The counterintuitive hiring strategy dominant companies are using
Good morning !
Chris from Lucrative Landscaping here.
I was reviewing my clients’ goals recently, and something stood out: they don’t really need help with hiring systems. Which was kinda weird, because if you look around online, you’d assume it’s a massive problem for everyone. Entire forums are dedicated to “nobody wants to work anymore!”
But when I asked my clients how things are going with hiring, the most common response I get is:
**“Things are good. I’m blessed with a great crew, and there are always some great guys in the wings looking for work. So we’re good on that, thanks!” **
So what’s going on? Why are so many companies struggling to hire while others are fine?
It’s not their fault. It’s just counterintuitive. So I thought I’d lay it out for both sides and reinforce what many are doing right and maybe don’t even realize, and what some are doing wrong, and what to do to fix it.
What I’ve seen after 20+ years and analyzing thousands of landscaping businesses:
Is that it’s not an HR issue.
You know how many companies measure their marketing success by taking the total marketing cost and dividing it by the number of leads they get?
Well, this age-old practice is the core of the problem. And it’s an honest mistake. I’ll show you how to fix it, but first, I’ll explain why this kills companies:
It’s no secret that Google and Facebook know more about us than we’d like to admit.
They know all our favourite things…
…What makes us happy, what makes us sad…
…How much money we have…
Well, do you really think they’re connecting us with the highest-value buyers… at the lowest possible cost?
Absolutely not, why would they? These platforms are auction-based, not charities.
And this is where things start to break down: when we judge success by how little we’re paying for a lead.
If we incentivise marketing to bring in leads for as cheap as possible, guess what?
We get cheap leads! (Surprise!)
These are the tire kickers, the complainers, and the bargain hunters.
NOT the people that proud teams work for!
Companies that make this mistake push their marketing to waste their time, their money, and worst of all, their teams’ pride.
But when you strategically attract premium clients who value quality?
Smooth sailing.
Crews start bragging about the projects they’re working on. They start showing up early, excited to get started, and staying late because they take ownership. They even begin referring their skilled friends, because they want to be part of something special.
What they’re doing is surprisingly simple; it’s just flipping the math around.
Instead of dividing marketing costs by the leads, you divide the profits by the leads.
Now marketing is incentivized to bring in quality that builds dominant businesses, instead of quantity that drives them into the ground.
And AI has made this easier than ever.
It’s exactly why I went quiet for a while - no emails, no posts. While other marketing companies were shouting about getting you “more leads,” or better hiring systems, I was focused on improving our systems with AI that attract
better leads. The kind who pay well, respect your team, and actually value the work you do.
We were already seeing strong results before, but now, with AI and real-time data, we’ve taken it to an entirely new level. Here’s what we are doing:
We’re using AI tools to help evaluate lead quality in real-time, not months down the line when it’s too late. It gives us an early indication of which leads are truly a good fit, allowing us to make informed adjustments quickly and keep our clients focused on the right opportunities.
Because when push comes to shove, my clients don’t need more work. They need better work. The kind that lets them reward their teams, build loyalty, and scale without burning out or breaking down.
And at the end of the day… The difference between a business that grows chaotically and one that grows strategically? One burns you out. The other gives you the freedom to build a loyal crew and uplift the community around you.
(We also build hiring systems and have this one model that is crushing - but it’s not the core strategy - it’s a
supporting strategy to what I just described above.)
I work with a select group of companies that appreciate the difference. Instead of guessing, we use real-time data to consistently attract clients who make your business a place top talent
wants to work.
The business owners I work with wanted to stop chasing the wrong clients or watching money slip through the cracks - they usually reach out via email to see if there’s a better way, and you’re welcome to do the same.
To your success,