Owning a lawn care maintenance business is fun, but it’s also a challenge. There are several common problems that this type of business is going to face in the day to day running of things, here are just a few to look out for.
Customers
Occasionally you’ll have customers that you’ll underbid because you’re new and you still haven’t figured out the nuances of bidding. Or, customers that expect you to do everything, but don’t want to pay for it.
So, how do you ensure your customers don’t overwhelm your business? Fire the ones that aren’t making you profit. No profit, no business.
It’s certainly not easy to do. When you’re trying to start any business, the last thing you think you want to do is lose any revenue. But if a customer is actually losing you money it’s worth doing.
Your customers will also no doubt feel better if you could show that you have lawn care liability insurance.
Poor Communication
If you have multiple employees, a lack of communication can bring your new business to its knees. For instance, a sales rep may fail to inform one of your groundsmen that there is a new customer in their area that would like some work done on a particular day. That’s your business that potentially just lost a new customer and your groundsmen just lost commission.
It is so simple to set up group messaging using one of the many freely available smartphone applications out there that this kind of thing should never happen to any business. Automated messaging services are also available that can keep everybody informed of what is happening and where.
Improperly organised paperwork
As your business grows you are going to find that the paperwork builds up. Timesheets, contracts, estimates, field notes, service notes and invoices… Just a single customer and two employees can create more paperwork than you would probably imagine and managing it all can eat away at your personal time, consuming your energy so insidiously that you don’t notice until it’s too late.
Fortunately, this no longer needs to be an issue. There are huge amounts of solutions to be found on the market that were designed specifically to eliminate or at least greatly reduce paperwork. Field service management software is becoming increasingly popular, but you need to be selective.
Not all FSM software is going to be the right fit for your business and you could end up wasting more valuable time. What you need is a solution that enables sales opportunity tracking, makes scheduling easier and allows for work to marked as complete. All employees should be able to access these features from wherever they may be so everybody is always kept up to date.
The correct software package can save a lot of time, money and sanity. When time and money is saved it naturally frees up resources that can help your business grow. There are many other issues associated with running a business, such as permits and licences, making sure employees have the legal right to work etc. And these also should be looked at very carefully lest you fall foul of the law