Landscape and Irrigation is read by decision makers throughout the landscape and irrigation markets — including contractors, landscape architects, professional grounds managers, and irrigation and water mgmt companies and reaches the entire spetrum.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/369214
GIE+EXPO workshops for landscapers Lawn and landscape pros interested in improving profitability have a variety of valuable opportunities to learn during GIE+EXPO. 2014 GIE+EXPO Workshops include the following: Thursday, OcTObEr 23 8 – 9:30 a.m. Hardscape Workshop: Outdoor Kitchen Design and Installation (break- fast sandwich & coffee provided) Carl Peterson, owner, Outdoor Entertainment Concepts, LLC This educational program will cover all aspects of outdoor kitchen design and installation, as well as the wide variety of appliances available to complete your out- door kitchen project. Learn about the dif- ferent fuel sources available, industry stan- dard ventilation requirements and issues arising from use of dissimilar metals within appliances. The presenter will also explain the differences in finish options, counter top options and construction materials to ensure success in each outdoor kitchen you build. 10 – 11:30 a.m. Hardscape Workshop: How to Survive and Prosper as a Hardscape Contractor Monroe Porter, president, PROOF Management Consultants Is your business prepared for change and truly understands where it is making and losing money? Merely surviving can be a challenge when faced with trends like shrinking margins and more complex jobs with tighter deadlines. This program will help you establish goals and strate- gies to keep pace with the lightning-fast changes in the market. Learn how to avoid plunder, determine your best busi- ness structure, deal with enabled employ- ees, cut costs, market in a more competi- tive market, and more. 1 – 2:30 p.m. PLANET Workshop: Financial Budgeting for the Land Care Company – What are your 2015 Goals? Dan Gordon, TurfBooks.com, PLANET Consultant Member Budgets are enormously important to the operation of your business; not only do they help you manage your costs, but they also help you determine whether your profit goals are within reach, and keep you on the right road from month to month. A properly crafted financial budget will show a business owner or manager how much revenue is likely to be brought into the firm and how much a firm can spend on marketing, business expansion or employee benefits. This talk will focus on the importance of realistic assumptions and how they are used to develop budgets that will be a planning tool all year long. 3 – 4:30 p.m. PLANET Workshop: Marketing That's More than Lead Generation Andrew Pototschnik, lawn care marketing expert – PLANET Consultant Member From Onboarding to Upselling - 5 Ways to Use Marketing to Boost Your Profits. Lawn care and landscaping busi- ness owners tend to treat marketing like something you do only when you need to add some new clients. But marketing is much more than simple lead genera- tion. It's how your company looks, sounds and acts. In this talk, Andrew Pototschnik, founder of Lawn Care Marketing Expert, will outline five ways you can market more effectively everyday in your busi- ness. FrIday, OcTObEr 24 8 – 9:30 a.m. PLANET Workshop: Adopting Best Practices in Advanced Snow Management (breakfast sandwich & coffee provided) Phill Sexton, Snow & Ice Association Building a sustainable, long-lasting service model in snow and ice manage- ment is extremely challenging. There aren't many methods that snow contractors can employ to benchmark their services and gain insight into areas of improvement. The Best Practices Checklist for Snow & Ice Management is a simple resource that a snow business can use to align the company and its business functions with www.landscapeirrigation.com September 2014 Landscape and Irrigation 11 All photos provided by GIE+EXPO.