Sunday, February 24, 2013

FD2B Talk Radio Insight of the Night: Jay Murray

One of the best ways to find and retain good employees while minimizing employee turnover at your company is to create standard operating procedures that allow both new and existing employees to be successful, according to Jay Murray, president of LS Training Systems. Compare this concept to what many companies do, which is hire somebody on Friday, start them on Monday and then have to fire them or watch them quit by the end of the week and then start the cycle all over again next Friday.

Employees learn best, Murray says, by “hearing, seeing, doing and then discussing.” Instead of putting a new hire out in the field and letting him learn (or more likely fail) by trail and error, take the time to properly train him. He suggests doing this by first explaining what the task is, then showing them exactly what they're supposed to do. Next, let them perform the tasks themselves and then, finally, allow them to talk about what they’ve done so they can confirm any concerns or questions.

Show: Landscape performance enhancement training
Guest: Jay Murray, president of LS Training Systems, London, Ontario
Date: Feb. 20, 2013

To listen to the full show, CLICK HERE. 

Editor's note: As part of a partnership between Landscape Management and FD2B Talk Radio, we'll be posting an "Insight of the Night" every Thursday from the previous night's radio show. (Sorry this week's is late!) FD2B Talk Radio is a Green Industry radio show that broadcasts live every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern. Its host and founder is LM columnist Jody Shilan, who's also the editor and founder of FromDesign2Build.com

Friday, February 15, 2013

Horticulture's healing powers


In Florida, the healing power of plants and ornamentals is taking the spotlight. In a recent Miami Herald article, reporter Patricia Borns writes of "horticulture therapy" and the healing power gardens have on the elderly, the sick and the disadvantaged.

In the article, Borns features Robert Bornstein, who runs a gardening program to help people struggling with cognitive and social problems, coordination issues and other often debilitating symptoms. Borns explores how horticulture therapy is helping everyone from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients to senior citizens and rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

The story sheds light on the broader impact plants have on people, an impact that goes far beyond simply being something nice to look at. 

So the next time you busy yourself in the nursery or perfect your clients' flower beds, take heart in knowing your work does make a difference.

Read the full Miami Herald article here.


--BG

FD2B Talk Radio Insight of the Night: Shayne Newman

Shayne Newman, president and silverback of YardApes, always has had a passion for both nature and giving. Although his desire to pay it forward is altruistic, he's noticed that the more he gives, the luckier he seems to get. In other words, his involvement in community service projects has been good for his karma and good for his business.

While other companies have to drag their employees kicking and screaming to participate in volunteer work, Newman actually uses these community service projects as team-building opportunities. Like most companies, YardApes employees typically work in two- and three-man crews, rarely spending time with other employees. By bringing the entire company together for a one-day project, providing coffee and donuts in the morning and hot wings and soda in the afternoon,
Newman creates such a positive atmosphere that his employees look forward to volunteering and giving back to the community.

Show: Mother Nature+Community Service = Good Karma 
Guest: Shayne Newman, YardApes, New Milford, Conn.
Date: Feb. 13, 2013 
To listen to the full show, CLICK HERE.

Editor's note: As part of a partnership between Landscape Management and FD2B Talk Radio, we'll be posting an "Insight of the Night" every Thursday from the previous night's radio show. FD2B Talk Radio is a Green Industry radio show that broadcasts live every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern. Its host and founder is LM columnist Jody Shilan, who's also the editor and founder of FromDesign2Build.com

Thursday, February 14, 2013

The four myths behind incentives


By Jeffrey Scott


Incentives—rewards meant to encourage and motivate employees to be more productive—all too often backfire and create unintended consequences: internal squabbles, cynicism, distraction, and diminished performance. The trick with incentives is avoiding the pitfalls and common myths. 

Following are the four most common myths regarding incentives:

MYTH 1: Incentives should be focused only on what a person can control.
While this makes sense on face value, it ignores a huge factor in motivation: peer pressure. Many managers and contractors think that a person needs to have full and complete control in order for an incentive to be effective, but this just isn’t the case. You can create a very quick and dramatic improvement in your company with the use of a peer-based incentive program.

For example, an entire division or company can share in a bonus (e.g., when everyone comes to work on time all week, the entire company gets free coffee and donuts the following week.) Think about the corporate world where stock options are awarded to employees as incentives, and yet the entire company has to perform in order for the stock value to rise. Peer-based incentives can be used to create change in many different areas: reducing equipment loss and vehicle damage, improving client retention, etc.

MYTH 2: An incentive should be holistic.
Some business owners try to wrap up all the critical success factors into an incentive, but this can be confusing to track and can send mixed signals to the incentive recipient.

For example, I recently worked with a contractor who thought up a comprehensive incentive for his office staff. It was very artful in engaging his office manager and addressing all the key aspects of her job, except that it was too complex; it covered too many facets of her job and made it hard to prioritize what was important. Incentives should be straightforward, easy to memorize, and easy to calculate. If your incentive recipient cannot wake up in the morning, remember his or her incentive, it is probably too complex. 

MYTH 3: Incentives will create a change in behavior.
Unfortunately, managers often put incentives in place expecting them to be a silver bullet and magically fix all that ails their companies. The important truth is, an incentive is merely a mechanism for how you measure the change, i.e.  the improvement. But, in order to motivate the change, you need to give employees consistent feedback, and engage them in discussions on how the company is performing as compared to goals. Your employees need to understand why the change is important. Throwing money at them is not a replacement for explaining why it is important to hit the goal. Incentives will not automatically create accountability.

MYTH 4: Incentives must pay out monetary rewards in order for employees to buy in.
This myth further states that monetary rewards should be significant in order for employees to really care. Neither is true. I have seen incentives programs with no money at all attached to them work wonders.

Take, for example, a company with four crews, and imagine that these crews compete against each other each week to see who can finish the week most efficiently under budget. Each crew is rated on how well it performs compared to its budgeted time. The results are shared in percentages; for example, 100 percent means they met budget, 90 percent means they beat budget by 10 percent, and 105 percent means they were over budget by 5 percent. Whichever crew ends the week with the lowest percentage, wins.

In fact, when a company is setting up a monetary-based incentive program for the first time, it may make sense to do a dry run and execute it with no money attached. This will allow you to work the bugs out of the system, and then later, if you wish, to add a monetary reward.

If you do create an incentive based on money, it should be self-funding. The incentive should be paid out based on incremental profits earned by the company based on the incremental results achieved. When incentives are self-funding, everyone wins.


Jeffrey Scott, MBA, author and consultant, grew his landscape company into a successful $10 million enterprise, and he's devoted to helping others share the same success. He facilitates PEER GROUPS for landscape business owners who want to transform and profitably grow their business. For more information, go to www.JeffreyScott.biz, email Jeff@Jeffreyscott.biz, or call (203)220-8931.  

Show 'em some love

Happy Valentine's Day. Don't forget to show some love and appreciation to your clients, employees and community.

Here's a round-up of a few ways you can do so:

Have a heart: 7 things you can do to have an impact. via Bruce Wilson

Plan an Earth Day service project. via PLANET

Want more loyal customers? Show them from love. via NFIB 

--Marisa Palmieri

Thursday, February 07, 2013

FD2B Talk Radio Insight of the Night: Valerie Hufnagel



Valerie Hufnagel is president and CEO of Hufnagel Landscape Design & Construction Group. It's not just a family business, it's a woman-owned family business. That's a big deal because the federal government awards specific landscape maintenance and landscape construction contracts to woman-owned and minority-owned companies.

Because of her company’s status as a woman-owned company, Hufnagle says she has many opportunities to bid on government work in a minimally competitive environment. Sometimes she's bidding on work against one or two other companies and many times she has no competition at all.  Sure sounds a lot better than bidding against 10-12 other contractors.


Show: All in the landscape family

Guest: Valerie Hufnagel, Hufnagel Landscape Design & Construction Group, North Bergen, N.J.

Date: Feb. 6, 2013
To listen to the full show, CLICK HERE.

Editor's note: As part of a partnership between Landscape Management and FD2B Talk Radio, we'll be posting an "Insight of the Night" every Thursday from the previous night's radio show. FD2B Talk Radio is a Green Industry radio show that broadcasts live every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern. Its host and founder is LM columnist Jody Shilan, who's also the editor and founder of FromDesign2Build.com

Monday, February 04, 2013

CLCA member talks about immigration reform

Last week a member of the landscape industry was interviewed on NPR's Talk of the Nation about the new immigration reform proposal announced by a bipartisan group of senators. 

"It's high time that something gets done on a comprehensive basis," said Richard Cohen, president and owner of Richard Cohen Landscape and Construction Inc. in Lake Forest, Calif. "Because if all the legs of this chair don't work, the chair's going to fall over."

Cohen, a member of the California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA), employs about 60 people. About three-quarters of them are immigrants and he assumes some of them may be illegal. He said he follows the legal procedures for verifying workers' immigration status, but that it's difficult to tell which documents are legal and which ones are not.

The full program is about 45 minutes long; Cohen's portion lasts about seven minutes and begins 30 minutes into the show. A full transcript also is provided.

A hat tip goes to Barbara Landrith and the CLCA LinkedIn group for sharing news about the interview.

Friday, February 01, 2013

FD2B Talk Radio Insight of the Night: Wendi Caplan-Carroll

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While you may have heard the terms email marketing, social media marketing and engagement marketing, you've probably never heard of "mensch marketing." Yes, mensch marketing.



We can’t promise you the name's going to catch on or that you’ll hear it mentioned anywhere else except on FD2B Talk Radio and at Wendi Caplan-Carroll’s live presentations. However, the concept is very important, especially when it comes to growing your relationships with your customers.



Mensch is a Yiddish term that refers to a person with integrity and honor and is someone to emulate and admire. One of your marketing goals should be to act in a way that gets people to see your business like this.

What could be better than having a list of customers and prospects who all admire and respect you? Who do you think they’re going to call when it’s time to make a purchase? The guy with integrity and honor or junk mailing “Spammy Sammy?”


Show: The power of email marketing

Guest: Wendi Caplan-Carroll, Constant Contact

Date: Jan. 30, 2013
To listen to the full show, CLICK HERE

Editor's note: As part of a partnership between Landscape Management and FD2B Talk Radio, we'll be posting an "Insight of the Night" every Thursday from the previous night's radio show. FD2B Talk Radio is a Green Industry radio show that broadcasts live every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern. Its host and founder is LM columnist Jody Shilan, who's also the editor and founder of FromDesign2Build.com