Schedule of Events

Improve profitability, employee retention, and customer service by leveraging technology to manage labor, quality control, safety, and customer experiences. In this session we will discuss the following topics as they relate to digital, as well as best management practices for onboarding a series of operational technology platforms:

• Timecards
• ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Systems
• HR - from recruiting through separation
• Employee Development - internal training and certification programs
• Safety Tracking
• Surveys & Webforms

Here’s a chance to review the latest technology solutions for taking your pest control business to the next level, while providing valuable insights about how to make the implementation process as seamless as possible. The most successful pest control companies leverage technology to enhance operational efficiencies and drive recurring revenue, making these businesses attractive acquisition targets if and when it comes time to sell. Don’t miss this informative educational session led by a PMP well-versed in technology, strategic positioning, and mergers and acquisitions.

Technology is changing the game for today’s landscaping companies, and CTOs (with or without the title) are the ones re-writing the playbook. As leaders within your organization, your approach to technology can mean the difference between staying ahead or falling behind. Hear from Aspire Software founder and CEO Mark Tipton (and CTO Dan Blake) about what the role of chief technology officer actually entails—and why it matters for your company, no matter the size.

One of the reasons Ian McCarthy was so excited to return to the landscape industry after a career in sports in Canada was the advent and rise of new technologies. After all, when he sold his first business, the iPhone hadn’t been introduced, people were still printing invoices, stuffing envelopes, and mailing monthly bills.

But a major attraction to return to the industry was the growth of electric equipment in the landscape industry. After being shown an array of handheld electric equipment during a demo at a local landscape yard a bell went off in his head. He heard about California and various other town’s proposing handheld gas equipment bans, and the rise of electric cars such as Tesla, and thought to himself that electric is the future.

Now he has an all-electric crew and that’s just the beginning. He’ll explain how he rolled out the fleet, got his crew on board, marketed it and used it to help grow his company.

COVID-19 upended the industry’s training paradigm. With face-to-face training eliminated or on-hold in many parts of the country, industry training directors had to adapt on the fly. While virtual training accelerated during the pandemic, will those changes be permanent or temporary? Find out in this informative educational session featuring one of the industry’s leading technical directors.

Everyone knows profitability matters, but the path towards profit isn't straight and narrow for all. In this talk, Sean McCormick of SingleOps will share how technology-focused lawn and landscape companies can take their companies to new heights while becoming more profitable.

Attendees can expect to walk away with 5+ strategies for becoming a more profitable business and see examples of how other companies have achieved results. 

Tony Nasrallah founded Ground Works Land Design 12 years ago using a paper flyer and tracking all sales and data on a legal pad. Approximately five years ago, as business continued to grow, he realized it was time to look at overall company numbers with a finer eye. He implemented a CRM system that also assisted with time tracking, estimating and overhead recovery and labor burden. The first full year using this software, Ground Works saw 362% profit growth and this massive system overhaul has been a major factor in a 35+% YOY sales increase. It’s a numbers game, and as hard as it might be to say no, sometimes you have to walk away from your customers (especially if you’re losing money). Nasrallah will take you through his process from how he discovered his losses, to getting buy-in for the change and how he plans to dig even deeper into technology to grow his bottom line.

For the average PMP often lacking the financial wherewithal to fund a fully dedicated marketing department, the topic of digital marketing can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. Learn the ‘ins and out’ of digital marketing from a leading industry expert who understands how not just to drive ‘clicks’ but drive revenue, making a tangible difference in a company’s bottom line.

Eric Blevins will discuss the requirements and process of obtaining drone licensing, how he and his team use them for marketing, job site documentation/verification, bidding purposes and what customers think about the technology. He’ll also walk the audience through some specific examples of how they’ve used it to put together a proposal.

Drone technology is being used in a number of innovative applications in the structural pest control industry, including inspection of difficult-to-access areas of residential and commercial structures, but one of the most creative is a relatively new market for PMPs – disinfection services. In this highly anticipated session, learn how Florida Pest Control and parent company Rentokil have developed a drone disinfection program for the Miami Marlins Major League Baseball team. With more than 100 years of hygiene expertise, Rentokil is a world leader in creating safe environments for its customers. This large-area disinfection service is one of many examples of how Rentokil continues to innovate. In this informative educational session, the speaker also will address the use of drones in vegetation management.

The membership-based business model is a problem solver for both businesses and customers. If you've ever used Amazon Prime, Spotify, NetFlix, Weight Watchers, SurveyMonkey, you are already part of The "Membership Economy." For lawn care and landscape businesses, "membership" offers the opportunity to create a "forever customer" who remains loyal and engaged even in times of economic distress or shifts in consumer behavior.

Brian Bacigalupo and Beth Berry offercritical strategies, tactics, technology, and key performance indicators for transforming your customer base into a monthly "budget bill." Every business owner will remember 2020 as one of the most challenging years of their careers. Still, businesses with this model posted historical profit margins despite socio-economic, covid, and industry challenges. Whether your business is commercial or residential, you will learn how to create an easy-to-implement strategy for "membership" and unprecedented profit and retention in 2021.

With so much communication technology out there, how do you figure out what works for you? Louis Perez, Jr., president and co-founder of Blue Native, will explain how he blends his numerous communication technologies and software to make sure his company is operating at peak efficiency. He’ll talk about how he figured out what worked best for his company, the process to getting everyone on board, what hiccups he hit along the way and how having multiple technology platforms benefits his company.

Prior to 2018, New Castle was not effectively tracking their budgets and margins. They were running a company and not truly knowing where they were profitable. In 2018, they were a $4.5 million dollar company. In this same year their revenue was down $350,000 but after Co-owner/General Manager, Brad Stephenson, and his team implemented software, they were able to pinpoint shortfalls and forecast for the future. They followed up in 2019 and 2020 with record breaking years because they planned properly and made the right calls on things moving forward.

New Castle also bought into the idea that automations were a critical piece of the sales and marketing process. and his team implemented and streamlined automations for nearly every division of their business which greatly contributed to an increase in revenue.

Stephenson will explain the process from transforming the business from a company basically void of technology to one that fully embraced it.

Talk of an eventual “return” to the way things were is unrealistic. Nothing will be the same after this. Instead of preserving our tried-and-true ways of doing things, we must adapt and innovate quickly, and in real time to what will be an entirely new world.

Erica Orange will put these changes within a broader context and discuss several emerging trends that are shaping and impacting the future. Using macro technological, sociocultural, and economic trends as a catalyst, she will talk about how the major growth areas will uncover both the short- and long-term opportunities of tomorrow, and how all will transform the current landscape.

Sales is like dating - the prospect hears about you, feels the attraction, starts the mating dance, considers other options and, if you got game, commits to a relationship. Developments in tech now give reps the power to scale themselves infinitely - generate more interests and closures than ever before. This is a practical session on using tech to create digital avatars of your reps that do the busywork while they focus on what really matters - spending quality time with the customer. You will learn - 

• How to model customer and rep behaviour during the sales process using journey maps
• Identify no-brainer opportunities to implement tech that changes this behaviour to generates leads and cash in bank
• 10 ready-to-implement sales funnels built with tech to automate 100s of hours of busywork (like CRM data entries, lead nurturing, estimating, follow-ups, creating proposals) 

Over the last decade there has been a dramatic change in the HR function in terms of processes, business alignment, data management, and technology deployment. As employee-centric organizations look to improve the employee experience and effectiveness of the HR function, a unified Human Capital Management (HCM) system provides a terrific opportunity.

With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was clear Green Lawn Fertilizing/Green Pest Solutions needed to upgrade our HR technology to ensure business continuity. The HR functions relied on a combination of multiple disconnected legacy systems, paper forms and spreadsheets. The business utilized manual tracking and printed check lists for compliance. Each process functioned but were independent of each other, full of redundancy and extremely labor intensive.

Moving the business to a Human Capital Management (HCM) system enabled us to automate processes and bring them under one unified system. In the process, we discovered the many other ways an HCM would support the team and transform the business.

In this session, Mike Heiner, vice president of human resources, and Josh Willey vice president of operations, will walk you through:
• Evaluation of 10 HCM’s and the final selection process
• Integrations and legacy systems
• Recruiting, screening and onboarding functionality
• Time & Attendance & Payroll
• Employee Benefits Administration
• Embedded Learning Management Systems (LMS) for associate development
• Performance Management
• User adoption and The Service Experience
• Enhanced Communication and Associate Engagement tools
• Skills Tracking
• Document Management

Technology experts in the industry will discuss how technology is affecting the industry now and in the future. The panelists will talk about the pain points and advantages technology is creating in the industry. The panel will be moderated by Michael Mayberry, Chief Technology Officer, Level Green.

Topics to be discussed:

• Automating your company
• The rise of robotic mowers
• Equipment upgrades and are they worth it
• Developing and keeping good personal relationships while embracing technology
• Expanding your digital outreach
• And much more