A friend came out to visit me here in Vegas last week and she stayed at the Hilton.  What was interesting was a card in her room offerring $10 credit/voucher for any of the restaurants at the hotel for each day she opted NOT to have maid service.  She was there 4 days and chose to do just that.  The Hilton presented this as a "Green" service.  Less water for laundry, less labor, etc.  She felt good about it and the $40 voucher was enough to get her interest. 

Now, yes, it was "green", but it also mean’t a huge savings for the Hilton.  I have to believe that the cost of laundry, maid service labor costs, cleaning supples costs, water savings,  far exceeded the 10 bucks, plus this 10 bucks was spent at their restaurants so any money over that mean’t increased revenue for them as well.

Then, there is the goodwill factor as the guest perceives the Hilton to be Green. 

Pull out your thinking cap.  Is there anything you and your company can do to engender goodwill, foster Green, and make clients appreciate you?  What if every time a current client renewed you made a small contribution to their favorite charity or a local homeless or animal rescue shelter?  Yep, put on your thinking cap and when you come up with an idea let me know.  Now, get out there and sell some TOPsiders for me! 

Bet you have somewhere a book on your shelf entitled, HOW TO GROW FRESH AIR, by Dr. Bill Wolverton.  Well, he has a new one just being published even as we speak.  This one is called, PLANTS-WHY YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THEM.    At this years Calscape in San Diego Sept 1-4, you will have the opportunity not only to purchase but to buy one that has been signed by Dr. Wolverton himself.  Bill and wife Yvonne will be at the Seminar to accept his Award as Inductee into the Interior Plantscaper Hall of Fame.

One idea is to buy several copies to give to special clients, use data for your web site or blog or Newsletter.

Great opportunity to meet and thank this industry icon.  www.pia@piagrows.org for more info.  See you there.

Here’s your chance to hear me and inventor Joe Byles give you the latest info and answer all your questions about Joey Pouches, Freedom Squares for Green Roofs and Landscaping. 

WEBINAR:  Tues., May 18th, 12 Noon -1:00 PM EST/ 9:00 -10:AM PT.

Webinar is presented as one of the series offerred by Kathy Fiedw.  To register, log on to www.jfaconsultingbiz.com, click on the  SHOP  header.  Cost is $29.00 with a portion being donated to GPGB(Green Plants for Green Buildings).  If you cannot participate, by registering, you will receive a MP3 recording!

Note:  This is NOT a commercial for products, but, instead an update on how this material is being used.  Joe has been active with Major Property Owners at the National level, has gathered a ton of Green Roof data and experience and is willing to share it will all of us.  IF YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST ABOUT GREEN WALLS, ROOFS, LANDSCAPE PANELS AND YOUR OWN INTERIORSCAPE BUSIUNESS,, REGISTER!

I PROMISE IT WILL BE INTERESTING AND HIGHLY INFORMATIVE.

Couple of things.  Joe Byles and I  will be doing a webinar for Kathy Fiedw’s program on Tuesday, May 18,2010 at noon EST/9 AM PT.  Topic is Green Roofs, other uses for Freedom Squares and Joeys.   We will be on the line to answer questions especially addressing your questions about How to’s for Green Roofs. 

 One company back East has done Seven (7) Green Roofs and I will have detailed info as to the what, how, why and Best Practises.  To sign up, go to kathy@kfaconsultingbiz.com. 

The webinar is 1 hour long and you will receive a copy afterwards. 

Holiday is over for another 10 months and the good news is that you survived.  Congratulations.  Thinking back to Holidays Past, I recall several that were, shall we say, learning instances.  The truck on Thanksgiving weekend that drove the 100 miles to the large install and the large wreath was back at the warehouse.  Result?  A second trip the following day, a perturbed client, a second truck rental, and two installers time driving and installing.  OOOPS!

The next year we fixed that problem but on another installation, my key designer showed up 2 hours late keeping four other techs waiting.  4 techs X 2 hours = 8 hours paid out not originally budgeted.  I could see the $$ flying out into the snow.

The moral of stories like these?  Plan ahead.  Have lists of materials to be loaded on trucks, check the lists more than once, and allow extra time in your price quotes.  Extra or delayed trips mean dollars lost.  And not just for Holiday.  The second trip for the plant left behind, the containers that didn’t arrive in time-all cost you.  DIRTFT is important in businesses like ours.  Extra time spent in advance is going to save you on the tail end.  DIRTFT should be a motto instilled throughout your company.  Now get out there…..

Banks? Nope.  Wall Street?  Not hardly.  But, even in this crazy economy, some businesses are growing and that is where the potential lies for new Sales.

Unemployment Equals Job and Career Training     With the Unemployment rate rising, many people are going back to school.  Couple this with the world of the Computer and I’ll just bet you will find classroom settings and offices for the Colleges and Universities helping people get degrees and retrain.  Call on these folks.  They have to want to keep their offices inviting to new potential students.  Check it out.

Ditto, temp agencies, Non-government job services, and the like.  And, Healthcare continues to seem impervious.  This includes not just Hospitals, but rehab centers, Sports Medicine facilities, Assisted Living and Higher end Long term care.  Yes, I know some of them have opted for artificial.  In fact, one assisted living facility in Cincinnati solve their "foilage problem" by going to Sam’s Club and buying 60 of the same 6′ tall artificial Ficus Tree in a wicker basket.  They are everywhere in the facility.  Clones, Soldiers, Same Old, Same Old.  Ugly!  Now, it has been some time since they were installed.  Maybe places like this are ripe to present the live Green/Health/Cleaner Air/Happiness scenario.

And, it is never a good idea to lose contact with former clients.  Periodically, call and touch base to get a pulse reading of when things might pick up.  Now, go out there and………

Went  to the bank the other day, Feb.25th, and on the teller counter…a still-living poinsettia!  And on the bank officers desk.  And on the coffee table.  Then, I stopped at a local restaurant and, you guessed it..another one!  Now, mind you, there were only a few bracts visible, but, there they were,  Devil Plants.  Kinda like finding a spath living in the desert.

So, what does this have to do with anything?  Maybe, just maybe, inspite of all that is going on in the economy, we should think of ourselves like these remnants of Holiday Past.  We are the survivors.  And, even though the Holidays are months away, how would you like an inexpensive variation of the Joey Pouch created just for Poinsettia and Blooming?

Well, inventor Joe is working on it and it should be announced this summer.  Just think.  One change of poinsettias lasts for all 6 plus weeks.  Watering once per week or longer!  Reusable.  A ‘scapers dream and a surefire way to help lower our costs.  Stay tuned as we work on this industry changing innovation.  And, just a heads up.  As you quote Poinsettia for Holiday proposals, do NOT quote so much per point delivered (the old 2 changes).  Instead, quote so much per "spot" and use the two point formula.  Do not commit to a number but, instead, the resulting look.  That way you will be charging as if there were two when you will need only one.

Just thought you would want to know.  Barb

Over 30,000 showed up this past November in Boston MA for the 7th annual GreenBuild Show.  Attendees were impressed with the Seminar offerrings as well as the Huge Trade Show of "Green" Vendors.  This impressive attendance again shows that the Environment is still a very hot topic.  In fact, several were heard to say that "if you are not in a Green Business, forget about it. 

What does this mean for interiorscapers?  Its another bullet in your holster.  Learn about Green and how our products and services are green and say green.

Lastly, I want to wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year.  Go get ‘em Tiger.

Recently I purchased a boxed appliance and upon opening it was amazed at all the stuff used to package it.  Plastic wrap, cardboard, twisty ties, at least three diffent pieces of paper to warantee and promote other products.  And, on top of all that…..big blocks of white styrofoam.  All destined to become part of a landfill or semi recycled.

Well, what if you could become a small part of the chain?  What if you could set up some agreement with a store that sells TVs and other stuff packaged in styrofoam and then, once a week or so, pick it up and reuse, repurpose, recycle it for staging plants??

Granted, a bit of trouble to go through but….what a neat win/win situation and what a good thing to point out to your clients.

Just a thought…..

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.