On Sept. 2nd, I posted a blog on this site(scroll down and read), about the need to be prepared for emergencies.  Who knew that my advice was important for me and TOPsiders in good old Ohio?  Hurricane Ike came along, trashed TX and the Gulf Coast and then made his way up to the Midwest, a part of the country thought to be impervious to Hurricanes.  Well, here it is over a week after it hit Cincinnati (and other parts of OH, KY, and IN) and some of my friends are still without electricity, computers are down, and don’t even ask about all that food in my freezer. 

Anyway, we are coping, the office is open, we are taking and filling orders and the insurance guys are dealing with the aftermath. 

Just goes to show you……….If you think you are secure, that nothing ever happens in your neck of the woods, think again and put a disaster plan in place.

On Sept. 2nd, I posted a blog on this site(scroll down and read), about the need to be prepared for emergencies.  Who knew that my advice was important for me and TOPsiders in good old Ohio?  Hurricane Ike came along, trashed TX and the Gulf Coast and then made his way up to the Midwest, a part of the country thought to be impervious to Hurricanes.  Well, here it is over a week after it hit Cincinnati (and other parts of OH, KY, and IN) and some of my friends are still without electricity, computers are down, and don’t even ask about all that food in my freezer. 

Anyway, we are coping, the office is open, we are taking and filling orders and the insurance guys are dealing with the aftermath. 

Just goes to show you……….If you think you are secure, that nothing ever happens in your neck of the woods, think again and put a disaster plan in place.

Why your newspaper of course!!  Boy, just reading that sentence made me stop and think about how the world has changed.  Today,  information is gathered from so many sources and not just the printed page. But, hey, thats not why I bring it up. 

Nope, I just wanted to point out one of the most valuable but often overlooked sources of Sales information around….your local business periodical and the Business page in your newspaper.  Of course, the same info is always available on line on their respective web sites, but, I’m still back in the 90’s.  So ,when I refer to these resources I may reference the printed version but you get it…….

Local business periodicals target their coverage by city, town, or state.  They usually have available lists of the TOP 25 Office space rentors, their rankings by number of employees,  who is moving to a new space, the area Hotels and all this most often is accompanied by addresses, phone numbers and contact person’s name.  All this is vital information for you the interiorscaper.  They usually also do a brief profile about smaller area businesses and you should find out how you can get covered in that space.  Generally they profile advertisers but maybe their ads are not too expensive and you can buy your way in.  Just don’t commit to too large an ad or for too long a period.  You want to have a consistent frequency but not every issue. And, it just might be a good place to barter some plants and service for the ads.  Also gives you the opportunity to make friends with people who really know who is doing what and to whom in your city.

Anyway, the next place to gather information is from the daily newspaper’s Business section.  There you will also find info you can put to good use.  Someone in your company needs to make the reading of this stuff a daily, weekly habit, pull out info that might be of use and distribute it to the appropriate sales person. 

Most new construction is announced and then it may take years to be built.  Contact at that announcement phase is premature, but start a "tickle" file and periodicaly check on progress.  When the property management firm or facility mananger for the occupants come on board, grab your hat and get going. 

As I’ve spoken with a number of ’scapers it seems that if they err, it is because they made contact either too early, too late, or forgot about it.  Don’t let this happen to you.  Nothing is worse than the "fish that got away".  Go get ‘em, Tiger.

The New Year will be here in just a tad over 100 days and most of you are getting geared up for Holiday Sales.  This is an excellent time to sell more green plants and service as you are calling on clients for Holiday.

 Plant the Seeds
  The lifeblood of every ‘scaper is your monthly recurring revenue, not one time and Holiday Sales.  These are just the icing on the cake not the cake itself.  That is why it is imperative that even while you are selling that gorgeous wreath you must also be tilling the soil for regular plantscape jobs.  Best of all, it is still time to give  2008 Green Plant Sales a boost.  What kind of a promotion could you devise to get some interest going?  You’ve got the perfect excuse to call on each and every client whether they already are a Holiday client or not.  Ask about all of their needs, describe all of your services.  Watch and see which one elicits a response and then be ready to sell it.  Go armed with a small, 6" green desktop plant as a leave behind gift.  Make sure your business card is prominently attached.  And, remember, to place followup calls a week later.  And, while you are in their building, checkout the other tenants either physically or by jotting down names listed on the lobby Directory.  Future homework, plus traveling by elevator is much less costly than by vehicle.

But First You Need A Plan      So many calls a day, so many appointments a week.  Set your goals and fill the squares.  It’s important or otherwise all the pluses of October,  November and December will be cancelled out by January.’s slow sales and high replacements.  (Been there, done that).   And, since its getting close to year-end, take some time and review your 2008 Sales Record.  How much did you sell in one-time sales of plants and containers?  How much in guaranteed maintenance annualized?  How much Holiday?  Who did you sell it to?  What percentage of those dollars was to offices, to restaurants, to building lobbies?  Doing this will give you a snapshot of what you’ve done and which market segments have been most successful.  And, its not a bad idea to check out the location of these recent sales.  Is there one area of your city hotter than the rest?  Is there an area you should have been calling on more often?  Do a Post Mortem, just like on CSI.  This information is like having a compass instead of just floating along aimlessly.  It’s a powerful, powerful tool.  Take the time.  I promise you you’ll be enlightened.

If you are going to be at Calscape make it a point to find me and say Hi and let me know how you like/hate this site.  I’m always looking for topics to cover that are pertinent for you and your interiorscape business.  Oh, and lets kick back and have some fun!!

It is September 2nd and on the interiorscape.com web site someone asked about the best thing to use for Poinsettias and two responses cited Sippers as the best.  One post, however, asked if it wasn’t too early to begin tthinking about Points and Holiday.  Nope, in fact, it is a bit late.  If you will need Sippers, call now.  We get sold out often in late October.  Call the TOPsider office (800)533-7661.

Next, we are shipping Joey Pouches and you are already trying to figure out what to do with them.  Read the instructions and watch the dvd instructional video on the TOPsider website, www.topsidersinc.com.   And, for those of you who want to do Green Roofs, contact the TOPsider office.  We are now the sole distributors for the 42" squares that weigh only a pound and a half dry (instead of hundreds of pounds for soil and drainage material).  The squares are $96.00 each and have irrigation hook ups attatched to them so they can be attatched one to one to one etc.  No soil is needed and they are 2.5 inches (that’’s right, I said INCHES) thick. 

Be aware that it takes much more than just throwing a bunch of planted squares on top of a roof to have a green roof.  There is working with the roofing guy, the construction people, and making sure the liability and safety aspects are all covered but those parts are true no matter what product is used.  Our Freedom Squares as we call them, are the lightest, the easiest components ever.  We have a minimum of squares per order required.  Again, see us at Calscape.

This morning"s weather channel map looked like an airport landing strip.  Long line of Hurricanes all in a row waiting their turn to land.  Problem is there are no peanuts on these flights.  Just the potential for floods, electrical outages and so on.

Are you Prepared??    Recent history teaches us that for both our personal and business lives we need Emergency Plans.  The most important component is communications.  Do you have all your employees phone numbers?  Cell and residence and even one  for a relative or neighbor?  What if the cell phone towers are taken out?  How will you get in touch with each other then?  Is there an extra, hidden facility key that you could use to gain access if need be?  Do you have water stockpiled?  Food?  Batteries?First Aid Kits?  What about account and accounting info. Are your files backed up regularly and is that info stored elsewhere?

I’m not going to give you a list.  The TV stations, and local agencies plus the Red Cross have all of those things readily available.  Here’s the deal.  I’m just here to geive you a heads up.  Natural or man made diasters can happen anywhere it isn’t just the Gulf Coast.  As the "keeper of your flock" it behooves you to take the time and effort now to get the plan and supplies in order.  Write it down and make sure everyone has a copy.  The at least you won’t be caught completely flatfooted if and when.