For Richard Pearl, director of operations and chief financial officer for Veragreen in Nashville, one of the best parts about a job is when it’s not monotonous. That’s exactly what he finds in the green industry.
“With lawn and landscape, there’s never a day that’s the same as the day before,” Pearl says. “There’s always something different or new challenges.”
His company offers pest control, tree/shrub care and lawn care, and it has also integrated liquid aeration into its services. That helped the team connect with Greene County Fertilizer Co., which invited Pearl to attend the annual Landscape Management Growth Summit last December.
“It sounded fascinating to me,” Pearl says. “I wasn’t going to let that opportunity slip away.”
He was one of 36 attendees at the three-day event in Orlando, Fla., where he met with leading supplier partners and other lawn care professionals. Pearl also learned about new lawn care products and attended educational sessions — and it definitely wasn’t monotonous.
“It isn’t like you go sit in a conference room with 50 different people,” Pearl says. “From the time you start in the morning, you’re constantly moving and changing pace.”
Personal connections
For Pearl, a highlight of the Summit was the one-on-one meetings with the suppliers and industry partners that support the event.
“Distribution companies are listening to you, and you get a personalized touch with dealing with those supplying our business to help us be successful,” Pearl says.
He especially appreciated sitting down with the PBI-Gordon team at the Summit. Pearl says he went into the meeting fairly certain he was going to use PBI-Gordon’s Arkon herbicide, and he left with the confirmation he needed that it would work for Veragreen’s program.
“Talking with everyone about our product change and meeting with the company directly to solidify what we were thinking was a huge moment for me,” Pearl says.
He was also partnered with another attendee during the event, which resulted in plenty of in-depth, genuine conversations.
“I’m still young, so being able to network with people to learn what they think, their processes and if there are ways to incorporate those into Veragreen to make us better was great,” Pearl says.
He still talks with several of the other attendees and has been able to learn from both their successes and mistakes to improve his company.
“When you get there, every single person is so open, and they want to get to know your business like you want to know theirs,” Pearl says. “The networking you get is great because you’re having conversations with people who are in the same positions as you, just in a different location.”
Many of the attendees were especially interested in learning about Pearl’s liquid aeration service. “No one else there had done it,” he says. “I had a chance to talk to a lot of people about it.”
Why apply?
During his 14 years in the industry, Pearl says he’s attended various conventions and events, but none have been like the LM Growth Summit.
“I truly believe this is the best event I’ve ever been a part of in my time in the lawn and landscape industry, from the people who are there to the event itself,” Pearl says. “It was a great overall experience.”
He encourages other professionals to attend the LM Growth Summit and go in with an open attitude to share and learn from others.
“I’m beyond appreciative of the Landscape Management team, the industry partners and how the event was put on,” Pearl says. “The entire experience was a 10 out of 10. You’d be foolish not to go.”
