Four Predictions On The Future Of Landscaping.

Jeffrey Scott Provides His Predictions for the Future of Landscaping

How confident are you in the future, in these times of change? Based on my research in and outside the industry, here are 4 predictions that will shape the landscape world of the future.

Prediction #1 – The residential cocooning trend will grow stronger than ever.
We have been experiencing a cocooning trend for almost 40 years, and it will continue to grow stronger as working from home becomes the norm. This will drive the residential market for years to come. 

Prediction #2 – Freelance remote services will fill local needs.
The immigration issue is a hot potato that I don't expect to get solved. However, these days   people can live anywhere in the world and still work for you. 

You can hire designers, accountants, receptionists, estimators, and many more roles from people living elsewhere in the USA and the world.

In my community, I am helping landscape entrepreneurs make this a reality. You should be focused on this too, and start by using freelance websites like Upwork.

To bring this point home, by the end of the decade, I predict remotely operated equipment will become a reality.

Prediction #3 – More and better employees will enter the green industry.
The better companies realize they should recruit the best employees, not the best landscape employees. And with the 'great resignation' happening, many office bound employees are rethinking their priorities. How do you best take advantage of this?

1. Be willing to look outside the normal green-industry-skilled employees for future hires.
2. Create a “Values/Skills/Results” scorecard to score the people you are interviewing, to make sure you are clear on who you are looking for, and to avoid making emotional hiring decisions.
3. Continue to gamify your company, so that the better employees will see how they can ‘win’ in your company.
4. Implement “Train the trainer”, so you have your best people armed to do their best training. Don’t assume good people know how to train. Pick the people who are best at training, and show them how to become expert trainers. 

Prediction #4 – The companies that professionalize will own the market.
With so much professional money (e.g. private equity) entering the green industry, there is increased pressure to compete at a higher and more professional level.

It will be harder in the future for a mom-and-pop firm to compete without taking steps to operate their businesses as a professional enterprise.

You have to learn to excel in your professional management approach: numbers, metrics, team building, coaching, organizing for growth… and ultimately, in planning for a smooth exit even before you are ready to exit.

Your Challenge:
Take advantage of these trends while remaining nimble as events continue to evolve and new future trends come into view. Discuss these trends with your team and identify the opportunities that exist now for your company to keep growing and improving during these next two years.

ABOUT

Jeffrey Scott, MBA, is a leading authority on growth and profit maximization in the landscape industry. He grew his landscape company into a successful $15 million multi-discipline enterprise, and he's now devoted to helping others achieve profound success. His clients on average see a 27% profit improvement in their first year alone. He has consulted with over two hundred landscape companies and facilitates the largest global peer group of landscape business owners in the world.

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