Jody Shilan

I just got back from PLANETS GIC (Professional Landcare Network – Green Industry Conference http://www.landcarenetwork.org/cms/home.html) in Louisville Kentucky.  Amongst other features they have a wonderful event called “Breakfast With Champions”.

Essentially, it is a round table discussion of approximately 10 people that focuses on one specific topic.  Depending on the attendance at the conference, there can be anywhere from 50 to well over 100 tables with 50 to over 100 different topics.  Every year I sign up to be a “Champion” (facilitator) at a table and am always amazed at how successful these discussion are.  Besides the obvious benefits of discussing a specific topic that is of interest to you, you never know who is going to come to your table.  It could be a recent graduate, an employee of a small or medium sized landscape company or the CEO of a multi-million dollar national business.  In addition to this, the people and companies are from all over the country as well as abroad.  At one table, I had the pleasure of sitting with Narase Boodoosingh, managing director of PROLAS LTD located in Trinidad, West Indies.

Saturday morning my topic was “estimates and templates” and how to use them to make streamline your proposal process and make it more accurate and efficient.  Even though my goal was to discuss how to “pre-write” your estimates and proposals so you just had to “fill in the “blanks, the discussion moved away from my plan and began to morph into a discussion of what information and what language you should use in these templates.  Although I had my “Champions agenda”, I fulfilled my role and responsibilities by facilitating the conversation and allowing the participants to take it into the direction that was most important to them (although I did have to reel them back a few times when it started to become a P & M session – Pissing and Moaning).

Anyway, the discussion of what language and how much information should be put on an estimate or proposal was as varied as the people at the table.  My philosophy is to describe the process, keep the information minimal and always refer back to the drawing.  Greg Werstil from Werstil Companies in Hollidaysburg, PA, described his proposal writing style as “very direct and matter of fact”.  However, Doreen McIntosh of McIntosh Grounds Maintenance in Milan Michigan and Chris Tocco of Carol King Landscape in Orlando FL preferred to be very descriptive and almost “poetic”.  They felt that one way for a potential client to distinguish one proposal from another, without just focusing on “price”, was to impress them with their technical knowledge, writing skills and overall appearance.

The discussions were very lively, but always respectful, and as we debated the pros and cons of each methodology several things became quite obvious.  The first was that there is no “one size fits all solution”.  The second was that although we are all “green industry providers” our business models were all completely different.  However, the third point, and most important point which was brought up by Kyle McLaughlin of Lawn Management Company, INC  out of Houston Texas, was that no matter what specific business you are in or where you are in the world, ultimately, you need to know “your customer”, - period. 

Although I came prepared to teach each morning, I wound up learning as much, if not more than the other table participants.  My only request, which is actually a suggestion from my good friend Steven “Jack” Jomides of Lawns by Yorkshire is that instead of a “Breakfast With Champions”, maybe we could start just a little bit later in the day and have a “Brunch With Champions”?

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Thanks!

Jody Shilan
Editor
FromDesign2Build.com