Expanding into new services can help lawn care companies increase revenue, improve customer retention, and stay productive during slower seasons. But adding the wrong service at the wrong time can create operational challenges, unnecessary equipment costs, and staffing issues. Before launching a new lawn care or landscaping service, business owners should carefully evaluate several key factors.
Expanding into new services can be an effective lawn care business growth strategy when approached with proper planning.
There are several questions that are important to ask, because launching a new service without proper planning can end up backfiring:
Some lawn maintenance companies think adding new services will fix their financial problems. It rarely works out that way if the root cause of the problems is tied to substandard quality, poor customer service, inaccurate estimating and pricing, or overall bad management. If those symptoms persist at the core of the company, a new service is destined to struggle too. In fact, a new service can actually accelerate a company’s decline and potential failure by causing more operational chaos and digging the financial hole even deeper.
Launching a new service can require a lot of attention with respect to sales, scheduling, training and oversight. Busy company owners are already getting pulled in a million different directions. It can be helpful when a trusted employee, perhaps a crew leader, can oversee the launch of the new service, or maybe oversee the core operation while the owner focuses their attention on the new service.
It should also be noted that some services are easier to launch than others. Add-on services that can be bolted onto an existing maintenance crew’s workload are typically more manageable than outfitting an entirely new, specialized crew.
There are many services a routine maintenance client will benefit from, i.e., dethatching, aerating, overseeding, weed control, etc. If your customers are the type who really value the appearance of their lawn, these services can be a seamless upsell. On the other hand, maximizing the potential of a new service may require penetrating a new demographic (i.e., more expensive homes) or geographic area. It’s important to identify how much time and resources will be needed to sell enough of the new service to make it worthwhile.
If you’ll be facing a lot of competition, especially from reputable companies who specialize in the service, you could be in for a bit of a battle. That said, being a one-stop shop for several services can help customers streamline their service providers, which can be of great value to them. It’s important to size up your competition to understand how you’ll need to price and sell the new service to be competitive, yet also remain profitable.
Some services, such as hardscaping, tree care, and irrigation, require new types of equipment. Some of that equipment can get a little pricey. On the other hand, there are some services that do require specialized equipment, but it’s smaller and less costly. Whatever the case, it’s essential to understand the investment required to properly equip a crew, along with how much revenue that equipment will need to generate to justify the investment.
To reduce the upfront investment needed, renting equipment could be an option–especially for services that are predominantly delivered within narrow timeframes at certain points in the year.
Another way to reduce equipment cost is to utilize specialized attachments that will work with existing mowers. Mower attachments are often on par or less expensive than dedicated machines. Plus, operating costs can be reduced because attachments don’t come with an engine or transmission that requires maintenance. Mower attachments can also provide a productivity advantage over dedicated machines, particularly dedicated machines that are larger and not as nimble as a zero-turn mower, or those that require the operator to walk behind and are more fatiguing.
Some new services are more complex and require a higher degree of knowledge and experience, such as building retaining walls, installing irrigation systems, and trimming trees. Sometimes a company will even need special licensing to perform the service, as is the case with pesticide application for weed and insect control.
On the other hand, some services are relatively easy for existing maintenance employees to learn how to deliver. Whatever the case, it’s important to understand what will be required for a crew to be able to competently deliver the service on a consistent basis.
New services should bolster a lawn maintenance company’s customer acquisition and retention, revenue and profit, and employee morale. Services that help bring in revenue and keep employees busy during slower times of the year are particularly appealing. The company just needs to do its homework and have a good plan in place for a smooth and successful launch.
If you decide that the best way to begin expanding is to start slow with seamless add-on services for your maintenance crews, Grasshopper offers numerous attachments that are designed to work efficiently with Grasshopper mowers. Then, once you’ve spread your wings a little and made your company even stronger, adding other more complex services becomes a little easier to execute from both a financial and operational standpoint. Some of the biggest and most successful landscape companies in the industry grew the exact same way–one add-on service at a time.