A landscaping company will keep you busy during spring and summer, but how do you cultivate a landscaping business as temperatures drop?
Plants and flowers die off during fall and winter, but that doesn’t mean your landscaping business has to go into hibernation. Here are a few tips on how to keep your company from going dormant as the leaves start to turn.
6 Ways to Keep Your Landscaping Business from Going Dormant
Cleanup Services
As nights get chillier, yards and flower beds pile up with leaves and debris. Your busy customers don’t want to spend precious weekend hours cleaning gutters or gutting gardens. Offer them various cleanup services, ranging from small raking jobs to full yard cleanups. If you have the equipment, provide trimming services for bushes and trees.Aside from the aesthetic value, sell clients on the fact that cleaning up now will save them money in the future. Many types of grasses revitalize in fall, strengthening their root systems. If sunlight fails to reach the grass due to leaf coverage, the lawn could die. You should also remind customers who dismiss leaf collection that snow mold can take hold if unshredded leaves are left over the winter, leaving dead patches of lawn come spring.
Spring Planting
Bulbs that produce spring tulips or hyacinth only bloom if they lie in wait over the winter. Help clients get ahead of the game by planting spring flowers now.
Lawn Furniture Removal
Outdoor furniture can rust over the wet winter months. If you have a large truck, offer to take clients’ lounge chairs and glass tables to a local storage facility.
Snow Removal
Make sure you’re the first person people contact when the snow piles up. City and county offices care for major streets and city sidewalks, but people still need to get out of their driveways. Circulate your card or fliers before the first major snow, that way customers will have it on hand when they wake up to several inches of the powdery white stuff.
Holiday Lights
Have a ladder, a staple gun, and an eye for outdoor lighting? Offer to put up holiday lights on homes and businesses. Clients can provide their own strands, or you could buy the bulbs on their behalf at a premium. What goes up, must come down, so once the holidays are over, the same customers will call you to take the lights down.You’ll be spending a lot of time on rooftops, so make sure you and your staffers are insured for this type of work in case of injury.
Marketing
Shorter days mean you don’t have enough daylight for a lot of outdoor jobs, but it’s an excellent time to sit at your desk to update your marketing materials and web presence.How long has it been since you updated your website or your Facebook page? Slower months are perfect for working with a web designer to update your pages. Offer clients a discount if they follow you on social media. Consult with a search engine optimization expert to make sure you surface at the top of a Google search.
Do you have brochures and fliers for the upcoming summer season? If not, this is the best time to design printed materials to leave with customers or at local businesses. Planting seeds now will yield profits come summer.
