This comes via Marty’s blog, where he outlines his reasons for taking a spring break vacation

For 20 years now, I have taken a week off during the busiest time of the year for Landscapers: Spring. I just got back from a lovely week in Rosemary Beach, Florida; it’s on the panhandle. I had a great time with my kids and wife and many other families from our hometown that went to the same area.

The week off does me a lot of good. I bring a ton of books with me (not to mention the books on my Kindle), many articles I have saved for reading, and my to-do list and strategic plans for both my companies. The intention is to relax, which I do, and to spend time with my family, which I do. But, I am always learning, so this week I thought I would share with you some observations I made while in Florida.

Click through to read what he learned, what ideas you can steal and why you should think like an Awful Waffle House.

Spring isn’t technically here yet, but we’ve made it through the longest shortest month, and that’s reason enough to celebrate. This week I’ve brought you a solid reading list, a video to share with your friends and a great post on marketing.

• Lead gen tips for your sales team.
• Jim McCutcheon explains that you can make real money as a landscaper. (via Chris Heiler)
• Late winter reading list from Marty.
• Medieval flower clock.
• Rainscaping is growing more popular out east.
• Marketing means answering this question: Who do we want to change?
• Learn more about how to figure that out in our Grow the Market report.
• Above: Some pre-spring blooms to get you through the rest of winter.

When I was at GROW! earlier this month, Marty shared his client grading system.

It’s a simple, three-step process that helps you vet any prospective customer (and anyone currently on your client rolls).

1. Do we enjoy working with them? “I don’t want to make money off someone if they treat my team like dirt,” Grunder says. “At a certain point you have to show your team that it’s not just about the money.”
2. Do we make money? “Figure it out. Either raise your prices or refer that client to another company,” he says.”
3. Does it lead to more work?

These are If you don’t have a system in place to pre-qualify your potential customers, give this one a shot.

I’m on the road in Nashville this week attending Marty’s annual GROW! conference. Look for more coverage here and our other platforms shortly.

In the meantime, follow along on Twitter at #GROW2013.

It’s been a busy week, but here’s some fun stuff to check out on the web. Enjoy, and have a great weekend.

• New event promotes gardens and guitars.
• Rethinking responsibility.
• Scholarship for green industry communication students.
• Cool contest for rural landscape design.
• A (nearly exhaustive) list of drought-tolerant plant resources.
• Above: Marty and I talk about why you should attend GROW! 2013 in Nashville.

The education is great, but Marty’s hats really bring the extra 10% to the table. Register here.

Here’s our collection of interesting things we found on the internet this week. Enjoy, and have a great weekend.

• A visual guide to American employee tenure.
• Demand for water will outstrip supply by 2030. (via @H2Otrends)
• 40 things to say before you die. (via @joecalloway)
• Long read: Flowers in the psych ward.
• New report: Home prices up in many markets.
• Where do multimillionaires live?
• Above: 9 things you can do to stay in the black this year.

Marty’s looking pretty suave in this promo for his upcoming webinar series.

Ignore the tie, though, and check out what he’s got on offer. Any training you can get from him is money well spent.

Our resident sales expert and unfortunate Bengals fan Marty Grunder has some great deals for fall training and development.

In this series of webinars, you’ll learn how to improve your sales process, plan for 2013 and develop yourself as a leader.

If you want to have a good year, now’s the time to start working on it. Sign up today.

We’re putting on a can’t-miss webinar tomorrow with our resident sales expert and columnist Marty Grunder.

It starts at 12:30 EDT tomorrow, and you can register here.

Yes, it costs $69.99. But you’ll get invaluable insight and proven sales strategies that you can implement in your business tomorrow, including:

• How to screen each and every prospect to make sure you are meeting with prospect who will buy.
• What you must do before each and every call to improve your chances for making a sale by 50%.
• Why your price doesn’t matter if you do 3 simple things.

Plus, you’ll get a  sneak preview of the L&L State of the Industry research on revenue and profits from me.

If you can’t make it tomorrow afternoon, you can still register to get access the recorded version later on.

So, if you want to increase your sales this fall and in 2013, you owe it to yourself to spend an hour with us tomorrow. You’ll be glad you did.