When it comes to building a lawn care business, once you have your first taste of success, you want more. We get it, because lawn care is a thriving business. However, you might not know how to get the word out beyond your immediate network. We break down growth strategies you can try today.
How do you know it’s time to expand your landscaping business?
Chances are, your commercial landscaping business could be even more successful. Rest assured, this usually means investing time and money. Prepare for months of excitement, while also dealing with risk.
Here are some strong indicators that you’re ready to start growing your landscaping business, so you don’t make the mistake of growing too fast (or too slow!)
1. You’re working hard, but not seeing real financial success (yet!)
You’re working your butt off. Your employees are working your butt off. But you feel like you’re running on a never-ending hamster wheel.
Maybe this is a part-time gig you’d like to pursue full-time. Or maybe you’ve banked everything on your business’ success. Either way, you’re working hard, and you want to see your bank account grow.
So if that’s not what’s happening, it’s time to refocus. What can you do to grow your business’ financial success?
2. You’re not getting enough customers through word of mouth and you’re thinking, “there’s gotta be a better way!”
You’re trying to get the word out and you’re asking for referrals. But you’re not growing. And your profits are too low.
Your friends and family can only take you so far. You know it’s time to grow your business when you’ve exhausted your leads and need to reach a broader audience.
3. You’ve seen initial success, but now you’re spreading yourself thin and getting overbooked.
There comes a point where refusing to grow your business can impair your ability to deliver a quality service. You won’t adequately serve your customers. Without allowing your business to grow when it needs to, you’re risking your reputation (not to mention the sanity of your employees!)
If people have a good experience, they’ll write positive online reviews and refer you to your friends. If they have a bad experience because you’re overbooked and you underdeliver, they’ll never use you again. Yikes.
How to Grow Your Lawn Care Business
Do you see yourself in any of these points?
Maybe it’s time to start working toward sustainable business growth. But how?
Advertise to a wider audience
Business 101: If you want to make more money, you have to attract more customers.
And these days, there’s no better way to attract local customers than through the internet.
Maybe you hire a social media guru. Or perhaps you get a website builder. You might bring on a general assistant to manage different forms of advertising. Bringing on marketing support is a great step in growing your business. Here are a few of the things they can do for you:
Direct mail campaigns
Potential customers will receive information about you straight to their mailbox. Maybe they’ll look at your flyer, glance at their lawn, and think “Maybe I DO need someone to come help with the landscaping…”
What we love about direct mail campaigns: they target customers in your area who are most likely to need your services. Sending coupons to potential clients is a great place to start.
Social media
Creating and growing social media profiles is a must for any growing business. One of the easiest ways to reach customers outside of your immediate network is online. Not sure where to start? Show off before and after pictures of your landscaping work.
Website
Make sure you have a website. There are many website builders that make it simple: Squarespace, WordPress, Weebly. And make sure to have a place for people to enter their email addresses so you keep in touch.
Email marketing
Growing your landscaping business means keeping in touch with your clients and potential clients on a regular basis. So creating an email list is key. Then you can design newsletters full of landscaping tips as well as occasional promotions to bring in new clients.
Paid Ads
Want to target suburban families who make more than $100k per year and live in the greater Cincinnati region? You can get that specific with paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
You can set your own budget too. Only have $10 for the week? That works!
Get the Help You Need.
You might think since this is YOUR business, YOU need to be the one doing everything.
We implore you: let people help you!
If numbers don’t get your heart pumping, hire a bookkeeper. If you feel like you’re not able to field customer calls, hire an assistant. if you’re not sure how to walk down the path to growth, call a business coach.
You don’t have to be alone in this — get the support you need so you don’t burn out.
Fuel Your Growth by Hiring Your Next Employee: A Robotic lawn mower.
Look, with this recent labor shortage, you’d have a hard time finding a qualified landscaping candidate even if you looked under every rock and scoured every job board.
Sometimes, to broaden your reach and increase revenue, you have to bring in the robots.
Click here to check out the best robotic mowers for every commercial application, so you can save time, improve outcomes, and keep your lawn care company environmentally friendly.