Running a lawn maintenance service is no piece of cake, as you have to juggle a lot when managing the day-to-day operations of your lawn maintenance business.
Whether you are just starting out or are already a seasoned veteran in the lawn mowing industry, the tips I’m about to share will provide guidance to run your business successfully.
So without further ado, here’s our list of 7 tips for starting, growing, and managing your lawn maintenance business!
1). Group Your Clients
Always group your clients based on their neighborhood or location. By grouping clients, you can easily schedule who’s living nearby on the same timeline to cut down on driving time.
This may not seem like a significant change or hard to implement – that’s because it isn’t! As your service business starts to grow, you’ll end up saving a big portion of your team’s time and your company’s expense.
2). Offer More Services
One way to grow your maintenance business throughout the year is by diversifying your services. You are 60-70% more likely to sell to an existing customer.
Instead of just offering basic services like edging or trimming, try offering services that your competitors don’t. Some services that most lawn mowing companies don’t offer but people need throughout the year are:
- De-icing and snow removal
- Basic landscaping and mulching – here is a guide to adding other services!
- Leaf blowing and debris removal – spring or fall cleanup!
If you offer year-round services, one of the best pricing strategies is to offer annual contracts for your clients. Offering annual contracts lower the churn rate for your company.
3). Focus on Long-Term Clients
The saying is that if you want to increase your business, focus on satisfying customers so they’ll always return to you.
But that’s not the only benefit of long-term clients, as they also help you create a predictable schedule that maximizes the efficiency of both cost and time, especially for yearly maintenance services.
By focusing on long-term clients and dropping the penny-pushers, your return on time will be significantly higher while building loyal customers for your business.
4). Weather the Storm
When it comes to the lawn and landscape industry, you literally have to weather the storm. Some days, you won’t be able to provide your services because of weather conditions out of your control.
The best way to deal with weather issues is not by waiting out the storm, but by weathering it. Meaning that you have to take a proactive approach to complete your work on time.
On these weathered-days, use your time to work on your business, not in it. Implementing a better estimating and scheduling process, identifying new marketing tactics, or calling long-term customers can be great ways to spend these stormy days.
5). Go Door-to-Door
We know it sounds like an old school marketing strategy but nevertheless, it works.
Going door-to-door may seem intimidating, but it’s definitely worth the hassle. You can visit a neighborhood of your choice and knock on doors to provide your flyer and answer any questions that potential clients may have.
If you can, offer an exclusive coupon or discount as a sign of goodwill to increase the chances of getting long-term clients. It could be a good idea to offer discounts for nearby lawns you already service. Find ways to work smarter, not harder.
6). Market your Services on the Right Time
There’s a right time for everything and marketing is no exception. So you have to market your maintenance services at the right time.
For instance, the best time for advertising or marketing your summer services is during spring. And the best time for marketing your winter services is during late fall, but these should be year-round practices you are always trying to improve. Join and start a Facebook or Instagram business page if you don’t currently have one.
72% of Instagram users have purchased a product from the app. Even though offering services may not be as powerful offering products, but nevertheless, these social platforms are a great way to spread the word about your maintenance services!
7). Find software to Help Manage your Services
Your company can benefit a lot from finding better ways to direct and control your maintenance services
Service Autopilot is well-known in this industry for their in-depth software. If you want every tiny detail, check them out! However, if you want a powerful, easy-to-use software to help your business tomorrow give Nektyd a look. Nektyd helps service businesses around the country simplify their business.
Nevertheless, when seeking the best software to help you manage and grow your maintenance services look for:
- Automations, especially for scheduling and invoicing.
- Client and worker management.
- Management of estimates, scheduling, invoicing, inventory and all basic business processes.
- Ease of use and implementation.
- Integrations.
If you can’t add all these tactics, hopefully, you can utilize a few to help manage and grow your lawn and landscape maintenance services.