Cris Poggi answered first.

Then Kory Beidler.

Then Chris Lee.

None of them had planned it this way. None of them had compared notes. 

But when Jon Gohl, Aspire’s director of customer experience, closed a webinar for customers and prospects with one question, all three landscape executives arrived at the same place, one after another, as if they'd rehearsed it.

The three leaders, each representing a company on the Lawn & Landscape Top 100 for 2026, spent an hour during the webinar “Inside The Top 100: What Leading Landscape Companies Are Doing” comparing notes on acquisitions, metrics and growth. 

Gohl's closing question was simple.

“What will separate great landscape companies over the next five years?” Gohl asked.

The proof behind their answers

None of them hesitated. 

"I think it's people. That's our widget,” said Poggi, vice president of integration and optimization at Schill Grounds Management. “We work in an industry where it is people. And fostering a really great work environment.”

"Yes, it's work, but we also need to be focused on figuring out how to have fun, make it enjoyable. This is not a 9-to-5er."

Poggi, whose company ranks No. 25 in the L&L Top 100 and is an Aspire user, backs it up with a formal survey after every Schill acquisition, gathering feedback straight from newly added teams. 

"I like to have qualitative data to stand behind," Poggi said, protecting what she calls a business's own flavor. "The last thing I want to do is squash someone, a new affiliate and a new partner.

"We all can appreciate change management," Poggi added. "It's one of the toughest pieces. And if we're not in tune with communicating and being on point, then we lose out on opportunities to create a greater relationship, a deeper relationship."

At Visterra Landscape Group, No. 20 on the L&L Top 100 and also an Aspire customer, Beidler isn’t ready to hand everything over to automation. 

"Five years ago, I wouldn't have believed in all the automation and AI stuff that's come along," said Beidler, vice president of operational excellence. "But I'm getting it. You have limited talent. Use it where it needs to work. 

“Don't waste time on things an automation or an AI tool can do for you. Let it do it. Focus on the relationships. Go talk to your customers, or go have lunch with your crew, every day."

Lee, president and CEO of EarthWorks, part of Osprey Landscape Group, agreed that the difference will always be people.

"Every transformative thing that's happened to our business has been related to people, not AI, not a system, not a tool,” said Lee, whose company ranks No. 33 on the L&L Top 100 and is an Aspire customer. “Every great thing we will do for the next five years will be based on a human being, not AI, not a system, not a tool. Those things are powerful, but only if you put them in the hands of a really good person, a really good operator, a really smart human being."

Lee sees the same principle in the bench of talent his company has developed as it has grown. 

"We've got a lot of really young superstars in the wings," Lee said. "We knew we couldn't be passive. We had to be aggressive with our growth to create opportunities and allow those people to move up because if you don't, they're going somewhere else."

‘It’s people all the way’

None of these three companies, who are among 51 Aspire customers listed in the L&L Top 100, achieved their success by accident.

Schill grew by building a machine for absorbing acquisitions. Visterra is still adding partner companies, 16 states and counting. EarthWorks used a five-year strategic plan and now has partnered with Osprey. 

But as Poggi, Beidler and Lee show, navigating different paths still requires one resource they all value heavily. 

"I hate to let you down with my last answer," Lee said, "but it's people all the way."