By Neal Glatt

Memorial Day Weekend typically marks the first opportunity for those of us in the green industry to pause for some much needed rest after a rushed spring start.  Except this year, it feels like there is no end in sight as demand for services has skyrocketed while employees have disappeared.  If it all feels too exhausting, maybe it’s time to try doing something just a little differently.

Here are three ways to level up your business to save time, increase productivity, and enjoy more profit with less stress.  To help even more, we’ve made them all free for you!

Invest in Technology

Technology has allowed many companies to increase their productivity dramatically (and speed up timelines) despite a shortage of workers.  Whether it’s a bark blower, skid steer, or Ventrac machine, it may be time to invest in something that can outperform even the strongest employee...and never calls out sick.  

While buying even more equipment can be a big undertaking, or even a little scary, it becomes much easier with a solid plan.  Check out our FREE Equipment Management course by clicking here to learn how to determine the total cost of equipment, develop an equipment strategy, and even use our buy vs. lease vs. rent calculator to determine the best solution to find your next piece of equipment.

Raise Prices

With historic demand for landscaping services and the threat of inflation and minimum wage increases on the horizon, it can pay tremendously to revisit pricing strategy.  Increased profit will allow for more investment in equipment, employees, and systems while delivering a bigger reward for the tremendous work effort everyone is contributing.  A moderate 5% to 10% increase in prices for most markets will hardly be noticed right now, and great salespeople can do much, much better.

If you need help figuring out how to determine which prospects will pay for a price increase or how to create a solid sales process, click here to take our FREE Introduction to Sales course.  Or, check out our newest sales course, Selling with Social Media to learn how to sell more with less time.

Level Up Your Crew Leaders

If some of your crews just aren’t being efficient enough or are developing sour attitudes towards the business, the problem is almost certainly the crew leader.  At least 70% of worker outcomes are a result of the manager according to Gallup, so this is the leverage point for unlocking field performance.

Our FREE course Crew Leader Onboarding is a valuable resource not only for new hires, but also for reboarding crew leaders who have the potential to improve.  Investing just one hour of their time will help them understand their role more fully and allow for quality goal setting to increase their performance.