Blizzard & Bloom: Insights from the Ice and the Green Scene

Grass Roots Revolution

• Jay Rotonnelli

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Discover the evolving world of lawn care through the eyes of an industry expert who's navigating environmental regulations while delivering results that keep properties lush and healthy. Chris Galluzzo, Director of Account Management at Mainly Grass, pulls back the curtain on what truly makes lawns thrive – and it's not what most people think.

The conversation challenges common misconceptions about lawn care, revealing why the health of your soil matters more than what you're putting on top of it. Chris shares how his company conducts detailed soil analyses to address the root causes of lawn problems rather than simply treating symptoms, a practice that's becoming increasingly important as towns across the Northeast implement stricter environmental ordinances.

For landscape contractors, this episode offers valuable perspective on the complexities of lawn care services. While adding fertilization to your service lineup might seem like an easy profit center, Chris explains why many contractors end up overwhelmed by the specialized knowledge required. He outlines how partnerships with dedicated lawn care companies can create win-win scenarios where everyone's expertise is maximized.

Technology is changing this traditional industry, with AI already being implemented to improve customer service and property analysis. Yet despite these advances, both Chris and host Jay Rotonnelli agree that the human element remains irreplaceable – especially when problems arise and quick, knowledgeable responses are needed.

Whether you're a landscape professional looking to improve your service offerings or a property owner wanting to understand what's really happening with your lawn, this conversation provides practical insights on communication, education, and collaboration that lead to healthier, more sustainable landscapes. Ready to look beyond the surface and understand what makes great lawn care work? This episode is your perfect starting point.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Blizzard and Bloom, the podcast where we navigate the storms and celebrate the triumphs in business and entrepreneurship. Join us as we dive into stories, insights and strategies from top professionals to help you thrive in today's evolving landscape. And now here is your host, jay Rotinelli.

Speaker 2:

Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode of Blizzard and Bloom. Last episode we had Dave Gallagher on from the Syma Foundation. Dave shared with us kind of the inner workings of what the Simon Foundation is, what it does and the resources it provides to the snow industry at large. So today we're going to jump over to the green side and I was fortunate enough to have a good friend and colleague that was willing to jump on and share a little bit of knowledge with us all. So today we're going to welcome Chris Galuzzo from Mainly Grass. Chris is Director of Account Management there and Chris is somebody that is really great at building relationships, has a strong understanding of the industry and has been a great partner channel partner for, I know, us at Piscataqua Landscaping, but also for many other landscape contractors. So you know beyond even the end consumer. So thank you, chris, for joining us this morning. Welcome aboard, and just wanted to see if you could share a little bit about yourself and kind of how you got to where you are today.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me First off, congrats. This is awesome, really cool thing that you're doing here with us.

Speaker 2:

So thank you, thank you.

Speaker 3:

Very honored to be to be on the pod, appreciate pod too. So we'll see how this goes.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, good. So by way of introduction, my name is Chris Coluzzo, director of Account Management I guess pseudo-sales director here at Manly Grass. Been here for about three years now, been loosely involved with Manly Grass, so we're for the past six, you know, working with Chemmark as well. So I've been working quite closely with Manly Grass for a long or for an extended period of time. Now time now, yeah, we're basically a full-end lawn care company, focused obviously on the fertilization side but also taking mosquito services about 14,000 customers across Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Speaker 2:

Wow, that's incredible. I actually didn't realize the volume that your company does, and what's pretty cool about it is mainly grass may sound big and large and you certainly are resource-wise, but it has a small business feel. So I can honestly say that you've got a great bunch of account managers and techs out there that are quite knowledgeable, and you don't often see that sometimes with a little bit of a larger company. So it's great that we do business together and, again, just a great company to work with. So, thank you, yeah, likewise. So you know people talk about, you know different expectations and I wanted to maybe we'll break that down into three and like what are some of the trends you see happening in the lawn care industry specifically, maybe even in the Northeast or, you know, across the country.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, great question. I think you know what we're really starting to see is really a push towards more environmentally sustainable programs and products. You know, specifically in Maine, what we're seeing quite a bit of are towns passing ordinances that kind of inhibit the ability of an applicator or even a homeowner to supply more of your synthetic products herbicides, pesticides, even fertilizer Moving to more of an organic or at least at the very least a controlled release type fertilizer. I mean, leaching obviously is a hot topic, specifically up here in the Northeast Casco Bay area. Red algae is certainly a thing you know, so it's becoming more of a hot topic Now.

Speaker 3:

Limited proof or evidence that lawn care suppliers are actually doing anything to cause that, of course, but you know, obviously it is a sensitive topic and people should have every right to be concerned about the products that go onto their property. So there is certainly more of a pressure now to provide a more sustainable program that is also going to yield results, which is a challenge, right, I think as someone who's been in the industry as long as yourself, I'm sure you've seen right Like there is no better product than your synthetic approach as far as really getting results, and you can still obviously achieve that in a sustainable way. But you know, as as kind of that thought process changes, organic is certainly starting to be at the forefront of what consumers want.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's something I see. That's something I see. You know I stay on top of what some of the House bills are that come across my emails, whether it's Maine, new Hampshire, vermont, massachusetts, and I echo your comment about some of the challenges with some of the local ordinances. But, to your point, everyone has a right to understand and know what's being put down.

Speaker 2:

The interesting part about that is, I think there's a lot of misconceptions out there right in the world, whether it's, quite frankly, through the media oftentimes, and I think there's a disparaged message that gets put forth and I don't think people really have a clear understanding that's gets put forth.

Speaker 2:

Um, and I don't think people really have a clear understanding. And when you break it down, you know you, when you start talking about the sustainability of it and you start talking about the leaching efforts and you start talking about licensing and the right way to go about it, um, that really, I think, starts to set a different precedent. Um, but there's not enough folks like like yourself, out yourself out there, you know that are out in the community doing some of that. So I know you folks do a great job with that and you know whether it's just through your website and some of the community outreach. You do. So how are you traversing through some of those challenges relative to those ordinances? And then, furthermore, like, how do you meet those client expectations right, like they have this expectation of this, but you can only deliver here?

Speaker 3:

So I'm interested to hear that. Yes, not just website. I mean, we are full board participating in a lot of these ordinance meetings at the town level, both actively involved and talking to officials at the state level as well. So I mean, it is certainly something that has obviously been a big hurdle that we have to continuously overcome. But I think that is the most important right being involved right and making sure that we're communicating that with our customers. I mean, more often than not, if you actually speak to homeowners in this town, this is something that they're not for right. They just aren't. You know it is being passed by a small subsection of individuals and again I get it right, like there is certainly some buzzwords that you got to be careful of or products and stuff that I totally understand.

Speaker 3:

You know there's a bad history with a lot of products used, right, and so these kind of get pushed to the forefront. But as a homeowner, right, you have every right to do what you want to do on your property, right. And that's where we kind of obviously try to get our homeowners involved in these processes, making sure that they're speaking out to their town and state officials when these do come up, and attending them ourselves, right. I think a lot of the time what we're seeing is that you have these individuals, specific homeowners, who are really great at being advocates for our product, our process, and you know essentially what's having to happen is that you're putting a homeowner in a situation where they may have to do the service themselves right, especially if they want results, and that's where you start getting dangerous levels of these products or you're doing something maybe you shouldn't be doing Right, you wouldn't know, right.

Speaker 3:

That's right, so you're taking away the ability of an educated, educated, licensed applicator to actually perform the process. Yeah, and then, when it comes to, when it comes to actually managing the expectations here I mean, listen, you can achieve great results no matter which avenue you go down traditional or organic Right, and I think, like as well as you probably know, our industry is just managing expectations at the highest level, right. And so, with, or you know, even though we are inhibited by some of the products or processes that we can actually do regarding these ordinances, we can still obtain results. We just have to level set those expectations and it's all about time, right, you know, if we have to take a more organic approach, we can still do this. It's going to take a bit of time now, which is what a lot of people don't have.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, right, right, right, no, well said, well said, it's something that it's cost and communication right, and where there's a will there's a way. And you know to your point about you know, the regular consumer going out there and you know, really not understanding things completely. I mean, they can go to the box stores or a hardware store and pick up a bag and they're looking at the back of the bag but you know, quite frankly, they don't know what all that says. They just say the spreader setting. Right, oh, I got to put it on. I have a Scott, so let's put it on six If they have a spreader If they have a spreader right.

Speaker 2:

So at the end of the day, what is that really doing for us? I mean, that's hurting us worse in the industry. So you know, I think about things like that. So certainly getting out there in the community and being an advocate for the proper way of doing things. So you take folks like yourself or myself that you know have taken the time and have the education and the licensing to go through that, and it kind of chaps your ass a little bit when, quite frankly, when you got folks out there applying products that don't quite fully understand or have licenses. So it leads me to the kind of to the next next topic that I want to chat with you about is the relationships with landscape contractors.

Speaker 2:

That I want to chat with you about is the relationships with landscape contractors. So across the region of the Northeast I've been in it long enough to see. I've witnessed landscape contractors on license spreading product and then getting a slap on the hand. I've seen other contractors getting pretty hefty fines, but I'm not sure, you know, that always is the answer. So you know, I know for us here at Piscatico we partner with mainly grass because you're the true turf experts, right. So what does something like that look like and what's your message to the landscape contractor and how you can be a good channel partner for them?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, like, I think you know, obviously we've had this longstanding relationship, you know, and you know a couple, couple others as well, sister companies. But I think, like, when you're actually get down to the granular level of it you have, you know, let's just take, like, your run of the mill, smaller landscape, or maybe he's just started out, right, line item wise, lawn care actually looks great, margins look incredible, right, but I think, like, what ultimately ends up happening is that you continue to scale your business and you continue to grow the lawn care item. Although it looked very appealing when you first added it, the headaches or the challenges, the unforeseen challenges that has continued to appear throughout the year, throughout the seasons, continue to creep up and cut into that. Right, you know, everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face, right, and that's kind of the lawn care industry, right, you know there's always something that's going to happen, that's going to maybe inhibit the process or the products, right, drought stress being probably a big one that we deal with.

Speaker 1:

Or overwatering, right, just too much rain right, there's that too sure, so you play such this fine line with lawn care on a yearly basis, right?

Speaker 3:

And you get to this point where, geez, this lawn care package that I put together. It sounded great when I first started it, but, god, this is a beast, right, we've actually, over the past couple of years, we've had lawn care. Sorry, landscapers approach us, um, just giving away their book of business, not trying to sell it, not trying to, you know, make a profit off of it. Just, please, take this from me. Um, I can't do it anymore, right? And I think, like, that's exactly where we fit in, right, that's what we're focused on, that's what we want to, that's what we want to complete for that, for that client. I mean, at the end of the day, our overall objective when working with landscapers, we just want to make you look good. That's all we want to do. That's all we want to do.

Speaker 3:

I hate the term subcontractor, I hate the term vendor. Listen, I get it. That's what we are. But, at the end of the day, like we truly feel, like we are your partner and our whole goal and our partnership is to make you guys look good. That's the whole point.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and that's something you know. Everybody thinks that lawn care I don't want to say everybody, that's a universal comment, but there's a lot of folks out there that think, ah, it's just you go behind a spreader and what could it cost? But you know you're not paying for that application necessarily. You're paying for the knowledge that's put into it. Right, all the years of knowledge and all the research and development that's been done. And I've seen unbelievable things happen with mainly grass to that, to that fact of when you're talking about you know what some of maybe the the slower release products are and how you're adapting um to the local. You know regulations and um. People don't understand sometimes all that back part of what's involved in it, on the back side of things, right, and then they think, well, it just put me down. But then okay, then that's the big part and that's where the calls start happening because whatever it is right, I mean we could count on 10 sets of hands, all the possibilities that could go wrong with turf in the northeast um, and that's something that again, in that application you're paying for that knowledge from you folks and I think I think mainly grass has done a tremendous job really with the education and reaching back out to clients because, at the end of the day, the proof in the pudding is, like you said, you just want to be a good partner and make, make the landscape contractors look good.

Speaker 2:

So's uh, it's. It's interesting um that relationship and, like you said, you're not looking to take any business away or share any. You know any trade secrets with anybody. You just you just want to. You, your folks are focused on turf and then, like you said that, the tip um uh area as well. So, um, how does that? How does it then transverse into because you also just deal with the consumer when I run right, the end user. So what does that look like when you're trying to help consumers out and like what's that process with those folks?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and again, I actually you brought up a good point where you know, I think the common misconception with this industry is that, you know, you just spray some stuff, you sprinkle a little thing on the lawn and the green and the weeds are dead, right, and I think, like, really, where a lot of that comes from is just, you know that historical bad practices, right, we're just like, hey, that was the approach for quite a while, when, in all actuality, as we are moving into a more like regulated kind of era of lawn care, right, really, the best way to start controlling your lawn is not so much the turf above, it's the soil below, and I really think that's like where we specifically take a lot of pride in is really performing those soil analysis.

Speaker 3:

When we get a customer, whether they're new or they've been with us for 10 years, we want to continuously monitor what's going on there.

Speaker 3:

In New England, specifically, lawn acidity specifically can change, just like that, right. Problem with that change is that it can also take years to correct, right, so it's something that you always got to be on top of and, really, if that isn't healthy, if there isn't any good things going on beneath the actual turf itself, then the products and the process above are going to struggle to actually yield results. And I think again, just over years and years and years of just applying fertilizer, putting herbicide and just calling it a day has really kind of given the mindset of the consumer these days is something that needs to be changed right, if you want to take a more healthy, holistic approach to lawn care. It's not so much the turf above, it's the soil below, and that's something, like I said, we take a lot of pride in here. I'm making sure that we actually analyze and get to the root cause as to why these issues are happening, instead of just trying to fix it with more nitrogen.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, it's interesting, that's a fabulous point, right, it doesn't start at the top, it starts below, it starts in the soil levels, right In that profile, and that's something you don't hear about, right, you don't hear about that when somebody typically is selling you a lawn care package or a lawn surface program. But again to your point, I've seen you folks you really hone in on that soil analysis. That's one of the first things you folks do that I've seen happen and that's a really good educational perspective for, certainly, the end user. I think maybe the landscape contractor has a little bit of knowledge in that, typically, or some knowledge, but the consumer doesn't. So when you start educating in that level, that's really where it needs to happen. So there's that clear understanding. So when they see something on the top that doesn't look right, it didn't start there typically, it started in the soil profile, right, exactly, exactly. So those are always interesting.

Speaker 2:

And, like I said, there's and you know more than anybody the challenges that happen in the turf industry with molds and everything. Just pests in general, right, whether it's a weed or an actual pest are just. There's so many of it or many of them that it could be challenging at times to identify. So if someone has a problem typically, what's your approach? Like, let's say, you have a consumer set up on a program and they're having some challenges. What's Mainly Grass's approach on how to deal with something like that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, again. One thing I want to just hone on real quick is the education side of it too, one of our core values here at Mainland Grass, and not just reserved for the customer, for the employee as well. We spend a lot of time during the off-season prepping to ensure that when situations like the ones we're discussing right now pop up, that we're ready to address it, no matter if it's a technician in the field or an account manager here in the office. We partner with UMass Amherst, who puts on a version of green school for us that we attend every off season.

Speaker 3:

It's been incredible from that sense. But from a customer standpoint, that's exactly it. Right, Educating as to why. Right, when issues do pop up which they do first and foremost let's try to identify it. While we have you on the phone here, Are there photos available? Right, let's look at your history.

Speaker 3:

After service emails, let's go back to that soil test what can be the actual root cause. But at the end of the day, we are a service-based provider. We're going back out to assess and really getting to that root cause, and we're going to do that in a very timely manner, because the lawn is the crown jewel of the property. That moneymaker, right. So that's what we want to make sure is looking good for the customer, no matter where we are in the season, and we want to make sure we get that issue resolved immediately. So, if that's going back out whether it be technician or branch manager performing a soil analysis around that area, looking for root causes as to what might be, we're going to be doing that and we're going to be doing that in a timely manner to ensure that, whatever plan we put in place whether that's maybe just adjusting the watering schedule of the customer or maybe it's providing some sort of fungicide application to prevent further spread. We're going to have that resolution for them quickly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, gotcha. No, that makes sense. And that's again, it's a service that you're paying for it in your delivery of the product. There's not another ancillary cost associated with it. So, and I think about what mainly Grass does with the landscape contractor I know I could, you know, speak personally, for Priscataqua is just, you know, having that relationship and you folks are, I always say, the SMEs, right, subject matter experts and that's why we outsource that service, because we don't know everything. That's what you folks do, you do really well, and that's why we utilize your services and your skill sets.

Speaker 2:

And you know, I've thought about, sometimes as well, where there might be us on a site and there might be mainly grass and there might be an irrigation contractor, right, and even though you know we do irrigation house, sometimes now you've got three parties involved because it really does, it really does, you know, everyone has has contributing uh, uh, involvement in it, and sometimes it's the irrigation to your point, too much water or too little water, and it really just depends on the season and and and and really the uh, what's going on at the time and point uh, whether, uh, you know, no water over water, there's so many, uh, you know, contributing things to it. So I've seen you folks work with us and other folks folks because I've had calls from irrigation contractors say, well, mainly grasses, that you know, but when you stop and take that time to educate us or educate all the parties, I think that makes a big deal. Do you come across that often with you folks?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, All the time, all the time, and it doesn't just stop at the commercial level, right, all the way down to the residential level, where you have conflicting information being given. Right, but ultimately to your point, that's what we specialize in. Right, and I'm not going to sit here and say that we get it right 100% of the time. Right, but that's where the partnership and collaboration and the education comes into effect. Right, there's no magic bullet. Right, there's no hidden, unknown trade secret that's going to solve this relationship. It's just communication, that's all it is. And as long as you establish that strong line of communication, it's so much easier to resolve these issues and problems and challenges that appear on these properties.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's not a finger pointing game, right, it's a collaboration, it's a partnership-pointing game.

Speaker 3:

No, it's not, it's a collaboration.

Speaker 2:

It's a partnership and when you look at it from that perspective, everybody feels good about it.

Speaker 3:

Exactly.

Speaker 2:

I want to talk about this. People talk about technology in the landscape industry, lawn care industry, snow removal industry and what that looks like and how technology is helping those service sectors, and can you share a little bit, maybe about how you folks are utilizing technology or AI in your R&D or dealing with clients or however those things take place? I'm just curious to hear how it's affecting your business and maybe how you're utilizing it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, good question. It is still very new to us, truthfully, and I'm probably the worst person to ask this. I'm an old soul at heart, so I'll I'll do my best here. But to to go to your point with with interaction with customers right, you know we have millions of age overaggeration, a lot of policy and procedure. Right, you know we're a seasonal business, right, what we do in the spring inherently is going to be very different from what we do in the fall versus what we do in the winter, right, so we have these varying degrees of how we interact with customers, how we should be interacting with customers, no matter where on the season.

Speaker 3:

It's a lot for an account manager and a technician to remember, right, and the expectation is don't memorize, but be able to find that answer you're looking for in a quick manner.

Speaker 3:

It has become more pressing as we continue to grow that we need a much easier source of information when communicating with our customers, so we've actually just started utilizing some AI features and building our own internal co-pilot.

Speaker 3:

That's actually been an assistant for both technician I'm sorry account manager and soon to be technician out in the field. So, if issues or problems come up that we're not unsure of the answer and instead of having to wait 10, 15, or maybe even a couple of days 10, 15 minutes, maybe even a couple of days to get back to that customer, we have a co-pilot that can solve that answer for that customer right then. And there We've also dabbled in some AI features. When it actually comes to measuring and analyzing properties before we begin services to get a better idea of what the property is actually like, what we found is, specifically here in New England, due to the rural nature of a lot of our properties, that can break pretty easily. But as that service continues to grow and expand and get better, it's not going to be long before where everything as far as measuring and property analysis is done with AI. It's on the horizon for sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and when you think about the future of the technology, do you foresee anything coming down the pike in the near future that is relevant to either robotics or automated processes or anything like that relative to lawn care?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, as far as the applications go, I know there's been. Mowing is a big side of it. I'm not sure if you guys are experimenting with the robotic mowers or anything.

Speaker 1:

We are, we are sure.

Speaker 3:

I've heard rumblings as far as fertilizer applicators is right, but it's just, the distribution of those across such a wide net of customers is a tough thing to get over currently For us specifically. Right, you know, you have your more like commercial properties where they could be put to good use, which is something that's certainly not out of the question, but something that we haven't dappled in just yet. And then I'm sorry, what was the other part?

Speaker 2:

Just really about how you know what the technology is, whether it's you know, automation, robotic, you know things of that nature, To take your point, chris, like it is in the lawn care industry. But I think about that and I'm like how does that? I can see, all right, hey, we're going to draw a grid right, gps. We're going to draw a grid right, gps. We're going to put the mower out there and what can go wrong? Right. But when you talk about applying a product, that you have to be environmentally sensitive and be good stewards of the environment and accuracy, that's complicated.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, very.

Speaker 2:

So, you know, I think about those. That's why I just kind of was curious if there was anything coming down the pike or that you saw or you know, at the end of the day it's boots on the ground.

Speaker 3:

You know, yeah, I mean honestly, that's where you know I again old soul here, that's where I struggle with the real implementation of that level of technology just yet. Again, that's the way the world's trending, for sure, and it is absolutely gonna be an integral part of how we perform our business. But also, like I really truly feel like that's what helps keep us unique and personal to the customer. Like you call Mainely Grass, you're talking to a human. You look outside and Mainely Grass is performing your services. There's the human doing the services right, and I really do think, you know, as things do continue to trend that way, that's where, specifically, service-based companies, service-based industry, is really going to thrive right, having that human interaction. So that's something we really lean into here. You know we talked about the size of Mainly Grass earlier and, yes, as we continue to grow, the one thing that we don't want to lose is that personable feeling right. You're calling your neighbor, your neighbor's performing your services. That's something we take a ton of pride in.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you folks do a very good job with that. And kind of leads me into one of the last components here of what's kind of some of the best practices for forming a relationship, whether from the consumer to mainly grass or from maybe a landscape contractor to mainly grass. When should that relationship start or when should that outreach happen? And then what does it look like after?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean, for us, call us anytime, it really does not matter to us when we get that relationship started. Obviously, looking for a lawn care company now or in a couple months here is a little late to the game, right, but that doesn't mean we can't still have a successful season. But for us, truly, we take a lot of pride in our communication and, again going back to what I said earlier, there's no magic bullet here. It's communication and being proactive and really establishing a partnership. I think, too often than not, specifically on the direct to consumer side, um, people, people take the set and forget it kind of notion to lawn care, not realizing that, hey, there is a lot of work that you still need to do in order to actually have a healthy, vibrant lawn right, watering being the biggest one, right? If that part's not happening, then what we're doing is, quite frankly, a waste of your time and money, right? And so, being very proactive with the lawn care company, making sure that, hey, if you have questions, don't just leave it to, I'll get to it later, right, be proactive, we're available and we wanna help and I, ultimately, that's really what this comes down to. You know what we can do can be absolutely pivotal for the lawn as far as the success and the quality of it, right. But if you're not going to engage in that partnership, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough and you're going to feel like a lot of your money and time's wasted.

Speaker 3:

Same thing with the with the landscaper side too. Right Again, we're not solving rocket science here. It is proactive. Communication is ultimately what it comes down to. I think, some of the best experiences I've had, or the best results, that we're being proactive to a situation that could expand across to other properties and we create game plans and services. You know, piscataqua, specifically, has been very pivotal in some of the program changes we've made, right, and so it's like that collaboration is not just beneficial for the landscaper but for mainly grass as a whole, as we create and develop new programs and partnerships with a lot of our landscapers to better suit their needs.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, now, well said, and I think kind of the key takeaways is you know, two big components are communication and education, right. And when you talk about relationships and Piscataqua is one small portion of contract relationships that mainly grass has and there's a lot of great landscape contractors out there. I know many of them and I think you know from our perspective at Piscataqua, you know, when dealing with account managers here, we might know, you know A, b, c and E, but we don't know D and maybe that's the lawn care component. But I think when you're honest and upfront with clients, consumers, that say, hey, we don't know every detail about this, but we have a great channel partner, we have a great partnership with Mainly Grass and I think any landscape contractor could utilize that. And you say you know I have a great relationship, they do great things for us.

Speaker 2:

I've seen instances where I've seen a couple of our account managers call you guys frantic, right, and say, oh shit. And then it's like, okay, hold on, we're not going to point the blame to anything. To your point, chris, like there's a lot of different components and it's not just hey, I'm paying for four steps or five steps, why is it my left? There's aeration, you got thatch. There's watering, there's, you know, heat, there's environmental impact.

Speaker 2:

So there's so many components in there that I think, you know, having a general partner like Manly Grass just makes sense, right, and you folks have the ability to help educate and communicate. And when you look at it from that perspective, I think clients get a little bit more comfort, of level of comfort, knowing that, hey, they're not trying to, you know, pull the wool over my eyes or smoke and mirrors here, like, okay, this is real, we're going to get through it. These are some of the challenges and you know, I've heard from folks that have come on board with us that their prior service provider didn't have any of that communication and so they said they didn't really know what it really. But when you talk to them, some of them want to know. And then hey, don't get me wrong, there's some that don't really give a shit and they want their lawns looking good. Right, they don't really care and there's no excuse. But when you start to work through some of those, when you have somebody like you folks, it makes a big difference.

Speaker 3:

So we love the challenge and ultimately, I think that's what it comes down to. There's a ton of pride here, across every single level of the organization, where a challenge presents itself, that we want to tackle it, and we want to do it collaboratively with no matter. No matter who we're working with landscaper, consumer aside, that's really where we feel we shine from a provider perspective. You put a challenge in front of us and we're going to solve it for you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, that's great and I think you know kind of that community outreach and I think you know I'll speak for the landscape contractor entity as a whole that or community that you need to rely on, folks like mainly grass and you need to help, we need to collaborate and we need to get out in front of the community with folks like yourself and promote you folks because you're doing it the right way, right, I've seen too many, um, too many guys in a truck when stopping at home depot to get bags of fur and heading out there and they just don't know. So, uh, those folks aren't doing, aren't doing us any justice. So, um, the ones that are taking the time, the pride, they're educating, um, going through the proper procedures and paying attention to being good stewards of the environment, they're the ones that are successful, bringing success to, you know, the industry at large. So I I appreciate and applaud everything that mainly grass is doing for that. Uh, and with that and you know, I think you know the more people we get involved to kind of take a stance on this and say, hey, we're educated, we want to do this the right way. We're not trying to to get out of doing things the right way, or just trying to make a quick buck, because that doesn't help anybody, right? Right, we all want to shine, we all want people to have great drift, we all want them to protect their investments because, at the end of the day, it's an investment for folks.

Speaker 2:

So, you know, there's a lot of pieces of that and I know again, not to reiterate, but having channel partners like Mainly Grass is super beneficial. Uh, we take complete advantage of it and I would encourage other landscape contractors out there in new england, um, you know, to reach out to you folks and if you're not in their service area, reach out to another professional company, um, because those are the ones we want to do business with, uh, and those are the ones that truly, genuinely care. So, absolutely, um, so we appreciate that and, um, you know, looking forward to another season, any outlook on, uh, what uh things might look like or what people need to be on the lookout for this coming season? Or is that too much of a hot potato?

Speaker 3:

yeah, it's always tough to tell always tough to tell um weather. Weather is certainly turning up here quicker, quicker than, quite frankly, I think we may be ready for. But you know, we're, we're, we're eagerly getting the technicians back here. Training's already begun and we're we're excited to kick off the 2025 season awesome well, cool.

Speaker 2:

Well, thanks, chris, I appreciate you being on the on the episode today on the show and um, really great information here for folks I can't wait to to get it out there to uh, to the public and um, appreciate your and appreciate everything that mainly grass does. And, if it's okay with you, I'm probably going to circle back. I'm sure I'm going to have some questions from some folks that are going to really want to know more. So I hope to circle back. So thanks again and appreciate having you on the show.

Speaker 3:

Thanks, jay, I appreciate it yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, folks, next week we have a couple other additional folks coming on from Syma, then we're going to flip back to the green industry. So stay tuned for some of those episodes. Great things coming, so take care.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to Blizzard and Bloom with Jay Rotinelli. We hope you feel inspired and empowered. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Join us next week for more insights and stories to help you bloom in your business journey.