Author: Bruce Wilson

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Bruce Wilson

The author, of the Wilson-Oyler Group, is a 30-year industry veteran. Reach him at bwilson@wilson-oyler.com.

The power of a well-aligned culture

Peter Drucker, the “father of modern management,” allegedly said “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This means that no matter how brilliant your strategy is on paper, it won’t overcome a workplace where nothing works the way it’s supposed to. Many companies are frustrated with a lack of accountability and urgency. These are important cultural factors, […]

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Hire for potentenial

Groom employees to step into critical positions well in advance of needing them in those roles. Few landscape companies would say they have enough employees who are ready to step into management positions. Most would acknowledge they need many more A-players to supply a much talked about, but rarely well-implemented, talent pipeline. The high cost […]

Bruce’s View: 5 ways to innovate

Everywhere we go, we meet with landscape leaders who are looking to offer a greater service experience, higher quality work and become a great place to work. But simply talking about launching innovative initiatives isn’t enough. Many contractors who want to grow run into the same problem: silos. Ideas get lost in the execution, exposing thornier […]

Hunches go better with facts

“The degree of one’s emotions varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts,” said British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell when explaining logical analysis. Here’s why he’s right when it comes to managing your business. Every day, landscape owners make difficult decisions with incomplete information. With large contracts at stake, issues of urgency—such as client […]

Bruce’s View: 5 ways to align with values

I often see a disconnect between the corporate values posted on a company’s wall and the way these ideals are executed in real time. Doing the right thing, delivering high quality work, providing excellent customer service, being a great place to work—these are empty promises if your employees don’t walk the talk. The way employees […]

Bruce’s View: Don’t give up on lost customers

Lost customers are always customers, whether they continue doing business with you or not. Most of the time, we forge ahead when we lose a client. We focus on generating new business, ways to keep existing business and simply moving on from the accounts we lose. But ignoring lost business leaves money on the table. Develop […]

Bruce’s View: Build a culture of empathy

You’ve probably heard the quote, often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt: “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Empathy improves relationships. The ability to detect what others feel and experience has many upsides. “Learn to crawl behind the eyes of the customer” is a commandment I’ve used for many years […]

Bruce’s View: Sweat the small stuff

Landscape companies take great pride in delivering a quality product. And we love nothing better than the big job or marquee project. It takes a great organization to execute the complex projects, and when we master those, it’s good for our brand. Equally important to our reputation for service are the little things that affect […]

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Do these now

To avoid the breakdowns that often occur as ideas progress from the abstract to the actionable, all owners M-U-S-T do the following things to ensure their businesses achieve results. M ✓Manage your balance sheet. Managing from your profit-and-loss statement only takes you so far. It doesn’t answer the question, “Am I building a sound business?” […]

Bruce’s view: Competence or commodity?

True or false: To be successful, an account manager or business developer needs a degree in horticulture or experience in landscape maintenance. False. Here’s why: A company can have people with a lack of landscape or horticultural knowledge as long as there is a depth and sharing of that knowledge in the company. As investment […]

Bruce’s View: Protect the nest

Arizona Cardinals fans use the phrase “protect the nest” to refer to winning at home. You can easily adapt this concept as an action plan to prevent your top employees from being poached. Years ago, poaching was taboo. Most companies would never think of going to a competitor’s job site or waiting for staff to […]

Do office superheroes hurt profits?

It’s easy to be swallowed up the constant flow of information – the pings, clicks, beeps, alarms and various reminders from people and electronic devices that demand our attention.  How many times have you heard someone say they couldn’t finish one thing or another because they ‘ran out of time’ or ‘lost track of time’? […]

Bruce’s View: Can we pay more?

How can we afford to pay more for our employees when our customers want to pay less for our work? Wow, it’s the million-dollar question. Especially in the landscape maintenance industry, which is more price-driven than ever. And if we did pay more, would it be worth it? Here’s what I observe in the industry: […]

Bruce’s View: Support growth by lowering costs

This year may well be a breakout. Economic indicators show a faster growth rate for business, credit markets are loosening up and data point to an increase in labor market momentum. With construction spending on the rise, more robust growth in landscape maintenance services is sure to follow. For landscape contractors, an increased demand in […]

Bruce’s View: Create an actionable plan

Planning is crucial to profitable business growth, but few companies ever realize their plan’s full potential. Here are four ways to execute and stay on track. 1. Reach out to employees. Use a facilitator to help the process remain open and objective. A facilitator gives the employees protection to offer up their very valuable opinions […]

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