business smarts Archives - The Edge from the National Association of Landscape Professionals

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business smarts

Does Your Snow Fleet Match the Work You Want?

When you’re evaluating your snow fleet in the summer months, being proactive doesn’t just mean conducting preventive maintenance on your plows and spreaders. This is also a chance to reflect on the bigger picture and ask if your fleet matches the type of snow work your company wants to perform.   Match Your Machines to […]

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Time to Expand? When to Invest in a New Facility

When your business is growing, there comes a time when there is simply not enough space to operate efficiently at your facility. Investing in expanding or relocating is a major financial decision, which is why it’s important to think through all the various considerations. Buying more land or a new building shouldn’t just solve the […]

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So, You Want to Buy a Landscape Company? M&A Lessons Learned from Other Organizations

Mergers and acquisitions can be an alluring form of growth, but it is important to approach this decision with eyes wide open as it has a direct impact on your operations and culture, not just your bottom line.   Whether you are considering being backed by private equity or completing acquisitions on your own, this […]

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Don’t Break What Made the Company Valuable

Change is hard. Yet it is a necessary component of the M&A process. While it will take new team members time to adjust, how you approach integration plays a huge role in how effective you are at preserving what made the company worth acquiring in the first place. ā€œWhen culture is honored and evolved, engagement […]

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Behind the Numbers: How the Financial Benchmark Report Is Built

If you love shows like ā€œHow It’s Made,ā€ this article is for you as we’re taking a deep dive into what all goes into producing NALP’s Financial Benchmark Report and why the process matters for companies relying on the report to make smarter business decisions. One thing that’s important to understand is that benchmark studies […]

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Post-Acquisition Playbook: How to Blend Landscape Company Cultures

With mergers and acquisitions, a company’s numbers may get the deal done, but how well their culture is integrated will determine whether the partnership succeeds or unravels in the months that follow. Blending company cultures is not a sprint but a marathon that starts well before the papers are signed and continues long after the […]

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See How Your Company Stacks Up: Why You Should Participate in NALP’s Financial Benchmark Survey

If you want to know where your business stacks up against high-performing firms or versus organizations that are similar based on employee size, business focus or region, NALP’s Financial Benchmark Report is a valuable tool for uncovering areas for improvement. However, benchmark reports cannot be created without participation from companies like your own. The goal […]

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Are You Fostering Employee Independence in Your Organization?

If you are frequently frustrated by having to constantly answer questions that your team members should be able to address on their own, you could be dealing with the pitfall of inadvertently teaching employees to be passive, rather than proactive. ā€œTime is money, and employees who can’t or won’t proceed because they are waiting for […]

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Business Smarts: Creating Processes that Scale with Your Company

When you’re on the smaller side, many of the processes you create work when you only have five or 10 employees. Yet as your team grows, cracks can begin to appear as bottlenecks and inconsistencies cause issues. ā€œStrong processes allow us to grow while maintaining quality, performance, and accountability across all branches,ā€ says Loren McIrvin, […]

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Financial Blind Spots: The Money Misconceptions That Hurt Landscape Companies

It’s hard to make sound decisions when your financials are either structured in a way that buries the relevant information or certain aspects, such as your labor burden, are misinterpreted. ā€œDon’t assume your data is accurate, reliable, relevant and comprehensive without a thorough investigation,ā€ says John Joestgen, principal of JJ Landscape Consulting. ā€œIf you want […]

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