Bill’s Talks

Upon graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Ornamental Horticulture Bill started a 29-year career with the Valley Crest Companies which today is a $1 Billion landscape business that is well known throughout the US.

Bill worked his way through many field positions at VCC leading to the Regional VP position for the Southern California Region overseeing a $25 million portfolio with 6 offices, 5 separate service lines and with over 500 employees.

During his stay at VCC Bill also spent two years as VP of Human Resources serving as the primary architect for the development and implementation of the national training program, performance management system, and the recruiting program for this 10,000 employee company.

In 2006, Bill was a recipient of the Lawn and Landscape / Bayer Environmental Science national leadership award.

Bill’s columns, PODs, webinars, talks and workshops have been presented to many organizations including PLANET GIC, PLANET Executive Forum, CLCA- California Landscape Contractors Association and listened to by over 57,000 landscape folks on a biweekly basis.

Bill has learned that while growing plants was a big part of the landscape business he also learned that growing people and relationships was a more critical part of having a gratifying professional and personal existence.

Your People:

Building Effective Training Programs that Get the Right Results

“People are the greatest asset of any organization. Having a strong training and development system in place that is consistently used and rewarded will drive the desired skill building and results of an organization” Harvester Bill Arman

Training people just to be training is an expensive process. Building training programs that will get the right results is a critical part of your business. Having great training programs will also play a large role with attracting and retaining the best people.

Learn how to:

• Design training programs that link into results that count
• Implement training programs with set up, tools and delivery systems
• Measure the outcomes that matter the most from a training system
• Establish rewards and recognition for goals accomplished
• To avoid the most common mistakes with training programs

Takeaways: You’ll have a game plan in place for developing your key players. And you’ll know the key areas to focus on that will help you hold on to the winners!

We will build a Landscape Maintenance Foremen training program before your very eyes!

Harvester Bills’ Gardener 1- Gardener 4 training programs have been used to train over 5,000 field people throughout the United States. Come learn first hand how he did it and how this system will change your organization with dramatic results in quality, efficiency and safety.

“Remember that training and development happens every day in every organization whether you have a system or not. It is our choice as to what training and development takes place” Harvester Bill Arman.

Make this how to build an effective training program your choice.

Your People

Recruiting Programs That Work: How to attract and get on board the very best

Find out how to set up a comprehensive recruitment program, including how to: source, screen and select the right people. Learn the 7-step process that Harvester Bill has successfully used for the past 35 years to find the best this industry has to offer. You’ll learn a whole new “way of life” thinking on recruiting. We’ll assess your specific needs and determine the best strategies, tools and practices to use to attract, find and land the people you need.

You will learn:

• To identify the right person for the job
• Creative ways to find the right people and get them to be part of your team
• How to ask questions that will “root” out what you really need to know
• How to make yourself more attractive than your competitor
• Why the first 90 days is so critical to the new employees’ success

Harvester Bill has conducted over 5,000 interviews in his 35-year career in the industry. He has hired hundreds of Middle Managers, Leaders and Business Developers.

Learn how Harvester Bill has used his recruiting techniques to build some of the best teams in the industry.

Your Organization

Lessons from the Garden: 10 Lessons from “Best In Class” Organizations

From $30M to $800M $ in 30 years—How did they do that? Find out what it takes to grow a real, “Best In Class” organization. Learn the 10 Lessons that all organizations need to learn to become “Best in Class”. You will learn what a “Best in Class” organization looks, acts and thinks like.

Harvester Bill has taken the top 10 lessons learned from working with two “Best in Class” operations for nearly 35 years. These organizations focus on ten key areas to become the best of the best.

Learn:

• The LEADERS test to identify what you need to do to become a great leader
• Three key qualities that all great leaders demonstrate
• The power of alignment and how to get your organization aligned
• How to adapt, change and innovate faster than the competition
• What key milestones “best in class” organizations are measured by
• The key lessons that will help guide your organization to “Best in Class” level
• How to maximize the organization’s potential

If every organization were to faithfully apply and follow these lessons they will be well on their way on the path to success. Harvest Bill will walk you through each of these powerful lessons from the garden. This talk has been given to organizations in the green industry and outside the industry both with excellent results.

This is a great way to start a planning session for an organization. Begin with the 10 Lessons from the Garden then apply them in your planning session and get ready for a great year.

Your Marketing and Sales

Winning Marketing and Sales Game Plans

In today’s challenging times it is extremely important to best position your organization within your competitive market place. What makes you different from your competitors? Why should your potential customers buy from you and not your competition? Are you attracting the right customers?

Learn how to define and communicate what differentiates you, set goals, create a plan and track the results.

What you will leave with:

• A framework for your Marketing and Sales game plan
• Tools that will help you succeed like great proposals formats
• Best practices that will get results
• Basic tracking systems that track the right stuff
• Milestone expectations that all sales people should be accomplishing

Getting new business is getting tougher and tougher and after attending this workshop you will definitely learn new ways to get the right customers under the right conditions. Have Harvester Bill help you get your Marketing and Sales plan together

Your Operations

Harvest Great Quality: Quality Counts it Really Does!

This is one of The Harvest Groups’ Hallmark programs and is being applied in over 25 states by over 100 companies. You and your organization will learn how to increase your ability to deliver consistently while increasing your Gross Margins.
Learn how to set up an effective quality assurance program and link it with your training, rewards/recognition and bonus programs. Harvester Bill has used this system for 35 years and has conducted over 20,000 site reviews using this system.

You will learn:

• The importance of having objective measurements
• How to link training directly with measurable results
• To link performance reviews and compensation programs to quality
• How to make it clear what the organization’s expectations are with quality
• How quality is less expensive to perform than inconsistent quality
• How a quality program can increase enhancement sales and gross margin

Your people will now know exactly what is expected of them and what they can expect if they accomplish the clear objectives mapped out with this program. This program is a GAME CHANGER just ask any of the organizations that have it in place.

Your Operations

“The GrossMarginator”: How To Get Higher Margins On Your Jobs

It is really hard to get increases on our jobs these days and we need to find ways to make more money on less sales.

Enter The GrossMarginator !!

Learn a step-by-step process designed to get you higher margins on your jobs.
This process will definitely get your margins up. It’s been proven to be not only 100% successful but also a real eye-opener on the systems you have in play, which ones work and which ones don’t. The GrossMarginator will help you with identifying the ways that organizations use to increase their margins while improving their quality at the same time.

Leave with:

• A simple step by step process to increase Gross Margins
• Why we have low margins and how to avoid these low margin mistakes
• A game plan to increase your Gross Margin by 3%-8%
• Ways to engage your people in the GrossMarginator process
• Ideas to link improved gross margin to incentive programs

This is the Harvest Group’s best recession buster program! Listen to Harvester Bill passionately lead you through this program and start counting your improved gross margin in short order.