Being a landscape/snow business owner is hard. There are a million things vying for your attention, and
it’s usually the most urgent that gets it. Meanwhile, your business keeps going – but is it growing? Has it
increased in value over the last year? The truth is that most landscape business owners have no idea
what their business is worth or how it’s actually doing. They’re usually fantastic technicians, happy to be
working IN the business, but rarely ON the business. But knowing the value of your business, and
understanding the steps needed to take to increase its value are critical for the growth and health of the business. It will increase profitability now and also make your business more attractive to potential buyers – whether you’re looking at selling now or in the future.

Let’s take a look at six pillars of business and identify some best practices and tools you can implement
fairly easily to increase efficiency, productivity...

This week in our strategic planning series, we’re focusing on marketing and sales. This is often an area that we give little attention to. We generally focus on providing an excellent product or service – and we should. But if we don’t let people know how our excellent product or service will enhance their life, and why we’re the best choice for that product or service, we will likely not experience the type of growth we want.

MARKETING

Marketing can be thought of as all activities a business carries out to:

• Identify its target market
• Prepare promotional material designed to appeal to ideal client
• Communicate the material in a cost-effective manner
• Distribute the product or service to the target market

To be effective at marketing, you should be doing each of these four activities. If you have a great product or service but communicate it to the wrong market segment, the marketing won’t be effective. If you have great marketing material, but...

A strategic plan defines who you are as a business and lists concrete actions to achieve your goals, so creating one takes time and thought. Let’s discuss the W’s of strategic planning:

Who should be involved?

Clearly the owner should be involved. And depending on the type of plan you’re creating, you might also want to include division leaders, administration, sales staff, operations management and a facilitator.

What should be discussed or decided?

The strategic plan meeting should identify or review the company vision, mission and core values, a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, company goals and objectives as well as an action plan.

When should you prepare a strategic plan?

A strategic plan should be created annually, reviewed quarterly and discussed weekly.

Where should the meeting take place?

It has been our experience that the most productive meetings take place outside of the office. We recommend booking an offsite location...

Written by Jacki Hart, President, Consulting By Hart

Every now and then, something comes across your desk or into your inbox that is worth paying attention to. If you’re a contractor who sells services to your customers, which include labour and materials, equipment and overhead costs, then this article is worth your time to read. Unless you are either entirely recession proof in your market, or aren’t trying to improve profit in your business. But if you are working hard to figure out a way to be more profitable, read on.

Sometimes the most successful businesses have all of the cutting-edge technologies, software, apps, equipment and training. And some businesses have all of that, and still aren’t profitable enough to pay the owner well, build equity and an engaged, career-minded team.

Enter J. Paul Lamarche (JPL), and his industry-altering pricing system. JPL’s estimating and pricing system was officially adopted by...

In speaking with clients, one issue that is never far from their minds is cash flow. We found the article below from FBC to be really helpful. The original article can be found here.

When small business owners find themselves facing unexpected shortfalls or can’t pay bills during slow months, it’s a sign that they’re not monitoring their cash flow.

For a business, running out of cash is like getting stuck in quicksand: you sink deeper and deeper into the red as you borrow from one area to pay another. As you do your best to stay afloat, your business obligations – from payroll to loan payments – become increasingly hard to meet.

The good news is that you never have to let it get that far.

According to Kevin Cochran, co-founder of the wealth building and financial literary training series Enriched Academy, prevention is the best medicine when it comes the financial health of your business.

By avoiding the following 5 cash-flow mistakes,...

If you’ve been in business for five years or more then it’s time to analyze the health of your landscape company. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) analyze specific systems, job functions, and the financial state of your company. You then take the results from your KPI and find new ways to be more efficient, bring new clients through your door, and improve employee performance, to name a few.

What are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

KPIs are measurements. They’re a performance indicator to test on all of your company’s systems. For example, you can perform a KPI in your operations department, or you can do a KPI on your profits and losses.

In a nutshell, KPIs evaluate the success of your green or white company or a particular system within your lawn and landscape organization.

A KPI’s results tell part of your company’s story, such as

• Your success at reaching specific targets within your company
•  What’s working and what needs...

Why Hire a Professional Bookkeeper?

As a small business owner, you need accurate and up-to-date financial information so you can make the best decisions for your business.

As your business grows and you hire employees, or take on more customers, keeping track of your business expenses and ensuring your books are accurate becomes more complex and time-consuming.

It’s a lot to keep track of while also running your business – sales, expenses, salary payments, and any other money that goes in and out of your business.

You know how important it is to keep good records, not only for CRA compliance and protecting yourself in case of an audit, but also if you want to sell your business down the line.

And frankly, you’re sick of staring at spreadsheets or teaching yourself how to use accounting software. You find yourself falling behind and losing track of receipts, and you’re afraid of missing out on important deductions or overdue invoices that cost you money. You...

Being a landscape business owner is hard. There are a million things vying for your attention, and it’s usually the most urgent that gets it. Meanwhile, your business keeps going – but is it growing? Has it increased in value over the last year? The truth is that most landscape business owners have no idea what their business is worth or how it’s actually doing. They’re usually fantastic technicians, happy to be working IN the business, but rarely ON the business. But knowing the value of your business, and understanding the steps needed to take to increase its value are critical for the growth and health of the business. It will increase profitability now and also make your business more attractive to potential buyers – whether you’re looking at selling now or in the future.

Let’s take a look at six pillars of business and identify some best practices and tools you can implement fairly easily to increase efficiency, productivity and profit....

The original article by Kate Heinz and updated by Jessica Powers can be found HERE. 

Organizational culture influences the success of your company, directly affecting the sort of candidates you attract and the employees you hold onto. There are several different types of organizational culture too; so you have to find the one that works best for you.

What Is Organizational Culture?

Organizational culture, or company culture, is defined as the shared values, attitudes and practices that characterize an organization. It’s the personality of your company, and it plays a large part in your employees’ overall satisfaction.

Having a strong organizational culture is important because it helps attract the right candidates and it keeps them engaged as employees. According to a 2019 Glassdoor study, 77 percent of adults would evaluate a company’s culture before applying to an open position, with more than half ranking an organization’s...

The original article by Alan Kohll can be found HERE.

Company culture is an integral part of business. It affects nearly every aspect of a company. From recruiting top talent to improving employee satisfaction, it’s the backbone of a happy workforce. Without a positive corporate culture, many employees will struggle to find the real value in their work, and this leads to a variety of negative consequences for your bottom line.

According to research by Deloitte, 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct corporate culture is important to a business’ success. Deloitte’s survey also found that there is a strong correlation between employees who claim to feel happy and valued at work and those who say their company has a strong culture.

There’s a reason why companies who are named as a Best Place to Work see so much success. These organizations tend to have strong, positive corporate cultures that help employees feel and perform...