Over the past couple of days, I attended the first annual Lawn Care Summit. It was held here in Orlando at the Omni Resort at ChampionsGate. That is a link to the brochure that outlines all of the classes at the conference.

I felt that the majority of the sessions were targeted towards the topics of pest management and not the lawn care side of the business. However, I did enjoy meeting more people in the landscaping industry. There were attendees from all over the United States and it was interesting for me to hear about the challenges that landscaping businesses faced in different parts of the country.

Today at lunch, I ate at same table with Bill Hildebolt, the current president of the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET). He runs Nature’s Select Premium Turf Services in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I was impressed with his understanding of the industry and some of the advice he had for the other guys sitting with us.

Bill spent a lot of time discussing some of the lessons he had learned in the business and some of his overall experiences. He is also a big advocate of education. Here is a quote from a letter he wrote to the members of PLANET:

One could argue that our industry’s roots run deep in the apprenticeship mold. Just think how many PLANET members started out by working for another company to learn how to install, maintain, and care for landscapes before starting their own companies. No matter what their educational background, most landscape contractors and lawn care operators will admit that this experience was absolutely vital to their subsequent success.

The flip side, of course, is that our version of an apprenticeship program doesn’t have the means to keep less-than-qualified (unprofessional) owners and operators from participating in our industry. Indeed, a business person in the Middle Ages had little if any competition compared to what our industry is facing. In addition to the proverbial low-baller, we’re also in the midst of an industrywide recalibration where customers are no longer willing to pay yesterday’s price for our services. It’s an ongoing challenge, today, to draw a straight line between the value of the service we provide and the price. With so many service providers to choose from, informed customers (and they’re the ones we all want to nurture) should be looking for the professional, the company that can stand behind its work with experienced, trained employees.

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