Grow Your Landscape Business With These Management Essentials

Running a landscaping company can sometimes feel like riding a wild roller coaster. You zig-zag between working on site, handling admin, placating customers, and sourcing jobs, while also trying to hang on through the chugging ascents and harrowing drops of seasonal fluctuations.

We’re all for a good adrenaline rush, but… does it really have to come from your business?

No. No, it does not.

That’s why we’ve put together this guide covering the fundamental elements and resources you need to successfully manage your business. Smooth out those peaks and troughs, and lay the groundwork for flourishing profits and cohesive teams.

With the time and stress you’ll save, you can start getting your kicks elsewhere. Hurl yourself from a plane, freebase ride off a cliff or, heck, take a nap on a beach. Do whatever you dig.

Establish roots with a landscaping business plan

Your business plan sets out the vision for your landscaping company’s future. In this pivotal document, you’ll clearly define the:

• Purpose for why your company exists
• Values your company upholds
• Short and long-term goals
• Actionable steps to reach those goals
• Rewards for the team when you all achieve your goals

When you sit down to write your plan, think big! Find a purpose that goes beyond cutting grass or shoveling sidewalks (though those are both crucial tasks, don’t get us wrong!). Consider your grand vision for the business in terms of the wider world, and where you see the company five or ten years down the road.

Your business plan should focus on broad strokes rather than the granular details of how each goal will be accomplished. The idea is that it functions as a framework to help you make financial and operational decisions throughout the year.

As you create your business plan, keep in mind where your business fits within the landscaping industry in your region. Part of determining this will depend on which landscaping services prove to offer the best source of profits, so you’ll need to have good accounting practices in place (more on that shortly).

The main thing to remember is to avoid heading in too many directions at once. Even in the summer, there are only so many hours in a day. Direct your teams’ time wisely.

Business plans can be as long as you’d like, but we recommend keeping things simple. Here’s a one-page Strategic Plan template to get you going quickly and easily.

Want to delve deeper? Take a look at this article on How to Write a Landscape Business Plan.

Prune your bookkeeping specifically for landscaping

Tracking your bottom line is an imperative aspect of managing a landscape business, particularly considering the unique challenge of managing your cash flow during the off-season.

Landscaping also requires substantial investment in equipment and tool maintenance, which is much easier to handle if you know you’ve got the money to do it.

Typically, budgets for landscape companies are set up more to appease tax accountants than support the actual business owners. But to clearly see where the money is going (or needs to go), you want to format your budget with a customized chart of accounts that matches how your business operates.

What does that look like? Instead of bundling all your repairs and maintenance costs into a generic line of your budget, you can break it out so you can track at a glance how much you’ve spent fixing trucks versus lawnmowers, for instance.

Once you have a tailored budget in place, you’ll then be able to implement a system to:

• Track your financials more precisely to see how your actuals line up against your budget.
• Understand which landscaping services are really driving your revenue.
• Stay on top of your variable expenses and overhead costs.
• Power up your gross and net profit margins.
• Accurately forecast your business’ future.
• Fine-tune your job costing and billable hours estimations.

Curious where to begin with setting up a proper landscaping bookkeeping system? With this Budget Quick Tool you’ll be on top of your numbers in no time.

Roll out a landscape project management plan

Just as the down months pose challenges for a lawn and garden company, there are struggles during peak season too. (Sigh.) When work is abundant and your staff are slammed, managing your teams efficiently becomes increasingly difficult.

How can you keep the work moving along smoothly, ensuring everyone knows their priorities?

With a well-constructed landscape project plan that outlines the steps to reach each goal.

Beyond just describing what needs to be done, it also infuses accountability into the team, as each member knows what they’re responsible for and when it’s expected to be completed. It eliminates freewheeling and finger-pointing, while helping to keep projects on time and on budget.

It also–and this is not a minor point–relieves you of the burden of being the one stuck dealing with everything. With accountability, your team is bestowed with responsibility, which means they become empowered to problem solve. With fewer delays to navigate and staff no longer running to you about every little issue, your phone will quit ringing with frantic calls. (Good sigh.)

Goal Setting & Review sessions are an extremely effective way to guide your team’s activities. This free webinar explains how.

Unearth talented landscaping labor

Attracting skilled staff is no easy feat in today’s tightening labor pool. With swaths of experienced lawn and garden care experts retiring, how do you build an A-team?

With a super-charged hiring system.

The first step in finding top-notch candidates is identifying who you need. This involves defining an organizational structure for your business and examining the gaps. Then, consider the qualities required for each role. These should include both non-negotiable technical skills and personal qualities. Ideally, whoever you hire holds similar values to those of your company.

This task can be tougher than it seems, which is why we created this template for writing Ideal Candidate Profiles.

Once you’ve outlined the key traits for the role, turn it into a compelling job posting that speaks to the heart and mind of your ideal prospect.

After you’ve made your short list, it’s time to start interviewing–yet another daunting step of the process. With this Interview Guide you’ll be alert for red flags and able to zero in on the candidates who will blend best with your team.

When you’re ready to make an offer, you’ll want to ensure you’re able to put a competitive package in front of your selected candidate. Part of this will come down to sound budget planning, but to learn more about this crucial step to securing talent, download this quick tool on Compensation and Incentives.

Finally, to start off on the right foot, provide your new team member with a clear understanding of the expectations around their role. To put that together, we have a template for producing comprehensive Employment Agreements.

Set your landscaping staff up for success

In a world bombarded by reviews and rankings, it can feel like the saying “you’re only as good as your last success” has never been truer. Protecting your reputation is especially important for landscape businesses, where your work is often on public display and can become either the envy of a neighborhood… or its laughing stock. (Obviously, you’re aiming for the former!)

The key to exceeding customer expectations is consistency in how your team delivers on projects. The way to achieve that, as boring as it may sound, is with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

SOPs are a type of instructional documentation and usually includes images or videos. They help you train your staff to a high-level of competency, while also decreasing the time needed to devote to onboarding.

SOPs also inject future value into your business. If you ever plan to sell your company, buyers will want to see that you have standards in place that can drive quality work at scale.

Between the hours you’ll save and the profits you’ll realize, there’s lots to love about SOPs. Nonetheless, many landscape professionals find the notion of creating them a bit overwhelming. Need more convincing? Take a look at this webinar on the topic.

Enrich your sales and marketing plan

Trying to find your place in the landscaping industry can sometimes feel like stepping into a colosseum with a bunch of metal-plated gladiators. Which is to say… competitive.

You need to constantly be on the prowl for new clients, making sure you’re winning jobs and retaining the customers you’ve got. Strong marketing strategies are necessary to accomplish all those things. But what does that actually entail?

There are a couple key elements to an effective sales and marketing plan:

• An enticing service package
• A formidable online presence (yes, this means wrapping your head around social media, web design, SEO, and more 😬)

Central to your marketing efforts is understanding what sets you apart in the marketplace. What are your company’s differentiating services? What value propositions make you unique?

Consider questions, such as:

• Do you complete jobs ahead of schedule?
• Are you reliable, no matter the weather?
• Do you leave sites without even a leaf out of place?

Figure out how your company goes above and beyond, then lean into that with your marketing. It’s not enough to proclaim to the world that you exist, you need to demonstrate why a customer should choose you over the zillion other lawn care businesses out there.

Need a hand identifying your unique value proposition? Our coaches can help!

Flourish with landscaping business management software

Want to be your landscape project manager’s hero? Give them good tech. (Extra tip: That tip is actually valid for all members of your team.)

There are apps for virtually every aspect of managing your business, particularly:

• Project scheduling
• Customer communication
• Team collaboration
• Marketing automations
• Budget tracking

We partner with a number of stellar platforms that can help with the above. A few of our favorites include:

• LMN - CRM & Project Management designed specifically for landscapers
• CompanyCam - visual documentation and crew communication on your landscaping job sites
• NiceJob - automation and amplification of your landscaping reviews, referrals, and social content

Within the landscaping industry there are also a range of design platforms, which can help make sure you and your customer are on the same page before any soil is overturned.

Implementing management software does involve some initial investment and training to ensure the tools are effectively adopted and properly used. Choosing which options to go with can be a complex decision that requires considering your available budget and true operational needs. Not every cool toy will be right for your business at this moment.

This Tech Stack Quick Tool will help you puzzle together the best tech for your team.

Everything is connected

We appreciate this is a lot to take in and implementing everything mentioned here certainly won’t happen overnight.

To support you in growing and scaling your landscaping business, Breakthrough Academy has distilled the above elements down to 6 key pillars we call The Contractor Growth Method.

You can think of it like a system of systems – complete with the support of expert coaches, a motivated community and thoughtfully crafted templates – all designed to free you from the frenzy of day-to-day operations and support you in becoming a thriving and inspiring entrepreneur. Who jumps out of planes. Or takes well-deserved naps.

We’re with you all the way. Become one of Breakthrough Academy’s elite landscaping contractors today.