What do landscaping college students look for when they're evaluating potential employers? Could you expand your landscape company with a seed store? How can you quickly calculate what price you need to charge your customer to reach your target gross profit margin, and how to increase upsells with options based proposals? In today's episode, I share valuable conversations I had with interesting people at the 2022 Elevate Show by the NALP.
Hey everyone. Jack Jostes is here and welcome to the Landscapers Guide. This podcast is all about inspiring the green industry with sales, marketing, and leadership ideas. And one of the ways I get inspired is by going and talking to people. And I love doing this podcast because I kind of get to talk to anybody. And a couple weeks ago we went to the Elevate Show by NALP. It was their first show, branched away on its own, and it was awesome. We can't wait to go back next year. We had the Landscapers Guide Booth brought to you by Ramblin Jackson, where we collected over 55 surveys for the 2022 Landscaper Sales Survey, along with our clients, Scott Callenius, from Forever Green Landscape Services, who helped us. Thank you to everybody who came by and took that. We'll be releasing those results. They're very interesting. We got to meet Ramblin Jackson, account manager, Brian Sandrock in person, and we had a steak feast with lobster mac and cheese. It was so much fun. And we did a Breakfast of Champions table.
It was overall a really great few days. Now I can't wait for next year's show. And in the meantime, I'm excited to share some of these interviews that I did with people at the show. First, what do college students studying, landscaping or horticulture, what do they look for in potential employers? Let's hear what these three college students had to say. When it comes time to start applying for jobs, what are things that you're going to look for and how will you find them? Are you going to ask a friend? Are you going to look online? Just tell me a little bit about what are you going to look for?
What Do Collage Landscaping Students Look For In Potential Employers?
Speaker 6:
Well, I think initially just researching the companies that I'm applying for, seeing their company culture and seeing how they implement that by asking them questions. Not just HR members, but reaching out to also people who've been there for a while, people who've recently been there, to try to get a sense of what the work lifestyle's really like.
Jack Jostes:
And what about you?
Speaker 7:
Yeah, location's pretty big for me. So where things are located and then what kind of cool stuff there is to do there. And if it's a family environment or if it's going to be kind of just grind the whole time. Just having that good work life balance.
Jack Jostes:
And so what do you like to do outside of work?
Speaker 7:
I love to go to the lake, wakeboarding, surfing, that kind of stuff.
Jack Jostes:
So we're here with Trey. And what are you studying in college? So
Trey:
I am a landscape architecture and landscape contracting dual major at Mississippi State.
Jack Jostes:
And what year are you right now?
Trey:
I'm currently a junior in a four-and-a-half year program.
Jack Jostes:
And what got you interested in landscaping?
Trey:
So I've always kind of been interested in the green industry and using my hands to design and build things that the public can use. And it makes me feel good when I can see something that I've created make people so happy.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah, I agree. There's nothing like that feeling. And what are you going to look for when you start to graduate and you're about to get a job? How do you think you'll go about finding where you're going to work and what will you look for?
Trey:
So obviously one of the main things that I look for is benefits within the company. I want opportunities to grow and also want to be in a company that's focusing on innovation and becoming more green and able to, I guess, develop new ways that are going to help with things like climate change. And I guess it's really just comes down to being green and being efficient and having those growth opportunities.
Jack Jostes:
And how would you know if they're green and if they have those opportunities?
Trey:
I guess look into the chemicals they use. That's one of the main things. And then the way they design things. Is it working with nature? Is it mimicking nature? Is it completely contradicting it and creating all these extra problems like erosion and topsoil loss and also pollution through runoff. And if it's not controlling those problems, then it's not green.
Jack Jostes:
And so how would you actually start to reach out to them? Would you look online? Would you ask your professors or walk me through, how do you think you'll literally go and figure out where you're going to apply?
Trey:
So one of the big things about our college, Mississippi State, is we have, I'm the vice president of our club and we have put together such a wonderful career fair where we have 30, 40 different companies varying from landscape contracting base to strictly landscape architecture or even a combination of both. And a lot of these companies, they're really focused on doing something new within the industry and being innovators. So basically that's my main way I go about it.
Jack Jostes:
The career fair?
Trey:
Exactly. Also LinkedIn. That's been a really big tool for me in finding new companies and seeing the people that are doing big things in the landscape industry.
How One Landscaper Grew By Buying A Seed Store
Jack Jostes:
Could you grow your landscape company by buying a seed store? Well, yes. This is America. Of course you can. I'm here with Mike Wynn from Green's Outdoor Creations. He's had his landscape company for 10 years in West Virginia. And you recently bought a seed and feed company, is that right?
Mike Wynn:
Yes.
Jack Jostes:
So why did you do that? I haven't met any landscapers who have done that. I'm curious why and how does it fit into your strategy with the landscape company?
Mike Wynn:
So the store was being sold by its original owners of 70 years and a couple partners and I decided to entertain the idea of the unique opportunity to buy our supplier. And we did. It worked out.
Jack Jostes:
So how has that given you an advantage maybe that you didn't have before when it comes to pricing and access to material?
Mike Wynn:
Well, access to material, it's nice to control that and it gives us the unique opportunity to get to know our competition a little better as much as you can call fellow landscape contractors' competition, because there is so much work out there that it's not really that we're necessarily competing against each other directly all the time. So being able to get to know colleagues in the field and understand what they're doing and what their needs are and then being able to be a partner with them is a pretty, in my mind, unique and a pretty cool opportunity for us.
Jack Jostes:
That's awesome. So from a bandwidth standpoint, from time, has this been a big distraction or did the company already have the right employees in place or what's that been like from a management standpoint for you?
Mike Wynn:
The company had key employees in place. They were suffering from the same labor shortages as everyone else, particularly in entry level positions. So yeah, initially it was a big distraction. Fortunately we acquired Green's Feed & Seed toward the end of the landscaping season, so that was a huge help. It gave us time to regroup and be prepared for spring.
Jack Jostes:
Cool. And we've met through beef jerky. So tell, I'm just curious. It was great to meet you. Just tell us the story of what do you remember from it was, it's been, I mean, it's like three or four years I think, right at this point. So what happened?
Mike Wynn:
Yeah, so a few shows ago, you were late to starting a presentation. So you gave everybody who was registered for that session, you mailed us all beef jerky and it worked. As a result, I've been on your email list since. I've got the Tree of Good Fortune and I probably watch your videos as fast as you put them out.
Harvester Bill Shares His Simple Pricing Method For Reaching Gross Profit Targets
Jack Jostes:
I've seen the guys from the Harvest Group present at NALP over many years. They're very good. I've checked out their book. I recommend that you check it out. And it was really great to connect with Harvester Bill for this simple but impactful pricing tip.
What is your pricing? It's a little formula to reach your gross margin. So what is it?
Harvester Bill:
Well, listen, here's what it is. First of all you got to determine your cost Jack. And when you do an estimate, there's only three things you need to know. You need to know your cost. You need to know your cost. Guess what the third one is Jack?
Jack Jostes:
Your cost.
Harvester Bill:
Your cost, exactly. So once you've determined what the cost is, you need to decide what you're going to charge your customer. Right? That sounds pretty good. So if something costs you a certain amount, you need to mark it up or price it accordingly to arrive at a desired gross margin. Gross margin is a pretty important part of the business, whole another topic. But let's just say something costs you $1,000 Jack and you want to gross 45%. What do you charge your customer? I ask that question of a lot of people out here in the industry, and what do they do? They multiply it by 1.45 and they charge 1450. We take 450, that's your markup, divide that by your price, 1450, that's only 31% gross margin. Not good enough folks. That's not going to get you anywhere.
So what you do is you divide that cost by the reciprocal of the desired gross margin. What the heck does that mean? Well, if you want to gross 45, you divide by 0.45. So a thousand divide by 0.45 gives you 1818, $1,818. That will provide you 45% gross margin. So the secret is take your cost and divide it by the reciprocal of your desired targeted gross margin. And there you have it.
How To Increase Upsells With Options-Based Proposals
Jack Jostes:
When you walk a client's property and you see things in their garden that they need to take care of, but they didn't necessarily ask you to sell to them, how can you tell them about those ideas without seeming pushy or going over budget? Check out this clip of a conversation with SingleOps, J Worth about options based proposals.
J Worth:
Basically the concept is you want to advocate for your client's property. When you get to the property, you're the professional. You're establishing your professional credentials by saying, "You know what, Mrs. Smith, you called me out about the edging and mulching job, but I noticed that these shrubs also need trimmed. I noticed that this tree is also a danger and that needs pruning, we need to get some of that dead wood out." It's really about becoming an advocate for your client's property and positioning yourself as the expert. Learning to develop a mindset where you say, I'm not going to walk away seeing something else that needs to be done to properly maintain the property.
Jack Jostes:
So they called you out for mulching and maybe you identify that they have a drainage problem or they don't have irrigation or something like that. So in the proposal, in SingleOps, what does that look like?
J Worth:
So in SingleOps, you're allowed to, you can create multiple proposals, but when you send it to the client, you can mark them as optional and the client has the option to accept or decline them. So they're getting your entire recommendation right in front of them. They might go with it, they might not, but if they don't know about it, if you haven't raised the issue, if you haven't advocated for the best thing to do for their residence, you're leaving money on the table.
Jack Jostes:
I like it for a couple of reasons. One, I think a lot of homeowners in general don't know all of what they might need and it would be a disservice to know about something that they need and not tell them about it. And then two, it also provides a little documentation of like, "Well, actually we did recommend that you do this and you declined it on this time." Because sometimes people say, "Well, I thought all of this was included." And it kind of can keep you, give you that little paper trail.
J Worth:
And not only that, it's a little bit of an insurance policy for you too. Like you mentioned, there's some documentation because when they call you back and they say, "Oh, well I thought you were going to do this." "Well no, actually you declined this, but we can add it on right now," the proposal's already done and all they have to do is go back in, accept the proposal, and then it goes to your scheduling team.
Jack Jostes:
Elevate was overall a blast. We talked to a lot of really interesting people. We saw clients, we saw team members. We saw some of our partners and vendors. There's nothing quite like the connections we made there. We also hosted a Breakfast of Champions table with NALP. I did one on sales process and our senior landscape marketing strategist, Robert Felton, hosted one on recruiting. And those conversations were really interesting. One of my favorite things is how collaborative the green industry is. People get together, they talk about problems, they talk about what's working, and I can't wait to see you all at another event. We have some coming up.
So check out our events page landscapersguide.com/events to see where we're going to be next. We hope to see you there. And hey, if you enjoy this show, wherever you're listening or watching, if you're watching on YouTube, like this, subscribe. If you're listening, give us some stars and a rating and tell people about the show. It helps us grow, it helps us ultimately serve the industry when more people hear about it. So thank you so much. I'm Jack Jostes and I look forward to talking with you next week on The Landscapers Guide.