It will be Calscape time before we know it. 
Now you can show up, meet friends, go to a few seminars, have a great Vegas dinner, see who won Awards and be back in the car or on the plane before you can say "Spathipyllum".  Or, you can make an advance Plan and come home with more than just some postcards of The Strip. 

A Plan take some prethinking
There must be some questions that have been plaguing you for answers.  No better place to get answers than here.  Buy a really cool book with blank pages.  Write the questions down.  Next, Product questions.  Write those down to but on a separate page just for that purpose.  Or, if you are a computer person, put them on your computer.  Either way, have them in Vegas so you can get the answers.

Treasure Hunt
OK.  Now its time to find new product, new methods.  It’s called "shopping a show", but it is definitely not shopping as we know it.  Wandering around and touching a pot here a plant there misses the whole opportunity.  Ask questions, request literature.  This is your once a year opportunity to meet the vendors, get clarification, and find new stuff.

Seminars
Of course you want to attend the seminars, especially the ones I’m giving.  Still, be sure to listen and question, clarify and explore.  Keep all those handouts and when back at your office file the best ones away for future reference. 

Learning out of a classroom
Vegas is an interiorscaper’s dream and nightmare all at once.  Must sees are the Bellagio (1), the Mirage (2), and the Wynn (3) for interiorscaping tour de forces.  If you only have time for one go to the Bellagio and on one day there is a separate tour of the Wynn both out front and backstage.  Great learning opportunities and sources for new design ideas.  Remember, these guys have budgets that go to the sky so don’t think your local Hilton Hotel should replicate it but there are always ideas around for smaller scale/budget work.

Have Fun
Of course, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas but try not to stay out too late that you miss seminars or imbibe too much so you are feeling the pain the next day and, lastly, keep the ATM cards locked away so you won’t be tempted to play too much.  Other than that, have fun.

According to an article in Newsweek’s May 21, 2007 issue, William Alexander "once spent $1,219 to produce 19 perfect heirloom tomatoes in his garden.  He got a book out of it, "The $64 tomato".  This brings a knowing smile to many a gardener’s lips.  All that time and money but, at the end, a perfect tomato.  Only another gardener would understand.  Right?

But there’s More
In the same article author Linda Stein suggests saving dollars by "dividing and conquering and sharing".  She cites dividing old perennials to make more plants and, then, trading them with other gardeners so that each gets plants they might not already have.  She even suggests that neighbors each individually buy a power tool and then each swaps and shares so that dollars spent are less and the availibility of different equipment is greater.

What a Concept
What if businesses could do something similar?  Each company buy one item that is only used once in a while and then all share.  Now it won’t work with things like Watering Machines (see the Waterboy link) but for other stuff it could.  For example, years ago my Interior Plantscape Business needed a tree gantry to install some big trees in a shopping mall.  Lo and behold, instead of buying one for thousands of dollars,  we found we could rent one for $100 per day.  The rentor?  Why, our local foliage broker.  This was a service he provided to his customers and in just a few years he’d made back the original cost and was then into profit territory, plus he sure made some happy customers.  Good business and it saved us having to spend thousands for a piece of equipment we might need once a year if that much.

Stuff like this could work for lots of us.  Four IP companies in a given market could coop a piece of equipment and get usage for pennies.  It just takes a little cooperation and a little trust but it could work.  Think about it.  Who needs a $64 tomato? 

     I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that you or some of your techs grow herbs.

C’mon Fess Up
And I’ll just bet that you’ve got extras.  Well, why not take some of those extra herbs, plant them into cute little terra cotta pots and when they are large enough, put three of them into a long, straw basket , stick a label in each one telling what kind of herb it is and what types of food it works best with, etc.  Then gift these to your client contacts.  Oregano, rosemary, thyme and sage are sure to be a "knock their socks off" gesture.  The fact that the gift is a speciality plant keeps the gift on a friendly basis and not something like baseball tickets that could be misconstrued as a bribe. 

Get the Buzz Going
Best of all, it is a gift that will be appreciated and talked about and both men and women love herbs.  What else is in that garden of yours?  Bet you’ve got tomatos.  Lots and lots of tomatos.  Again, spread the joy.

Get Thee to the Produce Stand
Pick up those old fashioned tomato baskets.  Then fill them with all those red, ripe, luscious tomatos, slap a red bow on the handle attatch your business card, and, again, gift them to client contacts and away you go.

Nothing says more about you and your company and your green thumb or helps further client relationships than a thoughtful gift from the garden.  Heck, as we all know but sometimes forget, not everything has to be store bought.  Now, go out there and get ‘em Tiger.

Yep, it’s 96 degrees outside here in Ohio in August ‘07.  Still, in spite of the heat, it is time to get going on Holiday. 

Do What you Should Have Done Last January
We all know what happens when clients are calling on January 5th asking that you get Holiday decor out of their lobby, your crew gets the job done on time but only by cutting a few corners here, a few corners there.  Trees are squeezed, wreaths get bent, decor silently waits in dark storeroom for you to come in and fluff and fix.  Well, now is the time to do just that.  Get a cold drink and tackle the task. Check lighting, replace damaged ornaments.  In short, do as much work as you can now before its November and the Holiday crunch sets in.

Check Orders Outstanding
Maybe back in January you ordered more ribbon and ornamentation.  Pull out those orders now and check status.  If something you ordered is not going to be here, not be manufactured, you need to know now so you can order new replacement inventory. 

Check Crew Status
If you have fill in help that comes in for the fabricating and or installation of Holiday, now is the time to call and check their availibility for  the coming season.  Plus, if you see you’ll be needing even more help, maybe some of these existing crew members know of friends ot relatives that would be willing to work.  Better to get your ducks in a row now instead of the week before Thanksgiving. 

Sales…Now
Next, pull out all of last years Holiday work orders and client files and start emailing, faxing and making phone calls.  Does the Bank of the West want to repeat their 12 foot tree in the lobby?  What about their 6 branch offices?  Are they repeating the front door wreaths?  Get the order confirmation, write up the work order and go on with your life. 

No Surprises
The whole idea is take advantage of time and decent weather now to prime the Holiday pump.  Then, come November 1 you won’t be scrambling.  Happy Holidays!