From customers and professionals to vendors, the lawn care industry truly revolves around people. And for Matt Freedman, president of Beach Landscaping in Surfside Beach, S.C., it’s about connecting with all of those groups.
So, it’s no surprise one of his favorite parts of the job is seeing the satisfaction the finished product gives customers. He also stays connected with other owners from across the country by attending industry events at least once a year.
Those shows and summits also allow him to keep up with new best practices and what’s going on within the industry.
When he was invited to attend the annual Landscape Management Growth Summit last year, Freedman says he knew it would be a good opportunity to meet other professionals and learn from vendors in a one-on-one seetting.
He was one of 36 attendees at the three-day event at Reunion Resort in Orlando, Fla. In addition to meeting with leading supplier partners and other lawn care professionals, Freedman attended education sessions, demoed new equipment, learned about lawn care products and heard valuable business insights.
In the 25th growing season with his company, Freedman says the most valuable part of the event was the interactions he had with others. He spent time with an owner from Virginia who was a little further along in scaling his business, so Freedman was able to hear that owner’s story and what has worked for him and his team.
“That was useful to put into force with what I’m doing here,” Freedman says. “He has four times more residential customers than us, so I was able to ask him how he manages all of that. They have account managers who oversee 200 to 300 accounts. It gave me ideas on how, moving forward, we could scale that portion of our business.”
But it wasn’t only networking with the other professionals that left a lasting impression on him. Attendees also had the opportunity to be paired with leading supplier partners for a round of golf, and Freedman played with PBI-Gordon product manager Sal Strano.
“It was really interesting talking to him,” Freedman says. “He worked in my industry before on the maintenance side, so I got a lot of good tips from him about what he had been doing.”
Freedman says he also enjoyed talking with other pesticide suppliers and learning about their products and how he could incorporate those into his own services.
“We have issues that are specific to the area we live that I was asking a lot of the vendors about,” Freedman says. “They were able to share about products they have that help with the issues we have.”
He connected with the team on site from Greene County Fertilizer Co. during one of the after-hours events and has since begun using their products in addition to attending the company’s own summit, Lawncology, a few months later.
Freedman also checked out the new equipment demoed at the LM Growth Summit, including a spreader/sprayer from Turfco. He had recently purchased one from another company, but he says he wasn’t happy with its performance. After learning about the Turfco equipment and how it was user-friendly and easier to maintain, Freedman decided to return his current one and replace it with the machine Turfco showcased at the Summit.
From the products to the people, the LM Growth Summit was a worthwhile experience, Freedman says, and he encourages other lawn care professionals to apply to attend in the future.
“It’s a no-brainer to go,” Freedman says. “It’s a great opportunity to meet other business owners and learn from them and vendors.”
