Vince Torchia shares insights from over 250 members across 19 ACE peer groups about what's top of mind heading into spring 2026. From creating more leaders without micromanaging to understanding the difference between owner math and financial knowledge, to the red-yellow-green client rating system, Vince breaks down the three critical areas landscape business owners are focused on right now.

ACE Peer Groups

Register for ACE Discovery - March 25-27th

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Episode Timestamps

00:51 - Key Topics for Spring 2026

01:02 - Leadership In Your Organization

05:24 - Enhancing Financial Knowledge

08:52 - Defining Your Company’s Vision

12:40 - ACE Discovery 2026

Key Learnings

Leadership: Create Leaders Who Can Make Decisions Without Permission – What do I do to get more leaders at my organization? What kind of environment do we need to create where somebody can make a decision for a customer, make a decision for our team, invest time or money without having to come ask me as the owner? We've set up an organization where people can go take action and have some autonomy.

The Nick Saban Coaching Tree Analogy – All four coaches that made it through the college football playoffs were coaches under Nick Saban at one time or another. His ability to be a great coach was also an ability to create other leaders, not just people that did whatever Nick Saban wanted them to do. The more people that we have at our organization that are leaders, the better that we will do.

Soft Skills Are the Real Skills – It's really not about the technical side of landscaping or maintenance or irrigation or snow. It's all about the soft skills. How do you have a tough conversation? How do you coach? How do you lead? How do you give corrective behavior tools and still have them appreciate and respect what you're doing?

10 Years Ago It Was Just Me, Now It's Eight Leaders – Marty talks about it a lot. 10 years ago, he felt like it was him, maybe one other individual from Grunder who thought like an owner. Now there's eight of us on the leadership team, and many managers feel the same way about having the ability to make a decision, the ability to run the ball.

Owner Math vs. Financial Knowledge – A lot of ACE members are great at owner math or napkin math. We know how many trucks are going out, we can tell by morning activity what we're at from a capacity standpoint. But my cash isn't matching my P&L. I have no strategy around debt servicing or liquidity. People are paying slower now. My AR days are higher than usual.

Profitability and Cash Flow Are Not the Same Thing – The profitability moves from your P&L to your balance sheet. It's an accounting equation. The more we understand those levers, the better we can operate, the better we can have conversations with our banker, our lawyer, our insurance agent, our vendors.

Red, Yellow, Green Client Rating System – Green means we love working with them, it's sustainable, profitable, enjoyable. Yellow, I don't know about these people, we might need to value engineer. Red, we're not making money, we're never making them happy, they're not referring us. Honor your contracts this year, but rate them and make a plan.

Spring Is When You Ask the Hard Questions – Every spring, we go back out on clients' properties and the question enters our mind: should we be doing this work for this client? When we're at our most stressed is when we really start to ask the...

The busy season is around the corner and will expose the cracks in your systems. Prepare for the spring rush now with these tips from Marty Grunder on organizing your calendar, setting and focusing on priorities, planning ahead, and more to calm the chaos of spring.

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Episode Timestamps

00:55 - Proven Winners and Marketing Ideas

01:52 - The Busy Season is Coming

03:31 - Use Your Calendar as a Leadership Tool

04:02 - Sales Leaders: Proactive Client Communication

05:17 - Operation Leaders: Planning and Coordination

07:02 - Owners and Senior Leaders: Strategic Thinking

10:08 - Look Ahead & Reduce Surprises

12:03 - Doing Tomorrow’s Work Today

15:27 - Habits for Handling Pressure

18:48 - Prepare Now or Pay Later

20:29 - Please Share & Subscribe!

Key Learnings

The busy season doesn't create problems, it reveals them. If things feel chaotic in April, they were probably disorganized in February.

Your calendar is a statement of priorities. If something is not on your calendar, it's optional, and optional things don't survive a busy season.

The people who win the spring are the people who prepare in the winter. Things never slow down, they just change shape.

Sales leaders need three daily habits: prospect, nurture, close. Every day I prospect, every day I nurture, every day I close.

Without planning, you're not leading, you're chasing your tail. Operations leaders need time blocked for planning, crew coordination, equipment readiness, and problem prevention.

Somebody has to be thinking about tomorrow, next month, next year. If your calendar doesn't have any time for thinking as an owner, is that really where you want to be?

When pressure goes up, memory goes down. Write things down and capture commitments, or you'll forget customer requests while driving.

Your brain is for thinking, not storage. Clear your head daily before you go home so you can lead.

Simple beats fancy every time. One program with a couple bolt-ons at most, not 16 different programs on your iPad.

Prepare now or pay later. You can either prepare now and lead calmly, or react later with a raging river and out-of-control mess.

What to Calendar Right Now

SALES LEADERS:

• Proactive client communication
• Proposal review time
• Relationship building
• Daily: Prospect, Nurture, Close

OPERATIONS LEADERS:

• Planning time (spring cleanups, construction, leaf season)
• Crew coordination (who's on what crew, where)
• Equipment readiness
• Problem prevention (review last year's issues)

OWNERS & SENIOR LEADERS:

• Time for thinking (staring out the window counts)
• Reviewing the business
• Talent development conversations
• Planning for tomorrow, next month, next year

Resources:

ACE Peer Groups

Virtual Sales Bootcamp

Grunder La...

This episode's a little different: we're bringing you Marty's keynote address that opened GROW! 2025 as we're onsite in Dallas, TX for GROW! 2026. Listen to hear Marty's take on growing a landscaping business. He shares the hurdles that stood in the way of growing Grunder Landscaping Co., how they overcame them, and what's ahead for businesses that are excited for the future.

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Episode Timestamps

01:53 - Keynote Intro

04:34 - The Importance of Growth and Community

07:53 - Personal Stories & Lessons Learned

13:48 - Early Business Challenges & Successes

20:42 - The Birth of a Speaking Career

21:40 - Financial Struggles & Family Values

23:03 - Lessons Learned Through Growth

27:33 - The Importance of Team and Client Relationships

29:40 - Creating a Positive Company Culture

38:40 - Please Like & Subscribe!

Key Learnings

Growth Isn't Linear – In my 41 years of business, I've found that growth isn't linear. It's not a straight line. It doesn't happen that way. And it's not easy. I'm a 40 year overnight success story.

Training Is an Investment, Not an Expense – The best way that you can grow a team is by making an investment in them. Sending them to something like this is way more than training. This is an experience. This is what can happen when you get around other risk-taking peers and let your hair down.

The Christmas Party I Threw for Myself – I spent a lot of money on a nice party at a fancy restaurant. An employee pulled me aside: "We had to buy nice clothes. Our pallets aren't as sophisticated as yours. Pizza and bowling would've been fine. Give us a cash bonus." Who'd I throw the party for? Myself. I made that party about myself.

Our New Mission Statement Puts Team First – Creating opportunities for our team to grow and succeed by enhancing the beauty and value of every client's property. The first sentence there, creating opportunities for our team to grow and succeed, that is our focus. Not about Seth, not about Marty, it's about the team.

Business Is Like Golf – You grab that club real hard and swing harder and the ball doesn't go anywhere. You hold the club like a bird and swing it real easy and it's amazing how far the ball goes. I'm hitting my five iron 30 yards longer. Business is the same way. When we try too hard, when we push, when we make it about ourselves, we lose.

$2.1 Billion in Combined Revenue in This Room – The combined revenue of all the landscape companies in this room right now is $2.1 billion. If we all leave here with our head on straight, with new ideas, making it about the team, not about ourselves, a rising tide raises all boats.

Don't Go to Dinner by Yourself – The only way you're gonna get in trouble with me here today is if you go to dinner by yourself. This is a warm, caring community that wants to help you. I don't care how big or small your business is.

Learn From the Little Guys Too – I got a buddy in a peer group with all these huge companies. Third year he quit. They were talking about captives, vacation houses, investments. He said, "I want to talk about where are you parking the truck and how are you maximizing that? How are you keeping those hourly workers?" There's secrets in those day-to-day struggles.

Stress Is Caused Because You're Out of Control – Look for ideas so you and your team can work together with less stress. Doesn't that sound fun? Stress is caused because you're out of control and you don't know what...