Happy Holidays listeners! In this episode of The Grow Show, Marty Grunder shares the routine he follows during a holiday week to make equal time for recharging, reflecting, and resetting. Make time for yourself and your loved ones, but don't miss the opportunity to set your 2026 up for success in this final week of the year.

Dorothy Lane Market

Stihl GTA 26 Cordless Pruner (Complete the challenge below to have a chance to win!)

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Episode Timestamps

01:47 - The Holiday Dilemma for Landscapers

02:32 - Managing the Week Between Christmas and New Year’s

05:03 - Recharge, Reflect, and Reset: The Three Buckets

05:45 - Five Practical Areas to Focus On

08:25 - The Grow Show Christmas Week Challenge

10:03 - Please Share & Subscribe!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl

Key Learnings

How You Manage This Week Says a Lot About How You Manage Your Business – The worst thing you can do is let this week become a Netflix sit-around, eat junk, do nothing this week. That's not good. If you spend six to 10 hours the week between Christmas and New Year's, you'll return to work January 2nd seeing your business in a whole new focused way.

Resting Is Okay, Drifting Is Dangerous – I organize this week around three buckets: Recharge, Reflect, and Reset. Recharge is time with family. Reflect means looking at reality, the good, the bad, and the painful truth. Reset means making decisions—what will I stop doing? What will I delegate? What am I gonna double down on?

I Get to the Coffee Shop at 5:45 AM While My Family Sleeps In – I head to a coffee shop around 5:45 AM on the days they're open, even though I don't drink coffee, because I like that environment. I open my calendar, scroll month by month. What felt heavy? Where did we have callbacks? Where was I overwhelmed? I delve into Aspire, check dials, reports, numbers, because data doesn't lie.

All Planning Is Good, But Planning Only Happens When You're Intentional – You've heard me say this many times. All planning is good. Credit to Dave Sullivan from 1997. This process I'm sharing with you is planning. At some point you're gonna have to say, I'm getting my act together. This is that week.

Chaos Is Really Expensive, Order Pays Dividends – People come in my garage and they say, my goodness, what happened here? You could eat off the floor. It's always like that. I guess it's my OCD, but I just feel so much more in control when I have things organized. Chaos is really expensive, folks. Order pays dividends.

The Daily Rhythm for Winning This Week

Each Day:

1. One hour in the morning for yourself

In this episode, Marty details what the Complete Landsculpture team shared during our tour session rehearsals that had him frantically scribbling down notes to help the team back at home. He shares what impressed him from this, and then what he's working with his own team to implement as a result.

Cookie Recipe

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Episode Timestamps

00:54 - Upcoming Grow 2026 Event in Dallas

03:29 - The Four P’s Framework

06:39 - Focus on Your People

08:41 - Process Excellence at Complete Landsculpture

12:20 - Insights on Procurement and Profits

14:03 - Sign up for Grow 2026!

16:09 - Please Share & Subscribe!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl

Key Learnings

Every Presenter Mentioned Their Mission and Focus – Complete Land Sculpture's mission is to create complete outdoor client experiences and exceed those expectations. They're fanatical about it. Every single one of them mentioned that main focus in their presentation. Even HR mentioned that maintenance is their focus of growth right now. I was listening to people that weren't at the top of the org chart talking about the value of doing maintenance and the reoccurring revenue.

Your External Customer Service Will Never Exceed Your Internal Customer Service – When I see a company that offers good service, I know that the team is well managed. The team knows that people care about them, and that's just a byproduct of taking care of your team. The place oozes with consistency of the brand, the looks, the smells, the way the office and the shop and the grounds are set up.

They Give Clients a Weekly State of the Union Email – They communicate well with their clients, giving them a weekly state of the union email with full reports—amazing detailed reports with photos of how the job's gone. They do a complete budget, but then they put the budget into the months that they think their client could spend and they give them the budget. Many of their property managers struggle with that, so they try to make it easy on them.

Take 5-7 Clients to Lunch and Ask for Feedback – Scott said they take five to seven clients to lunch and ask them how they're doing, ask for feedback. It goes over well because it's five to seven clients that are in the similar industry, real estate, and they like talking with each other. He said, we know we're good and we don't have anything to hide. So we have a conversation with them about what we can do better.

Procurement Is Where Most Companies Waste Money – Xavier handles procurement for Complete Landsculpture. He didn't look at his slides, didn't look at his notes. Gene said, we can tell you know what you're doing. Xavier said, I don't have to look at them, this is what I do all day. It's not sexy, we just don't do it well. We waste...

In this episode, Marty Grunder and Vince Torchia recap what 2025 looked like for Grunder Landscaping Co. and the ups and downs that we saw. There were some great wins and also some lessons learned, all shared in our best effort to help other landscaping teams.

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Episode Chapters:

00:54 - Landscape Pros Playbook Overview

01:48 - Reflecting on 2025: Wins and Learnings

02:19 - Platform: Culture and Growth

08:56 - People: Team Additions and Changes

18:02 - Process: Improvements and Challenges

21:14 - Profit: Financial Insights and Investments

26:56 - Looking Ahead to 2026

30:20 - Please Share & Subscribe!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl

Show Notes:

We Added $4 Million and 40 People—Training Couldn't Keep Up – We grew a lot this year. We added $4 million in revenue and about 40 more people. When you grow like we have, you assume people know how to do things and you don't slow down enough to train them. We've gotta train better. We have a saying here that's trust the process, but you can say that as long as you understand the process. I think we have so many new people here, they don't understand the process.

Landscaping Isn't Simple When You Do This Many Transactions – We often hear from people or the inference is that landscaping's a simple business. I don't think it is when you do the number of transactions that we do. Now in lawn care, some of those transactions are $80 lawn apps and you have weather to deal with and all these people and complicated projects. There's just a lot, and when you grow and add new people, it takes a while for them to understand how to do things.

Our Peer Groups Give Us a Reality Check – The great thing about our peer groups is the barometer that we get out of almost 250 companies. That's closing in on one and a half billion dollars in collective revenue. When you're in those meetings and you hear what other people are dealing with, you realize you're not alone and you get perspective on what's normal versus what needs fixing.

Cash Management Requires Daily Review—Not Just Systems – The biggest thing I've learned this year was accounts receivable communication with the team. Yes, it's centralized and yes, we have a process for how we do it, but just because you are not involved in that collection does not mean you just get to put your arms up and be like, well, I'm not getting involved in that. Everybody on the team has to understand who owes money, why they owe money, and what we're doing to collect it. Nothing will ever beat daily review of cash in, cash out, and AR balances.

We've Learned More About Our Ideal Client This Year – We've done a fountain project, we've done a historical renovation of a property, we've landed more commercial snow work this year than ever before. We changed the mission statement to create opportunities for our team to grow and succeed. I think from a platform perspective, we are doing that through looking at our ideal client in a new perspective for the kind of work...

Grunder Landscaping’s Cincinnati location recently secured a high-profile account simply because a prospect walked by one of their crews and was impressed—even though they couldn't see the actual work being done in the backyard. In this short episode, Marty breaks down the four key philosophies that turn job sites into referral generators, from treating your internal team better than you expect them to treat clients to consistently looking for the good instead of just pointing out problems.

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Episode Timestamps

00:57 - Site One Early Order Program
01:55 - The Importance of How We Work
02:22 - Securing High Profile Accounts
04:24 - Four Key Philosophies for Success
08:16 - Internal Customer Service > External
08:32 - Be Great At What You Want to See
09:38 - Be Present and Engage
12:43 - Look for the Good
14:36 - Training and Systems Matter
16:30 - Please Share & Subscribe!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl

Key Learnings

Your External Customer Service Will Never Exceed Your Internal Customer Service – How you treat your team is how they're gonna treat your clients. If you treat your team poorly, you don't give them the tools they need, you don't respect them, you don't appreciate them, you don't have their paychecks ready on time—they're not gonna treat your clients well.

You Gotta Be Great at What You Want Your Team to Be Good At – I can't expect my team to wave at people, throttle down blowers when someone walks by, be kind, and wave at the competition if I'm not modeling that behavior myself. We teach our people to wave to people, to be polite, to look like they care. That starts with me.

Be Present and Bump Knuckles – I listened to a podcast with Corey Ballard who said you gotta get in there and bump some knuckles. You gotta be talking to people, firing them up, setting a good example, being present. When I'm in town, I go in early, I partake in our stretch and flex, I walk around with my nail apron stuffed full of candy. Lenin, one of our lawn care technicians, said "I missed you. I haven't seen you in a while." That made me realize showing up and being seen matters.

Look for the Good and Reinforce It – When I have my apron on and passing out candy, I often see things that are bad. Yesterday I saw a truck that hadn't been cleaned out, a bald tire, and a mesh gate pushed out. I took a picture and sent it to the managers, but I don't go yelling at people. I'm a cheerleader, I'm a knuckle bumper. I look for the good, reinforce that, talk about it in circles, and post pictures of good jobs.

The Exercise That Changes Everything

Marty closes with this powerful exercise he uses when working with groups:

The Question: Knowing what you know about landscaping, what would a crew have to do—to look like, to sound like—if they were working at the neighbors of your brand new vacation home in Florida that you just built because you did so well with your landscaping company? What would that team have to do to impress you to the point...

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Chris Strempek and Gene Freeman have been partners at Complete Landsculpture in Dallas, Texas for 34 years. In this conversation, they reveal why they would've hired consultants and learned their numbers much earlier, how treating team members like owners transformed their culture, and what makes their partnership work after more than three decades together—essential lessons whether you're building a partnership, scaling your business, or just trying to figure out your next hire.

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Episode Chapters:

01:52 - Chris’s Journey: 40 Years from College Job to Company President

04:06 - Gene’s Story: 34 Years of Partnership

05:58 - Roles and Responsibilities for Gene & Chris

06:55 - Business Development at Complete Landsculpture

07:52 - Company Structure and Services

08:55 - Unique Value Proposition & Customer Service

11:31 - The 5-10 Rule

13:55 - Growth and Challenges for 2025

19:06 - What to Expect at Grow 2026

25:26 - The Opportunity to Challenge Our Team

26:20 - Labor Situation & H-2B Program

28:37 - Challenges in Staffing & Growth Opportunities

31:21 - Celebrating Team Success & Culture

34:47 - Time Management Tips

38:02 - Community Involvement and Giving Back

41:46 - Relationships Matter At All Levels

43:18 - Chris’ Leadership Style Over the Years

46:44 - Thoughts on Private Equity

52:11 - Advice to Younger Self

58:41 - Please Subscribe!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl

Key Learnings:

The 25-Year-Old Me Needed a Consultant Yesterday – I would seek the advice of consultants and get help developing a real, executable, goal-oriented business plan. The biggest tendency for operators starting out is spending all your time as a technician, virtually no time in the entrepreneurial or visionary role. You can't articulate to team members what you don't know yourself.

We Didn't Know Our Numbers—Top Line Blinded Us – We just looked at top line. God, if we get to $4 million, we're gonna be on high cotton. We thought we'd be sitting pretty, wondering where we'd spend all the money. Not knowing your numbers, not knowing what you don't know, that held us back. Labor costs, material costs, ratios, overtime, indirect time—these KPIs are transcendent whether you're in Washington or Texas.

Treat Team Members Like Owners and Challenge Them – We empower our team to make decisions and think like owners. We've learned over the years that there are things we suck at, but we have rock stars in our organization who can take those areas well beyond what we ever could. We gotta get out of their way.

Don't Let Pride Get in the Way of Your Success – You've got to be willing to own your mistakes. We're far from perfect and we're seeing cracks right now. We try to acknowledge them, bring them forward, make them public, and learn from them. Make sure...

Marty Grunder announces the new Landscape Pros Playbook, an 8-year dream project created with Landscape Management magazine. Learn why training should target specific pain points, how to answer "Would you want to work for you?", and why competitive pay with career paths transforms seasonal workers into department leaders.

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Episode Chapters:

00:41 - The Landscape Pros Playbook: A Dream Realized
01:23 - The Importance of Landscape Management Magazine
01:57 - Unveiling the Landscape Pros Playbook
04:16 - Training: An Investment, Not an Expense
06:35 - Would You Want to Work for You?
07:34 - The Importance of Competitive Compensation
11:34 - Career Paths & Growing Opportunities
14:29 - Please Subscribe to The Grow Show!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl

Show Notes:

Training Should Be Based on Last Year's Problems – I tell companies to look at where you had issues: client complaints, callbacks on plants or pavers, team member injuries, workers' comp claims. Track when these problems happened, then build your training calendar around preventing them proactively—you're better off in fire prevention than firefighting.

Time Your Training to Your Calendar – I don't think it makes sense to train on snow removal in May. Train on snow removal in October, November, and again in December through February. Match your training topics to when your crews will actually be doing that work.

The Playbook Came from My Own Need as a 19-Year-Old – I was a sophomore at the University of Dayton running my business, and I'd rip open this newsletter and start reading it walking up the driveway. It told me when to buy fertilizer, when to apply it, how to sell pruning and maintenance packages. That newsletter gave me direction—and the Landscape Pros Playbook is that resource for today's professionals.

Turnover Costs More Than Just Wages – I see companies focus only on what they're paying to replace someone. But look at what turnov...

Marty Grunder reveals how to identify your personal superpower and spend 80% of your time leveraging it for maximum business growth. Learn the StrengthsFinder framework that unlocks hidden potential in your team, plus four practical tips to work more in your strength zone - even when you're doing it all yourself.

StrengthsFinder 2.0

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Episode Chapters:

00:00:30 Introduction and Welcome

00:01:04 Leadership Team Success

00:02:24 Understanding Superpowers

00:03:21 Marty's Superpowers

00:06:35 Brian's Journey to Success

00:09:35 Discovering and Leveraging Superpowers

00:11:42 Lily's Story: Finding True Passion

00:17:07 Practical Tips for Identifying Superpowers

00:20:25 Conclusion and Call to Action

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

In this episode, Marty Grunder is joined by Greenius' Matt Crinklaw to talk about the mistakes that come from not teaching your team the skills that they need, experiments in how onboarding impacts success, how to successfully train your team, and the tools available to support landscaping companies in effectively training your team. Matt shares the different learning styles people have, tailoring training to what works for your team, the importance of training documentation, and the impact great training has on individuals and organizations.

Grunder Landscaping Co. Field Trips — The Grow Group

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Episode Chapters:

00:59 - Meet Matt Matt Crinklaw: Journey to Greenius

02:53 - The Birth of Greenius

04:53 - The Importance of Training in Landscaping

09:10 - Understanding Adult Learning

11:13 - The Three Ways of Learning

19:23 - Career Pathways and Employee Retention

24:10 - Effective Training Setups and Greenius Benefits

27:31 - Avoid Costly Mistakes Through Training

30:19 - Getting Started with Greenius

32:56 - Common Mistakes in Training Programs

37:00 - Emerging Trends in Landscaping Technology

39:36 - Big Announcement from Grow & Greenius

43:12 - Sign Up for a Field Trip to Grunder

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl

Show Notes:

Training Gets New Hires to Productivity 40% Faster – I measured new hires against employees with one year of experience on 50 properties. The experienced employees were 40% more efficient....