How We Work Matters: Four Keys to Growing Through Referrals

Grunder Landscaping’s Cincinnati location recently secured a high-profile account simply because a prospect walked by one of their crews and was impressed—even though they couldn't see the actual work being done in the backyard. In this short episode, Marty breaks down the four key philosophies that turn job sites into referral generators, from treating your internal team better than you expect them to treat clients to consistently looking for the good instead of just pointing out problems.

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Episode Timestamps

00:57 - Site One Early Order Program
01:55 - The Importance of How We Work
02:22 - Securing High Profile Accounts
04:24 - Four Key Philosophies for Success
08:16 - Internal Customer Service > External
08:32 - Be Great At What You Want to See
09:38 - Be Present and Engage
12:43 - Look for the Good
14:36 - Training and Systems Matter
16:30 - Please Share & Subscribe!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

Stihl  

Key Learnings

Your External Customer Service Will Never Exceed Your Internal Customer Service – How you treat your team is how they're gonna treat your clients. If you treat your team poorly, you don't give them the tools they need, you don't respect them, you don't appreciate them, you don't have their paychecks ready on time—they're not gonna treat your clients well.

You Gotta Be Great at What You Want Your Team to Be Good At – I can't expect my team to wave at people, throttle down blowers when someone walks by, be kind, and wave at the competition if I'm not modeling that behavior myself. We teach our people to wave to people, to be polite, to look like they care. That starts with me.

Be Present and Bump Knuckles – I listened to a podcast with Corey Ballard who said you gotta get in there and bump some knuckles. You gotta be talking to people, firing them up, setting a good example, being present. When I'm in town, I go in early, I partake in our stretch and flex, I walk around with my nail apron stuffed full of candy. Lenin, one of our lawn care technicians, said "I missed you. I haven't seen you in a while." That made me realize showing up and being seen matters.

Look for the Good and Reinforce It – When I have my apron on and passing out candy, I often see things that are bad. Yesterday I saw a truck that hadn't been cleaned out, a bald tire, and a mesh gate pushed out. I took a picture and sent it to the managers, but I don't go yelling at people. I'm a cheerleader, I'm a knuckle bumper. I look for the good, reinforce that, talk about it in circles, and post pictures of good jobs.

The Exercise That Changes Everything

Marty closes with this powerful exercise he uses when working with groups:

The Question: Knowing what you know about landscaping, what would a crew have to do—to look like, to sound like—if they were working at the neighbors of your brand new vacation home in Florida that you just built because you did so well with your landscaping company? What would that team have to do to impress you to the point that you would want to call them and ask them for a quote?

The Magic: Write that all down. Now go do that. Just go do what you know you should be doing but you're not doing. You're gonna get referrals for your crews like we do. It's one of the best ways to grow a business.

What Impressed the Prospect

When the prospect walked by the Grunder crew, here's what they saw (even though they couldn't see the actual patio installation in the backyard):

• Clean, clearly branded truck
• Team in uniform
• Pylons out
• Wheels turned into the curb
• Organized appearance
• Polite crew members

Marty's First Truck Example: Even his 1974 Red Ford Ranger with Rich had a magnetic sign and was kept clean (despite the rusty spot). The principle applies regardless of truck age or condition.

Reflection Questions

1. If you walked by your own crew working on a job site right now, would you be impressed enough to call and ask for a quote—or would you keep walking?
2. When was the last time you were physically present during morning stretch and flex, bumping knuckles and handing out thank-yous to your team?
3. What's the ratio of "good" you point out versus "problems" you correct with your team—and what would happen if you flipped that ratio?