Prosperity partnership article Sept 2008

New partners, new opportunities — our community for mutual improvement
By Jacki Hart, CLP
Program manager, Prosperity Partners

I'd like to introduce you to three new Prosperity Partners, our new program instructors: Sally Harvey CLP, Tim Kearney CLP and Terry Murphy CLP. These three industry professionals are our Prosperity Partners teaching team, and will be delivering Introductory Seminars across the province this winter. Welcome — and a sincere thank you for your commitment to helping our members improve their prosperity!

This is an exciting time of year for all of us in this industry. It is the time when you know you are 'over the hump' in the operating season — with a well-paced several months of projects and targets ahead. Fall is a busy time for garden centres, wholesale grower shipping yards, sod farms, greenhouses, landscapers, installers, maintenance services and all of our support services, including professional development events planning.

Suppliers to this industry are particularly busy shipping fall products, working on fall and winter purchasing programs and sourcing new products for next year. And many are also working on new ideas for offering training to you, their customers.

Last month I had the great pleasure of meeting with some of our industry suppliers, and presented a professional development day to them. They received the Prosperity Partners Introductory Seminar, and in return, they gave me (and you) back so much more! One of the most important points we discussed is that your suppliers recognize the benefits of playing an integral role in improving your business, which in turn will strengthen theirs.

We have the gift of a community focused on mutual improvement in this industry, and in the next year, you are going to see more Prosperity Partners events and activities sponsored by suppliers. This is SO exciting — it is one of the greatest parts of this program's vision, and it involves YOUR business improvement plan!

Supplier participation is an integral component to the Partnership concept we have been developing. As one of the suppliers who attended the introductory seminar noted, “Anyone who takes this seminar is going to rush home with fresh ideas and better tools to run their business, that they can use right away.” Another commented, "It's hard work keeping our customers in business. We are committed to helping them improve their businesses, not just buying more of our products. This prosperity seminar fits perfectly into our goals for improving our customers' prosperity."

A HUGE THANK YOU to our industry partners who have this ethic, and who are stepping forward to sponsor Prosperity Partners seminars for their customers in their own places of business.

For more information on how to bring this seminar presentation to you, please email Jacki Hart at prosperity@landscapeontario.com. Prosperity Partner seminars can be presented at any chapter. Just find 10 interested businesses to sign up, and we will bring the Prosperity Partners programs to you this winter!