Dear Lawn or landscape Business Owner:
Have you fired any of your lawn or landscape employees lately?
It’s a serious question to consider.
Why in the world would we be talking about firing employees? After all, isn’t the hardest job in America finding, hiring, training and retaining employees?
Correct. We do believe hiring is a tough job.
But when you think about it…hiring SuperStar employees is ALWAYS tough.
After all…
- competition is often paying higher wages
- other industries have better benefits
- those cushy tech jobs have perks like “work from home”
- how many young people woke up this morning, got out of bed and said, “I can’t wait to get my chance to be a landscaper”?
- ..advertising for employees, interviewing potential employees, hiring, training and keeping employees takes tremendous amounts of time…and it always will my friend!
Here’s what we have learned about building a team of blue collar workers…also known as landscapers…with a few gray collar workers in the mix…
- keeping “C” players around punishes the entire team
- your best people – let’s call them the winners – don’t want to hang out with losers
- 80% of your employee headaches come from 20% of your employees (also known as the 80/20 Rule or The Pareto Principle)
- firing marginal employees will demonstrate your commitment to Getting Better Landscape Employees
Here’s the biggest reason we want to remind you of your right to fire landscape employees.
Nobody quits their landscape job in the slow season!
Everyone in landscaping knows the work load slows down in the winter.
They also know that anybody who can answer a phone, drive a pick-up truck and offer lawn/landscaping services can find landscaping work in the busy Spring season.
Here’s the truth.
Unfortunately, this may hurt your feelings.
The greatest number of quits (in landscaping companies) happen just about the time you need your employees the most…the busy season. It’s true. There’s no loyalty when the busy season arrives.
Here’s what we recommend.
Ask yourself the following question about EACH of your employees. One by one…ask yourself:
Given what we know today, would we enthusiastically rehire this person?
Seriously.
Just go down your employee roster one person at a time. Ask yourself the question. You’ll know who to cut from your team.
Take advantage of the slow season to recruit Better Landscape Employees. You’ll be glad you did.
Hit reply and let me know if you have fired any employees lately.
Profit Greatly,
Tony Bass, founder
866-923-0027
PS – Getting Better Landscape Employees is a great goal for any company…at any time of the year…at any stage of growth. We believe the single greatest obstacle to hiring better employees is simply having a more profitable company. If you have fat juicy profits and fat bank account, you’ll be more confident when it’s time to fire your weak team members.
If you want to seriously grow your profits…
We recently recorded the 2023 Landscape Pricing Guide Webinar. Admission is FREE. Access is immediate. Registration is required. We hope you will join us.
