As you look to grow and scale your landscape business, you should also consider expanding who attends industry events beyond yourself. Just as you walk away with valuable insights and new connections, your team members can also leave with these tools to help them progress in their roles by accompanying you to industry events.
The Benefits
There are numerous benefits to bringing team members with you to industry events. Glenn Bonick, owner of Bonick Landscaping, based in Irving, Texas, says personal growth is the biggest one. He says many individuals, regardless of their years in the industry, are amazed by the size of the industry and the willingness of others to share.
“I know it is a success when they come back with a few people that they can call on for advice in the future,” Bonick says.
Gil Grattan, president of Virginia Green, based in Henrico, Virginia, agrees attending events allows his team to see the scope of the industry and where it is headed.
“I think that’s a powerful thing that they gain; it gives them a bigger perspective on what the industry is about,” Grattan says.
Melissa Steinbach, VP of sales for Valor Landscape, based in Aurora, Colorado, says their employees who attend events return with a renewed interest in improving and in the industry as a whole.
“It offers our employees a chance to further educate themselves and borrow best practices from other companies in the industry,” Steinbach says. “It essentially ensures our team is constantly growing and thinking of ways to continue to improve.”
Mark Ables, president and CEO of Ables Landscapes, based in Charleston, South Carolina, says it helps boost employee morale as they understand the investment the company is making in them. He says these events also speed up the relationships you can form with your leaders.
“The better relationships we have with our leaders, the better we’re going to run,” Ables says. “It’s really hard to oversell just the camaraderie that you build. Working together, we know each other in the office setting, and you have your office personality and that’s great. But when you get out for a trip like this, you just grow so much together.”
Grattan notes that attending events as a team helps boost morale as well.
“It’s always fun to travel with these people,” Grattan says. “A lot of them I don’t know very well and so I get to learn more about them when I’m with them. They get to spend quality time with us as well, myself and our COO generally go, so we’re able to develop additional relationships with those people.”
Planning and Budgeting for Industry Events
Just like any other expense in your operations, you need to budget for the industry events you’ll attend. Ables says in the past, they didn’t set a budget for industry events, and now it’s a line item they increase based on who they will take with them.
“We always base it on ‘Who would this benefit? Who would see it as a kind of reward and a perk?’” Ables says. “So, we just increased the budget every year.”
Ables acknowledges that it can feel daunting to add a new line item to your budget.
“I think your goal should be that you want to be profitable enough that this is just the cost of doing business and it’s a standard part because it’s going really help your business grow,” Ables says.
Grattan says that early booking allows them to save money on hotels and airline tickets.
“Booking early is a huge advantage on expenses,” Grattan says.
Bonick says they will also take advantage of any pre-registration cost savings, but he admits they will overspend so his team will enjoy themselves.
“The camaraderie within the team is also a huge win so I want them to eat, sleep well and enjoy themselves,” Bonick says. “Not everyone gets to travel, so there could be many firsts for them on this trip.”
Ables says it’s easy to get caught up in thinking you have to stay at the venue hotel, but they’ve found they can find savings by staying at a hotel nearby.
There’s no correct number of events to attend. Grattan acknowledges there are many options when it comes to educational events but they try to attend three or four events that are strategically located near them. He says they won’t travel to the West Coast.
Virginia Green will attend industry events like Leaders Forum and ELEVATE, as well as software events like Hubspot’s Inbound event. Grattan says they go to the events they feel will help their associates the most based on what they will learn and who they will connect with.
Bonick says his company tries to be as involved as possible in the industry. They attend events connected to NALP, the Texas Nursery & Landscape Association and the pool building industry.
“It’s training, and training is the best investment we can make in a person,” Bonick says.
Ables says they tend to attend two industry events a year.
“I don’t want to cheap out on the events that we go to so just not saying yes to every event that comes our way,” Ables says. “If we go, I want it to be special for our people. We get everybody their own hotel room. I see this as like a perk for the people that were invited.”
Ables says it’s important to be selective and attend the events you think you’ll get the most out of.
“I love the Field Trips because I think it’s just super practical,” Ables says. “I’m all about the practicality of these things. If we can’t come back and really take something away from it then it kind of feels like a waste of time.”
Steinbach says they decide which events to attend based on the companies they are touring and the time of year.
Depending on the size of your organization, choosing to take some of your key team members with you can test your crew’s ability to take care of the business while you’re away.
Ables says if you want to take your team with you to events, it forces you to create systems so the business can function without you there. He says you have to build out a bench so when you take leaders with you, others are ready to step up while they’re away.
Selecting Employees to Attend
Once you’ve determined which events you’ll be participating in, you’ll need to decide how many to take with you and who will be the lucky employees. The number of employees you’re able to take with you will largely be determined by the budget you set earlier in the year.
“As we can afford to spend more, I try be consistent with key leaders and always bring newer employees to see just how large and dynamic this industry is,” Bonick says.
Grattan and Ables both say they will take more team members with them if they are able to drive to the event.
“We generally will take anywhere from four to six to eight people to an industry event,” Grattan says. “From all different levels within our organization, from the executive level down almost to the branch level.”
Ables says he is taking seven employees with him to ELEVATE this year. He says they will rotate some of the team members who have attended so someone who hasn’t gone will get a chance. It also provides an up-and-coming employee to step into a leadership role while they’re away to keep things running smoothly.
“Our guys come back arms locked together and they’re really inspired,” Ables says. “They look forward to it. They talk about it and that lasts throughout the year. I definitely keep that in the budget and I think we’ll plan to increase by a person or so a year.”
Grattan says they use industry events as a springboard to help the employees they think are going to contribute to the success of the company.
“We always try to look for what we call the future leaders or potential people that are within our organization who we feel like five years from now are going to have an impact on our organization,” Grattan says. “We try to get them involved early.”
Bonick agrees that they select team members who will get the most value from the experience.
“We are always growing leaders, so we invest in those that we see are investing in themselves,” Bonick says.
Steinbach says who gets to attend comes down to considering who will benefit the most and who within the company should spend quality time together and bond as a team.
Maximizing Your Attendance at Industry Events
Because you are setting aside money and time for your team to attend industry events, it is critical you see ROI with these efforts. The first step is to make sure your employees are excited about the event and know what to expect from it. Ables says they communicate to their team members that this event is an investment in them.
“It’s because we really believe in you as a leader that we want you to grow,” Ables says. “If you come back with nothing, nothing’s changed, then it’s a waste of money. We do want you to see this as a serious chance to grow and come back with some very real things that can help the company.”
Ables requires each employee to provide him with a minimum of two to three concrete takeaways that can be implemented at the company by the end of the day they get back.
“We have a very real accountability with that,” Ables says. “They get home, they’ve kind of digested it on the flight or drive back, take in all their notes, and then they email me,” Ables says. “We share those with the team so that everybody knows what they came up with.”
Before the event, Grattan says they will meet in advance to assign sessions to their employees so they can divide and conquer. Ables says they also discuss who is going to which sessions so they can cover more ground.
“Everybody has to take notes while they’re there and best practices,” Grattan says. “Even things about who they talked to, like if you talk to a supplier that had an idea or another lawn care business that said, ‘Hey, we’re doing it this way.’”
Ables encourages his team to avoid staying in their own huddle but to branch out and meet other attendees.
“I really encourage our people to meet other professionals while we’re there and not just hang out with our little squad,” Ables says. “It’s really easy to stay in your comfort zone. I think you grow a ton by just meeting somebody and picking their brain.”
After returning to work, Steinbach says their division heads will implement any necessary takeaways. Bonick says his team discusses key points during the event so they know what they want to take back with them.
“Just like a great book, you can only hope to get a few great nuggets and move the needle a little each time,” Bonick says. “Personal growth is the success I am hoping for most. Even if they leave us at some point.”
This article was published in the Sept/Oct issue of the magazine. To read more stories from The Edge magazine, click here to subscribe to the digital edition.
