Interview Series: Loren McIrvin of Allied Landscape on Commercial Landscape Maintenance

Upcoming Events: Join Us for a GLC Field Trip (Dayton, OH - Multiple Options in 2026!) Level Up Your Sales Manager at Virtual Sales Manager Bootcamp (July 8-9, 2026) Connect with Fellow ACE Members at ACE Discovery (Tucson, AZ - November 17-20, 2026) Master Aspire Software at the GLC Aspire Workshop (Dayton, OH - August TBD & December 2-3, 2026) Register for GROW! 2027 Annual Conference (Savannah, GA - February 17-19, 2027) Episode #170 In this episode, Loren talks about his background in the industry and his approach to commercial landscaping. He believes landscapes should be treated as managed assets and that we should be focused on how we add value for customers. This interview is full of great insight for landscaping companies who want to focus on enhancement sales. BOBYARD is an AI-powered takeoff and estimating platform that automates the most time-consuming parts of bidding work. Contractors report up to 65% reduction in takeoff time and 3-5x more bids submitted per estimator. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Leave a Review for the Grow Show! ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel! Key Learnings Stop Selling Maintenance, Start Managing Assets: Property managers already think about HVAC, paving, and building envelopes as assets. The landscape industry's messaging on this is weak. Reframe landscapes as managed assets and you change the entire conversation. Messaging Has to Hit the Team Before the Client: If your team is not bought into the concept of building meaningful landscapes and great partnerships, the message will not land with clients. Culture has to be simplified around adding value, not selling. Property Managers Hire You for Three Things: Reduce risk, identify opportunity, and make their job easy. That's it. Everything else is secondary. The mention of slip and falls, compliance issues, and operating expense matters more than aesthetics. Use a One, Three, and Five Year Roadmap: Long-range plans help clients budget, help them justify spending to stakeholders, and stop you from chasing reactive proposals. Combine that with annual sales campaigns and your year sells itself. Three Calendars Have to Overlap: Operational calendar (when you have capacity), horticultural calendar (when the work should happen), and customer mindset calendar (when they're thinking about it). Miss any one and the campaign falls flat. Humble First, Trusted Second, Advisor Third: Most companies skip straight to advisor and end up with commission breath. Humble means turning down the blower when someone walks by and listening more than talking. Trusted means doing what you say. Advisor comes last and takes years. Start Every Meeting with Maintenance, Not Enhancements: Arrive an hour early, walk the property with the production manager, and open the meeting with the work orders you have already created. Once you've earned the right, then talk enhancements. Skip this and you have commission breath. Protect the Quarterback: Operations exists to clear the field so account managers can run plays. Site walks should be prepped in advance so the conversation can move to value, not chase complaints. Enhancement sales is a team sport. If We See It, They Pay. If They See It, We Pay: The job is to notice issues before the... Chapters (00:00:00) - Start(00:01:59) - Meet Loren McIrvin(00:04:15) - Becoming a Trusted Asset Manager(00:05:11) - Why Landscapes Should Be Treated As Assets(00:07:17) - Inside Allied: 22M, 5 Locations, 225 Employees(00:09:01) - Why Most Companies Stall on Enhancement Sales(00:11:08) - The 3 Calendars That Have to Align(00:14:32) - What Property Managers Are Really Hiring You For(00:16:37) - Reduce Risk, Identify Opportunity, Make It Easy(00:19:04) - How to Turn Account Managers Into Advisors(00:19:31) - Humble, Trusted, Advisor in That Order(00:22:39) - Onboarding New Account Managers the Right Way(00:26:00) - BobYard Partnership(00:26:50) - The Allied Road Map in Action(00:29:36) - How to Screen New Clients(00:32:16) - Hire Slow, Fire Fast (Clients Too!)(00:33:23) - Killing Commission Breath in Account Meetings(00:40:12) - Why Enhancement Sales Is a Team Sport(00:41:58) - The Future of Landscape Maintenance is Landscape Management(00:43:50) - Please Share & Subscribe!