4 Predictions on the Future of Landscaping

By Consultant Jeffrey Scott

How confident are you in the future, especially in these times of change? Based on my research in and outside the industry, here are four predictions that will shape the landscape world of the future.

We have been experiencing a cocooning trend for almost 40 years, and it will continue to grow stronger as working from home becomes the norm. This will drive the residential market for years to come.

The immigration issue is a hot potato that I don't expect to get solved. However, these days people can live anywhere in the world and still work for you.

You can hire designers, accountants, receptionists, estimators and many more roles from people living elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world.

In my community, I am helping landscape entrepreneurs make this a reality. You should be focused on this, too, and start by using freelance websites like Upwork. To bring this point home, by the end of the decade, I predict remotely operated equipment will become a reality.

The better companies realize they should recruit the best employees, not the best landscape employees. And with the "great resignation" happening, many office-bound employees are rethinking their priorities. How do you best take advantage of this?

Be willing to look outside the normal greenindustry-skilled employees for future hires. Create a “Values/Skills/Results” scorecard to score the people you are interviewing to make sure you are clear on who you are looking wfor, and to avoid making emotional hiring decisions.

Continue to gamify your company, so that the better employees will see how they can "win" in your company. Implement “Train the trainer,” so you have your best people armed to do their best training. Don’t assume good people know how to train. Pick the people who are best at training, and show them how to become expert trainers.

With so much professional money (e.g. private equity) entering the green industry, there is increased pressure to compete at a higher and more professional level.

It will be harder in the future for a mom-andpop firm to compete without taking steps to operate their businesses as a professional enterprise. You have to learn to excel in your

professional management approach: numbers, metrics, team-building, coaching, organizing for growth … and, ultimately, in planning for a smooth exit even before you are ready to exit.

Take advantage of these trends while remaining nimble as events continue to evolve and new future trends come into view. Discuss these trends with your team and identify the opportunities that exist now for your company to keep growing and improving during these next two years.

About Jeffrey Scott

Jeffrey Scott, MBA, is a leading authority on growth and profit maximization in the landscape industry. He grew his landscape company into a successful $15 million, multi-discipline enterprise, and he's now devoted to helping others achieve profound success. His clients on average see a 27 percent profit improvement in their first year alone. He has consulted with over 200 landscape companies and facilitates the largest global peer group of landscape business owners in the world.