Chris Andrews, executive director, Canadian Nursery and Landscape Association


Landscape Canada is a commodity group of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA). It is comprised of all landscape management, maintenance and installation companies, landscape architects, arborists and lawn maintenance companies, and was formed to meet the very specific needs of these members. By having such a specific focus, Landscape Canada is able to develop services and benefits previously not available to the membership. These services and benefits include:


Sixty Seconds to Success
“Sixty Seconds to Success” is a Landscape Canada initiative sponsored by Landscape Ontario. Every week to two weeks, members that comprise Land­scape Canada will receive a quick, informative and useful business tip. These tips are written by business people for business people and cover a wide range of topics, including: human resources, accounting, time management and horticultural tips. It is called “60 Seconds to Success” because it will only take 60 seconds or less to read it and will include useful information to help you succeed. Along with these tips, members will be given the opportunity to interact with Landscape Canada on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Each “60 Seconds to Success” tip will provide the opportunity for the member to place their opinion on a variety of issues facing the landscape industry. This provides members with a grass roots approach to the gover­nance and direction of their commodity group. As important stakeholders, their input provides the focus and reason for the existence of Landscape Canada.


eieiHome.com
Landscape Canada and eieiHome.com have been working closely for the past year to develop and bring all landscapers across Canada a specially designed web site. As such, a strategic partnership was developed with the premier web site for all the needs of the homeowner market. The site has a very high volume of homeowners using it daily for real estate, decorating, renovating, maintenance and electronic referrals.

     All companies that are part of the Landscape Canada commodity group will be listed on this web site and made available to homeowners and other consumers who seek landscape related companies in their area. This means that Landscape Canada members will have real exposure to their target market, which may translate to sales. Landscape Canada members will receive free advertising through eieiHome.com, which normally costs at least $29.99 per month. This is a value of $360 per year that other contractors such as plumbers, electricians, roofing companies and landscape companies, which are not part of the association currently pay.


Features:

• Web site for members of Landscape Canada — members now have a web presence (or link) and the ability to manage the contents of it.
• E-mail accounts for all members — members receive a specific eieiHome email account (e.g. cnla@eieiHome.com).
• Day timers/Calendar — allows the members to manage their schedules, to do lists and also allows Landscape Canada to publish “events” (e.g. trade shows, product launches, etc.).
• Live chat areas — an area for live dis­cussions with Landscape Canada’s executives and other people within the specific industry, where members can ask questions, share ideas and get advice.
• Message boards — where messages can be posted and responded to on a variety of topics.
• Landscape Canada news area — where the organization can publish relevant company and industry information.
• Organization contact area — where members can find “key contact” information (e.g. Association representatives, provincial association contacts, etc.).
• General business area — where business solutions are disseminated (e.g. GST, payroll deductions, home office solutions, etc.).
• Classifieds featuring items for sale and wanted, and employment wanted and available.
• Newsletter for members to interact with their clients on a regular basis.
• Addresses book — allows each member to maintain a directory of their relationships.
• Business forms section — allows each member to have custom forms relating to their business (e.g. fax cover, invoices, estimates, materials list, etc.).
• General eieiHome portal access — allows the organization and members to interact with the overall population of eieiHome. This will allow for the exchange of general business ideas, allow for “local community” networking (all clients and/or members can find home-related businesses in their region.
  
  
  LandscapeCanada.com
  The Landscape Canada commodity group web site is available for information and as a gathering place for all the information received and provided to and from the membership. The “60 Seconds to Success” will be posted on the site, along with previous weeks’ tips and results of your feedback. LandscapeCanada.com will have a direct link to the eieihome.com portal for all your utility and productivity tools.
  
       LandscapeCanada.com will also feature other links and information such as the Tender Pre-qualification Form, which are useful to the members of Landscape Canada. All of the free benefits and services provided by Landscape Canada are the direct result of the hard work and dedication by your volunteer Chair and Committee members of Landscape Canada commodity group of the CNLA.
  
       For further information please contact victor.santacruz@canadanursery.com or call 1-888-446-3499.