Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Grow show brought to you by Marty Grunder'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 and are made possible with the support of Bob Yard. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Now here's your host, Marty Grunder.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever the case may be. This is Marty Grunder from Grunder Landscaping Co. And the Grow Group. Thanks for downloading the Grow Show. We've got some new sponsors to the show, including Bob Yard, the AI tool we use to bid work faster and more profitably. More on them later. Today's guest is our Director of Sales, Ms. Dawn Arnold. Here at Grunder Landscaping Company we're going to learn about her and what she's working on to help us hit our goals. And I'm 100% positive you're going to enjoy this episode. 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 for an enhanced learning experience. The Grow show is the greatest thing since and we're going to put a picture of it up right now. Allium Serendipity from proven winners, my friends up in Michigan. We're showing them now on the YouTube version. It boasts a globe like rosy purple flower in mid to late summer. That top attractive blue foliage there, the upright habit works as a thriller in containers and the landscape. And deer and rabbits steer clear of this perennial beauty. They get about 20 inches tall and they're hardy in zones four to eight. So look into that perennial to ensure success for you where you live. They need to be in the full sun. The foliage is very attractive but the blooms are incredible folks. They are a rosy purple again and globe like they bloom for months. If you'd like to learn more about how this perennial and the whole proven winner selections can help the planting side of your business thrive, check out the link in the show notes. And now speaking of thriving, let's introduce Ms. Dawn Arnold, our Director of sales. Dawn, welcome to the Grow Show.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Thanks for having me, Marty.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Glad you're here. I've been looking forward to this interview.
You joined us a little over a year ago. Why don't you tell us about yourself, your background and and give us A little insight into what you're doing now.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: Okay. Well, my background is in the hospitality business. Overall, it's really been in leadership operations and people development.
I always loved helping teams just get structured, organize, improve their performance and create clarity around what success looks like for them. I think without those pieces, it's hard to continue to move forward. And that's what brought me to glc. I had some conversations with Step with Seth and we spoke about him needing a stronger sales team, a leader that was going to help move the business forward. And that's what brought me here.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. And specifically, you spent a lot of time in the restaurant industry where the employees are similar to what we have on the field and your managers are probably similar in type to the salespeople that we have. It's not like it's completely out of left field. But you're learning landscaping, right?
[00:03:11] Speaker C: Oh, yes, a lot.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: It seems unless you're really good con artist that you like landscaping, like you're enjoying it and you like challenges, you like to dig, dig in. And we, we had some challenges here with building a, a sales organization. You've heard me say many times, ladies and gentlemen, that when you do nothing, nothing happens. And nothing happens till someone sells something. So dawn, from your perspective, what are the core components and what have you found is a makeup of a winning sales organization?
[00:03:39] Speaker C: First, the people making sure you have the right people on the team, people who want to be there, who enjoy this line of work. And you can have all the processes in the world. Right. But if you don't have the right people and you don't have somebody leading them, then they're not going to be followed. So people are first.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: And I, and I know that you listen to the grow show once in a while. I try to keep it real. We had some people we had to get off the bus here. We, we had some people that, some of them were really nice people, but they just, they weren't a fit. Some of them self selected themselves out of the organization for a multitude of reasons. Probably one of them, like we work hard here. This isn't like you don't get to disappear for six hours because you hit your quota last week. You don expects you to. If you've got your quota, like we're going to raise your quota, then like we got to go. This is a growing business.
Anything you've learned or something that's been surprising to you in the last year about the sales?
[00:04:30] Speaker C: That has been surprising.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: I don't know if this is what you're getting at. But here's what I love about when I got here. I wouldn't say the whole team was like this, but I love that in the land keeping sector of the business side of our business, they. It wasn't.
It was more collaborative.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:04:50] Speaker C: And like I had, you know, one of the more tenured.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Like dog eat dog. Yeah, yeah.
[00:04:55] Speaker C: I'd had like one of the more tenured sales consultants helping the newbies and giving them sales where they could have kept those sales for themselves. Just took that person with them. But they wanted those others to grow and to help build that team. And that was pretty amazing in a good way.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: I'm really proud of that. I think I may have told you I have. I use the word friend. He's maybe more of an acquaintance, but I've spent a lot of time with him in his restaurant. His name is Eric. He owns a chain of people pizza places, Old Scratch Pizza.
And when my son Grant, who now funny reports to you as one of our sales people in Cincinnati, when he was in high school, he had an entrepreneurship class and we went to see Eric and Grant's buddy Matt asked Eric what did he think his secret secret to success was? And he said, well, this sounds corny and hokey, but our secret to success is hiring nice people.
And there are nice peop. We have a lot of nice people. There's never, never an issue with that.
But I think that I'm proud to hear you say that because that's how a team wins. Like a team wins by seeing the big picture and going. And I am, I am really glad to hear you say that.
I knew the power of one on ones.
I've learned that from Jim Callai, our strategic partner at McFarland Stanford. When you came here, you're well versed in one on ones. Can you talk to us a little bit about the one on one and the power of those?
And obviously our focus is on sales, but the power of a one on one is not just for a salesperson. It's for anyone. Can you speak to your experience with one on ones?
[00:06:27] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I think one to ones are very important and to be consistent with them.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Why is consistent important?
[00:06:35] Speaker C: Well, because I think for one to ones, it helps not only to review numbers, which is super important, but to create a safe space for someone. If that's like you're talking about what they're working on, what they need help with, what are they not saying that they should be saying. And then being able to connect with people, I think makes a Big difference. And when they know they can learn or they trust me, they know that I'm leading them in the right direction. And taking that time together versus just a big sales meeting is more important because you don't get that out of the big sales meeting. And so those one to ones create that safe space for them and we can talk through. Which doesn't mean they're not held accountable because they are. But I think sometimes life happens or there's just some things that you want to talk through and you don't want everyone to hear.
And it that creates that camaraderie that we need to be just whole as a team.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: And I think, you know, I think a myth about one on ones. I have had CEOs and managers of your ilk say I don't have time to do that.
And what do you think when you hear someone say they don't have time for a one on one? Because in the world according to Marty Whammy, I think a one on one actually saves time. Because if you're not going to give them a weekly time to spend with you, I mean this is sales like this is hand in hand combat. And if you're not going to give them a weekly 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour to meet with you, then they got free reign to interrupt you whenever they want. And I think okay, they may not take an hour your time, but it's 10 minutes here, it's 15 minutes here. You were focused on something, there's a knock on your door, I got, I don't know how to, you know, you. I'm assuming you're teaching them to save non critical things for one on one. What is your opinion of a one on one being a time saver? Do you have a perspective on that?
[00:08:24] Speaker C: I think it is some of the. Everyone's different. So it depends on where they are right in their development too and how new they are. And so right now we do. There's some people that are every other week. There are some people that are three weeks and I give them an hour and then I supplement that with the sales meeting in between. And we also have some training sessions and clinics that we do with which have been extremely helpful and has reduced that time that they come in. But I think we've just as a team had enough discussion about how that does. That doesn't help, I guess when you're coming in and asking those questions and even for me doing it to them. Cause I know I do it to them as well.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: You know what I didn't even think about that. Like the interruption that you're giving because you're like, what about this? That's an awesome point. Yes. It goes both ways.
[00:09:08] Speaker C: Yeah. But I think it does. It saves time. And then it also makes them feel more. Because it makes them feel more confident in what they're doing. They know what their focus is. We have weekly touch points as a team. They have bi weekly or one to ones. And that just helps overall to save time. They know what the focus is. I know what any issues are.
They may even have some kind of roadblocks. And we actually talk about that as a whole in our meetings, because I'm newer to this. Right. We have people who are tenured and we talk about what are some of the barriers you have. What do you need help closing? I mean, you know, we've asked you plenty of times, can MG help you close something? Because it's maybe somebody he knows or any of us for that matter. And so we problem solve as a team in there. And that helps a lot as well.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: You mentioned something that I actually didn't put when I was preparing for this. The quoting clinics that we're doing, you said they're very helpful. You want to just give the reader's digest version of what we're doing and why you feel they're so helpful.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: Okay, we're doing a couple. We're doing one on Aspire and we're doing one just overall, how to prepare a quote, or it's almost.
If it's not just a quote we're working on, really, what are some of the barriers that we're having that he. That Seth can help us through that
[00:10:23] Speaker B: because he's really smart in this area. We have a lot of new people and we're trying to get everybody on the same page. Aspire is the best system that we have. But then there's nuances. I know I was involved in one of them the other day.
And the.
We probably talked. I may be exaggerating here, but I think we talked for a half hour on just clarifying questions and trying to make sure that the bid was even worth spending any time on. So a half hour on the front end and looking through the specs and talking to them.
And it's not just the bid build work on the commercial side that we're doing, but it's residential. We get a lead in here and someone says they want a new landscape in their backyard, and you don't ask any clarifying questions. And maybe you ask them for the design fee. You Go out and meet them and you find out they want it done by Memorial Day. Yeah, there's no way we can't do that. Memorial Day has been booked for six months.
Anything else? Like the quoting clinics are. They're early in the morning, everybody's online, it's done on teams. Anything you want to add on that, on why they've been beneficial or anything maybe we didn't talk about.
[00:11:28] Speaker C: Sure. I mean, we have training when we get a new consultant in or design build, but there is so much to take in that things might get lost in translation.
And it's just helpful to say, hey, here's some of the things that we're seeing that everyone's just not up to par. So we're going to cover these and allow that space for people to ask any questions that they might need to ask. Or we notice this specific thing is just not going the way it should be. We're not getting ar, so you're seeing
[00:11:56] Speaker B: quotes that weren't done, or we have an AR issue, or there's a problem in the field because specs weren't clear enough, all those things. And instead of, like, waiting, we're on the quoting clinic, what, once a week?
[00:12:09] Speaker C: We are now. We were doing it every other week. And it's going to be.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: So you're collecting things that you see that aren't up this par, and then we're bringing everybody on and we're training them and working with them. Yeah, no, I mean, that's a. That's a good thing. Coming into our industry as an outsider, Don, you didn't have a landscape background. What challenges did that present?
And I'm going to share with you if you don't touch on it, the.
The good part about that, too.
[00:12:36] Speaker C: All right. There were definitely challenges. There's still challenges, but especially, like, when you go into specialized industry. Right. There's just so much to learn. But like I mentioned before, like, having that, the leadership piece and being able, that translates everywhere. Business is business, people are people. And I think just me staying humble, my team, when it comes to design, knows more. I'm not embarrassed. I. I know more in different areas than they do. Right. This is about being a team and building the right team to be able to help move us forward.
So that is, I think, just really being humble, being willing to learn. There is so much to learn. And Seth told me, because I was joking, and I was like, so how long can I use this? I'm new. And he was like, well, technically five years, because you have to go through all the seasons where we.
[00:13:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:27] Speaker C: And. And I don't use that. I don't say, hey, I'm.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Because the point he's making is if you do a spring cleanup, you probably have to do it three or four times before you really got it down pat.
And there is. That takes three or four years to do it three or four times on one house. But it's. It's not quite as complicated as that as I'm laying it out there, but that's kind of part of it. Like, you go through the cycles. I know you've been. You're one of our snow managers involved in communication.
I could just tell because you're the person that's responsible with sending out the automated.
Automated notifications.
The things that you wrote. The first one we did back in November versus what I saw three, four weeks ago. Completely different. Like, you're grasping it. And you used to be at restaurants where you were relying on snow removal contractors, so it probably helped you. And you also now being on the side of the service are like men. We're not out there with tarps catching the snow. Like, it just stopped snowing 15 minutes ago, and we can't. We're not going to be there right now. Like, you got to. You got to work with us. It's a difficult thing. So what other things have been a challenge and what has been a benefit, do you think, since you didn't come
[00:14:34] Speaker C: from the green industry, I think what else is learning?
I always knew you had to manage client expectations in general, but really learning that and understanding that, that kind of goes back with what you're talking about for snow. I was kind of just giving a brief overview and realizing not everyone.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:52] Speaker C: Really knew what was going on or that people don't read their contracts or, you know, they want us to catch.
[00:14:58] Speaker B: Or they. Or their emails. They don't read anything.
And when we have, I don't know how many accounts we have. 200.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: Yeah, there's, I think a little more.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Okay. More than 200. And we can't call them all the time we're coming. It just. It doesn't work in the pace that we're going. And it is there. And we have had clients. I think they've gotten better. Like, we're trying to educate them. You know, Henry ford said in 1919, you can have any color car you want as long as it's black.
And it's kind of like this. Like, look, we're going to do a great job for you, but this is the way we have to do this. You can't just call us when you want us to come over and plow. It doesn't work that way. So I know there's that. What do you think has been a good thing about you not having experience in the green industry, coming in and
[00:15:39] Speaker C: looking at staffing a little differently or just how to develop someone in general and the leadership?
I think those were different when I first. First got here. We brought Rachel on for hiring, too.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: Great lady, having her on at some point, too.
[00:15:55] Speaker C: Go ahead.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: I think those probably the biggest things for me and looking at the sales structure a little differently because there were so many good processes. There were. There was structure, but maybe not in place because the. The person before just didn't necessarily follow that structure. And me listening to all of you that have been here a long time, learning, listening to the sales folks who have been here, even the newbies, about what they like or didn't like and being able to take that and put it together to create the structure that we have here.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Well, you've done a good job with it. Let's. Let's talk a little bit about talent. We've brought on numerous new salespeople. What are the traits that you're looking for in a new salesperson?
So I think you're starting to really get honed in on that because we've had some successes and some failures, and I'm just being honest.
[00:16:43] Speaker C: And we have absolutely making sure somebody has energy. They walk in. Right. I mean, they have to come in. Our talented sales folks have the energy. They're always following up. They're communicating. They're clear on their communication.
They can build a connection. So if you can come into an interview and you can connect with me, I'm looking at all these other things.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: What if you can't?
[00:17:05] Speaker C: Then I don't think they're right for the role. I mean, you have.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: We have, like, two openings right now we'd love to fill. We do, but I think we're pretty much looking for some experience there. We're not just taking a developmental person.
[00:17:18] Speaker C: Right. I think, yeah, we're looking for the experience because, you know, we tried both. Right. So we tried somebody who had more sales or more design, and you need to have both.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:29] Speaker C: And so that's currently what we're looking for. But you have to. You have a short period of time to connect with someone. Right. During the spring, I am even filtering calls to. To be able to set something up for design build. And so if they don't talk to him on the phone and don't have that initial connection. They have a short period of time to get to know them in their own home. Right. And so if you can't do that in an interview with me, probably not the right fit.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: And this sounds crazy. I'm not trying to patronize you, but honestly, I've never thought, like, if you can't come in and sell me on yourself and the job, and I don't get good vibes in your energy. This is when you're at your best. You're not going to be able to do that out selling people, selling to
[00:18:07] Speaker C: people, to strangers when no one's there.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: You're a stranger to them when they come in so that you're right. Like, there's. There's gotta be something there on the sales part, because they're going to be calling on people. And in the world, according to Marty, Don, I think people do business with people they know like, and trust, and it takes a while to get to know them. If they get to know you and they don't like you, I think some doctors can get away with that because they're just so damn good at being a doctor that you're like, well, the guy's a jerk. But, man, he. He saved my life with my heart. So I don't care. Landscaping is not life or death. And I think that we have a lot of good competition here in Dayton, Ohio. It's not like Grunder is the only one that can do good landscaping. I honestly, folks, I think we're the best landscaper in Dayton and Cincinnati. I really do. I'm sorry if you think I'm cocky. I just believe that. But there's a lot of good companies, and if we don't respond, there's somebody else that's going to do a pretty good job job for them. It's not like we're going from, you know, Alexis to a Yugo. And young people probably even know what a Yugo was. It was a failed, very small junkie car.
So, you know, you got to be able to produce. What other things about the hiring and the talent could you share?
[00:19:15] Speaker C: I think that they need to be coachable. They need to understand what accountability is and what it looks like. Because when I first got here, that was part of my struggle. There was obviously a different team, and some of them didn't understand why that accountability was in place.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: And what do you mean by accountability?
[00:19:33] Speaker C: There are processes we have. Like, I'm very regimented, making sure you're utilizing your calendar the right way, when you show up in a meeting, make sure that you're professional and you're taking notes and you take stuff away. You're communicating to your clients. You have so many initial meetings with clients. You have time for proposals, you have time to present those proposals. All of the things that go into the sales process. And if you don't, you don't have that scheduled, you're most likely not going to do it. And then just holding you accountable for those things.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Now, when we were talking in here, while I was getting all the equipment ready and everything, we were talking about salespeople and how important it is to be organized. And that's just so true. Like, there's so much blocking and tackling. Brad is one of our salespeople. Brad does a nice job. I think Brad is successful because he follows the process. When I look at his calendar, he's got, like, everything blocked out. Like, he's.
He's almost robotic with the calendar, which I like. Like, I like the fact he's got all those details on there. Hopefully my son's doing that too.
[00:20:35] Speaker C: Yeah. So Brad is very organized.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Yes, he is. And. And that's something that you're looking for. What is separating our top salespeople here? What do they do really well, Yeah,
[00:20:45] Speaker C: I mean, they're definitely consistent in what they do, but with that, they understand what's the low hanging fruit for this week? Who do I need to connect with?
[00:20:54] Speaker B: Who can I close?
[00:20:55] Speaker C: Yeah. And who can I stay connected with? And, you know, can I ask for?
Who can I sell to? Understanding what needs attention and when that needs attention? And they just have a sense of urgency. They don't wait for things to happen, they make them happen.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Like Brent, I mean, that guy just. He will not wait. He will go and make something happen. He'll make a phone call, he'll stop in. A funny story, I don't know if you know this, they were building a commercial building around the corner, and he was trying to get in, and I was trying to get in.
So I finally got in and I said, I talked to so and so at the job trailer. And he goes, what do you know about this?
[00:21:30] Speaker C: No.
[00:21:31] Speaker B: And he goes, what? You stopped in the job trailer? I go, yeah. He goes, marty Grunder, the owner, stopped in the job trailer. I go, yeah, I got him. And we didn't end up getting the job, but when we were having that conversation, he said, stick your chest out. And he did a big chest.
Yeah, he did a big chest bump with me. Because he said, that's so awesome you did that. And I'm like, well, what do you think I do, Brent? Like, I know you got to do that. Like, you got it. That's where they are. Like, I'll do whatever it takes. And I think it's that kind of mentality. Like, you're like a defensive end. The defensive end is going to get to the quarterback. No matter if it's a little guy across the line from or a big guy. You got to try to get to the quarterback, back to the accountability side and you focusing on that to drive sales. Emily, my oldest daughter, that does our marketing and does all of our content in the grow group. When I was preparing for this, I asked her, because she's been here seven years now, I asked her what was the biggest difference between before dawn and during dawn? And she said the biggest difference that she's seen from you, excuse me. Is the activities that you make sure salespeople are doing, the number of proposals, things like that. Can you speak to a little bit about the. The activities that you're expecting and maybe a little bit around the accountability, around that?
[00:22:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I just think. I mean, I love seeing the numbers, but that's a lagging indicator because, I mean, it's already happening, so you can't change it.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: Exactly. Lagging indicator.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: And so making sure that. I mean, one of the first things that really stood out to me, I guess, is when Brent could put out more proposals than maybe 3 of our sales consultants. Right?
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:06] Speaker C: And they all have the same tools. And so. And he obviously is our highest ranked in sales, too.
So what does. And of course, Seth told me, you talked to me about it as well. But just understanding what processes we have that can move those sales forward. So we do a couple of things. We. We have KPIs for them so they understand their sales for the year. We break that down by each quarter and what percent we typically sell for the quarter. And so they know if you have some really great proposals, here's the dollar amount you need to propose for the year. But they have to be great. It can't be busy work. And they have to be the right ones.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:41] Speaker C: And so they have the amount of
[00:23:43] Speaker B: proposals get away with saying, oh, I think I can turn a $60,000 proposal there because it's easy and don't stay off.
Right.
[00:23:50] Speaker C: That has to be the right word.
And so doing those proposals, creating them, making sure that you're then delivering them to the client, also going through their pipeline, the opportunity list, keeping that up, doing the percentage, you know, Are we. Where do you think we are with closing this so that you can identify what you need to do for the week? And then as far as accountability, it's visible to everyone. We use Aspire. It's fantastic. And we can see where you are in that. And I also put that up each week in a weekly. Weekly email.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: And I get it. It's awesome. I mean, it lays out who had the most. And if you had a goose egg, you stand out. That's no good.
[00:24:27] Speaker C: And I think there is definitely some friendly competition in there. And so it does create that camaraderie. But you want to be at the top. You don't want. You don't want to be at the bottom of that list.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: And I guess to that, the point I wanted to make there was that does kind of separate the winners, and it does drive a little. And it's not a nasty competition, but it's because I've even seen Brent as our top salesperson, helping other salespeople make sales. Oh, yeah, he. And he's just any. And I hate to go on about Brent, but he's a really unique guy. He's our top salesperson, but he's also.
I think if we had an award for team member of the year, as far as your team work, he would be. Get serious consideration for that because he's just. He never. He does. He wants to see everybody win. He's just a really nice man, and he goes about his business and he. And he gets the activities done, but he also tries to, along the way, help others.
It's kind of unique. He's a little bit of a. He's definitely a unicorn in many ways.
[00:25:22] Speaker C: Well, that's what I love about it. As I was telling you when I first got here, and I love to see that now. I've learned, Bren, and I know when. If I don't notice somebody is struggling with something, Brent notices, even though he's not right. Like, you don't know that he noticed it, but he will. And so he'll make comments. I'm like, I got it before.
I didn't know what he was getting at, and I didn't want to anything to come across like I was talking about one sales consultant to another. But Brent's made it comfortable and not like that. It's more like, hey, have you talked to this person lately? And I'm like, I have, and I understand there's some struggles or some good things. Thanks for just double checking on both of us.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: I appreciate exactly a lot of the Companies listening to the grow show, Don, they're trying to grow their business.
You are a part of some rapid growth with the restaurants that you were involved with.
What advice do you have for the owner and leader of a landscaping company that's trying to grow? We obviously know nothing happens till someone sells something, but what. Do you have any perspective to share on that topic?
[00:26:25] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, it's. It's really the same thing, right? Like, you're not going to just hire a salesperson or in the hospitality industry, a manager. That's just going to do it all. You have to have the right.
You have to have the right processes in place. Don't hire before you're ready to lead them. Well, if you don't have processes in place, you don't have the structure. They don't know what their goals are for the year. And you don't take time to develop someone.
[00:26:51] Speaker B: So you might run into a really good salesperson. You hire them and then you're trying to figure it out. You're going to tick them off and they're going to leave because they're good for a reason, like they want to come into a system that they can get up to and run. That's a great point.
And I do think to give another shout out for Aspire, that's the greatest system we have here. I mean, that enables work to be quoted easier. It enables work to be handed off to production easier. The communication of the issues, all those things that go on with having a software platform like that. Is there anything else about growth that you would like to mention that you've come from your experience before you got here?
[00:27:25] Speaker C: In here, development needs to be intentional, okay? Just not leaving a salesperson with the sales goal, making sure that you continue to develop them. Don't assume everyone knows how to network. I've been to so many networking things, right? You have people who stand in the corner. You have people who may not even show up there, but they're telling you,
[00:27:45] Speaker B: what do you do? I don't need to know the name of who didn't know how to network here, but what have you done to help some of our people get better at networking? What did you do? Did you take them and show them how to do it or what did you do?
[00:27:55] Speaker C: Well, yeah, both. Some of it says, hey, let's go together and talk about what we're going to do and who we're going to target and then talk to anyone else who falls in line from there. And by the way, none of our people stood in the corner. I just meant like going, no, I
[00:28:09] Speaker B: know what you mean. I know.
[00:28:10] Speaker C: But. But still, they were shy and didn't really know how to start conversations. So first, before going there, we just discussed it and talked about what that looked like. And even as simple as just how to dress and how to carry yourself, what you need to bring and how to follow up afterwards, those were. And we also use a networking calendar.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: Now, what is the networking calendar?
[00:28:31] Speaker C: We use a networking calendar in Outlook, so everyone puts all their networking on there. So if I have something I'm going to. But I can bring someone else with me. They know to look at that calendar, to get there, wherever they're going to go for that time frame. Because you have to do two networking.
Just you have to put two things that are as far as networking on your calendar each month.
[00:28:50] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:51] Speaker C: And so they are also all in charge of different organizations.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: Yeah. So if we got somebody with the Mason Chamber, the different viewers, that's okay.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: But yeah, so. And they're responsible for those. Yeah. And so they'll post what's coming up and they'll invite people to go with them.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: Intentional about that, keeping the same person there, a familiar face.
We hadn't done a home show here or any one of those type of things for probably 25 years.
And we've done some of those the last couple years. And I've actually found them, you know, in Cincinnati in particular, where we don't have a presence and people don't know who we are. I mean, I went on a call with Grant last year and the lady asked us if we were a brand new business. And I kind of forgot I was in Cincinnati. But as she's saying that, I'm like, do I look like a brand new business? But then I like processed. I'm like, she has no idea. We've been in business 41 years. That was a year ago. Now it's 42. But I know the home shows. One of the things I saw from that was that was a good way to get some practice. Like when we do a home show, you don't stand behind the table, you stand out in front of the table and you greet people. So it's little nuances like that. Like you got to look approachable. I've even heard you tell them, like, you're going to be dressed well and you put a smile on your face. Because when you have a smile on your face, you look approachable when you're looking down or you're on your phone or you're sitting down. Behind a table at home show. No good. So there's just a lot of that that I think we've been working on. And for the new people, that's probably been good practice for them to get the interpersonal communication skills developed.
[00:30:19] Speaker C: And I'll intentionally pair them up with certain people to get stronger. Always put someone who's stronger with someone who may be newer to that position or not as comfortable.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Okay. This is probably the toughest part of the Grow show that we're going to talk about now. But when I was thinking, like, what are all the things we could talk about? You're in kind of a unique spot. You're. You know this. I don't look at Grundr as a family business, but I guess it is because my oldest daughter is at the Grow group. She also serves as our director of marketing at the landscaping company. My son is in sales in Cincinnati, so I don't see him every day. And I know if we brought Grant on here and said, hey, is your dad in your. You know what? Every day he'd say, no, actually, he's not. I think he was worried about that. I think he thought that's what might happen. But Grant reports to you.
How is that dynamic going?
And can you maybe. And I'm sure we've got some things we have to work on, but can you maybe talk about the good part of that? Because I think I have a good friend one time that told me that your last name should help you get the interview, but then you got to get the job. Like, that's all that last name should get you, and you shouldn't be promoted because of your last name. I do think Grant has an advantage with the last name on certain sales calls. I would think when he sends an email and it says, grant Grunder from Grunder Landscaping, I would think that helps him some. But talk a little bit about that dynamic and maybe what we've done right with that and then. And as well as wrong. I'm an open book. I don't believe in lying. So can we talk a little bit about that?
[00:31:50] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. Well, first of all, I'd like to say, just so everyone knows, Grant does not get special treatment. I don't think he will tell you that.
Whether that's from you, Seth, myself, the rest of the team. No. But I think what has helped Grant is his willingness to learn, be coached, and the respect for the structure. I love working with him because he is very respectful. He wants to learn the business. I think he's seen things out there.
In general, where people may not treat others the right way in family businesses. And so he's very conscious of it, and he's just here to learn. And you can just see that every day he continues to grow.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: Where can the trouble come in? Because there's probably a ton of people here that are saying, well, my kid's 17. I. I'd like to have them come up in the business. My opinion, Don, is, and I say this, I don't let any of my kids come into the business right out of college or right out of high school. If you don't go to college now, my. The two that are here will say, well, now, caveat, dad, we didn't want to go there. I just think it's a bad idea because I don't think that you want them to wonder what the grass might be like on the other side.
With another experience, Emily worked in corporate America. So did Grant. Emily worked for a large company in communications in Dayton. Grant worked in logistics sales in Chicago. And I think those were good opportunities for them to see some things. And I see skills that they brought. You know, a funny story about Grant. He called me one day and he was frustrated because in his one on one, his sales manager told him that he didn't have enough. He wasn't making enough calls.
And I guess Grant in a very polite way said, and I don't remember the sales manager's name, he said, jim, do you want me to set the record for making calls in the office or do you want me to set the record for sales? Because I'm number one in sales, but I don't have as many calls because I'm not just calling everybody to put down a check mark to say, I called him like I'm doing research, right? And I said, God, you told him that? He goes, it sounds worse than what it was. It was a very friendly, respectful conversation. And Grant kind of indicated, like he. When he was done, he said, you just keep doing what you're doing. You're right. And. And so I think Grant sees both sides. Grant's been around me his whole life, so he knows this isn't easy. You know, there's people that look at what we're doing and think, oh, poof, Marty gets a website, buys a couple trucks, and $20 million worth of landscaping shows up. Don't work that way. No, but he knows that. What other advice might you have for owners that are looking at family members or even leaders that are, you know, looking at bringing a family member into the company? Is there Any insight you can give to that?
[00:34:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I. It's just what we've been talking about, about setting clear expectations, holding people accountable. Don't let there be that gray area for anyone to live in. And that's what people might do when they bring in family. They might overlook stuff. They may not treat somebody the same. And that can really mess up the culture. Right. The culture is everything.
And if you let family come in, no matter if they're 17 or 27, and you let them get away with something, everyone's going to see that. That word, I'm sure, will travel fast. And I think just doing the same thing and making sure you're developing them, being intentional with that.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: I credit Grant's mother for that. I will tell you a funny story. When his sister Emily was getting married several years ago, he was working here in the summer, and we were fixing up my backyard prior to the wedding. And he was coming over here in his truck, getting in the truck, riding with the crew out to the house, working there all day, then driving back here, getting in his truck and driving home. And after about a week of doing that, he says to me, when he comes home, he's like, dad, he's like, this is kind of stupid. He's like, can't I just go outside at 7 and start working and then they can meet me here, and then I just stay here afterwards and work another 30 minutes and then I'm done for the day?
And I said, well, you can ask Walt about that, but I don't think that's a good idea. And he goes, yeah, I didn't think it was a very good idea. And I was surprised he said that. And I said, well, why do you think this. That's not a good idea? He goes, because I probably look like an entitled asshole, and I don't like swearing, but I'm using it for that. And I just started laughing. But I was so proud that he knew he was being watched and that would call attention to him that we don't want. So why it was kind of stupid, in essence, to drive all the way over, riding a truck back to your house to work.
I think that was a really good lesson in him understanding that there's optics of things. You know, it's like when we have a president in war and I'm not even going to name the president, they've done it and they're playing golf and you're, you know, okay, maybe they worked their tail off and they went out and played nine holes in two hours just to Move around and take their mind off things. Like, it's probably not that bad, but the optics of it look horrible.
And I think that's a big part of being successful. Not just a salesperson, a person anywhere is your emotional intelligence and understanding how you're coming across in various situations. And I think Grant's done a nice job, but you also have been good to him and you've been patient with him, and I know he respects you and enjoys working with you, and he's learned a lot from you. So I'm grateful for that.
[00:37:05] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: We got a couple more things here. We're with Don Arnold on the Grow Show. Let's do a couple things.
When we're talking about sales, we've got a lot of technology that we use. And speaking of technology, we're using Bob Yard that. That accurately bids things. And we're going to take a break from our sponsor right now.
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[00:37:59] Speaker B: All right. Welcome back to the Grow Show. Thanks to Bob Yard for sponsoring the Grow Show.
We're getting ready to wrap this up with Dawn. It's the busy season right now. Stress is seemingly on everyone's mind. I've heard from several salespeople. I feel overwhelmed. I don't know what to do next. And you and I and everyone else is kind of like, I. I just mentioned to you before, like, I get more emails maybe than anybody else, but Seth, and I'm not stressed out. Like, I know how to deal with that.
How do you deal with that, though? Like, you can't just brush it off because it's real. Like, they think that. So you can't, like, tell them you're crazy, you're not busy. It's a figment of your imagination. That's a myth. You're not going to get anywhere doing that. So what do you do?
[00:38:39] Speaker C: Well, spring is intense for us, right? There's no way to get around that. And they know that. And if they didn't know, we told them and now they're experiencing it. So you have clients calling people that want to follow up with you. You just really feel the pressure. Seth always says discipline equals freedom. And I completely agree. And earlier I talked about, like, managing their calendars, leaning on good habits and the structure that we have in the communication. And I think recently you had mentioned having good habits in one of the podcasts that you did and making sure you have that all year. And I completely agree with that because you can't turn that on and off and expect to be on your game during the busiest part of your.
Your season. And so leaning on those and building those behaviors and habits really, I think has helped us get to where we are today. Everyone feels it and that Ryan.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: Right.
[00:39:30] Speaker C: But we also want the sales and we're doing what we need to. So if we need to work a little more during this time, then you work a little bit more and we talk about that. That's open. There's no hidden agenda.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: And you're helped, you're present. We don't work from home. Your office here in Dayton is right. It's just off the side of you've got four or five sales member of the sales team up top on the second floor, four right there next to you. A couple more in Loveland. You spend one day a week down in Loveland with them. So I think that's a big part of it. Like, you're present. How you doing? You're doing the one on ones. There's the weekly sales meeting. You're able to get a good temperature on how things are going. And you also are present. So you're seeing body language, cadence in their voice, other things. That's a big part.
Part of it. Ignoring it or just brushing it off and saying, oh, you're not stressed out. Just stop.
I just don't. You can't do that. That's not going to get you anywhere.
[00:40:20] Speaker C: I know. Last week we were just all like, I know it's stressful, it's okay. And then you told us, you said, everyone just take a deep breath.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I do a tip once a week and I think most of them are a couple paragraphs. This one was just breathe this. It's fine.
Things aren't as bad as we think they are and they're not as good. They're in between. And you know that I can speak from experience there. So let's get a little tactical here. Just a couple things. What are the key behaviors, habits or strategies that help sales people consistently sell more work? We talked a little bit about that. But is there anything we missed?
[00:40:52] Speaker C: No, I would say just staying connected with the clients, owning your pipeline, being proactive and don't hope things are going to happen and close. You need to make them happen.
[00:41:02] Speaker B: My favorite part of the whole week are the sales meetings. I don't go to all of them.
I try to make at least one a month and I'll sit through the whole thing and then I also. You call on me from time to time for training.
What about our sales meetings do you think would be good to share?
[00:41:17] Speaker C: I think overall we have them weekly to help our teams grow and succeed.
As stated in our missions.
[00:41:24] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:41:27] Speaker C: When I got here, I thought the meetings were really awkward.
We have a conference room that has two table or four tables some. We have eight chairs and there's some chairs in the back. Well, we have a growing sales team. And what I noticed is when I first got here, the back of the room would fill up first. No one really sat together or looked at each other. And so we changed that right away.
[00:41:49] Speaker B: Like a horseshoe. You take the tables out.
[00:41:50] Speaker C: Take the tables out.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Yeah, it's cool what you do.
[00:41:52] Speaker C: And then of course we put. Well, if I'm at Loveland, we have Miami's burg or vice versa.
[00:41:57] Speaker B: We have our cameras so we can go back and forth. And then we have big screen TVs.
[00:42:01] Speaker C: It works. And that way we're all looking at each other and. And in there we talk about where we are, what needs attention, key priorities, any performance issues, training, whether that's doing what you were talking about doing some role playing. The role playing is very.
[00:42:16] Speaker B: This past week I came in with some scenarios and we kind of worked
[00:42:20] Speaker C: them through and we take. Kent really has started to own that this year. And we just bring him or I tell him, hey. I think some of our sales pros
[00:42:29] Speaker B: got a lot of experience with a degree in horticulture. It's like double good.
[00:42:32] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, he does a fantastic job, 100%.
But also I think what is unique about it is we follow up on what we talk about there. Everyone's sharing, they help each other with barriers. We take time to go through sales. We switch it up as you know, depending on what the need is for that week. But overall sales and objectives are present. And then if somebody has a barrier that everyone can help with, we talk about that in the room.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: I think something else that you did. I'm, in some ways I'm a touchy feely guy. In some ways I'm not. In some ways I'm get really intense And I just want to get things done.
I don't know if you do it every meeting, because I don't go to everyone, but the ones that I've gone, I've heard you say, talk about a personal win or something fun, and then talk about a professional win. Why do you do that?
[00:43:20] Speaker C: We've gotten away from it just a little bit recently, but I told them why. So when I watch.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: On the agenda.
[00:43:25] Speaker C: Yeah. So when I first got here, I wasn't confident that everyone was connecting with the client.
[00:43:30] Speaker B: They knew each other and.
[00:43:32] Speaker C: And they knew each other.
[00:43:32] Speaker B: They knew how to connect. So that was the. Yeah, okay.
[00:43:35] Speaker C: And it was more, too, not just for each other, like the client.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: Oh, I just didn't know why you did it.
[00:43:39] Speaker C: And so it's awkward when you haven't shared something personal. You're. I asked them to share their personal and professional best. And, you know, we had some really weird comments about professional or personal at first or they were struggling to say a professional win. And once everyone started to get more comfortable, they were comfortable talking.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: And I noticed we're not asking them to vent their spleen. We're saying, like, I heard someone say, I got to see my niece, got to spend the night at my house last night. I think Macy said that or something. And I thought, that is so cool. Like, I. I know how that would feel. Like, good for her. And then she talked about a sale that she made that she'd been working on for two months.
So I thought it was good. It was. It like, enabled people maybe to see themselves in other.
In other ways. And then.
[00:44:23] Speaker C: Can you do that in. Yeah. And can you do that in networking?
[00:44:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:27] Speaker C: Can you do that when you're going to talk to a client?
[00:44:29] Speaker B: That makes a lot of sense. That's good. Well, I want to thank you because you're fun to work with, and I've told you this, but I want to say this on the Grow show. My favorite thing about you, dawn, is I'm usually in before you when I'm in town, and you always stop by my office and say good morning, and you smile, and I just think that means a lot when you smile, ladies and gentlemen. You look approachable, and you look like you're having fun, like you enjoy your job, and nobody wants to work in that. I mean, this is a pressure cooker. We're not for everyone. We're intense. We work hard. We expect a lot. But I do think it's a great work environment for. For the right people. And I think that your attitude there with what comes forward with you with a smile and the challenges that we've had that you've run towards and approach them with a positive mindset maybe makes a difference.
[00:45:15] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:45:15] Speaker B: Thank you. I'm glad you got to come on. That was a lot of fun, folks. If you liked what dawn had to say or maybe you realize your sales needs a jump start. I got two things for you. One, sign up for the next virtual sales bootcamp, which is very soon. We've got that tied in in the show notes here. Or sign up for a field trip where you come here and you actually see dawn in person and she'll talk with you about a lot more than what we have here. She'll share with you sales tactics, you'll get to see how we look, and you'll get a confidential look at Grunder Landscaping Company. So folks, that's going to do it for this week's edition of the Grow Show. 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 and share this episode with your team or any landscape pro you know that helps other successful landscape professionals find us. Thanks for joining us this week on the Grow Show. We'll talk to you next week.
[00:46:11] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Grow show and thank you to Bob Yard for their support of this episode. Visit growgroupinc.com for more resources to help your landscaping company succeed. We'll talk to you next week.
