Blog

Moving the data from recurring work orders from one year to the next is an incredibly time-consuming job. Whether you’re manually entering data, or even if you’re working with multiple systems that don’t automatically transfer that data, it is a monumental task to make sure all of that information is properly moved to the new year. On top of that, it takes time to recreate all of the renewals and also figure out when the work is going to be performed at a time that works for each of your clients in the new season.

In the landscape business, repeat clients are incredibly valuable. That’s because landing repeat work requires a lot less investment of time and money than it does to acquire brand new clients. But what if that repeat work isn’t profitable? Even worse, what if that repeat work puts you at a loss? If that’s the case, every year you send out that landscape contract renewal, you’re digging yourself a deeper and deeper hole when it comes to profit loss.

Now imagine you have multiple clients like this. Undoubtedly, it’s dragging you down. And maybe you don’t even realize it yet.

Regardless of the size of your business, keeping track of all of your clients—and all of the specifics linked to each of their accounts—can feel like an overwhelming task. Complicating it even further is the fact that multiple departments and individuals can make decisions that impact a specific account, and none of that information might ever be tracked. Even if the client only has direct contact with their account manager, that’s not to say that various employees within the company are not still involved behind-the-scenes with that account.

Because of all the behind-the-scenes hands on any given account, the number one problem we hear about from landscape businesses that are not using landscaping CRM software is that there is a breakdown in communication somewhere in the chain. There is really no good way to keep track of what everyone is doing and people don’t wind up on the same page. You can have various employees making various efforts in terms of communicating with clients, making sales calls, or updating an account. But with everyone doing different things and no good way to track it all, the company’s efforts feel like a mish-mashed approach.

Even after rapid growth, it’s not uncommon for landscape businesses to hit a plateau. After watching revenue steadily increase for several years, it can suddenly get “stuck” at a certain point. While this number can differ from business-to-business, it does seem that the $1 million mark is a particularly stubborn plateau where many business owners appear to level out. They did all the hard work to get to that mark and then suddenly they don’t know how to take it to the next level.

If you’ve leveled out and growth appears to be stagnant, you’re likely in need of a refreshed landscape sales strategy. Oftentimes what happens is that the strategies which worked at a lower level revenue may need revamping to accommodate the company’s needs at a higher level.

If you’ve begun any research into the different landscape business management software programs out there, then you probably already know just how differently they can be priced. Not only does the overall cost vary, but also the pricing structure. Regardless of what landscape business management software you go with, you can expect that it’s going to be a big investment, making it all the more important that you choose wisely.

Writing landscape business proposals may be one of your least favorite parts of the job. For one, it can be a rather menial task. Proposal writing can be a big time drain when what you’d rather be having face time with a prospect, closing a deal. It can be especially cumbersome if you don’t have a landscaping proposal template or standardized language as it will mean repetitive data entry each time you go to create one.

But what we often hear from landscape sales professionals is that they’re not exactly sure what to include in a landscape sales proposal in the first place. While you’re probably really great at beating the bushes and selling jobs, the proposal writing aspect may still feel like an enigma.

Chances are you’ve never taken a course in drafting landscape business proposals—and you probably feel a bit on your own in terms of the process. You want to write a great proposal but maybe you don’t even know where to start in order to do so.

Salespeople, no matter how good they are, forget stuff. Whether it’s leaving something off the proposal or not budgeting enough man hours for the job, these mistakes can cause hassles and be costly to your landscaping company.

In their defense, it’s a hectic job with a ton of things to keep track of day in and day out. Salespeople often have a lot on their plate and keeping track of all the minor details of a project can be challenging. Without a good system in place, estimates are sometimes left to guessing or chance.

According to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the landscape industry is comprised of 35% Hispanic workers. Many of the companies employing a Spanish-speaking workforce say that they still struggle with language barriers. They often utilize several bilingual employees to serve as translators for those employees that don’t speak any English at all.

While language can be a barrier in some aspects of business, particularly when it comes to interacting with clients or English-only speaking employees, there’s no reason to believe it has to be a barrier for everything. Despite that, we have found that landscape businesses with a lot of Spanish speaking employees are often hesitant to adopt green industry software. One of the biggest objections to adding landscape operations software is due to the fact that landscape business owners believe their Spanish-speaking workers will struggle with understanding the software and therefore it will go unused. 

How could your business change for the better if you had a crystal ball handy? What would you do differently if you could get a good read on exactly where your company’s year stands at any given moment? While the idea of peering into a crystal ball to tell your company’s future seems silly, let’s be honest. Do you forecast your year based on good intentions and a fraction of the data you need to do so? Are you staring at your company’s financials and incomplete reports just hoping it will magically happen? 

You’ve already reached a point where you know landscaping business software is necessary. You’re dealing with too many different systems that require multiple data entry and you’re just not operating as efficiently as you could be. There are simply too many sources of wasted time when it comes to running your landscape business. Having more than one system with none of them communicating with one another has made life challenging. You know things could be going much better but right now it’s all starting to feel like one big mess.

At this point you know you want an all-in-one system but you’re overwhelmed by the options out there. Beginning the process of researching companies feels like an enormous task and you don’t even know where to start.