Don’t let the heading fool you. These companies aren’t taking advantage of their customers by charging them outrageous amounts. They simply know their value and have a great understanding of overhead costs, which allows them to make the margin necessary to run a successful and sustainable landscaping business. Many landscape companies don’t truly understand their overhead and how it can silently drain what they “think” are their profits. Smart landscape companies invest time and money to accurately track their costs so they can confirm if their bids are meeting their expected margin. Creating a spreadsheet of your own or investing in landscape software will give you the tools to bid for massive profits and massive profits lead to nicer equipment, better pay, and happy employees!

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Owning a landscape company can be very rewarding on many levels.  Smart business owners realize the need for hard work and dedication, but also understand the time and energy they and their team put into the business must be sustainable, and at the end of the day, enjoyable.  We’ve all had the long 80-hour work weeks trying to finish a project on time or beating bad weather.  While this can be rewarding and feel like you are out working your competition, it typically isn’t sustainable.  Successful landscape companies do a great job of delegating tasks, paying attention to overtime hours, and most importantly acknowledging when their team has put forth an extra effort and reward them for it.  Remember, rewards don’t always come in the form of pay raises.  Investing in new equipment, sending your team to paid education events, taking the time to personally thank them for their hard work, and even time off can help reduce the chances of deadly burnout we see way too often in the landscape industry.

One of the first responses you hear when successful business owners are asked why their company is succeeding, they almost always acknowledge their employees first.  Smart landscape companies not only appreciate their rock star employees, but they understand how to keep them.  Many businesses have great strategies to recruit top talent in their industry, but then lack the skills and understanding of how to retain them.  There’s no magic formula that works for every employee as we all have different goals and aspirations within our profession.  Regular meetings with team members discussing their role and how they see it changing over time can give business owners a better understanding of what tools they need to provide their employees with, to advance their career in a direction that makes them happy.  Smart landscape companies are in constant communication with their team, learning and growing with them!

There’s no doubt the landscape industry is booming right now, which may lead some companies to believe they no longer need to invest in marketing and advertising.  Smart landscape companies know when to scale back their budgets, but they don’t completely do away with them.  They are constantly trying to take their business to the next level which requires creative thinking, and the discipline to reinvest a portion of their profits through marketing.  It’s important to keep in mind the landscape industry isn’t like other impulse markets.  While maintenance services such as mowing, fertilization, pruning, etc. may show quicker returns, design builds typically take longer.  A customer doesn’t decide to spend $75,000 or more after seeing just one ad or one video.  They decide to invest in their property after constantly seeing your company’s expertise and creative ideas for outdoor living.  The best landscape companies understand this and constantly stay in front of their existing and potential customers.

Landscaping is a fast-growing industry, and it’s easy to get into the mindset your company needs to be capturing all types of customers in order to grow and scale your business. However, it’s important to realize that not everyone is the right customer for your business. Smart landscape companies know who their customer is and understand how to keep them happy. They realize that not all customers will see the value in what their experienced team has to offer and that’s ok. When you’ve put in the time and effort to build a powerful road map for your companies’ success, the right customers will become clearer. Their ideal client is looking for reliability, professionalism, industry knowledge, and exceptional customer service. Following these guidelines, give them the tools to meet and exceed their customer’s needs.