your mind wandering or you know you are wasting time, look at your family or your loved ones and say, “I’m stealing time from them and I need to get back to work.”

Let’s talk about your selling efforts. You need to schedule your appointments so you have enough time to meet with the client, talk to them, listen, take notes and then, after that part is over, walk the property, take notes, take photos, take measurements, put together some sketches, and just sit and think through the steps it is going to take to do the job. There is never a better time than the present to try and make a sale. If you can make that sale on the spot, go for it. The faster you get back to prospects and clients, the greater your chance for success. Take a video recorder if you must and record the property and walk and talk. When you get back to the office, you can sit and watch that and get your proposal done very quickly.

How organized are your trucks? If you are using trucks that don’t have storage boxes, you are wasting time. Every landscape truck in America ought to have storage boxes so the crews can carry everything they need daily. This not only saves you time, but it also puts accountability in place, something we all need to think about. Every crew we have uses trucks and trailers with storage boxes. We can get by with a small warehouse and most importantly our crews have everything they need when they need it while they are on the job. Our trucks all have every tool they could possibly need, including a backpack blower, first aid kits, marking paint, grass seed, herbicide, gasoline, and tarps, just to name a few.