How to Show Employees You Care

Sheldon Yellen, CEO of Belfor, an international disaster recovery and property restoration company, is perhaps most well known as being featured on the hit CBS show “Undercover Boss.” In an emotional scene of the show, Yellen “reveals himself” before the show’s end — a move that Yellen admits almost meant the show wasn’t going to air. But it did air and has been one of the most popular episodes in the show’s history. Part of that is thanks to Yellen, himself, a likable and genuine boss who really does want to make a difference for his employees. Yellen attributes his own success in growing the business to the billion-dollar company that it is today to his people.

When Yellen first joined Belfor — his brother-in-law’s company at the time – in 1984, it was producing $5 million a year. In his second year, Yellen alone sold $5 million, doubling the business. But it was with Hurricane Hugo in 1989 when Yellen got his big break. His brother-in-law had sent him to South Carolina where he was able to get $17 million in work signed up. He stayed there for the next year-and-a-half, overseeing its completion. And from there, Belfor grew – and grew. Today, as CEO, Yellen says the company is doing $1.5 billion. Having dropped out of high school (he later went back and obtained his diploma in 2011), Yellen says there are many days he has to “pinch himself” when he realizes how far he’s come. But he says it’s no magic how he got here. It’s all been about surrounding himself with good people. It’s come down to hiring good employees and treating them right.

Yellen, whose first-ever job was in the landscape profession, shares what he thinks it means to put his people first, and how that can make a difference in a company’s ultimate success.

Empower your people

When you hire people, you can classify them as a laborer — or even just the guy that cuts the lawn — or you can choose to empower that person. You can help that person take extra pride in what they do by taking their role more seriously. That can make all the difference. You want your people to look at their roles as more than just jobs. These are careers. They have to understand that you’re giving them opportunities to grow in positions and in an industry. Your goal is to help each person progress. A person may start out on acrew, but his or her goal should be crew leader. If he or she is already a leader, the next step for them should be manager. Your people need to know that you want them to grow. You can demonstrate that you really mean that by promoting from within.

Make them feel special

Make someone feel empowered and special the first minute you can. I fly around attending employees’ events that matter to them and their families. Early on, I started handwriting birthday cards to my employees on their birthdays as something small to build relationships. We now have 7,400 employees, and I still handwrite 7,400 cards. I think it helps people feel recognized and important. I call that “stickiness” because it’s something that sticks with them. I once walked into one of our 350-plus offices and one of my employees brings me into his office to show me something. He had 14 years worth of my birthday cards hanging on his wall. Your people really do pay attention to what you do.

Give them respect

Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I think about the fact that we are doing $1.5 billion a year. How did that happen? It happened because of our people. One thing I’ve hung on to is the fact that every person I come into contact with should be given the respect that I wished I’d have gotten. I didn’t graduate high school, but all I wanted to be shown early on in my career is a little respect. I wanted to be shown that I mattered. I wanted someone to take an interest in me. I was lucky enough to grow this business, so every time I brought on new people, I would go out of my way to let them know they’re important to me and that I respect them.

Get to know them

I challenge you to really get to know your people. Take the time out to do that. Take them out for pizza and don’t spend time talking about yourself while you’re there. They know all about you. You’re the boss. They’ve studied you. Let them tell you their stories. Do things to encourage people to be together outside of work.

You should know who you’re recruiting, too. It’s been a real challenge but even today I will not allow a manager to be hired without me sitting face-to-face with that person first. I will fly to London to meet a new manager we’re hiring because I want to look that person in their eyes and see what’s in their heart. I don’t believe you can hire wrong and still have a flourishing company. You have to have good hires and find good people. I’ve never read a résumé. I only recently obtained my high school diploma, so I don’t care about a résumé. I want to see someone and feel their heart. Then they can be hired. When I meet someone for the first time, I say, “Tell me your story.”

Don’t let conflicts fester

If there is an employee conflict, I immediately address it and bring the people together. Let’s start from the fact that we’re all here just a short while on this earth. We’re all trying to get through life the best that we can. Do you want to go through it by fighting the entire time? If you get wind of an employee conflict, you must find a way to make it work. Do not ignore employee conflict issues as they will only get worse. They must be addressed right away. Ignoring an employee conflict will only lead to a negative culture within your company. Do something about it.

Make them No. 1

I don’t spend a lot of time with our customers. In fact, I’ve been accused of being on the “anti-sales committee” since it’s my belief that customers come No. 2; your people come first. You hear people say all the time that the customer is No. 1, but I don’t believe that to be true. I believe that the amazing people I get to work with — who work with me, not for me — are No. 1. I believe that if we take care of our people, our people will take care of our customers. You must put your people first.

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10 LED Landscape Lighting Ideas for NJ Homes

Landscape lighting provides a simple, affordable way to create an alluring outdoor environment for your home. You can create an inviting entrance and great curb appeal with lighting in the front yard and a soft, cozy atmosphere for entertaining in the backyard. Whatever the style of your home, LED landscape...

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How to Find and Develop a Right-Hand Man (or Woman)

As a business owner, do you feel like you wear too many hats? Are you struggling to get everything done in one day? If you are, you’re not alone. It’s common for a lot of business owners to have what Marty Grunder describes as a “superman mentality.” Business owners often think — or want — to do it all on their own. says Grunder, president of Ohio-based Grunder Landscaping Co. and green industry consultant. Sometimes owners even go as far as thinking there’s nobody else out there who could “do what they do,” he says.

While the intentions are well placed, with the interest of the business at heart, Grunder says owners simply need to “get over it.” There are not only other people who can do what you do, but you should be preparing them to do so. While it may feel strange to train someone to carry out your role, Grunder says that the idea of trying to be superman (or superwoman) can actually set your business back. Instead, he says that delegating is a key to success. You should have a right-hand man or woman supporting you in your role as business owner.

Grunder offers the following tips on developing a right-hand man or woman and, in turn, growing your business through delegation.

Why you need a right-hand man or woman

You might be asking why you need this kind of person in the first place? For one, it’s an insurance policy.

Grunder says he asked his own team what would happen if he was injured in a car accident and out of work? The team determined they’d probably be OK for about three months and then they would begin to run into trouble without anyone doing the work that he usually does – out having lunch and making business connections. So Grunder took one of the team members and began giving them more business development responsibilities — and he says it’s helping the business.

“Having a right-hand man or woman allows you to focus on what you do best, enables your company to grow and eliminates the dependence on the owner for growth,” Grunder says. “Let’s look at it like a football coach and his team. During practice and training, I can come on the field and demonstrate what I know, but once the game starts, I have to stay on the sidelines. In our business, at some point my team is going to be on their own and I have to give them the tools to succeed at these moments.”

While some owners might be anxious to give up some responsibilities because they don’t think their teams could do things as well as they do, others might come at it from a different perspective: that it’s unfair of them to share the work load. Some business owners believe they’re supposed to do it all.

“Maybe some entrepreneurs feel like developing a right-hand man is selfish as though they need to do everything themselves,” Grunder says. “But it’s time to let that feeling go. People want to be challenged. They want opportunities. You don’t have to do it all yourself because there are people out there who want to help.”

In looking to the future, Grunder also says a company is worth a lot more money if it’s not solely dependent on the current owner. Nobody wants to buy a business that can’t be run when the owner is taken out of the picture. When it comes down to it, developing a right-hand man or woman makes smart business sense.

How to find a No. 2

Grunder says there are two ways to get a right-hand man or woman. The first is to recruit one through your networking efforts. Seek out an individual who you could see as a leader within your company. But Grunder says to be careful not to hire someone and then try to figure out how they’d be a good right-hand man or woman. You should already have a strategy in place if you’re going to be hiring with that kind of role in mind.

In addition, before doing any hiring, Grunder suggests that business owners ask themselves: Would I want to work for myself? He says this is a very telling question that will force business owners to look in the mirror and do some self-reflection.

“When you put yourself in your employees’ shoes, you start being a better leader,” he adds.

The second way to get a right-hand man or woman is to recruit from within, Grunder continues. He suggests a simple way to narrow down the playing field. Pull out your organizational chart and some red, yellow and green markers. Then ask yourself: If given the chance, would I re-hire this person? If the answer is yes, highlight them in green. If it’s maybe, highlight them in yellow. If you wouldn’t, highlight them in red.

“Paste your results on the wall and take a step back, looking at the colors, not the names,” Grunder suggests. “If you see a lot of green, that’s great. If you see a lot of red, you have some problems you need to resolve. But the greens are the candidates to become your right-hand men or women.”

Developing the role

As you aim to develop the role of a right-hand man or woman, Grunder says the best advice he can offer is to “stay out of their way.” He says the surest way to impede the development of your right-hand man or woman is to jump in and take over at the first sign of any trouble. You must let this person handle problems on their own, allowing them to grow in the role.

Grunder admits that doing so can take a lot of trust, but trust is a key to success. By trusting the team member, you are empowering them. And when you empower a team member, great things can start to happen within your business.

“Quality team members are so important,” says Grunder. “I am amazed that whenever you look at the companies that succeed, it always points to their people. The same goes for companies that don’t do well.”

When you have quality team members who you can delegate to, that’s when the business can really grow, Grunder adds. A company grows when it is less reliant on the owner and when there are more people doing important tasks within the business.

“I am most proud when I see people at events and they say, ‘I don’t understand how you do it all – how do you do speaking engagements and also run a landscape company?'” Grunder says. “The answer is because I delegate.”

Of course, Grunder says it’s important that you “delegate the right way.” It doesn’t mean handing everything over and it doesn’t mean just passing the buck. Grunder says one of the big mistakes that business owners make when they delegate is that they don’t provide enough specificity.

“When there’s so much ambiguity, how can we not expect problems?” he asks. “When the job doesn’t get done right, that’s our fault because we didn’t provide enough information. You must clarify what the task is and the associated timeline. Problems are often avoided when we set expectations clearly.”

At the end of the day, delegating with clear expectations will go a long way in setting you up for success, he adds.

“I think one of the biggest myths that business owners tell themselves is that they are the only ones who really care about the business,” Grunder says. “I think that holds them back from delegating. But when you give your quality team members an opportunity to show it, you’ll find that you are not the only one that cares after all.”

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Like a Boss: Covering the Bases With Customer Approvals

Steve Yanulavich, owner of Garden Patios, Inc., based in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, says he’s learned the hard way in the past that you have to get the client to sign off on everything so that they don’t have any reason to come back later and say that the project wasn’t what they expected. While it hasn’t totally solved the problem of customers finding things to be unhappy about — some people are just perpetually hard to please — it has made it easier for him to show that the final results were in fact what was agreed upon from the start.

Yanulavich says that he has always walked his clients through every step of a project and will even lay out the design in the yard with spray paint to show where things will be and how much space it will take up. But there are always those clients who have a hard time visualizing the end result. Having had experience with clients who would say the dimensions weren’t what they expected, Yanulavich now gets clients to sign not only a contract but also the blueprints he has done up of the finished product.

“I have actually asked our engineer to make a little box within the blueprints where the customer can sign it,” Yanulavich explains. “Those drawings have all the measurements on it and I want documentation that the customer has agreed to them.”

Yanulavich says it’s his way of “covering all the bases.” He says that it’s something that can be easily overlooked or skipped — particularly during busy season when contractors are going “90 miles an hour” trying to keep up with jobs. But Yanulavich says that dotting all your i’s and crossing all your t’s goes a long way in protecting yourself. It’s not enough to assume a customer is “nice” or to think that you’re on the same page as them. It’s always best to get customers to sign off on everything — not just the contract.

An unique water feature incorporated into the pool, designed by Garden Patios, Inc.

Of course, Yanulavich says there will always be hard-to-please customers that will even complain after they’ve signed documents agreeing to measurements. He had one client who said the finished product was “smaller than expected,” despite the fact that measurements were agreed to and signed off on. But Yanulavich says that rolling with the punches is part of the business.

“You have to accept that there will always be those people that are impossible to please,” Yanulavich says. “You could do every single thing they wanted and they will still come up with something to complain about.”

But Yanulavich says he doesn’t lose his cool about that stuff. Even with documentation about agreements, Yanulavich says that providing superior customer service also means keeping those difficult clients happy.

“I always bend over backward to keep the customer happy,” he adds. “Having the signed measurements helps show that I did what I said I would, but I’ll still go above and beyond to make them happy if they have complaints. At the end of the day, I want to keep my customers happy.”

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Transform Your Bergen County Backyard with an Outdoor Pavilion

Backyard pavilions are popular outdoor features for homeowners across the country. They offer endless opportunities to relax and entertain outdoors throughout the year. An outdoor pavilion in Bergen County will add beauty to your landscape and provide an outdoor space where you can dine with family and friends, relax with...

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NMSU’s Professor Appointed to Post at Netherland’s University: This Week’s Industry News

Want to keep up with the latest news in lawn care and landscaping? Check back every Thursday for a quick recap of recent happenings in the green industry.

NMSU’s Bernd Leinauer Appointed to Post at Netherland’s University
Wageningen University in The Netherlands recently appointed Dr. Bernd Leinaur at New Mexico State University to its Endowed Chair for Sustainable Turfgrass Management. It’s the first time this special appointment has been made by the university. As part of his five-year, part-time appointment, Leinauer will provide turfgrass research expertise, co-teach courses related to sustainable turfgrass management, and supervise one doctoral student and one or two master of science students. He will spend approximately 50 days per year at Wageningen.

Palm Beach Passes Gas-Powered Leaf Blower
The town council of this swank ocean-hugging community in southeast Florida in mid April passed a ban on noisy gas-powered leaf blowers despite landscapers’ warnings that the prohibition is a mistake, reports the Palm Beach Daily News. The ban applies to all properties smaller than an acre. The larger properties, many of which are multi-residential buildings, have said they need the more efficient gas-powered blowers and that noise complaints haven’t been a problem for them. Landscape company owners urged the council to step up enforcement of its noise ordinance instead of the ban, which they said will force the companies to invest in battery-powered or electrical blowers. Kirk Carlson of Armstrong Landscape Group said field-testing of 36 battery-powered blowers showed only 10 were below the town’s 65-decibel noise limit.

H-2B Visa Workers Sue Tennessee Landscape Firm
A Guatemalan man and two of his former co-workers, working with H-2B visas, have filed a federal lawsuit against a Tennessee landscaping company, accusing the firm of trafficking immigrants for forced labor, reports the Associated Press. One man said he was treated like a servant and threatened with deportation if he complained about working conditions at Outdoors Unlimited landscaping company in Murfreesboro, about 35 miles southeast of Nashville. The men claim they were taken to work sites six days a week but had no way to get to a shop to buy food. They also say in the suit that they routinely worked 60 hours or more per week but were not paid for all their labor. The company deducted $200 per month for housing and utilities. In legal filings, the company has denied that the men were cheated out of any wages. A trial has been set for March 2018 in U.S. District Court in Nashville.

Gothic Landscape Acquires Orange County’s Terra Pacific
Gothic Landscape, headquartered here with regional offices in Arizona and Nevada, on April 6, announced it acquired Orange County, California-based Terra Pacific Landscape, one of the premier landscape service providers to Class A commercial properties in Southern California. Gothic has been family owned and operated since 1984, and provides landscape construction and maintenance services. Terra Pacific, founded in 1988, has branch offices in San Diego, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire. Richard Wingard, founder and owner, manages Terra Pacific.

HydroPoint Helps Oracle Win Silicon Valley Water Conservation Award
HydroPoint Data Systems, the maker of WeatherTRAK smart irrigation technology, has helped Oracle realize dramatic water savings at their two Silicon Valley campuses. By using reclaimed water, smart irrigation controllers and other conservation efforts, Oracle saved a total of $573,000 in 2016 and 91 million gallons of potable water. HydroPoint WeatherTRAK smart controllers helped reduce irrigation water by 29 percent, saving $91,000 and 10 million gallons. In recognition of their efforts, the Silicon Valley Water Conservation Awards Coalition conferred Oracle with the overall award for efficient water use in 2016 by a business.

Toro Lands City of Mesa of Arizona Contract
The Toro Company has been awarded a new cooperative purchasing contract from the City of Mesa, Arizona, for use by all municipal agencies and other authorized users. The equipment includes a full line of products from commercial turf care equipment, irrigation solutions, construction equipment and landscape contractor equipment. The cooperative National Intergovernmental Purchasing Alliance is marketing the contract nationally. This national cooperative contract is a single award, which offers lower costs plus time and resource savings to participating agencies nationwide. The cooperative purchasing agency works with more than 48,000 entities across the United States and strives to provide economical buying opportunities for their members. The contract officially went into effect on April 1, 2017.

Equipment Dealers Embrace Propane Equipment Dealer Point
In just six months, nearly 500 outdoor power equipment dealers have been added to Propane Equipment Dealer Point. The free, searchable database, at http://ift.tt/2oUgCv1, allows landscape contractors to find local, knowledgeable dealers committed to selling propane mowers. The tool was launched in summer 2016 by the Propane Education & Research Council and continues to grow by the day. Every equipment dealer listed in the database is vetted by a series of questions prior to being listed so contractors know they are contacting a dealer with a legitimate interest in selling propane equipment in addition to an ability to answer their questions about the fuel.

Larry Giroux Joins Central Turf & Irrigation Supply
Central Turf & Irrigation Supply, Elmsford, New York, recently appointed Larry Giroux as VP of business development, Midwest. Giroux most recently worked at Site One Landscape Supply where he was the national marketing programs manager. He brings nearly 25 years of industry experience to this new position, having worked for John Deere Landscapes, Century Rain Aid and Willkie Turf. Giroux will take on responsibilities for development of sales, marketing and customer support initiatives to support Central’s expansion. Larry will be based in Michigan.

NCNLA Names Hannah Singleton as Professional Development Manager
The North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association, Inc. has announced Hannah Singleton as the organization’s new Manager of Professional Development. A native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, Singleton is a 2014 graduate of the University of Mount Olive with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Education and a minor in Psychology. Singleton will assist NCNLA with inbound sales; account management; social media marketing; hands-on plant identification, tagging and quality control; and job costing. She had previously taught Horticulture and Agriscience at West Cateret High School in Morehead City, North Carolina.

Congressman Introduces SEASON Act to Help Seasonal Businesses
Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) has led the introduction of legislation essential to providing relief for small and seasonal businesses that are suffering under a lapse in the H-2B visa program. H.R. 2004, the Strengthen Employment and Seasonal Opportunities Now (SEASON) Act. The SEASON Act clarifies the role of temporary legal workers in the American economy, who are in no way seeking or becoming qualified for permanent legal status or residency in the United States under an H-2B visa. The bill stipulates that a returning temporary alien worker can receive an H-2B visa in subsequent, consecutive fiscal years without being counted towards the annual statutory cap, allowing businesses to meet labor demands during their peak seasons.

Read last week’s industry news: STIHL Celebrates New Connecticut Location

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Assess Your Technology Investments Now

As the winter gives way to spring, take this opportunity to assess your business to be more productive and efficient before your summer’s work has you running flat-out again.

What did you do well this year? What needs improvement? Does equipment need to be fixed or replaced? Do you have outstanding employees that deserve a bonus or some other incentive to encourage them to return next year? Do you need technology upgrades?

The investments you make into software systems will provide a return on investment that you will realize almost immediately and that will pay for themselves in less than a season. Weather modeling, route optimization, fleet monitoring, employee management and de-icing measurement all will allow you to be more efficient, productive and ultimately profitable.

We have gone through adoption curves before, from cellphones and tablets to accounting software and fleet management. Can you imagine trying to convince a colleague to use a weather app? Seems ridiculous, but it wasn’t long ago that many still needed to be persuaded that the computer in your pocket might be more timely and accurate than the National Weather Service.

The same evolution of thought happened in our personal lives as new mobile apps entered our daily routines in ways we never could have imagined. It’s only been about five years since we put stamps on our letters, paid for our coffee in cash and used paper tickets at the airport.

Now what about your business? Are you still passing paper around the office? Does your accounting software integrate into the other parts of your business? Do your management tools talk to each other? Are you measuring the amount of product that is spread at each site? Do your service providers provide data analysis support or just a pile of spreadsheets that you need to make sense of?

If you’re an early adopter, then you already know that it’s difficult to find integrated systems or choose a platform that allows your technologies to work together. This is still the case in many industries far more sophisticated and technology dependent than ours. But in many ways, if you’ve waited to adopt enterprise resource planning software until now, then you’re in luck because they are much better now and less expensive. You can take advantage of 2.0+ versions that have better functionality, integration and user interfaces.

But this requires an honest audit of your year and your business. This takes time, time you probably can spare in a brief window before you start getting your crew and equipment ready for the summer rush. This isn’t a chore. You owe it to yourself and your business.

Here’s a suggestion: Establish a committee of trusted, age-diverse staff that can audit the business and potential software solutions for pain points that you experience. Take your time to assess all your options, but don’t freeze when it comes time to make a purchasing decision.

You have a better chance to buy a solution that does all the things your business needs today, and there won’t be an easier time to do it. Or, you run the risk of sounding like the guy who still gets all his weather information from the NWS.

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