Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Grow show, brought to you by Mardi Grinder's Grow Group, where we specialize in helping landscaping companies to clarify their platform, grow their people, build their processes and realize profits. Everything we teach is grounded in real experience. Our team is actively involved in the day to day operations of Southwest Ohio's Grunder Landscaping Company.
New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Now here's your host, Marty Grunder.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Well, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whatever the case may be. This is Marty Grunder from Grunder Landscaping Company and the Grow Group. Today we're going to talk about how little things make a big difference.
The little pieces that add up to a whole lot with my friend Chris Pencheck from McFarland, Stanford. But first, a reminder. You can get the latest edition of the Grow show delivered to your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts or watch us on YouTube or for an enhanced learning experience.
The Grow show is the greatest thing since the Journey Brand Desk pad. All right, if you're with YouTube, we're going to show you a picture of it right now. I've got one of these deals, folks on my desk here. Seth, our president, gave it to me. I've got one in my office here in Dayton. I've got one in my office in Cincinnati. And the dumb little thing, as I affectionately call it, is really, it's a really handy tool. Not only does it protect my desk, but it also allows me to charge my phone and my AirPods easily while I sit. It's so convenient. And if my never ending quest to be more efficient, I love it. Pick yours up today by visiting Journey J dash O U R N E Y Official O F F I c I a l.com and I don't get a penny to to share this. They don't know me. I don't know them. I'm not that influential, folks. It's just a cool little thing that I think you might like for your desk. Again, if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see a picture of it on my desk. I think it's a great little tool. Now on to this week's edition of the Grow Show. Again, we've got Chris Panchak on here. Chris, you're my partner in crime and a lot of the virtual sales teaching that we do. You and I have shared the stage at Ace Connect for as long as we've done it. You and I have always opened the event up and we Teach together. I love teaching with you. And you're a principal at McFarland Stanford, Our strategic partners to facilitate our peer groups. You're an executive coach. You've got a specialty in sales. Chris Penchik, Welcome.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: Hey, excited to be here, Marty. Thank you for having me.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: Of course. Hey, tell us a little bit about yourself so people can kind of get to know you before we dig in.
[00:02:32] Speaker C: Well, it's a big week. I'm a die hard Aggie and I had the opportunity to go experience a little bit that this week up in Aggieland, living on a high from, from national championship yesterday on Aggie volleyball. So cool stuff. But more than that, you know, I'm a dad of three daughters, I've got a beautiful wife here in Dallas, Texas. Have grown up in the landscape industry. Probably like a lot of our listeners today, you know, I started with the lawnmower, mowing grass just like everybody else and had the great opportunity to pursue my career in the landscape industry. Learning landscape design, landscape horticulture. And now, I mean, it's crazy, Marty. I look back now, I've been doing this for, you know, know, over 20 years now, and I still love it. Every day, in fact, working on my front yard as we speak, getting it ready for the spring. So.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Well, you, you and I have a lot in common. You know, I've mentioned this before. You went to Texas A and M and studied horticulture and have learned business. I went to the University of Dayton and studied business and have learned horticulture. We have nice conversations about horticulture and we have nice conversations about business.
And that's probably why we complement each other. Both of us are professional salespeople at ACE Connect. You and I opened the entire event up like we have the past prior years. And we talked, in essence, about how little things make a big difference. And the theme of ACE Connect in Park city, Utah in 2025 was, you know, the little bits and pieces that make your business work. And we, you know, we're playing off that often the adage that you hear, like, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It was the same thing. And I want to open by sharing a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. And the wonderful man, wonderful leader said, if I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.
And that's what you and I did. The lesson on that was what the whole focus of the conference was.
You're also going to be teaching on this at GROW 2026 Dallas, Texas. We're going to tour complete land sculpture. Our good friends there in Dallas, incredible operation.
I want to frame this properly.
Captain Abrashov, I think, is how you say that in the U.S. navy, he had a great book. I want you to talk about the book, give us the title, give us an overview of that book and maybe how that book was somewhat of an emphasis for the session that we taught and that you're going to teach it Grow and that we're talking about today on the Grow show.
[00:05:01] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm happy to do it. You know, this was a great book. This was our book of the year for our ace peer groups that we host all across the country. And so we chose this book for really one reason. It was about. He talked in the story about creating owners. And he tells a phenomenal story of his career working in the Navy as a, as a commander and as an admiral, and what that meant to not only be able to take a ship, but to transform a ship and make it into something that was not only productive, but self sustaining, where they were creating owners and leaders. And he does a phenomenal job of really telling the story of how he took the USS Benefold, which was a failing ship in the Navy, and turned that into one of the most productive, most efficient ships. And his story and his transition of how he goes from, you know, just individuals and then how do we create owners and how do we create clarity and how do we push decision making down? And he talks a lot about how we inspect what we expect and just creating those relationships and those opportunities that allow you to grow and scale a team, but understanding that you just can't do that by micromanaging individuals. And I think so many of the people that Marty, that you work with, I know that we work with, they just think they can just white knuckle those companies and just grab your bootstraps and just get in there and get their hands dirty and that's just going to solve it. But everybody knows, you know, once a company reaches a certain size, man, it, it takes successful people to really do that. And it's, and the stories he's able to kind of relate to, I think all of us in the landscape industry as landscape professionals can really resonate and, and feel exactly what he's trying to explain in that book.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: Very well said, Chris. And for me, there's so many little things that a successful landscaping company needs to do. And, and you know, you and I have seen firsthand in the most successful companies that we've worked with, they get a tremendous amount of Momentum going from doing a lot of things well, and you get all those little things being done well together in concert with one another.
And it's not like it's magical, but it's really kind of obvious. Like, success finds you from doing all the little things.
[00:07:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: How your phones are answered, how your men and women look in the office, on the job, on the road, the quality of plant material that you get, the consistency of your branding. To your point there, how we treat one another. Are your bathrooms clean? I mean, seriously, Chris, like, I can't think of two better people to talk about this than me and you in the green industry because of our ocd. And I'm. I. I think you and I are a lot alike like that. Like, we don't just get up in the morning and, you know, just go about whatever we plan things. I've never asked you this. Do you lay your clothes out the night before?
[00:07:46] Speaker C: I. I. Not only do I lay them out, but I make sure it's ready to go. I'm Marty. I bet you're the same guy. I make my bed every morning before I leave, and I'm just trying to drill it into my kids.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: I mean, this is somewhat embarrassing that to say, but I lay my clothes out. I have my contact lenses out. I have my toothbrush ready to go. I've got my wallet there, my vitamin pack on top of my wall. I mean, I'm. I'm nuts. But it's all these little things that I just do that I don't think about anymore. And I swear, Kris, and if you want to pay me a compliment, come up to me and say, I don't understand how you get done what you get done in a day. Now, I don't really think it's that special what I do anymore, but I get a lot done in a day because of a lot of little things that just are done in concert with one another. So let's talk. Let's dig into more of this stuff and give some specifics. As you know, at the grow group, we teach off the 4P framework.
Platform people process profits.
Platform is your. Your vision, your mission, your core values, your unique value proposition. What do you do better than all their options in your marketplace, and who do you do it for? So that's platform people. That's your team now. Don't have to say a whole lot more than that. That's the team that could also include vendors, subcontractors, consultants, all that. Who are all the people involved in your company that make it work?
Number Three, process. I'm going to describe this very, very simply. Processes and systems enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things. What are the processes in your business that matter? And then finally, profits. The concept here, Chris, as you know, is if we're very clear about where we're going, if we have the right people that understand where we're going, and we put them in scalable processes that are easy to understand and, and replicate and scale, profits then becomes a byproduct. So they're the four pillars. I'm sitting on a stool right now. It's got four legs on it, okay. And each leg is firm. If I cut one leg off, I'm going to fall off the stool. So it's the same thing here. So I want to talk about little things that make a big difference.
From your perspective, what's a small thing we can do in the platform area?
[00:10:00] Speaker C: Now, when I think of platform, I think of all those things you just mentioned right there. And then it's the, the speed in which you're able to execute. Right?
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Why does speed matter?
[00:10:09] Speaker C: Because what we know and like, Marty, we teach them this all the time. Speed kills. Like in our industry, when a customer is ready to buy, when that residential client makes that call, they've got a list of people, they've got Google, they've got chat GPT, they've got everything telling them everybody that's the right fit for the job. And they're going to make a lot of phone calls. They're going to make them quick. And I mean, Marty, we talk about how many times do we walk into organizations and we're doing sales with somebody and they say, I just need more sales. I just need more sales. And when we start looking at call logs, we're like, the calls are here. The inbound opportunities are here. Our return is not fast enough. You know, so how do we get estimates out the door faster? How do we get designs turned around quicker? How do we expedite and use technology to our advantage from a platform standpoint to really speed up the game, you know, because so many of these things, like, I mean, gone are the days of, you know, me having to sit behind the desk and ink out a pencil drawing and concepts and bubbles and designs and just rehashing the same thing over and over for hours on end. Like, we can speed these systems and processes up by just using all the tools and resources. We have to just think about how we can move faster and respond quicker to our clients and respond quicker to our customers.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: On the platform perspective, what I Would add in terms of one little thing you could do there to make a big difference.
Start all your meetings off with your mission statement and your core values. Like start getting little things like that. Get people to understand that those matter more. Recognize someone each week who supported the core value. And Chris, as you know, we see this in our peer groups. It doesn't take much. It's a shout out with a payday candy bar thrown to them that says, hey, I want to recognize Jose for getting back to Mrs. Jones. So quick. Jose was out on the crew, saw a little area in the back, a drainage area, reported to the salesperson, salesperson came out, gave him a quote, sold them drain tiles for $3,800. Jose, way to go, buddy. That when we talk about speed skills as part of our business philosophy, our platform, that's what we're talking about. And I think, Chris, we just, we don't leverage those opportunities of things going well enough in our platform. Right. Right off the get go. And you just miss out. It's the end of here. We're pushing. We had to, you know, keep it real here. We had 67 lawns that were not able to get our last round of of lawn care on because the temperatures got too cold.
And on one hand, it's like kind of silly. How could we not have gotten those done? But we had a very early winter here.
[00:12:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: And we couldn't do it.
So we reached out to all of our clients, we told them that, and we credit it for next year. And we hope that they understand we're trying to do things the right way.
What's cool about that whole story, Chris? I had nothing to do with that. I found out what we did later because we're so clear on our platform. Take care of the customers. What do you need my help doing that for? No, I'm not happy that we missed 67 lawns in revenue. But I go and I look at what we were doing. They did the right thing. And lo and behold, we checked around and there's companies in Cincinnati that have like a thousand lawns they didn't get to. They got a lot bigger problem than we do. My team did a good job there. And I could get focused on the fact we didn't do 67 lawns, or I can be focused on the fact that we didn't go out and just throw fertilizer down when the client probably wouldn't even know the difference. They may end up with snow mold or something else from an ill timed application. And then we got that Problem. I just. It's all those little things that are part of there that, you know, you mentioned speed kills. I just think so many times are way too slow to react to things.
[00:13:49] Speaker C: Things. Yeah. And I think part of it, too, is understanding what plan B is. You know, I had a great coaching call this week with one of our clients in Southern Chicago, and he was talking about how snow affected their. Their revenue opportunities year. And I said, well, man, it was great. It hit. But what happened was it actually melted off within 72 hours. So what did it do? It actually opened up more opportunity to go back onto these jobs to start, really push hard. And what we said is, let's double down. Let's push as much of this hardscape in the ground now while we've got this small window with no snow on the ground before the next storm hits, you know, and so not only were we able to capitalize on the snow revenue that came in, which was unexpected, but then we capitalize again on being able to get back out there because it melted off so quickly and didn't impact our job sites, where now we. We had the benefit of hitting both, you know, and so that was capitalizing because we had a plan A, we went in with the plan B, you know, and now we're back on track and set up for success as we move into the. The deep, deeper states of winter.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Those are a bunch of little things. Let's move on to the second P, people.
What's a small thing with people? And, you know, every single one of these kind of has elements. It's so common, and speed kills kind of weaves through all of them in all reality. I always say good things come to those who wait, but only the things left behind by those who didn't, like, seize the day, man. What are you waiting for? Yeah, what's a small bits and pieces perspective on people?
[00:15:13] Speaker C: You know, I'm gonna. I'm gonna use our good friend Curtis Atkinson up in Utah. So Curtis does a phenomenal job. I would say his. His over the winter training system and protocols that he's put into place with his team are just absolutely incredible. And I. I talked about him with all of our ace peer groups when I have the opportunity, because he. He called us probably a month ago to say, you know, hey, Chris, I'm putting together our training schedule for the winner when we have less hours going out the door from a revenue perspective, but I want to double down and make sure my team is set up for success. Chris, here's the challenges we had in the 2025 season, here was where we weren't hitting it on the sales side. Here were some opportunities that we wanted to make sure we were going to capitalize on for 2026.
And he challenged me and he said, hey, I. I want to. I want you to think through what would be a great training opportunity. Training systems and processes and schedules and things we need to be thinking about over the winter right now that we can be focused on in January and February. Not because he just needs something for the people to do, but because he wants to make sure that team is set up for success when spring hits. Because when he knows when spring hits, he wants to hit the ground running. He doesn't want to be trying to figure it out come March and April. He wants to have it figured out in January and February. So he's ready to go capture that revenue when it's time to capture that revenue. And so it paints the perfect picture of thinking with the end in mind. You know, like, where do we need to get. We need to get revenue. When do we want it? We want it in the first quarter, in the second quarter. What do I not want to be doing when my team should be outside pushing those opportunities and meeting with clients and visiting properties. I don't want to be sitting in the office training. I want to do that now while we've got snow, while we've got opportunity, while we have the chance to sit back and think about what we did right and what we did wrong and what we could be improving, you know, and so it's that proactivity of thinking with the end in mind.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: I love it. I think my small thing that I would share today is sitting down, doing your one on ones.
And it's a small thing. And I see it like, I don't think anybody could argue that sitting down with your people once every other week, once a week, whatever it is, there's not value, but that gets pushed to the side. Like people say, well, I don't have time to do that. And that's just a big mistake. So spending time talking about their career, what did you struggle with last week? Where were. Where were roadblocks? And really, Chris, what we have learned and what we teach is that people think they don't have time to do that meeting, but then they open themselves up to constant interruptions and getting you off track by not having a meeting. And then somebody just comes to you whenever they need something. If you have a forum in which the team member can come talk to you, I think that is A small thing that makes a big difference. Let's move on to process. So process again. Systems enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Systems and processes do what's small bit sized pieces in the process department that you'd share.
[00:18:12] Speaker C: So my favorite thing about December, and I've been doing this for years, is this is my time when I look at everything I propose, work to everything I sold, work to everything I lost and throughout the year and I started to like, look at what the clues were, what I saw. Why, why, why did I lose work? How many jobs did I get to this general contractor or this project manager? How many did I win? You know, was that time worth it? You know, how do I want to reevaluate that for 2026, you know, so what does that mean for me? As I kind of do this year end annual review, it gives me the opportunity to look at what 2026 is and next year is going to look like. And I go have those conversations. I just proactively go after. If I've got those property managers say, look, this year, over the course of the year, you may not realize this, but we propose $250,000 worth of enhancements on this property. So what does that mean for you? Well, what it means is you only approved $5,000.
So we have a series of challenges that are going to come into play over the next season that aren't going to go away. The trees are still going to need to be trimmed, you know, the irrigation still going to need to be fixed. So I need to work with you on maybe trying to figure out either A, some budget constraints and how we work within those, or B, how do we prioritize these items? How do we think through, like, okay, if you propose $250,000 and we can't attack $250,000, what are the priorities on that list that we could be thinking about for this next season? Right, because these are challenges that, like, that's the beauty of landscaping. These things don't just disappear. And that's a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because we know they're still there. It's a curse because they're going to continue to come back and bite you until you get them corrected and fixed. You know, so let's prioritize the list. Drainage, irrigation, whatever that is, Work with these property managers to figure that out. Same thing with construction. You know, if I'm looking at my builders list or my general contractors list, you know, I'm going to look at, you know, hey, I propose 10 different residential landscape installations with you. You, you gave me one, right? So, you know, let's look at who did you give them to? What was the reasons why? Let's look at the estimate comparisons, let's go line by line and see, you know, where might I be missing it in my proposals? Where might I be missing in my estimating? Is it a timing? Is it execution? Because I want to get these corrected. As a partner working with you, I want to make sure that we can be successful together and not just do one job together, but to do five jobs together this next year. And so, so I'm, I'm proactively going after that with these clients and I'm thinking through that because in the end I know I'm challenging them and I'm putting them on the spot a little bit. But I'm also showing that I'm a good partner and I have a vested interest and I care about what those results are and I'm spending the time to think about it. If you as a salesperson are thinking that you don't have time to do those things, then you're not truly spending enough time focused on the relationship. If you're finding these things to be a waste, then maybe you're looking at the wrong client. Because I can tell you, the right client, you should be thinking and asking these questions.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: I love the analytical side. A small thing that you can delve in. Good managers make good decisions with good information. And there's whether you're running a spire element or whatever it is, you know, you've got information there. And I guess mine is it's basically the same thing along the same lines. It's a little bit different perspective.
How well are you using your software? You know, you and I both heard one of our colleagues say that the best software is the one you use. So whether you're running Aspire, lmn, Jobber, whatever it is, what's something you can work on now that can get you in a better place? Are you using it to its utmost potential?
Would it make sense to bring a consultant in? Would it make sense to come to one of our Aspire field trips that we do here at Grunder Landscaping?
What's a small thing you could do to move your process forward? Because for us, Chris, here at Grunder, the biggest and most leverageable process we have is Aspire, because it's woven through the entire operation of the company.
And the more people we get proficient on that, that's a little bite sized piece that has compounding effect.
So Ending on compounding effect, which you often hear that in profit. So let's wrap this up by talking about bite sized pieces with profits. What's a small thing we can do in the area of profits that would make a big difference.
[00:22:28] Speaker C: So, Marty, you touched on it at the beginning of our conversation. Like profit is the, it's the byproduct of what those little decisions and those little things you do. And so I kind of joked around about like, you know, hey, the first thing I do in the morning is make the bed. Why? Because I want to be able to come home no matter how good or how bad my day is. I know the one thing I did right today was make my bed. And that's a win.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: And isn't that, that's in that other great military leader that wrote a book too, right?
[00:22:55] Speaker C: Yep. He's another. I think it was an admiral or something. I think.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:59] Speaker C: Ironically, I think he was the president of the University of Texas. That told us.
[00:23:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:03] Speaker C: And. But yeah, I mean, he said that. It always resonated with me and I, I echo that with my kids in the same time too, because it is the little things. It is how I schedule my time, it is how I prioritize my scheduling. It's when I look at my to do list, what are the things that I'm actually going to achieve? There's 150 things on there. But what's the three things that move the needle the fastest as a landscaper and as a, as a professional landscape, professional salesperson. I coach this all the time. The first quarter is, is how you win the year. Right.
And unfortunately, that's probably the best thing.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: That'S been shared today.
[00:23:35] Speaker C: Yeah. The unfortunate thing is I feel like we get a lot of calls in April and May when they're like, man, I'm struggling with sales. And I'm like, man, this is not the time to ask that question. Like November, December is when you need to be asking this.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: You should be out now making calls, getting in touch. People do business with people they know like and trust. Work on the relationships now. Yeah, you can. I understand you're competing with Santa Claus and it's hard to get their time, but you can still see people and develop a relationship.
[00:24:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, my, my biggest pet peeve is the people that want to take the victim mentality of like, man, it was a tough year, inflation was hard. Oh, home prices were down, things weren't moving. And I look at that as, that's an excuse, you know, because like, Marty, you went through the recession. I went through the recession. We've gone through high inflation, we've gone through the good times and the bad times. And at the end of the day, there is a successful avenue somewhere in there. You just have to dig and find it.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: And the older you get, you know, Chris, sorry to interrupt you, but the older you get, the more you cannot argue with what you just said because you see it, the patterns. When you're in your 20s, you haven't experienced some of this and you think it's the end of the world. You get to be my age, 57, I've dealt with a bunch and there is always opportunity there. It just depends on whether or not you want to go get it.
[00:24:53] Speaker C: Yeah. And so right now I'm more optimistic about what's ahead of us from a green industry right now and probably at least two years.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: Chris, I mean, not to try to be funny, but what's the alternative? Just. Just what? Quit? Shut your doors?
[00:25:07] Speaker C: Like hang it up and mail it in?
[00:25:09] Speaker B: Yeah, so. So for 41 years it worked for me. And on the 42nd year it's mysteriously just not going to work. I mean, that's not rational talk. That's why I think it's important to be in a peer group to come to grow in Dallas, to get around other success minded individuals that are full of positive energy and are talking about what can be done. On the profit side, my little one, is this like individual job costing? You know, we can focus on a macro level of overall profitability, but guess what? If you start watching each job and you bring those in under hours individually, you're going to be profitable.
So I just think sometimes we just magnify our problems and over complicate things and confound individuals and get them so wrapped up on this elaborate process you're trying to put them through, they can't think.
[00:26:01] Speaker C: Yep. Yeah, you just, it's, it's all about empowering people and understanding what it takes to be successful. I mean, Marty, what I wouldn't have given 20 years ago to have the technology we have today, to have the opportunities for podcasts and education that we have today, the resources that we have today, I mean like so much opportunity to learn and get better at your craft is in front of you and so much of it is free and it's available and it's out there everywhere. I've never been more excited about what's ahead for the landscape green industry. And I love that we're doing this right now and, and setting up the year because you know, I just, I've never been more optimistic of just the tools at my disposal that are going to allow me to just be able to continue to accelerate and excel past where I've been in the past and being able to help our clients both on the peer group side, on the coaching side of what we do and being able to help people take their operations to the next level. And it's very exciting what's going on right now.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: No, I agree, Chris. What else can people expect from the session that we're going to put on at Grow?
[00:27:05] Speaker C: So what I can tell you to expect is I've had the unique opportunity of getting to coach Gene and Chris Shrimpak over at Complete Landsculpture. Not only did I compete with those guys for about eight, nine years before I went into the world of McFarlane Stanford where we competed on high end residential, we competed against each other on commercial. So I have a very unique perspective both as a competitor and then I been coaching with those guys for almost 10 years now and helping their teams grow and develop. And we had the unique opportunity to help them start a maintenance division and start a tree care division and, and really be involved in the intricate details. And so what I can tell you from a firsthand perspective is you're going to see not only a team that cares, you're going to see owners that care. You're going to see aligned vision as to what and where this company is going.
Because I remember doing the 10 year plan 10 years ago, over 10 years ago when they were $8 million and now they're going to be 30, $40 million. We just put together a plan to get to 60 and what I can tell you is they're absolutely going to hit it. And they exceeded it the first time we did it and we know they're going to exceed it the second time. But the alignment of where the owners want to go with where the team understands where they're at and how they're going to get there. You're going to see one of the most beautiful facilities that I have seen and I travel and see Marty. We see a lot of facilities across.
[00:28:23] Speaker B: And it's not, it's not like ostentatious, it's not like you're going to go in. They have some cool things like they have a cool lobby and some cool leather chairs and it does definitely feel like you're in Texas. There's wrought iron, but they were very. It's, it's a metal building, it's a, it's a rectangular Metal building.
It's, you know, on the outside it's very nice. But you're not going to go in there and think they won the lottery or anything. It's just really well thought out the way they've laid it all out and getting experience their people.
And then for this purpose of this talk today, the bite sized pieces, Chris and Big Gene, they focus on a lot of little things and they do it really, really well.
[00:29:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I think my favorite thing that you'll see and everybody that goes will get to, to experience this. And it's my favorite quote. Gene Freeman says all the time relationships matter at all levels. And he talks about it, their team talks about it. It comes up in every team meeting and it's probably the one thing I take away from every meeting, every time I'm with them is how much they focus on all levels, all levels of the customer experience, all levels of the team experience.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: They do. And Chris and Gene, they always make you feel good about yourself. I was just there two weeks ago and I came in on a Saturday night. I went to the McFarland Stanford Christmas party. It was great fun to see you and your wife there.
Got up on Sunday, Big Gene took us out to the Dallas Arboretum. We saw three of their projects underway.
It's just they, these guys are, even though they're a bigger company, very relatable and they do a lot of things very, very well in everything from their branding, their operation, their rollout, all that stuff. It's a first class organization that folks will have a lot of fun learning from.
[00:30:06] Speaker C: Yep. And they care. They genuinely care. I see their involvement on the community side.
I get to see what they're doing at the schools with all of the events and just the things that they're pouring into the community just from a. How to engage with your customer but also be involved in what's happening. And they just, man, they, they care so much and they just. Such an outstanding job.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: So I have a statement. It's three sentences and I want to read it and then I want to hear your takeaways from it.
You and I have shared this before, so it's not, don't, don't worry. You're not going to be surprised by it.
How you do one thing is how you do anything.
Sentence number one.
If you care about the details and the bite sized things, you'll be successful. That's the second sentence and then the last one kind of wraps it all together.
The little things are the big things. I'll read it all together and Then I want to hear what you have to say. How you do one thing is how you do anything. If you care about the details and the bite size things, you'll be successful. The little things are the big things. Chris, what does that mean to you?
[00:31:12] Speaker C: What that means to me is that we are in a customer experience environment. Right. We have the unique opportunity of being a service provider that is delivering a product no different than the hospitality service at a hotel, no different than school dealerships and how they're buying and selling cars and helping you with that experience.
You have the unique perspective that most industries don't have anymore. And what I hear out of that is that's what makes us special in the landscape green industry. That's what makes us unique. I think that's what makes us an invaluable trade that should give every single person that has the confidence to be successful that they can be successful in the landscape industry. And the details matter, you know, and at the end of the day, delivering on the details and exceeding customer expectations is never the wrong thing to do. It's always the right thing.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: Oh, that's right. And I think listening to you elaborate on this, another perspective I have is it's mostly little things that your customers see. Like they see your truck, they encounter one of your people at the hardware store, they are walking down the street and see your men working. They call you on the phone, they fill out a web request, they go on the website, they most prospects and customers perspectives of you are in bite sized pieces. They're not coming in with you for the day and following you around all day. And that's why I think the focus on the little things makes such a big difference. That your bathroom is clean, to show respect to your people, that you start off the day with a stretch and flex and you say the mission statement and the core values. Somebody's got a bold tire, you get them a new tire on their truck. Where we're focused on safety. It's all these little things I think, Chris, that we focus on together. Then when done in concert, and if you're on the YouTube version, you can see I'm conducting an orchestra here. When it's all done together is where the great music is made.
[00:33:07] Speaker C: Yep. And ultimately that's how you create that customer for life. Right. Like that's how you, you, you not only win the client, but you retain the client. And that is value add to any business.
No matter if we're doing janitorial services or we're painting walls or we're Putting in bushes, right?
[00:33:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:24] Speaker C: It's creating that amazing customer experience where they don't ever have a reason to ask a question or ever go shop you out and look for something new. And that's something I know, Marty. You guys work really hard at that. I know. That's something we work really hard at. We take a lot of pride and being able to deliver on that customer for life experience.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: Well, Chris, I look forward to teaching with you again at Grow folks. That's going to give you a little bit of a taste of what we have there.
We've got that breakout session and a ton more. Chris, really enjoyed having you on today.
[00:33:51] Speaker C: It's my pleasure, Marty. Thanks for, thanks again for having me and looking forward to seeing you soon.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, folks, that's going to do it for the Grow show this week. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to the Grow show and if you can give it a rating or share a comment that helps more success minded landscape professionals find us. And if you really want to help us, take out your phone right now. If you're listening to this or or you're watching on YouTube, share this episode with your team or any landscape pro you know that helps us make a greater impact in the industry. All right, thanks for joining us this week on the Grow Show. And don't forget to check out Grow 2026, February 10th, 11th and 12th, Dallas, Texas, where Chris will teach a few sessions. And there will be approximately 50 other sessions going on, believe it or not, all designed to help you grow your landscaping business no matter what department you work in. Because we at the Grow Group know better than anyone in the country what it takes to grow a landscaping company. We did that last year with our event. We're going to do that again this year. So go sign up for GROW 2026 while it's fresh in your mind. Talk to you next week.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Grow Show. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode and visit growgroupinc.com for more more resources to help your landscaping company succeed. We'll talk to you next week.
