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Author: Jeffrey Scott

Jeffrey Scott

Jeffrey Scott

Jeffrey Scott, MBA, author, specializes in growth and profit maximization in the Green Industry. His expertise is rooted in personal success, growing his own company into a $10 million enterprise. Now, he facilitates the Leader’s Edge peer group for landscape business owners. To learn more visit GetTheLeadersEdge.com

profit (Illustration: iStock.com/champc)

6 rules for achieving 20% net profit

Industry consultant Jeffrey Scott shares his six rules for achieving a 20 percent net profit at your landscape company.

Profit Power: 3 predictions for the future of the landscape industry

Here are three predictions from Jeffrey Scott for the future of the landscape industry. Prediction 1: Company owners will increasingly sell to their employees. As the baby boomers head toward retirement, there is an unprecedented need for transitioning ownership of landscape and related green industry businesses. While this has given rise to outside money buying […]

Growing Your Business with Jeffrey Scott: Stop settling for low profits

Jeffrey Scott gives five strategies to make an immediate impact on your bottom line in order to reach 20 percent net profit. ICYMI: Growing Your Business with Jeffrey Scott: Should you plan your exit now?

Growing Your Business with Jeffrey Scott: Should you plan your exit now?

Jeffrey Scott explains the advantages of planning your exit now, as well as shares innovative ways to look at exit planning.

Profit Power: How to become “King of the Mountain” in your market

If you could wipe out all your competitors and have a monopoly, you would be able to charge whatever you wanted. You would quickly raise your profit to 20 percent, and probably much higher. Even though you can’t build a monopoly in the green industry, there is a way to “replicate” having a monopoly … […]

Profit Power: Stop waiting for immigration reform

LM columnist Jeffrey Scott explains how landscape company owners can take control of their labor situation with recruiting and a strong financial strategy.

Growing Your Business with Jeffrey Scott: Are you an opportunity leader?

Grow yourself from being a problem leader to being an opportunity leader. The difference between these two leaders will impact how you grow your business. Watch this video to find out what type of leader you are and how to grow yourself to be an opportunity leader.

Why “continuous improvement” may be too slow for your company

“Continuous improvement” has been popular for years, going back to post-World War II, when the now famous American management consultant W. Edwards Deming helped Japan reinvigorate its economy after the war. But sometimes continuous improvement can be too slow to get results we need. Business operates much quicker than it did back in the 1950s. […]

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Profit Power: Exit planning a $5 million business

Is spring the right season to plan for your exit? The answer is surprisingly “yes.” A husband and wife team (running a highly efficient, high-caliber $5 million business) told me last week they want to plan for their exit. She didn’t mean they want to sell the business, at least not soon, rather that they […]

Growing Your Business with Jeffrey Scott: Your best people need the most investment

When you hire great people, there are two mistakes you need to avoid, says industry consultant Jeffrey Scott. Check out this video to find out what those two mistakes are and some advice to help you get a higher return on investment from your best people.

Profit Power: 3 conditions for scaling your landscape business

To really scale your business consistently, you need three conditions in place. Capacity First off, you need capacity, in the form of a super leadership team, staffed with leaders in sales/marketing, administration/finance and operations. You need a team that has the capacity to develop new solutions as new growth challenges arise. It’s more than just […]

Profit Power: Fast growth requires trust

This past weekend, I spent a day at the BMW performance racetrack at its headquarters in Greenville, S.C. It was rainy, and the track was slippery. It really tested our skills. I find that high performance driving has many similarities with running a successful business. Perhaps the most important similarity is the need for trust. […]

Dollar sign (Photo: iStock.com/MicroStockHub)

You can’t grow yourself to profitability

Focus on profit to drive your company’s growth.

Growing Your Business With Jeffrey Scott: High profit leaders

High Profit Leaders make decisions differently from low or average profit leaders. Watch this short video to learn how they excel.

Scale (illustration: istock.com/skegbydave)

Compete by knowing your strengths

If you’re trying to compete with the big boys in commercial or residential, the following guidelines will help you. Commercial For commercial work, you need to be sensitive to how the large commercial management firms operate. They have a sophisticated approach to decision making. It’s different from an owner/operator of a strip mall. You need to […]

Profit Power: The true value of competition

Last week I spent some time with Michael Hommel, president of Designs by Sundown (Denver). He spoke at my third annual “Power of Collaborative Leadership” conference in Atlanta. What gets Michael angry and disappointed? It’s when he visits a competitor’s job site, and sees that they are doing work just as good as his work, […]

Growing your business with Jeffrey Scott: budgeting for profit

Budgeting for profit takes a specific path, different from budgeting for growth. Tune into this video to learn how to raise your profits.

Profit Power: Vision, strategy, process — what’s missing?

It’s the time of the year to finalize next year’s budget — ideally anchored by renewing your strategic vision and plan for your business. Here are some key areas where companies miss the mark when doing their planning. Vision is more than a statement. It is a clarification of what the business is supposed to […]

Growth requires ownership at all levels

Some owners lament that they made more money when they were smaller, and they make less now. Why is that? One reason is their inability to build a strong, dynamic, nimble organization that operates as well as the owner could on his or her own. To scale your business effectively, you have to successfully scale […]

Teamwork on a mountain | Photo: iStock.com/LoveTheWind

Profit Power: It’s time to reach across the aisle

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving has arrived. Everyone has worked so darn hard this year. But what is Thanksgiving really about? It’s about our forefathers’ relationship with God, their fall harvest and the Native Americans helping us (as immigrants) survive and thrive. We always talk about the natives helping us out. Do you know […]

Profit Power: Partner-leadership trumps command-and-control

In today’s global economy, even the world of landscaping is being affected. The world has become more transparent and the rate of change has increased around us. To succeed in this fast environment, the leaders in your company need to have more control over their work environment and more authority to make decisions. They need […]

Self-worth, optimism and high margins

Have you ever noticed how some salespeople are quick to give a discount? I experienced this personally when shopping for a Mother’s Day gift for my wife. She hinted that she wanted a Le Creuset cast-iron cooking pot. I knew I’d better not buy it without her, so we went together to pick it out. […]

Profit Power: 7 responsibilities of a GM

Last winter, I held a full day seminar on the topic of the CEO/COO partnership, with Frank Mariani, owner of Mariani Landscape, and his COO Fred Wacker. It also featured Paul Fraynd, CEO of Sun Valley Landscaping and his GM Ashly Neneman. The role of the COO and the GM are similar, depending on the […]

Profit Power: Giving back is good—even great—for business

Giving back is one of my favorite topics to speak on, and to consult on, and to do myself in my personal life. Why? Because it brings a big smile to one’s face, the receiver and the giver, and it can be great as a corporate strategy, too. My friend and National Association of Landscape […]

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