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Author: Ben Gandy

Ben Gandy

Ben Gandy

Gandy is principal of Atlanta-based Envisor Consulting. Reach him at bengandy@envisorco.com or 404-556-8923.

What’s your type? Understand it and soar

Learning to deal effectively with people is one of the keys to success. Whether in leadership, sales, service or supervision, your ability to persuade, win confidence, gain respect and motivate others will largely determine your level of success. The challenge is that everybody is wired differently, no approach works universally and success depends more on […]

Guest Post: Key to profits? Labor management

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Quick, what’s the key to profitability? How do you ensure all your work results in something left over to make it all worthwhile? Is it growth? No. Windfall growth can result in short-term profitably if overheads don’t grow at the same speeds as the new revenue, but it’s hard to build a plan on continuous […]

Guest Post: Creating effective enhancement systems

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Selling installations and additional services is a critical part of the landscape maintenance business strategy. The benefits are both external and internal. Externally, enhancements represent good customer service. Landscapes are living and dynamic and require some investment from time to time. These additional projects put you in a position to solve problems and add value […]

Guest Post: How to create respectful tension for results

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How do words like, conflict, confrontation, accountability, debate and tension make you feel? Uncomfortable? Sure! I don’t blame you. Nobody enjoys confrontation. If there’s someone who does, I would avoid him at all costs. On the other hand, I’d like to suggest there’s is a certain type of constructive tension that’s healthy in business. I […]

Guest Post: 4 actions of great leaders

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Leadership starts with vision, passion and will, but what is it that great leaders do from day to day to be effective? 1. Communicate. Communication is hard. Learn to do it well. Great leaders communicate the why, the how and the what. Leaders have the privilege and prerogative to set the what: the issues, problems […]

Guest Post: Where do good account managers come from?

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The account manager position is mission critical to success in the landscape maintenance business. This position’s ability to retain and upsell clients sets the course for growth and profits. Where account managers are not successful, growth stalls and profits are reinvested in replacing business, rather than adding new revenue. So where do the good ones […]

Achieve 100% productivity

Productivity is important in any business, and there are several ways to measure it. But the best way is to keep it simple, clear and actionable. For the green industry, that means measuring the hours—the ratio of budgeted hours to actual hours, that is. If 100 hours are budgeted for a job and it gets […]

When is overtime OK?

You’ve told your guys a thousand times, “No overtime!” It’s an unnecessary premium cost that cuts deep into your margins. Or is it? The unplanned, capricious use of overtime hurts financial performance. We rarely bid work at overtime rates, so it hurts margins. There are, however, times when the strategic use of overtime makes sense, […]

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