5 Startup Tips For Your New Lawn Care Business

According to Entrepreneur, lawn care businesses earn between USD$5,000 and 50,000 during their initial year of operation. Moreover, continuing diligently in the industry can bring between USD$160,000 and 250,000 annually. With such a high earning potential, you have all the reasons to dive deep into establishing a successful lawn care business. This article provides practical tips to accelerate your lawn care company and make it a success in the future.

1. Use Lawn Care Business Software

Professionalism is vital in portraying the image of a competent entrepreneur before the public. In this regard, consider getting lawn care business software, such as Jobber, to help you with the following aspects of your job:

• Tracking the time that you spend on each job
• Scheduling tasks at different job sites
• Automating workflows
• Sending notifications to your customers and crew while working
• Creating professional quotes
• Invoicing clients
• Processing payrolls for your team members

Using software for these tasks instead of manually increases your business’s efficiency and productivity. It also helps convince your customers that you’re a true professional in the industry, making you more trustworthy and reliable and thus increasing your chances of winning bids.

2. Pick A Profitable Pricing Strategy

Investopedia reports that 67% of small businesses collapse within the first ten years. One of the reasons for this is poor pricing. Most startup companies have the habit of pricing their services lower than competitors to entice customers. But if this goes on for too long, the revenue generated won’t fully meet the business costs. This leaves the business with no choice but to close down.

Don’t fall into this trap when starting your lawn care business. Go the extra mile and learn how much to charge for a lawn care job. Ideally, the fee you set should be enough to pay for the materials, labour and overhead costs and leave you with a decent profit.

3. Refine Your Skills

There’s no doubt you have some basic knowledge of lawn care. Don’t stop at that. Seek ways to sharpen your skills and continually invest in training to become somewhat of an authority and expert figure in your field. You can enrol in part-time lawn care courses or go through free and paid online tutorials. The more knowledge you gain, the more beneficial you become to your customers. And that goes a long way to achieving high customer loyalty rates.

Aside from technical skills, make a point of improving your interpersonal skills. Customers love working with friendly, knowledgeable, and responsible entrepreneurs.

4. Build Your Customer Base

The more customers you have, the more profit you’ll make. So, it’s critical to embark on a long-term strategy to build your customer base within the lawn care industry. Here are some tips you can try out:

• Establish a social media presence by constantly engaging with the public.
• Create listings on local business directories so that you’re easy to find online.
• Take good care of your existing customers so that they can refer you to potential customers.
• Solicit positive reviews from clients you serve.
• Reach out to family and friends. It’s easier for them to order your services as they already have a relationship with you.
• Go door to door and hand out flyers to all who talk to you.
• Grow a mailing list and send offers periodically.
• Join local social media groups where you can connect with potential customers.
• Launch a referral program to reward customers who refer others to your business.
• Run pay-per-click ads.
• Join local trade shows to network widely with prospects.

5. Purchase The Right Tools And Equipment

No customer will want to do business with you again if you show up with a rundown lawnmower at their doorstep. The same applies to all other tools and supplies you use. The higher their quality, the deeper the trust the customers will have in your brand.

So, be choosy when you go shopping for lawn care equipment. Don’t buy only the previously owned ones. While these are generally cheaper than new ones, there’s always the risk of failing and necessitating costly repairs.

For more expensive lawn care equipment, like electric lawn mowers, you can consider hiring from providers until you accumulate enough cash to buy your own.

Conclusion

You can start a lawn care business on the right footing and quickly pick up speed to profitability. This is possible if you implement strategies like industry-specific business management software, price your services competitively, upskill your lawn care expertise, invest in first-rate tools, and focus on lealead-generationrategies that work. Eventually, your business will grow as envisioned and earn you a well-earned profit in the future.

References

1. “Pros & Cons of Starting a Lawn Business”, https://www.thebalancesmb.com/pros-and-cons-of-starting-a-lawn-business-1794497#:~:text=According%20to%20figures%20from%20Entrepreneur.com%2C%20lawn%20care%20and,once%20they%20were%20in%20business%20a%20few%20years
2. “The 4 Most Common Reasons a Small Business Fails”, https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/120815/4-most-common-reasons-small-business-fails.asp
3. “How to Build Your Small Business Customer Base”, Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/small-business-growth-advice-_b_1653655