I think if I looked back at a map of the topics we’ve covered this year in this Great Idea, sales would probably take the lead as our most talked about. It’s for good reason: it’s one of the biggest struggles we’ve had at Grunder Landscaping Co. this year, and I know we’re not alone in that. We’re hearing from our ACE Peer Group members that across the country, sales are harder to come by than they were a few years ago. We’re having to work for it more, especially for companies that are trying to grow.
There are three things that we’re doing to close the year out now so that we set ourselves up for success in 2027, and I want to take a minute this Sunday to remind all of you to do the same.
As commercial properties are setting their budgets for 2027, we want to make sure they’re including room for some enhancement projects. Walk properties and look for things that can be improved. An unsolicited quote, when presented in a helpful way (try: “I was on your property last week and noticed XYZ, here’s a quote if you’d like to have us do that next year.”) can get you little revenue wins that add up over the year.
This can also work for residential clients: most companies pay year-end bonuses out in Q1 and residential clients may have some extra cash to spend over the next 6 months.
When you’re renewing and re-quoting maintenance work, make sure you’re checking the actual performance of that account from 2026. Add hours to the quotes where we cut it too close or missed our gross margin goals.
As you’re proposing installation work, keep in mind how many hours are in each day for a standard crew. We like to have 26 hours per day per team at GLC, which breaks down to a little over 8 hours/person/day for our standard crew. When we propose work, we try to round to the nearest half-day (13 hours).
Now this doesn’t work for enhancements and there are always exceptions, but where we can do it that makes scheduling much easier for production.
We’ve seen a recent uptick in spam submissions to our online form at GLC. These come in with real names, phone numbers, and email addresses. They either submit linked “plans” for us to price in the form, or they email it to us once we try to reach out.
Our team is not clicking any links or opening attachments sent to us by prospects we haven’t already met in person, and I’d encourage all of you reading this to take precautions and protect yourself.
We’ll have a track at GROW! 2027 focused on sales, so there will be plenty of breakout sessions available to help you and your team with whatever sales issues you’re facing. We’ll be announcing titles and descriptions soon, but with 40+ breakout sessions to choose from there will be something for every member of your team. If you want to get ahead in 2027, this is the event to be at. Early bird pricing ends TONIGHT, register now to lock in your discount!
Marty Grunder
Founder & CEO
The Grow Group & Grunder Landscaping Co.