The story is written by guest blogger David Hupman, Landscape Industry Certified.
Winning jobs, maintaining clients, and running a top-notch operation involves teamwork and commitment from inside and outside of the company’s real and virtual environments. Recently, our company won three contracts totaling $1 million. This did not just happen by chance or some luck-inspired ritual.
“Our wins follow a formula that boils down to our firm’s commitment to professionalism each and every day. It’s our culture.”
And, any company can ride a continual wave of success by following its unique business plan built around people and relationships that are based on professionalism.
How do you determine your company’s winning formula?
- For starters, the owner/manager must lead the charge and always be the spark that keeps the company’s engine primed and purring through thick and thin. His or her enthusiasm, wisdom, and entrepreneurship can and will have a trickle-down effect that positively infects the team. Inspires us to heights we didn’t know we could achieve as a well-oiled unit.
- Obviously, all the business basics, plans, handbooks, safety and training programs, and analysis and application of best practices are in play. The right people are on board, moving as a team, toward a joint destination, inspired by management and self-motivated. An educated team with learning as a career-long goal.
- Always assess the competitive marketplace locally and nationally. Track trends and be prepared to seize opportunities that fit your business model, and don’t be afraid to stretch beyond and tweak your plans to adapt to changing environments.
- Ensure your job bids emphasize your staff credentials, awards, expertise and education – leaving no company qualifying attribute out of your presentation package. Our recent million dollar win was due in large part to being able to fulfill an increasing demand in specifier language from potential clients for certified staff.
- Make sure you let community and customers know that you’re a dynamic outfit, clearly outlining your services, your achievements and your qualifications. This goes for your website, social media presence, as well as printed materials. Don’t skimp on tooting your own horn.
- Give back. Play an active part in raising the industry bar by getting involved in local and national programs where you can be a mentor, a leader, a mover-and-shaker. Be a JOINER, not a sideliner. Involvement in industry through attending events, joining associations, investing in education and certification for your whole team is paramount.
This is a sweeping recipe for success no matter your company size or makeup. All the material you need to succeed surrounds you. For all of us who have busy lives and families, I’ve tried to keep this short and to the point. Practicing what I’ve outlined here in between hectic days, travel, emails, calls and appointments, I want to pay forward all that I’ve learned and the success I enjoy.
Are you committed to professionalism? Ask yourself that as you travel along your business path. By keeping professionalism front and center, you’ve got that job-winning formula in the bank.
David Hupman, Landscape Industry Certified, has been a landscape industry trainer, a soccer referee, hunter, and advocate of certification and education for more than 20 years. Hupman chairs the International Certification Council and is a member of the National Association of Landscape Professionals, and the Ohio Landscape Association. Currently, he manages BRICKMAN’s Blue Ash, Ohio, branch.
