How Landscapers Can Stay Productive During Winter

The slowest months in the lawn care and landscaping industry are typically December, January and February. What should you be doing during that time?

This is the time to do everything you were too busy to do during the spring, summer and fall. You’re so busy doing the work — the spring rush, the fall clean-ups — that you neglect business planning and strategy.

If your landscaping business is located in a region that has a slow season, there are three things you need to be thinking about that I talked about on my Landscape Business Course podcast.

1. Design. When I say design, I’m talking about things like your website. Is it clean? Is it mobile-friendly? Is there a consistent theme and design throughout? I am also talking about your intro packet — the materials and literature you give a prospective client at the time of an estimate. During the winter, you can take the time to improve the colours, logos and pictures you use for that content. Finally, I am also talk about the design of your estimate, which is something I started improving. How is it laid out? Does it have design elements? Does it have some marketing baked into it? You can include client reviews and referrals, pictures, and videos, for example. Create a beautiful package with a consistent message and experience for your customer by implementing simple, thought out design.
2. Efficiencies. Look at efficiencies in terms of processes. For example, look at your estimate process and map out the timeline — from how the lead comes in to how the sale is closed. Can you make the process more efficient?  Are there ways to improve between the phone call, taking the customers information, scheduling and sending out the estimator? If you can do that estimate from the computer rather than at the customer’s house, that cuts time out of the equation and makes the process more efficient. How efficient do you stage materials for large projects? How efficient is the workflow and traffic of your crews around the shop? Look at your different business processes and see where you can save time, energy and money.
3. Budgeting and planning. At our last Landscape Summit conference in January, we talked about business financials and how to budget your growth. We helped landscape business owners plot out their five year plans and their budgets to serve their goals. You can do this by looking at your plans and determining how much money you will need for marketing, new equipment and talent acquisition. Budget for those things, and then create a plan with an action list for every month and year.

The Winter should be a time that you take a hard look at your business, tear it apart, and dissect each aspect. It’s a time to improve and if strategically planned, can be a time to actually GROW your business.

Learn more about starting, running and growing a successful landscaping business by going to LandscapeBusinessCourse.com