If you’ve owned your lawn care business for a while you’ve probably reached a point where you’re ready to make some improvements. Your business is already established and now it’s time to start working on making it even better than it is right now. There are standard things you can do like increasing your advertising or taking on more clients but those aren’t your only options.
Increasing the profits of your business and improving its financial situation is something you can take more than one approach to. Using several ideas at the same time gives you a better chance of having a bigger financial improvement as you implement the tips you learn. Just like when you started your business, as you work on financially improving it you want to set yourself up for success.
If you’re not sure where to start and what tips would be a good way to improve your profitability you aren’t alone. Luckily there are tips from lawn care business professionals who have already walked this road and have done it very successfully as well. Here are five things you can do to financially improve your lawn care business.
1. Know Your Numbers (Really Well)
One thing you should make sure you’re 100% clear on is the numbers involved with your lawn care business. If you’ve previously been rounding or guessing on how much money you’re spending on gaining clients, labor costs, or costs of tools, you need to start being extremely accurate instead. Guesswork and rounded figures are not going to lead to improved financial stability.
Before you can do anything else you need to make sure you know the exact amount everything is going to cost you from now on. It’s important to be accurate so you can verify that you’re billing correctly. If you’ve been using antiquated billing practices like charging per square foot, knowing your numbers will help you figure out how to change that.
If you know your numbers you can start charging what your actual costs are plus the labor costs and other fees you may add on. This method will help you avoid losing money because the job ends up taking much too long and your labor costs exceed the amount you’re charging per square foot (or whatever method you use). Knowing your numbers is definitely step one in this process.
2. You Can Expand Your Services
Maybe you started out with just a few services you were very confident about offering. That’s a great strategy but now it’s time to grow. Think about what you can offer that’s specific to your area. Seasonal services can be a good place to start when it comes to ways you can expand what you offer to your clients.
If you don’t want to offer seasonal services you can think about expanding in other ways instead. If you have built on your knowledge as a lawn care expert and know enough to offering things like landscaping in addition to lawn care services, that’s a great way to bring in new clients or offer existing clients more to choose from.
The goal with this tip is just to think about things you may not have opted to offer the first time around. You may be selling yourself short if you’ve learned and built upon skills you already had. Now that you’re established it’s time to trust those skills and let your clients know that you have more to give than just basic lawn care options.
3. Use Targeted Advertising
As you’re thinking about what you can expand on you can also give consideration to the types of clients you want to attract to your business. If you offer services that would be appealing to a client with a large lawn but not to a customer that barely has a lawn at all, don’t waste your money advertising to someone that won’t need your services.
Think about what your ideal clients are likely to be. If there are areas of your town that have much larger laws, try advertising more heavily in those areas. You can do mail campaigns to homeowners in that area, or just purchase advertising they’ll see naturally during the day. You can also create flyers to hang up in businesses in target areas.
Whatever you decide to do just make sure you’re investing advertising dollars wisely. Yes, you may get a few customers interested in your services even if you aren’t concentrating on a specific target but it’s not the best plan out there. You’re much more likely to get more out of your advertising efforts if you concentrate on the types of clients you really want to attract.
4. Talk To Your Current Clients
Your current clients are a great resource for a few ways to improve your financial gain with your lawn care business. If you aren’t sure what to expand and offer, for instance, you can ask your current clients what they wish you could do for them but don’t currently offer. You can also ask them for suggestions on things people they know would like to have available.
Your current clients can also help you increase your client base by offering reviews and testimonials about what you can do. Having past clients confirm how well you do a job is a great way to reassure potential new clients and convert them from a basic quote to a client that hires you over and over.
5. Make Great Strategic Hires
As you grow your business you’re going to need to hire employees to help you meet deadlines and keep the business going. As you do this remember to hire strategically instead of just looking for a warm body to fill whatever vacancy you currently have. If you hire people that are as dedicated and good at what they do as you are you’re much better off.
Good employees with skills to do the job well will continue to give your business the good name it deserves. Your business’ reputation really matters to the financial health of everything you do so you can’t afford to risk it by hiring whoever wanders up when you post an ad for a job opening. It’s okay to be picky about who you hire. Your employees represent you.
Conclusion
There will always be things you can do to continue to grow your business. The tips you’ve read about here are a great place to start. Keep them in mind as you decide what you want to do next so you can make informed decisions that make sense for your goals. Once you put your plan in action you’ll be glad you put in the time to make these changes. Your new profits will be well worth all the effort.