Summiteering Success

For six years, Heads Up Landscape, Albuquerque, N.M., has met with seven other landscape companies twice a year to network and discuss ideas – they call it summiteering, and the program is facilitated by consultant Kevin Kehoe.

“We all function as a sort of board of directors for each other,” said company President Gary Mallory. “A consultant we use suggested the idea and we’ve continued it ever since.”

During the two-day meetings, six of the companies will meet at the seventh’s headquarters for a facility tour and then meetings. Each member takes his or her turn as host, spending money on meeting rooms and food for the group. At the meetings is where the group thrives, Mallory said. “When you tell your friends or employees about a problem you’re having, you always put your own spin on it, but when you sit with other people who are from different areas of the country, know the industry and don’t mind sharing their full opinions, you better be prepared to share all of the details and in responding they are brutally honest.”

The summiteering companies have helped Heads Up through its buyout of two of the original company owners and through adding maintenance, Mallory said. “You have to have well-supported ideas and do your homework to make it through these meetings,” he shared. “It forces us to get some things done and then gives us some other professionals to bounce ideas off of. It’s been extremely valuable for us.”

The author is Managing Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at nwisniewski@lawnandlandscape.com.