While it is possible to track some items of your business manually, using landscape business software makes it fast and easy to monitor not only what you’re currently tracking and provide important business insights for you to act on.
Understand your Business
As a landscape contractor, the better your information is, the more confident you can be in your business decisions.
It’s important to start with a baseline for how your business is performing. If a certain type of job isn’t profitable, it doesn’t make sense to increase your number of similar jobs. If a crew is less efficient, what are the possible reasons? If there is room for improvement in routing, billing or cutting costs, you’ll want to make changes.
The fastest and easiest way to get organized is using landscape business software. The software will help you get a handle on your margins all the way down to the specific job or client, and it will help you know which crews and pieces of equipment are the most efficient. You can easily adjust routes and jobs with real-time updates, and you can get a better picture of all costs and profits.
When you’re organized and using landscape business software, you see benefits in day-to-day operations, like knowing where your crews are and for how long, updating routes and jobs and sending real-time updates and sharing field notes and proof-of-service photos with customers. You’ll also see benefits over time by getting insights on how changes affect productivity and opportunities to become more profitable.
Make It More Profitable
Once you have a good understanding of where your business stands, you can then determine the most logical places to improve and grow and the best times to do so. Your goals may be around:
- New business
- Expanding services with existing clients
- Growing your team
- Changing the type of jobs your team specializes in
- Upgrading your fleet
- Building on insights realized through your landscape business software
Not all goals are created equal. By understanding your current business, you’ll be able to set goals that are based on data, which is significantly better than a gut feeling. If you haven’t heard of SMART goals, let us introduce you. "SMART" is an acronym for individual pieces of a goal that can help you create and meet your landscape business goals. Each contains important characteristics so you can hit your milestones.
Specific. Specify the who, the what and the how of the goal. This portion of your goal assigns specific action to specific people using a specific method.
Measurable. Assign a specific percentage of change, number, dollar amount or other measurable indicator to your goal. This portion allows you to determine if you are successful.
Attainable. Check to make sure your goal is realistic and attainable. Look to your landscape business software for insights when developing your goal. Outline the insights and data that shows the goal can be achieved.
Relevant. Determine if your goal is relevant to your specific business. Once organized, you’ll have a better understanding of which opportunities have the greatest potential to positively impact your business.
Time Bound. Assign a time frame to the goal. This will provide motivation for action to achieve the goal. Check to ensure this is attainable and relevant.
Organizing your business is a necessary step to setting and achieving your goals. Intuition is good, but the power of data is great. It gives you the information you need to set SMART goals and the confidence to set your crews in motion, knowing they can be successful.
Impress Your Clients
Put your best foot forward with clients both short- and long-term. By using landscape and lawn care business software to organize your business, it’s easy to provide value-added features like:
- Proof-of-service photos
- Automated payments
- Quick contracts
- More accurate bids, which you can turn into jobs
Your business will look more professional and increase your customers’ confidence in your services.
By organizing your business, you’ll also be able to make better decisions on which customer jobs are best for business and what price points you need to hit to be successful. Gaining a deeper understanding of your business, setting yourself up for future success and ensuring your customers are confident in your services are all crucial to the long-term health of your business. Landscape business software makes it easier to do all three.