CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT
It’s good to be back
I
n a year where we have been able to come back together to celebrate the sheer excellence of the landscape industry, we have had yet another fantastic event with close to 1,000 members and guests attending the 45th National Landscape Awards.
And what a fantastic event it was indeed. It was such a pleasure to see the winners of the prestigious National Landscape Awards celebrating in style at JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel with the rest of their peers, clients and guests, and it’s an honour to be able to provide the platform to showcase our members’ outstanding achievements. In a year that seems to have been phenomenally busy for the vast majority of Association members despite what has been going on in terms of lockdowns, the effects of Brexit and the materials shortages, it is a wonderful sight to see that members continue to uphold the professional standards expected of them and go on to exceed as proudly showcased via the National Landscape Awards. The entries into the Awards this year, once again, demonstrate the importance of using skilled professionals to undertake work whether it be in a small domestic garden or on large ground maintenance contracts.
6
LANDSCAPE NEWS WINTER 2021
I would like to express our very sincere gratitude to our Chair of the Judging Panel, John Melmoe, and to his panel of industry experts for their professional commitment to the task of selecting this year’s award winners. They undertake an enormous amount of work on our behalf to maintain the reputation and integrity of the Awards. Each year, the benchmark of excellence is raised, and I am delighted to say that 2021 has been no exception. Every entry is given their fullest attention to ensure the winners are those Association members most befitting of an award. I would like to congratulate every member who entered this year and acknowledge the achievements of those who have ultimately been successful.
The Judges and the awards process have been very capably coordinated and project managed by Emily Feeney, Events Project Manager from Landscape House. Once again, without the commitment shown from Emily, with support from Operations Manager Kirsty Wood and the wider team, the whole awards process would not run so smoothly.
Membership Satisfaction Survey
Across November we gathered your feedback via our online annual Membership Satisfaction Survey, and a huge thanks goes to those of you
who took the time to complete it. The survey provides members with the opportunity to share their views on our products and services and suggest improvements for the future. I am extremely pleased with those items highlighted in green as these show an improvement upon last year or that we have exceeded our target of 75% Excellent or Good feedback. 91% of members stated that they were either very satisfied or satisfied with their Association membership which fantastic feedback and offers us a key metric to benchmark against moving forward.
A new addition to the survey this year was gathering our Net Promoter Score (NPS)– a customer loyalty and satisfaction measurement, determined by subtracting the percentage of customers who are detractors from the percentage who are promoters. Our Net Promoter Score is +43 which is a big positive and will now be used as an important KPI for us to measure performance against. According to Survey Monkey’s global benchmark data, which accounts for the NPS of more than 150,000 organisations, the average score is +32 meaning that the Association’s score is 26% higher than this average. Further key areas from this year’s survey results can be seen on page 35.
