Running a profitable landscaping business takes a lot of time. As the owner, you need to spin a lot of plates: paying attention to your staff, your tools, your payments, your customers’ feedback, and much more. No wonder many landscaping business owners feel stretched thin.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
There are some tasks that you can let technology automate so you can save time. Today, we’ll be sharing some tasks you can automate in your landscaping business so you can be more effective and get more done. By the end, you’ll know where you can get more of your time back to focus on other areas of business growth.
Scheduling
There are several key elements to scheduling that goes far beyond the staff. You need to document things like:
- Where and what time are today’s projects
- Who showed up for work and when (especially if they’re late or left work early)
- Which equipment was used, when was it taken, and where they should be at
- The scheduling of a new client’s project
- The start and end times for every client project
Many jobs have a clock-in station where you can see the punch-in-and-out times for all of your crew members scheduled for the work day. But your business could still be relying on paper printouts of the schedule for viewing.
When the crew has projects for the day, you may not know if they started the project on time or not unless the client calls you.
Instead of worrying about all of the what-if scenarios, automate your scheduling. This will allow for:
- New leads to schedule a time for your services
- Tracking how much work your crew is getting done and how long each project takes
- Storing client information
- An organized view of the work calendar in a format that works best for you.
For scheduling automation, software like RealGreen would be useful to save you time.
Marketing Channels
The old ways of getting your name out there don’t work as well anymore. Social media, email, search engine optimization, and even texting are the main ways your clients will reach out to you.
Your marketing is key for gaining new leads or clients and retaining your current clientele. But if you have a large contact list, typing up everything yourself isn’t efficient.
Thankfully these processes can be automated (for the most part).
By automating your marketing strategy, you can quickly send out:
- Promotions on your services
- Announcements of any specials, like referral discounts
- Payment reminders for clients who have yet to pay their balances
- News and updates about your company, like weather issues or unexpected delays
- Faster responses to inquiries on your social media pages or your website’s chat feature (if you have one)
Use automation services such as Later or Buffer for social media, and Mailchimp for newsletters, so you or your team can create the content and and schedule it for later posting. This way, you can get all your marketing communications created weeks or months in advance.
Invoicing
Once the work is done, it’s time to collect payment. But collecting cash, check, or money order isn’t an efficient way for payments to hit your business bank account.
Plus, collecting funds by hand is not the safest method. That leaves your profits and/or your crew susceptible to theft.
Online pay makes every transaction secure and quick to see in your account. Of course, your clients may forget to pay right after a project is complete.
This is why you automate your invoicing; to reduce the chance of late fees, encountering errors, and time playing phone tag.
Automating your invoicing lets you send out the bill as soon as a project is complete; your clients can then pay via credit or debit card or their online bank. Should a client forget, you can schedule payment reminders to send as well.
Quickbooks is a great essential tool for all businesses. If you’re not already automating your invoices and payments via Quickbooks, now is the time to start.
Lawn Mowing
Yes you read that right: the most effective, forward-thinking landscaping businesses are automating their bread and butter: lawn mowing!
This simplifies the work for your crew. Instead of utilizing the traditional gas-powered lawn mowers, switch over to autonomous robotic lawn mowers.
Traditional mowers mow too close to the ground, possibly leaving patches and unhealthy soil. They’re loud, disruptive, and kick up allergens.
Robotic lawn mowers, on the other hand, are small, lightweight, theft-protected, and environmentally friendly. And your clients will love the results; robotic mowers trim the tops of grass blades and let them fall into the soil, creating a natural fertilizer that keeps the lawn healthy and green. Your client’s lawns will be healthier and greener than their neighbors’ in no time.
Read: do robotic mowers have a place in your lawn care business?
As a bonus, they’re super quiet. So the client’s neighbors won’t be bothered by any noise; the fewer complaints, the better! There may be a bit of a learning curve with the transition like laying boundary wire, but it’s well worth it for your time and money.
There are plenty of top-tier robotic lawn mowers that are suited to elevate your landscaping business.
Read: the best robotic lawn mowers for lawn care pros + commercial property managers
Trying to figure out how to start am automated lawn mowing fleet for your landscaping business? Reach out to talk to us today and we’ll help get you on the right track.
Collecting Customer Reviews
Getting feedback from your clients is key to making business look good. Collecting them by hand is a bit of a hassle though. You could give your customers a card with a link for them to fill out a review form, but that takes extra work and without followup, you might not get many reviews at all.
Instead, you can automate asking for reviews, asking for them right as the task is completed. It’ll help you filter out spam or false negative reviews as well.
Depending on the automation service used, you’ll also get to reply to your reviews. This will be your chance to show prospects that you want to provide the best customer experience possible.
For this, check out Birdeye.
Equipment Maintenance
Fleet management is the way to simplify monitoring your mowers. You can check the working status, location, and mowing stats from any device.
Instead of wondering if your machines need a tuneup, constantly check in on your equipment whenever you want or need. As soon as an issue arises while it’s in use, you can let your crew know to reduce issues during a project. Learn more about it here.
Sports Field Line Marking
If you’re one of the groundskeepers or landscaping companies that help with sports field line marking, you should know about automated lime marking solutions. Some systems even allow you to queue up to four sports fields at once, design the team logo right on the field, and paint a sports field in less than 30 minutes … all while your crew is freed up to get other things done that matter to the client.
Automation Gives Your Landscaping Business Room to Grow
Time is something no business can afford to lose. Automating these tasks in your landscaping business will gain you some of your time back.
And you can use plenty of that gained time to focus on elevating your business even higher.