When first starting a lawn mowing business, most contractors are simply focused on doing good work and being reliable. In many cases, growth happens naturally through word of mouth. But they hit a wall at some point. Continued growth often requires servicing a larger area, as well as more time and money spent on marketing, creating estimates, and doing other administrative tasks. Many contractors end up feeling like they’re working twice as hard for just a little more money than they made when they were smaller.
There is an easier way to break through that wall.
Adding new services and upselling current customers is an efficient way to generate incremental, profitable sales—especially when you can leverage the same employees, trucks and equipment you already have. Providing add-on services can also help set you apart from the competition and increase your value in the eyes of customers.
What do your customers need?
Seamlessly adding new services requires careful planning and execution. It starts with figuring out which additional services your existing clients need. Crew leaders should be trained to look around a property and take notes. For example:
- Are there trees or shrubs that need to be trimmed?
- Are there beds that could use some cleaning up, and maybe some fresh mulch?
- Does the lawn seem hard and compacted?
- Is the grass thinning in certain areas?
- Is there an excessive amount of thatch buildup in the lawn?
- Are there signs of weeds showing up in the lawn?
- Are there a lot of leaves, sticks and other debris that need to be cleaned up in the spring and fall?
- Are there driveways, sidewalks, patios, etc. that have snow and ice that need to be removed in the winter?
- Are there parking lots or long stretches of sidewalks that are dirty?
- Do the gutters need to be cleaned out?
From here you can assemble a list of clients who would benefit from add-on services such as light tree trimming, shrub and bed maintenance, lawn aeration, dethatching and spraying. Reaching out to these clients doesn’t have to cost much or take much time. You could simply give them a call or send them an email to let them know about the additional services you’re looking to offer. Your crew leader could even drop off a letter or sales flyer when already on site performing mowing services.
It’s also important to size up the competition. Are there already several companies offering these services? For instance, some lawn care companies that specialize in fertilizing and spraying also offer things like aerating, dethatching and overseeding. It’s possible some of your clients are already being served by these companies and have easy access to those types of services. However, as their trusted maintenance provider who is on their property every week, your clients may find value in having you provide some of those add-on services.
How can crews provide the service?
A lot of lawn maintenance companies struggle because they lack the proper operational plan to meet market demand while maintaining quality. This is especially true when diversifying into new services.
It starts with people. Will your existing people be able to quickly get up to speed on how to deliver the new service? Things like hardscaping, irrigation and lighting will require steeper learning curves than things like shrub pruning, bed maintenance and aerating. Chemical weed control will likely require some kind of state applicator’s license. Perhaps your market research has led you to conclude that there is a massive market opportunity that warrants investing in specialized skills training, or perhaps hiring additional people who already possess those specialized skills. But if you want to diversify slowly and with less risk, making sure your existing crews will be able to deliver the services quickly and correctly is important to plan for.
Part of that planning involves equipment. Many lucrative add-on services like aerating, dethatching and spraying could involve the purchase of dedicated engine-powered equipment that specializes in those tasks. Another option would be to invest in specialized attachments that are powered by your existing engine-powered equipment, i.e., tractors and mowers.
Utilizing equipment-driven attachments can provide several advantages. First, employees are already familiar with the operation of the equipment. Second, operating attachments helps increase utilization of your existing equipment—which is particularly helpful at times of the year when your existing equipment isn’t needed as much. For a lawn maintenance business, attachments like an AERA-vator Coreless Aerator, Tine-Rake Dethatcher, CleanSweep Rotary Broom, and Shielded Sprayer can help drive mower utilization and revenue generation in the early spring and fall when mowing isn’t as relentless.
Mower attachments can also help lawn maintenance companies deliver routine services better and more efficiently. For example, a Turbine Blower attachment that can move large volumes of leaves and debris can assist with fall cleanups, as can a PowerVac Collection System that vacuums leaves and debris right off a lawn. Gaining an operational advantage like that can help maintenance companies go after bigger jobs with more confidence. In some cases, that add-on service could be what compels a client to hire you to do their routine mowing and maintenance.
Promoting to grow
Once your new add-on service is up and running, it’s important to keep a close eye on both man-hours and quality so you can make any necessary adjustments before you’re too far down the wrong path. On that note, it’s really important to ask for client feedback, especially as you’re first getting started in case there are any missed expectations.
When you confirm that a client is pleased, politely ask for a testimonial. Putting together a solid library of positive reviews is an important part of marketing today, and testimonials can really help compel other clients to also buy those add-on services. Just make sure you’re able to meet demand if things really take off. Diversifying into new services is a great way to grow a lawn maintenance business, but it can also kill a business if done carelessly with no operational plan in place.
