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Try Horizon360’s New Template Options

Attributed to: Dave Francis, senior marketing manager at Toro

The newest addition to Horizon360® has arrived. Say hello to customizable job templates. This new feature makes it easier than ever for businesses to achieve a streamlined workflow. Users can create templates for jobs, services, pricing and scheduling, then use them across any client. The more templates you create and reuse for clients, the quicker these processes will be — and the sooner you can start the physical work.

How it Works
First things first, build out your desired template. The template creation process will differ depending on what you’re using the template for, but just like the entire Horizon360 platform, the process is very intuitive. Once it’s built, you can reuse it as many times as you’d like. When you go to create jobs, select the customers you need, then the specific template you want to use. It’s a smart way to jumpstart the process and build efficiency into the daily workflow. Before you know it, you’ll have built-in shortcuts for several tasks and have mastered customizing them to fit each client’s unique needs.

Why You Need to Try It
Using a standardized workflow for each client affects businesses in three major ways: it reduces the time spent on administration, frees up time for other pressing tasks and increases the overall efficiency of your business. The best news? Increased efficiency gives you the space to take on more clients. For many businesses, that’s their number one goal — consistent growth.

More Benefits
Horizon360 standardizes workflows in other ways, too. These automated and streamlined features put time back into your busy schedule, giving you space to grow your business.

  1. Consolidates client and crew information: Simply adopting the software consolidates information into one clean, organized dashboard.
  2. Streamlines bookkeeping process: Users can sync customer, employee and expense data to QuickBooks® Online — and invoices can be sent and paid through Horizon360.
  3. Automatically notifies crews: When you edit a crew’s schedule, they’ll automatically receive a notification through the Horizon360 app.
  4. Automates customer communication: Keep your customers in the know by sending automated reminders about upcoming appointments, invoices, quotes, promotions and more with Horizon360’s CRM tool.
  5. Optimizes routes: Auto-optimize each crew’s route for the day based on distance or drive time to minimize the time in the truck.
  6. Enhances vehicle and equipment tracking: Tracking devices auto-start jobs and track time spent in different modes, including work, idle, transport and offsite modes.

All the ways Horizon360 standardizes workflow band together to increase the overall efficiency of a business. Request a demo to see these features in real time and discover how they can positively benefit your business.

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Build Your Business by Focusing on Efficiency

Attributed to: Dave Francis, senior marketing manager at Toro

Is it time to take your business to the next level? Don’t quite know where to start? The key is to locate inefficiencies in your workflow — and turn your weaknesses into strengths. Inefficiencies could look like spending too much time on invoices when you could be out securing new business, or a struggling machine that tends to break down on the job. These scenarios cost you valuable time and money. When you’re ready to level up, becoming more efficient should be at the top of your list. It can make the most monumental difference in profitability.

How to Locate Inefficiencies
As an owner or supervisor, it can be tough to pinpoint these inefficiencies. No matter how you swing it, you can’t be everywhere at once. It’s simply impossible to see and control everything.

First, focus on what you can control. Think about how you can get more out of your day. Making your daily tasks more efficient will give you time to redirect your focus to business-building activities. If you don’t have pockets of time to put toward improvement, you’ll remain stagnant, chugging along at the same, consistent pace.

Once you’ve optimized your workflow, turn the focus to the tougher aspect to optimize — your crews. There are a few ways you can identify inefficiencies within your crew’s workday.

  1. First, you can talk it out. Talk through what a normal day looks like for them, step by step and as detailed as possible. Ask about how the crew works together, if they prefer certain machines over others or if any machinery needs to be replaced. Either record your session or take notes so you can reference the conversation later on.
  2. The second option is to join the crew for a day of work. This allows you to observe the workflow firsthand and gather insights based on what you see. You may notice items that wouldn’t have come up in conversation. Ask questions when they come up and again, be sure to take notes.
  3. Lastly, consider an equipment tracking solution. Horizon360® Connect, a software available through the Horizon360 app supporting Toro Revolution equipment, is one example. The Revolution series consists of battery-powered machinery made for landscape contractor use. Once your machines are synced with Horizon360 Connect, you’ll have real-time access to GPS info, estimated runtime, battery life updates, service reminders, historical usage and more. Having this information handy on a smartphone app allows business owners, supervisors, maintenance personnel and crew members the chance to always be in the know

Just like Horizon360, Horizon360 Connect is a solution for keeping your team and equipment organized and productive, day after day. If you own a piece of Revolution equipment, download the Horizon360 app, create a free account and add your equipment. Then, you can start tracking and know exactly where your equipment is located, what it’s doing and how much battery life remains.

You’re constantly on the lookout for ways to improve your business — and after reading this, you can start today. Analyze your workflow for inefficiencies on your own or use a tool to help you get there. Either way, you’ll be bettering your company and be on the path to boosting profit margins.

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Upgrade Your Operations This Off-Season

Attributed to: Dave Francis, senior marketing manager at Toro

Business management software shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should be a priority. Why? It can make an immense impact on your business’s organization, efficiency and bottom line. The offseason is the perfect time to evaluate what worked for you in 2022 — and what didn’t. You likely use the offseason to get your machines in tip-top shape, but you can use this time to get your business in tip-top shape. Implementing business management software helps you do just that. Here are five actions you can complete right now to prepare you and your business management software for a winning season.

1. Learn the Ropes
Now is a great time to put business management software into place given the naturally slower pace of work. You’ll have time to set up clients, crews, and jobs, and time to figure out how your company can best use the tool. That way, by the busy season, you’ll be able to maximize the software’s possibilities and in turn, boost your bottom line and grow your business.

2. Consolidate Business Operations
With a software platform, you can access every aspect of your business in one place. Job scheduling and estimating, employee tracking and timesheets, customer information and more are located within one convenient dashboard. Jobs don’t get forgotten, invoices don’t disappear, and checks don’t get lost in the mail thanks to the online payment offering.

3. Upload Customer Information
Adding customer information into the software is simple, especially if you choose Horizon360. Just upload an Excel document that works with QuickBooks® and the data is automatically entered into the system. From there, you can add new customers straight into the software at any time.

4. Install and Test Tracking Devices
Track both your crew and your equipment using tracking devices. The devices can be installed on any piece of machinery with a standard 12-volt battery, no matter the brand. Getting tracking devices set up during the offseason gives you a chance to ensure they’re operating correctly and are ready to go when the busy season arrives.

By tracking vehicles, you can see how long a crew is on a specific job site. By tracking equipment, you can see how long a specific piece of equipment is used. Having this data at your fingertips helps you locate inefficiencies and accurately address them — rather than using trial and error. Greater efficiency means more jobs completed and in the big picture translates to higher profit margins.

5. Set Up Route Optimizations
Building routes is an easy way to increase efficiency. When routes are optimized, your crews spend less time in their trucks and more time onsite. As new jobs are added, you can continually optimize routes throughout the season with a few simple steps. Depending on the package you use, Horizon360 can optimize routes for you by distance or drive time, as well.

If you’re looking for landscape business software that does it all, try out Horizon360 now. Its simple, easy-to-learn dashboard is built by contractors, for contractors just like you. When you need it, expert support is available and ready to help on your terms — phone, email or chat. Choose from the free Essential tier, enhanced Premium Subscription or Unlimited Subscription based on your business’s individual needs.

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How to Simplify Invoicing with Business Management Software

Attributed to: Dave Francis, senior marketing manager at Toro

We estimate landscape businesses lose track of up to 10% of invoices in the daily shuffle. That’s a huge number. And guess what? Losing 10% of invoices can equate to losing 10% of revenue or more.

No business owner intends to work for free, but it can happen due to the number of moving parts it takes to run a business. Luckily, business management software can help ensure you get paid. When you use automatic payment processing, every single invoice gets sent — and sent in a format that makes it easy for customers to pay. Here’s how software simplifies the process:

Introduces Foolproof Payment Methods
The traditional invoicing method involves printing and mailing the invoice to customers and having them mail a check back. While that method works, it’s not foolproof. Today’s customers expect more convenience, security and protection. How do you give them that? Provide a solution that’s instantaneous, simple, and gives customers peace of mind. Automatic payment processing creates invoices for every completed job, and after you approve, sends them directly to customers. You don’t let any invoices slip through the cracks and they get to conveniently pay the invoice online — it’s a win-win.

Promotes Organization
Invoices won’t be as likely to slip through the cracks if you’re able to stay organized. That’s easier said than done unless you have business management software in place. Certain software can ensure all invoices are generated and sent out, then keep track of the payment status, as well.

Easy to Implement and Use
If it’s too complicated, you aren’t going to use the tool to its potential. And if that’s the case, what’s the point? Instead of falling into that trap, choose something intuitive, manageable and impactful. Horizon360® fits that bill to a “T.” The left side navigation bar remains visible no matter where you are within the software, allowing you to easily move from one task to the next. Other intuitive features include drag-and-drop scheduling, easy job creation, and the ability to sync customer data to QuickBooks® Online.

How Horizon360 Works
The Horizon360 payment processing feature collects recently completed jobs and sends out the invoices. You choose the frequency for each customer: monthly, bi-weekly, or immediately after service, and the software takes care of the rest.

First, an email is generated and sent to the customer, notifying them that an invoice is available. Then, the customer clicks on the link and makes the payment. That’s it! Repeat customers can save their payment information on file for an easy process, every time.

The payments feature is standard and available to all subscribers.

The Benefits of Automated Tasks
Not only do automatic payments prevent lost invoices, but they also save you valuable time. As a business owner, you’re juggling so much during the day that operational items can get pushed outside of business hours. That means you’re making calls and mailing invoices on nights or weekends — when you should be recharging with family and friends.

Automating certain tasks immediately lightens your workload, which is hard to put a price tag on. With the extra time and help, you just might be able to take a vacation. Or enjoy your time at home without a to-do list looming over your head.

When you’re ready to simplify both your work and home life, Horizon360 is here for you. As you introduce more and more automated features, your days will become more manageable and enjoyable. More time to focus on the work is what we all want, right? Payment processing is a great place to start.

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What is CRM and Does Your Landscaping Business Need it?

Attributed to: Dave Francis, senior marketing manager at Toro

Without a doubt, your customers are of utmost importance to your landscaping business. It goes without saying that your customers bring in the revenue. But how can you build on your relationship with them to help strengthen their loyalty — and facilitate growth of your business?

One option is customer relationship management, or CRM, which is a type of software that helps you manage your sales pipeline, promote positive lead interactions, understand customer insights, and improve business relationships.

If you’re like many businesses, you may be using tools like Excel and Quickbooks to keep track of your existing and prospective customer information. But as you grow, you may realize that these types of tools simply aren’t substantial enough to support your growth — and they certainly aren’t capable of all the vital and beneficial functions of a CRM, such as sending personalized and engaging emails to customers and prospects with ease.

A great place for landscaping companies to start is with business management software like Toro’s Horizon360®, which has a built-in CRM tool with email capabilities. After all, enhancing your communication with your customers is now more important than ever.

4 Advantages of CRM Email Marketing
CRM benefits are many, and CRM tools that have an email marketing feature bring even more benefits to your landscaping business. For starters, email can build awareness, trust and loyalty with your customer and prospect base. Plus, it can lead to increased website visits, phone calls, conversions, and ultimately, sales. Here are some other noteworthy advantages to consider:

  1. Email drives high ROI — Few other marketing tactics (including newer communication channels such as social media) deliver the ROI that email marketing can, time and time again. Email marketing can generate a return of many times the initial investment, so it’s no wonder it remains a vital and effective marketing strategy for small businesses and large enterprises alike.
  2. CRM email marketing allows for easy 1-to-1 messaging — CRM makes email outreach highly appealing due to collecting customers’ and prospects’ personal data, creating a holistic view of the recipient, and crafting emails based on it. Customers are craving a 1-on-1 experience with your business. Research shows that 80%1 of people are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences. That’s huge. Luckily, modern CRM email marketing tools cater to your audience’s individual preferences and behaviors — and even address them by name. In fact, emails that include the recipient’s first name have a much higher click-through rate than those that don’t address the recipient’s name.
  3. You can create customized communication journeys — CRM email marketing allows you to build customized communication journeys for each recipient and, for instance, manage the frequency of emails accordingly. It makes prospects think of your emails as timely, valuable information and not impersonal spam messages.
  4. Almost everyone uses email — Email is a free, convenient, widely preferred form of communication that people can pull up on their computers, smartphones, and smart watches — and it’s never out of arm’s reach. Statista, a major market and consumer data research company, projects that by 2023 there will be 4.5 billion email users worldwide — over half of the world’s population. Email continues to grow and become a staple for the masses.

The bottom line is that email is now a part of how businesses operate. If you aren’t using it, you’re behind — especially considering how the all-digital, work-from-home world has grown. Digital communication is more important now than ever before. 76%2 of customers say it’s easier than ever to take their business elsewhere, and it’s true. There are so many options in our current world, and it’s not hard to seek them out. Just imagine if three-fourths of your customers left you for a more digital-focused brand. Or if you gained three-fourths of a competitor’s customers after implementing digital strategies.

If your landscape company aligns with the points above, it might be time to try using a CRM with email capabilities, such as the one built into Toro’s Horizon360. You might be surprised how easy it is to communicate with your customers, build a solid relationship, keep them informed and engaged — and grow your business.

  1. According to the Epsilon data and research team.
  2. According to Salesforce.

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How to Create and Track a Budget

Attributed to: Dave Francis, senior marketing manager at Toro

If you’re just starting out or you’re relatively new to the landscaping business, creating a budget may not be at the top of your list of priorities. But the simple fact is that you should have a budget for your known expenses.

A budget is a critical tool for a landscaping contractor. It not only helps you make sure you’re on track to meet your goals each month, but also helps you plan for the future. Knowing your numbers is also key to pricing jobs accurately and making sure you’re hitting your profit margins. A landscape business budget template or business management software like Toro’s Horizon360® is a great place to start.

The Importance of Tracking Actual Expenses Against What You’ve Budgeted
Another benefit of having a budget is being able to track when your actual expenses exceed what you were expecting for the month.

By comparing your actual expenses against what you have budgeted, you can see where your challenges are and make adjustments to make timely decisions before you run out of financial resources.

Direct Expenses Versus Overhead
When creating and tracking your budget, be sure to categorize your expenses as direct expenses or overhead. A lawn care business budget template should help you track your direct expenses and overhead separately.

Direct expenses are the expenses you have as a result of normal operations as a landscaping contractor. This includes things like materials, labor, fuel and other costs of running equipment. These costs are variable and often fluctuate from month to month based on the volume of work you do.

Overhead represents the ongoing costs that are required to run your business. This includes rent, utilities and insurance on your facility, as well as office equipment and supplies, and management and administrative salaries. These costs typically remain the same, no matter how much work you’re doing.

Apply Overhead to the Work You Do and Understand Your True Costs
As a landscaping contractor, you need to know how much it costs you to do the work so you know how much to charge customers. Rather than simply calculating labor and materials and marking it up, it’s important to take your overhead into account. Otherwise, you run the risk of pricing your services too low to meet your profit goals — or even too high, which could make you less competitive.

For accurate pricing, some amount of overhead should be allocated to each job. To do this, add up your weekly overhead costs and divide that total by the number of hours of direct labor you average per week. Multiply that amount by the number of hours you estimate the job will take and add it to your estimate.

Let Software Do the Heavy Lifting
If you’re looking for a landscape business budget template, Toro’s Horizon360 business management software is the perfect solution because it can do all of this for you. In fact, Horizon360 can help you manage budgets, track profitability and calculate overhead at the customer, job and/or crew level.

In addition to job tracking and scheduling, Horizon360 includes powerful tools for analyzing your costs and expenses to help you optimize pricing. It’s easy to use and navigate, and expert support is available by phone, email or chat. Streamline your business and plan for the future by managing your budget with Horizon360. Request a demo and see what it can do for you.

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Improve Efficiency to Combat Labor Shortages in the Landscape Industry

By: Dave Francis, senior marketing manager at Toro

Fortunately for landscape contractors, as homeowners spent more time at home they looked to professionals to improve and maintain exterior spaces and that trend has not yet slowed. However, the seasonal nature of landscape work has always made hiring the right people difficult, but the global pandemic has worsened labor shortages.

One benefit of the ongoing, incoming work is that — with an efficient operation — contractors are able to pay higher wages. Attracting the right talent will mean you have the best team to get the work done.

Use these three tactics to grow your business and increase efficiency.

Consider Your Equipment Strategy
Which pieces of your fleet are providing the most value? Should anything be replaced or repaired to make operations run more efficiently? Be sure to ask your employees who use the equipment day-in and day-out. Strategically work to align your equipment with what's needed to achieve your goals.

Strengthen Client Relationships
Focus on building your relationship with current clients. Those that haven't scaled back services are an opportunity for growth. Do they know your full set of offerings? Do you have a vision for their exterior space? Even if they don't add on more services right away, you've established a relationship and opened the door for future growth.

Embrace Technology
Obtain vital information using landscape management software to help drive profit. This technology helps pinpoint inefficiencies, provides ways to improve, and frees up time for important tasks. Combining this data with business management software allows you to see what is actually profitable and make the best decisions for you and your business.

Toro's business management software, Horizon360®, is a great example of how to gain efficiency. You can track your crews' whereabouts, drive behavior, productivity and schedules with the software and small tracking devices.

By optimizing your operations, you can spend your dollars in the most-needed places, like employees wages to attract great labor. Additionally, you can get more done with less labor by increasing productivity. Technology puts you a step above other contractors who aren't focused on efficiency.

Learn more about how to work more efficiently and run more profitably with Horizon360.

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Level Up Your Landscape Operations with Business Management Software

Attributed to: Dave Francis, senior marketing manager at Toro

Owning and operating a lawn maintenance and landscaping business is complex. To do it successfully, it takes the right tools and resources. However, our research shows 57% of contractors still use paper logbooks to manage their work.

Equipment tracking, enhanced customer communications and connecting crews can set you apart from the competition. We launched Horizon360TM to make it possible.

Simple and Effective
Making an impact doesn’t have to be complicated. Horizon360’s navigation makes it easy to locate the schedule, create a new job, or import invoices into Quickbooks®Online. It’s easy for your crew too with notifications for relevant new jobs and same-day schedule changes with no extra effort from you. Use Horizon360 to:

  • Manage employees, crew and equipment
  • Create and manage recurring jobs
  • Maintain customer information
  • Manage customer jobs
  • Schedule and assign work
  • Track completed and uncompleted work
  • Track crews and equipment
  • Analyze crew and asset productivity
  • Manage budgets
  • Track profitability
  • Calculate overhead at the customer, job and/or crew level
  • Automate invoicing
  • Analyze finances
  • View and size potential customer properties remotely
  • Create estimates
  • Manage leads

Data that Matters
Can you improve route scheduling, equipment, or pricing structure? By looking at your data and insights in Horizon360, you can confidently make decisions that affect productivity, your bottom line and profit margins. You can also sync your customer, employee, and expense data in Quickbooks®Online with the click of a button.

Equipment & Crew Tracking
Track every piece of machinery that has a standard 12-volt battery, no matter the brand, with the easy-install tracking device for vehicles and equipment. See exactly when and how long equipment is used and how long the crew is on a specific job.

Cameron Duncan, owner of GrassMaster Lawn Service in Poplar Bluff, Missouri explains, "Our favorite feature of the Horizon360 app is the ability to track our equipment in real-time and clock in and out of job sites automatically. It allows us to see how long our equipment is sitting, how long it is working, and how long we are spending between job sites."

Installing and using the tracking devices is easy and the data can make a noticable difference in how the crew operates.

Preparation is Key
Plan ahead for unexpected events, like a snowstorm or emergency repairs. Enter clients and locations in advance so when the time comes, assigning crew members to jobs with efficient routes gets them up and running as quickly as possible.

When weather days, snow removal, changes in service and other events happen, every minute impacts productivity. It’s simple to build efficient routes for jobs with no known date. These on-demand jobs can also be added to existing routes. Edit jobs and routes, and notify your team in real time.

Do the leg work in advance and you’ll make keeping your business schedule flexible and efficient look easy. The more prepared you are, the more satisfied customers you’ll have at the end of the day.

Access Anywhere
The Horizon360 app allows the team to see schedules, important notifications and field notes. Horizon360 will automatically track jobs and turn them into invoices waiting for your approval. Job notes and proof-of-service photos can all be added to the invoice so you & your customers know exactly what happened on every job.

Support as Needed
Should you have questions along the way, Toro team members are available to answer questions via chat, phone, or email. Support & training is unlimited and free.

Take your operations to the next level while making things easier on yourself and your team with Horizon360.

QuickBooks® is a registered trademark of Intuit, Inc.

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The Importance of Having Your Business Organized and How Landscape Business Software Can Help

Set up your business for long-term success with the organization needed to understand its inner workings, increase profits, and impress your customers.

While it is possible to track some items of your business manually, using landscape business software makes it fast and easy to monitor not only what you’re currently tracking, and also provide important business insights for you to take action on.

Understand your Business
As a landscape contractor, the better your information is, the more confident you can be in your business decisions.

It’s important to start with a baseline for how your business is performing. If a certain type of job isn’t profitable, it doesn’t make sense to increase your number of similar jobs. If a crew is less efficient, what are the possible reasons? If there is room for improvement in routing, billing, or cutting costs, you’ll want to make changes.

The fastest and easiest way to get organized is using landscape business software — like Horizon360. The software will help you get a handle on your margins all the way down to the specific job or client and it will help you know which crews and pieces of equipment are the most efficient. You can easily adjust routes and jobs with real-time updates, and you can get a better picture of all costs and profits.

When you’re organized and using landscape business software, you see benefits in day-to-day operations, like knowing where your crews are and for how long, updating routes and jobs and sending real-time updates, and sharing field notes and proof-of-service photos with customers. You’ll also see benefits over time by getting insights on how changes affect productivity and opportunities to become more profitable.

Make It More Profitable
Once you have a good understanding of where your business stands, you can then determine the most logical places to improve and grow and the best times to do so. Your goals may be around:

  • New business
  • Expanding services with existing clients
  • Growing your team
  • Changing the type of jobs your team specializes in
  • Upgrading your fleet
  • Building on insights realized through your landscape business software

Not all goals are created equal. By understanding your current business, you’ll be able to set goals that are based on data, which is significantly better than a gut feeling. If you haven’t heard of SMART goals, let us introduce you. "SMART" is an acronym for individual pieces of a goal that can help you create and meet your landscape business goals. Each contains important characteristics so you can hit your milestones.

  • Specific. Specify the who, the what, and the how of the goal. This portion of your goal assigns specific action to specific people using a specific method.
  • Measurable. Assign a specific percentage of change, number, dollar amount, or other measurable indicator to your goal. This portion allows you to determine if you are successful.
  • Attainable. Check to make sure your goal is realistic and attainable. Look to your landscape business software for insights when developing your goal. Outline the insights and data that shows the goal can be achieved.
  • Relevant. Determine if your goal is relevant to your specific business. Once organized, you’ll have a better understanding of which opportunities have the greatest potential to positively impact your business.
  • Time-Bound. Assign a time frame to the goal. This will provide motivation for action to achieve the goal. Check to ensure this is attainable and relevant.

Organizing your business is a necessary step to setting and achieving your goals. Intuition is good, but the power of data is great. It gives you the information you need to set SMART goals and the confidence to set your crews in motion, knowing they can be successful.

Impress Your Clients
Put your best foot forward with clients both short- and long-term. By using landscape and lawn care business software to organize your business, it’s easy to provide value-added features like:

  • Proof-of-service photos
  • Automated payments
  • Quick contracts
  • More accurate bids, which you can turn into jobs

Your business will look more professional and increase your customers’ confidence in your services.

By organizing your business, you’ll also be able to make better decisions on which customer jobs are best for business and what price points you need to hit to be successful. Gaining a deeper understanding of your business, setting yourself up for future success, and ensuring your customers are confident in your services are all crucial to the long-term health of your business. Landscape business software makes it easier to do all three.

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How to Use Technology to Save on Landscape Labor Costs

Landscape labor costs are one of the most critical pieces of the profit puzzle and one of the hardest to control. Technology is enabling landscape contractors to manage their businesses — including landscaping labor — better than ever.

The data-driven insights boost your bottom line. The technology makes it possible to track productivity, analyze costs and expenses, optimize routes and save on landscape labor costs. Best of all, the technology is easy to use.

Move Your Margins
Making money is all about managing money. To do that you have to understand your profit margins.

To start, let’s talk about the money you make in sales. Undoubtedly that total is an important number, but it really doesn’t mean a lot on its own. The next step is to subtract the cost of anything spent on a job, including materials, equipment, landscaping labor and any other relevant expenses. This gets you to your gross profit. Finally, subtract all additional expenses — often overhead items like phones, vehicles, office space and other recurring costs — from your revenue to reach your net income, a true indicator of profitability.

To increase your net income, you have to move your margins, and there are a few ways to do that favorably:

  • increase your rates
  • decrease your costs
  • become more efficient
  • some combination of the three

Keep Your Head Above Water
Don’t make assumptions or look the other way when expenses come in. It may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be hard to stay on top of it all. Lean into technology to help manage all your expenses. Horizon360 makes it incredibly easy to sync customer, employee and expense data with QuickBooks® Online.

Separate your expenses into costs related to materials and services — like landscaping labor costs — and those related to overhead. Make sure you are accounting for all of your income. Take a look, what is your labor cost relative to your revenue with other expenses removed? Can you afford to pay more to attract the landscaping labor talent you need?

Calculate expenses and income all the way down to the type of job or the client and you’ll be able to easily see what jobs are the most profitable for your business. Then you can make smart decisions about what jobs to take and accurately price to ensure you’re meeting your goals.

Accurately tracking income and expenses by job is the best way for landscape contractors to know if they are hitting profit margins and understanding their opportunities for growth. If you bury your head in the sand, you won’t see those opportunities walking by.

Go Beyond the Competition
It makes sense to be careful about your expenses. Analyze which ones are worth it and which are a drain on your business. It’s also important to ensure you’re charging an adequate amount to not only stay afloat, but also to achieve your goals, without pricing yourself out of your market.

Horizon360 can help you better analyze your numbers to make sure you’re hitting your margins, but it is also great at optimizing your landscape labor costs. Here is where you can differentiate yourself from other landscape contractors in terms of profitability.

Think about your business as it exists today. Are there places you can find efficiencies in landscape labor costs using technology?

  • Are your crew members running the most efficient routes? Know definitively that you are scheduling efficient routes, saving both time and fuel.
  • Where are your crew members? Did they follow the assigned routes? Are you worried about burnout because they never take a break, or are you worried that those breaks stretched on too long or perhaps took them on an unapproved detour? Track employee and equipment productivity.
  • Are some crews more efficient than others? Is it worth upgrading or adding equipment to help them become more efficient? Optimize efficiency across crews, equipment and customers.
  • Are crew members bringing in additional business by upselling or spreading the word? Can they create a work order right when the customer requests the work?
  • If the weather changes or there’s a change to a schedule, is it easy to alert your crew? Easily flex schedules to add or edit on-demand jobs and push updates to crews in real time.
  • Is it easy for your team to check in and out? Enable employees to clock in/out from a mobile device or a tablet in a shop. Track, edit and approve work hours and sync the information with payroll.
  • Does all of the work make it through to invoicing and payment? Avoid lost or forgotten jobs and missed invoices.

The real superpower of Horizon360 is the ability to turn your business into a machine that makes everyone’s lives easier. It makes work easier for your crew, it shows more value to your clients, and it frees you up to focus on profitability and growth.

Charge and Pay Appropriately
Once you know your total revenue and costs as well as profits per job, you can safely adjust your pricing and wages. Determine if you could and should charge more on specific jobs. At the same time, analyze if you could pick up more business if you are willing and able to drop any prices.

It’s not only the money coming in that can be adjusted. With the right data, you’ll be able to take a look at your landscape labor costs and determine if they need to be adjusted up or down. If you can’t stay afloat with current wages and there is nowhere else to cut costs, you’ll need to lower wages, or pay new employees a lower rate. On the flip side, if you have healthy margins, you can raise wages or offer bonus incentives to employees, which can also help attract and keep the best talent.

Don’t Stop Now
From those first confident decisions technology enables you to make, you’ll be bettering your business. It’s important to note, there is no set-it-and-forget-it solution. It is leaps and bounds easier to make good landscape business decisions with Horizon360. But to achieve ongoing optimal results from your landscaping labor cost investments, you need to stay tuned in to what the data and your crews are telling you.

Look at each job and ask the team to see if there are opportunities to increase efficiency and better distribute work within each crew and across crews, keeping their wellbeing in mind. Gain buy-in and great ideas for the future. How you use technology and how you interact with your staff play a huge role in your future success.

Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate lawn care and landscape profits?
To calculate lawn care and landscape profits, subtract all costs from revenue to determine net profits. If possible, do this on a per-job basis so you can determine which jobs are the most profitable. Lawn care and landscaping business software can help make this an easy process.

Profit = Revenue – Cost of goods and services

Why should I calculate lawn care and landscape profits?
Calculating lawn care and landscape profits allows you to make informed decisions on how to run your business, which jobs to pursue and what to charge for those jobs.

How much should I charge for a lawn care or landscape job?
How much you charge for a lawn care or landscape job depends on the expected income, expected costs, the desired profit margin, and what your research says your client will pay.

How do I make my lawn care and landscaping business profitable?
By tracking and analyzing revenue and costs, you will be able to see what jobs bring in money, what expenses are worth the investment, and how you can optimize your operations to have profitable margins inline with your goals.

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