Business changes daily. Keeping up with changing business dynamics means keeping up with client needs and the competition and perfecting service delivery.
It’s about being in a state of continuous improvement to increase customer satisfaction and profit margins.
This is something we believe in at HighGrove Partners. By seeking better solutions, we can make improvements to quality, efficiency, customer service and, ultimately, our bottom line.
To continually improve as a business and stay ahead of today’s — and tomorrow’s — trends, we’re active members of industry associations and attend industry events. And we attend their educational conferences annually.
For landscape professionals interested in boosting sales and better managing their businesses, GROW! 2014 (presented by industry consultant Marty Grunder), which took place in early February at Atlanta’s Embassy Suites at Centennial Olympic Park, was a chance to learn from entrepreneurs and business-building experts — inside and outside of the landscape industry. And because the event was held in HighGrove’s backyard this year, our facility was the featured tour of the event.
“By opening up our business to others for comment and critique, and opening ourselves up as a company to attend events like this and learn from others, we ultimately become better,” said HighGrove CEO Jim McCutcheon.
An Early-Morning Tour of the HighGrove Offices
All 175 GROW! 2014 attendees boarded a bus at 5:15 a.m. to get to HighGrove’s office by 5:45 a.m. so they could see the crews’ morning dispatch in action. The HighGrove team loaded their trucks, got in a circle and conducted their customary safety discussion, their chance to discuss any weather incidents that might be troublesome that particular day.
This process begins each morning around 6:15 a.m. and is so tightly focused and streamlined that it ends by about 6:23. After a quick motivational chant, crews Then marked their departure times on a board and were out the door, ready to greet clients’ properties.
Sharing Best Practices With Industry Professionals
McCutcheon and his team shared the company’s best practices during the HighGrove tour, which included five stations around the facility, including operations; sales and service; the mechanical shop; land services; and vision and finance.
As a business opens its doors to peers, it welcomes not only compliments, but also suggestions and comments.
During GROW! 2014, McCutcheon and his team were pleased to receive so many positive comments about the organization. But continuous improvement means learning from others, and they were also happy to accept advice and suggestions from GROW! attendees.
“We’ve gained tremendous insight from being able to go into other businesses over the years and learn from what they do,” McCutcheon said. “And we’ve always been open to people coming into our business and learning from us. We will take any opportunity to learn and are always challenging ourselves to get better.”
HighGrove’s Secret To Success
The secret to HighGrove’s success? “Clearly, building a great team is the linchpin of the whole thing, and we’ve done a good job of that,” McCutcheon says. “And I think it’s critical that we aren’t afraid of learning, and that we have the courage to continue to change and adapt.”
Want to learn more, firsthand, about what it’s like to partner with a company like HighGrove? Give us a call at 678-298-0550, or use the contact form to the right.
