Jody Shilan

The holiday season is a time to be thankful, reflect and to help others. So staying with the holiday gift giving "Trade Secret" theme I want to give you another great idea that is not just "good will", but good karma and great publicity.

I call it "Adopt a Tree" and it is something that I am very passionate about. It is an idea that I conceived about 15 years ago but only started implementing around 2004. I have had wonderful success with it and now you can too.

What is so wonderful about this concept is that the cost is so little, the benefits are so huge and it is a perfect fit for the design/build industry. Every landscape contractor has the employees, the equipment and the relationships to make this happen, with very little effort and just a few phone calls. It's so exciting and so simple that you are going to wish you did something like years ago. All I ask is that you do it this year.

Here we go.

Every year around this time, nurseries, garden centers and pretty much any open parking lot have Christmas trees for sale. It's a good business for many, a fund raiser for some and a convenience factor for others. Many of you may not realize this, but usually 2 or 3 days before Christmas, around December 22nd or so; these places close up shop and stop selling trees (wreaths, grave blankets, and roping). And as many of you probably know the unsold trees are put into the "chipper" - turning perfectly good Christmas trees into wood chips.

Now think about the fact, that no matter where you live, there are so many families in nearby communities that would love to have a Christmas tree but just cannot afford to buy one (let alone get it home). So before the nurseries crank up the chipper, all we need to do is bring the trees and the people together and the best way I know how to do that is with pickup trucks, rack trucks, mason dumps and box trucks. The types of vehicles that every landscape contractor owns.

If you've read enough of my trade secrets you know that I like to create "win-win-win" scenarios with every secret. This one is no different. Besides just being "the right thing to do", this is a tremendous PR opportunity for you, your company and the vendors that donate the trees to you . This is the type of human interest story that magazines, newspapers and television stations salivate over, especially around the holidays. There may even be charitable tax benefits associated with this program (please consult with your tax advisor).

To help you promote "Adopt A Tree", I've created a press release that you can download for free . Please save it to your computer as a Word document and then make any edits necessary. At a minimum make sure that you fill in your name, company name and how, when and where you will be distributing the trees. Also, make sure that you include the names of the vendors that donated the trees and let them know that they are part of this promotion.

Then just call your local newspaper editors, magazine editors and TV stations and ask them where you can send a press release.

I am going to start a discussion on the forum, to answer any questions that you may have about the logistics of it and different ways to make it successful.

Let's give back to our fellow man and take this time to enjoy our families and friends. You can share your thoughts in the comments box below.

Happy Holidays!