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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 Power: Quicken your response times

Imagine if you could respond twice as fast as your competitors to a client request or new lead inquiry. What advantage would it give you in the long run? This week I’m leading a peer group meeting in Michigan, and we’re discussing new selling techniques. The underlying theme in our discussions is speeding up response […]

Video: Power of a peer group

“Who’s holding you accountable? Who’s helping you steer your business in the right direction?” Jeffrey Scott asks in his latest video. Here are four benefits to being in a peer group.

Be a sales superstar

The economy is heating up. Have you altered your sales style to take advantage? The following proven approaches will help you become a sales superstar. Build emotional bonds At the heart of it, people make emotional decisions and use facts to rationalize their choices. Your job is to help prospective clients realize—from an emotional point […]

Managing activities to reach goals

https://youtu.be/nnwOgaLZRIk Setting goals is important, says consultant Jeffrey Scott, but in order to hit your goals, you must break them into “activities” you manage day to day and week to week. Here are three examples that apply to sales, company strategy and personal goal setting.

Profit Power: 4 measures of success for any owner

Are your business and life successful in the four ways that matter most? After working with hundreds of entrepreneurs and deeply exploring their objectives, life goals and desires for their businesses and personal lives, I find they are ultimately driven by four measures. Let me start by saying I won’t address their passion for the […]

Video: 5 family business tips

From Jeffrey Scott, here are five straightforward family-business strategies to help you avoid common pitfalls between generations and ensure the success and continued growth of your family enterprise.

Profit Power: What kind of busy are you?

Have you noticed how busy people are these days? People were busy last year, and now they are even busier today. But busy is not always good. There are many different kinds of “busy.” Just like the Eskimos have many different definitions for “snow,” we need to differentiate between the different kinds of busy. Here is […]

Video: Why you should partner with your clients

Your clients have insights and ideas that will power the growth of your business, but only if you stop thinking about them as “contracts, checklists, to-dos and services to be fulfilled,” Jeffrey Scott says in this short video. Partner with your clients and your business will soar.

Moving mountains: A compelling company vision

How a compelling company vision can help you attract the best team and achieve your goals. Attracting, motivating, focusing and retaining great employees starts and ends with a compelling vision. To attract the very best team, you must create a compelling vision for the future, and to retain top talent you must develop a method […]

Moving mountains: Start with a stump speech

If you’re like many leaders, you’re ready to be the visionary for your company, but you may not be sure how to do it. The good news is there are dozens of ways to do this. The simplest and possibly most effective way is by developing and giving a stump speech to the whole company. […]

8 ways to recruit Hispanic workers

With H-2B on hold and the economy picking up steam, you need to proactively build a “steam engine” made up of good, hardworking local employees. Many companies find these folks in the Latino community. But you can’t just post an Internet advertisement and expect success. Try the following proactive recruiting tips to attract more local […]

Video: Good leaders ask better questions

The questions that you ask on a consistent basis will drive your culture–upward or downward. Are you a reactionary leader asking deflating questions? Or are you a proactive leader asking strategic questions? Watch this video for the types of questions Jeffrey Scott says you need to be asking your people.

Photo: ©istock.com/DNY59

Zero-debt growth

Can you grow fast and still maintain a zero-debt company? The answer is undeniably yes. But it takes time, effort and saved-up capital before your growth will accelerate. Why do contractors run debt free? They do it for peace of mind, better negotiating terms, stable home life, less money stress, personal philosophical reasons and simply […]

Video: The value of a 3-week vacation

Does your business thrive (or even survive) while you are on vacation? Watch this video to learn the value of taking a three-week vacation from a business (and personal) perspective.

Profit Power: Address self-talk, your biggest enemy

A healthy business is one that pays healthy market rates for employees and its leaders. It makes a healthy return on equity for the owner’s investment. It has a healthy culture that empowers and inspires, driven by the owner. So why is your business not succeeding to its full potential? Is your self-talk, the owner’s […]

Video: 3 circles of a family business

Running and growing your family business requires you to master the three circles: ownership, family and management. Watch this video to learn how to separate the boundaries and create a win-win-win environment.

Profit Power: Do your design/build clients have buyer’s remorse?

Happy clients and steadily growing businesses still can suffer from the plague of buyer’s remorse. What is it? It is the negative feeling a customer has after they purchase a new product/service. It can creep up… a.) Right away, before the product/service is delivered; b.) During the execution of the product or service; or c.) […]

Profit Power: The woman-owned business advantage

Women-owned businesses are a powerful force in our industry. Over the years, I have had the pleasure to work side-by-side, coach, instruct and hang out with many women on their journey of running and growing their landscape business. It’s been exciting and rewarding to have a glimpse into the world of woman entrepreneurs. They face […]

Avoid the red lights

Four years ago I visited with a contractor in New York state. He was losing money for the first time, while working 80 hours a week. He had a good brand and lots of work. His problem was he chased too many red-light leads. A red light is someone who’s not going to buy from […]

Video: The Post-it note strategy

Your company’s annual goals should be so succinct they fit on a Post-it note, says Jeffrey Scott. Watch the video to learn the difference between goals and strategies and to find out how to assure your company achieves its strategy this coming year.

Profit Power: 4 ways to plan for more profits in 2015

Each company has four jet engines that propel profits. Mathematically, there are four ways to make your landscape company’s bottom line soar. Your strategy for 2015 needs to address all four of these profit engines. 1. Margins You can drive profit by selling your work more profitably on a consistent basis and by altering the […]

Web Extra: A profitable personal income journey

In “How to boost owner’s income,” from the October 2014 issue of LM, Jeffrey Scott tackles this age-old topic. Here’s a real-life example of how one landscape company owner added to his wallet. For another contractor example, see this blog post. For five years I worked with a landscape company where the owner initially thought […]

How to boost owner’s income

Many landscape business owners focus on building their revenue to build their wealth. There can be a correlation, but it’s not a direct one. To make a good return on your investment and earn an above average income, it’s critical to focus on the bottom line and work backward. The fallacy of 10 percent A […]

Video: How often should you raise prices?

Jeffrey Scott draws on a discussion he had with a group of contractors regarding raising prices to come to the conclusion that “the lesson you should take is raise your prices every year a little bit.” Press play for more pointers.

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