It was extremely gratifying to see so many industry friends and continue to develop new relationships at the recent Cultivate’22! This page contains all the resources and On-Demand Educational Seminar videos we created for the Show and valuable links for both candidates and clients.

The BEST Team has decades of combined experience within the Horticulture industry, cultivating relationships from section growers to industry thought and business leaders. These partnerships allow BEST to stay current on the industry’s needs and share ideas, processes, and solutions to move our industry forward through the BEST Retained Executive Search and Business/Human Resource Advisory Services.

WHY BEST? We know the industry, we know your challenges because we have been there, and we have a proven process. By aligning your specific business needs with an optimized candidate profile, we have developed a proprietary process of proven executive behavioral interviewing tools and specialized assessments we call: BEST BEHAVIORS®.

As a retained executive search firm specializing in the horticultural industry, we are engaged in every aspect of the search process, starting with defining a tailor-made search strategy on through candidate onboarding. This process eliminates valuable time on your end and presents you with a shortlist of top-quality horticulture industry candidates primed for long-term success.

ARTICLE in “Greenhouse Management” Magazine  
Cultivate’22: Succession and exit planning: How to prepare for the day you hang up your boots – The Cultivate’22 educational sessions continued with the presentation “Green industry succession and exit planning: Building value into your business” by Chris Cimaglio and Todd Downing from BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group…

Our Exit Planning Seminar at Cultivate’22 had over (100) business owners and industry professionals!  No question that the events of the last two years have profoundly affected professionals, with many choosing to retire early. We are experiencing a dramatic increase in both succession and exit planning in the horticulture industry. 

Most business owners have no transition plan. It gets even more complicated when no family members are ready or willing to take over the business. This session will look at the preparation and planning steps and value-building and transitional strategies to use when there is no family or heir apparent to take over the reins of your business. It will also address your emotional readiness and review actions you can start to take today that will make you and your business more transition-ready. 

We have put together a special PDF of our educational session “Green Industry Succession & Exit Planning: Building Value into Your Business” (PDF) for your review and use.

To address the coming surge of Baby Boomer retirements and business exits, we have created a timely seminar (similar to the seminar we just conducted in Columbus and from 2020’s virtual show) on this topic called Succession Planning When There is No Succession. You can view it in its entirety here:

Building Your Bench: Recruiting, Motivating, and Retaining Talent in the Green Industry for Today and Tomorrow

Do you currently have the right people on the bus? Are you concerned with building and keeping your bench for today and tomorrow? The tight labor market, especially in the Green Industry, means we need to change our thinking and recruit from outside the industry. As a result of the challenging talent market, companies today are acquiring other companies for their human capital, or a trend called— Acqui-Hiring.

You will learn:

• How to increase your candidate pool by recruiting outside of industry or position restrictions using Behavioral Interviewing.
• We will review the intangibles and how important social capital (culture) is in improving employee engagement and candidate interest.
• Do you have the backup for key roles? Is the business too owner dependent, and do your people have a clear career path and runway?
• Compensation and Benefits — Pros and Cons to Leading, on par, or lagging the market?
• Training and Development— How do we improve existing talent and make sure you meet their desire for continued learning?

This session will examine the ever-changing labor market and strategies you can take to build your human capital for today and tomorrow.

In addition to Succession and Exit Planning, our Business and HR Advisory function focuses on (4) other key areas to suit your business needs.