Don't lose sight of how to win, close, motivate and rally in 2012

Randy Newhard

Editor's Note: Randy Newhard, CEO of New Way Landscape & Tree Services will begin contributing to Landscape Management's blog on a regular basis. Here is his first submission.

Randy's Take

As I write my first blog, I am watching my struggling Chargers on Monday Night Football vs. the Jaguars. The Bolts have lost six straight. Their main goal this year was to start strong. Is your company’s goal to start the new year strong? Most companies do start the year strong, set goals, monitor them for a few months and then lose sight of them.

Companies can be just like our Chargers who started 4-1 and then lost sight of how to win, how to close, how to motivate and how to rally a team.

Yeah, I do have to give the Chargers some slack. The quarterback Philip Rivers lost a lot of his receivers to injuries early. They could not practice together during the week as the players healed. His linemen also got hurt, some out for year, some out for many games.

Does your quarterback, your owner, your general manager or your operational person have healthy personnel on your team? Are they hurt or injured- feeling down from down economy? Are they motivated? Do they practice together — have quality meetings in the office and in the field?

How about your sales team — do they have goals for the month, quarter and year? Do they have the tools they need? Are they motivated and by whom? Are they motivated by salary, incentives, commissions?

There are lots of things to do this time of the year. Whether you are back East or on the West coast or in the Midwest, the new year brings many challenges. There is a lot of planning to do for the new year and a great deal of equipment to get cleanup and ready for spring.

As a business owner, it's time for us to cleanup 2011 and plan for 2012. It's time to budget and set realistic expectations for our team to be empowered to make proper decisions to make our companies profitable. Yep, profitable. Some clients don't think we should make one. That's a topic for future blogs.

Have a wonderful holiday season and yes I will say it — Merry Christmas and wishing you and yours a very  prosperous and Happy New Year!

— Randy Newhard, New Way Landscape & Tree Services, is CEO of this 2nd generation local family owned business. The San Diego-based company is a multi local and state Landscape Beautification Award Winner.