:: JFA Consulting - Specializing in Customer Service, Referral Selling, Employee Communications

::Consulting Services

We work with interior plantscape businesses at various stages of development. Our goal is to help you by providing the type of assistance you need while working within your budget. We provide on-site consulting and coaching, goal-setting and action grids, setting up systems and procedures, templates and forms, follow-up phone calls and emails, and holding key personnel accountable as needed.

We can help you with the following issues:

Development and coaching of key staff members:
We will work one-on-one with your operations manager and supervisors, new sales staff, and trainers. We talk with you and your candidate and together we evaluate on what specific areas he or she needs to work. This may include managerial skills, delegating responsibilities, time management skills, communicating with both coworkers and clients, motivating and retaining employees, interviewing skills, horticultural skills and leadership skills.

We usually recommend an on-site visit to initiate the program. We set up goals and an action grid, and define specific steps for improving skills and reaching attainable goals. We then follow up with regularly scheduled telephone calls and emails. Usually, other on-site visits are scheduled periodically for follow-up, tackling specific challenges and setting new goals.

Reorganization and restructuring:
We have found that interior plantscape companies go through several stages of growth. In order to reach the next stage, the company must make certain changes and be prepared for the next growth stage in order to be successful. This transition time can be very challenging, and many companies do not successfully make this transition. Rather, they lose customers, profits and/or key personnel.

We are able to come in during this growth transition period and help you avoid some of the pitfalls. After determining the stage you are currently in, we advise you on what to expect and how to avoid some of these losses. We help you revise your current policies and methods to prepare you for your next growth stage. And we help you to develop both a transitional business structure and a business model that takes you into the next stage.

In the process, we evaluate your key personnel and assess what skills they need to develop as the business grows and transforms. We also assess if your people are in the right position or if they would be happier and more successful working in some other position within your business. In the words of Jim Collins, our goal is to "get the right people on the bus" and make sure each person is sitting in the right seat! If necessary, we will help you recruit and train new people with the right qualifications.

Quality control programs:
We can help you maintain and improve the quality of your accounts in several different ways:

1. We will perform Quality Control reports on key accounts. This is especially helpful for bidding on takeover accounts, to see if you are meeting/exceeding industry standards, or for when you don't have time to visit your accounts. We find this service to be most helpful to accounts in the greater Houston area, but this service is often included in other consulting projects.

2. We will help you evaluate your current accounts and set up a schedule for Quality Control visits based on revenue, visibility, opportunities for additional sales, importance and location. We then train your staff on how to conduct Quality Control reports and how to follow the schedule. We also set up a system of accountability to make sure the schedule is being followed.

Improving Horticultural Practices:
Kathy Fediw is both a Certified Landscape Professiona-Interior and Certified Landscape Technician-Interior. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State University and has lectured and trained on horticultural topics for over 25 years. She is the author of 3 horticulture training programs and numerous articles on interior horticulture.

We consult on horticultural issues such as:

1. Diagnosis of interior plant health issues including pests, diseases, nutrient problems and environmental problems.

2. Subirrigation: choosing the system(s) that will work best for you, installation and retrofitting, pricing, project management for retrofitting accounts and switching to a 10-day or 14-day maintenance cycle, troubleshooting subirrigation systems.

3. Integrated Pest Management: evaluation of chronic pest problems, choosing beneficial insects and other organisms for control, purchasing beneficials and scheduling their release, marketing this method to your clients.

4. Pesticide compliance: evaluation of your current pesticide policies, assessing whether or not you are in compliance with your state's pesticide laws and regulations, assisting you in becoming licensed to use pesticides in your state.

5. Design: assist in the design and selection of plant material for major installations, assisting in the bidding of large installations and renovations by estimating labor and materials costs, assisting in finding good suppliers and negotiating pricing with them, evaluating whether or not your business should be buying directly from the growers or through a local grower.