How to Grow Your Landscaping Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Grow your landscaping business|How to Grow Your Landscaping BusinessRunning a small business is always a challenge. Achieving growth in a crowded market requires intelligent approaches to unlocking new markets and increasing revenues from your existing markets.

With more than 31 million SMBs in the U.S., making up 99.9% of all businesses, competition is tough. The landscaping business is no exception.
Here are some innovative strategies for growing your landscaping business.

Diversify Your Clientele

Are you currently servicing residential clients? Consider opening up to commercial clients, or vice-versa. Landscapers who are only working for one type of client constrict their businesses and limit their growth.

How do you make the transition to insuring, growing, and developing a small landscaping business, though? Follow these steps:

  • Develop Contracts – Commercial clients will always require a contract. Make sure you already have a template ready that covers all the bases.
  • Alter Your Insurance Policy – Working for a residential or commercial client in insurance terms changes your insurance needs. To work for a business, you should carry insurance of at least $1 million to $2 million.
  • Upgrade Your Equipment – Pay attention to which equipment you’re using. Invest in state-of-the-art equipment like wide-area mowers or z-turn mowers. Budget for making the upgrades.

Moving into the realm of serving businesses can be intimidating. You will need new equipment, and you may also need to expand your team. However, when you diversify your client base, you instantly unlock new revenue streams.

Add Landscape Curbing to Your Retinue

Adding additional services is an easy way of upping your income. Curbing can earn you as much as $14 per foot of concrete.

Concrete curbing is one of the most straightforward services to add to your list of services. It’s an extra add-on that most of your existing clients will add because it’s a finishing touch that’s affordable.

Controlling the final look of your client’s space can enhance the client’s last impression of your work and improve their overall satisfaction.

Host Landscaping Seminars

In 2016, there were 25 million Americans either running or thinking about starting a small business. Yet many of these ventures fail because business owners fail to think outside the box.

Offering landscaping seminars is a great way to increase your brand’s footprint and connect with your target audience. Beginners interested in your services, landscaping enthusiasts, and even other landscaping firms from around the country are all potential targets for your seminar.

Seminars can either be online or part of an event in your area. To begin with, you may want to piggyback off an existing event to get your name out into the open.

Landscaping seminars are a great way to generate new business, but you could even make money by launching a paid seminar.


Create a Client Retention Strategy

Every time you lose a client, it costs your business far more than the immediate lost revenue. The general rule of thumb is it costs five times more to find a new client than to retain an existing one.

Focus more of your attention on retaining your clients. Most of your revenue, after all, will come from your most loyal customers.
Some of the ways to bolster retention include:

  • Providing high-quality work
  • Quick, responsive customer service
  • Acting on customer feedback
  • Rewarding your loyal customers
  • Adding value through how-to guides

Clients want to feel like they are getting their money’s worth when they work with you. Concentrate on providing value and delivering a higher-quality landscaping service than your competitors.

Move into New Areas

Which areas do you currently serve?

Consider expanding into the surrounding areas. Obviously, covering more ground opens you up to more potential clients. Do your research before deciding whether to move into a new neighborhood or town.

You should also be aware of any well-established companies with stellar reputations. Trying to compete with the local favorite is rarely a smart strategy for a landscaping business.

Create a List of Off-Season Services

Not every month is friendly for the landscaping business. Firms plying their trades in the northern reaches of the U.S. will likely find that the winter months are incredibly barren.

Rather than closing your business for a few months every year, consider adding some off-season services to compensate for that lost revenue.
Snow removal, outdoor holiday decoration installation, and deicing are just some of the options available to you.

Bundle Your Services Together

One of the biggest reasons clients choose a company is because they believe they are getting value for money. Everyone loves a deal, so if your clients get some extra services for free or at a discount, they are more likely to want to work with you in the long term.

Bundling your services is also an easy way of selling more of your services. It simplifies your selling strategy and requires little marketing to promote.

Sign Residential Clients to Contracts

Landscaping businesses often only provide contracts to their commercial clients. Most residential clients prefer to book their services as and when they need them. Don’t underestimate how houseproud people are.

Make it easy for them to keep their yards looking beautiful by signing up your residential clients to long-term contracts. They may not be as complex as those you hand out to your commercial clients, but they can still detail a regular service.

To encourage your clients to commit to you long-term, offer discounts for clients who commit to you for more extended periods.

You can even offer greater discounts for clients who sign longer contracts. For example, if a residential client wants to sign a contract for the next year, you may opt to throw in some extra services that someone who signs a six-month contract wouldn’t get access to.

Make loyalty pay for your clients.

Conclusion

Growing your landscaping business should be your top priority. You can implement so many growth strategies to supercharge your business, but the simplest way to attract more clients is to do a great job.
Ask your customers what they think of your services. Solicit feedback and make changes to improve the quality of your services.
How are you growing your small landscaping business?

The Four Pillars of Omni-Channel Strategy

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | The Four Pillars of Omni-Channel StrategyAn effective omnichannel strategy involves orchestration, connection, and fulfillment. Let’s take a closer look at each. What are they? If you’re unsure, here are four essential pieces to consider. First, you should tailor your marketing strategy to your customers’ preferences. Then you can curate an experience around those preferences. 74% of customers prefer to shop online at sites that cater to their interests, while nearly half leave a website that doesn’t provide a curated experience. Personalized experiences make customers feel like they’re a valuable part of your business, and orchestration is part of this process.

Connectivity

The ability to create an integrated experience that spans multiple channels is a key component of a successful omnichannel strategy. For example, omnichannel platforms can integrate all aspects of a customer’s shopping experience, including past purchases, social media activity, email lists, and Internet of Things data. The data from these sources can help automate customer service and marketing while allowing for two-way communication.

As consumer preferences evolve, companies must be flexible enough to keep up. While diversification through every channel isn’t ideal, it is essential for an Omni-channel strategy. For example, Disney pays close attention to its website. Not only does it support all channels, but it also makes the site user-friendly for any device. In addition, it has a new Magic Band program that allows Disneyland and Walt Disney World visitors to unlock their hotel rooms and enter the parks using the same account.

A good omni-channel strategy has many moving parts, but all of them should function as a cohesive system. Ideally, each touchpoint should offer a distinctive experience and build upon previous interactions. The omni-channel strategy also should empower users to make decisions, such as when to react to a specific type of customer behavior. Further, it should enable users with the right information and make decisions based on that information.

Operations

An effective omnichannel strategy is dependent on several different factors. It requires the ability to reach the broadest possible audience with a single marketing message. Still, it also relies on a comprehensive understanding of the effects of the omnichannel strategy across all channels. The four pillars of the omnichannel strategy are visibility, measurement, personalization, and optimization. This article will look at the four pillars of omnichannel marketing and how they will work together to help you maximize your marketing efforts.

Your omnichannel strategy must be effective at integrating different channels to maximize sales and customer satisfaction. While you may have an existing multi-channel strategy, you must determine the channels you want to reach. Ultimately, your goal is to increase your customers’ lifetime value and loyalty. To do this, you must know your customers’ needs and understand how they engage with you. For example, if a customer visits your website from their mobile phone, they should have the same level of service they’d get if they were to visit your store via desktop.


Fulfillment

A successful omni-channel strategy is built upon the premise that consumers are increasingly accustomed to various channels and ways to purchase products. For example, a recent study from the National Retail Federation (NRF) revealed that 83% of shoppers want to be able to purchase products wherever and whenever they want. An omni-channel strategy recognizes these changes in consumer behavior and puts the technology and operations in place to meet customers where they want to shop.

The successful omni-channel strategy includes the integration of various fulfillment channels. The first pillar is order orchestration, while the second is fulfillment. Both require efficient fulfillment operations. A successful fulfillment operation can boost revenue and delight customers. BigCommerce’s shipping and fulfillment solutions make the process seamless for all parties. Customers expect to receive their orders quickly and with minimum effort. Moreover, shipping and fulfillment are essential components of the customer experience.

Behavioral triggers

A successful omnichannel strategy is a multi-channel marketing process. A marketing automation tool can help you track user behavior in order to provide targeted content and services. The data generated by this tool can be used to segment the user base and optimize customer engagement strategies. You can also set up triggered campaigns across channels, including SMS and email. Personalized messages and alerts are sent to users at the moments when they expect them.

Managing various channels simultaneously is difficult and time-consuming, but the rewards are immense. Increasing revenues, customer loyalty, and brand recognition require an omnichannel approach. Moreover, omnichannel marketing requires a complete view of the online and offline customer journey. Behavioral triggers are just one of the four pillars of a successful omni-channel strategy.

How Can Your Sports Day Camp Increase Its Revenue?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article|Sports Day Camp|How Can Your Sports Day Camp Increase Its Revenue?Whether your company runs throughout the year as a coaching service or operates as a summer day camp, optimized revenue should be a priority. Generating more money is an essential ingredient in the recipe for sustained success.

Likewise, it will enable you to make further investments to improve the business. So, how can your business actively increase its revenue? Here’s all you need to know.

Grow your audience

A bigger customer base is your ticket to lifting the ceiling on what your business can achieve. As a sports-based service like a coach or day camp provider, you will primarily look to target a local audience. A strong local SEO strategy can help you gain greater online visibility. Where possible, try to gain reviews from customers too. The power of recommendation is a wonderfully powerful tool.

Local marketing efforts can include posters and leaflets. However, you can also look to give talks in schools or gain pr through radio, local TV, or newspapers. When taking a proactive approach, it’s important to think about your niche. You want to promote the benefits to parents while also encouraging kids to feel excited by the prospect of joining the sports day camp. Keeping this in mind can help you build a far better strategy.

Once you begin to see more bookings, it will be possible to think about growing your business with additional coaches or moving to a larger venue.

Build a community atmosphere

Building a larger potential customer base is one thing. But the truth is that your day camp or weekly sessions will be far easier to fill when you have loyal users. A family that books their two children in for a fortnight of camp each year will provide a far better lifetime customer value than one-time users. Moreover, remarketing can be a lot quicker and cheaper.

A community atmosphere where people feel valued and excited by your fitness business will serve you well. Social media marketing allows you to show an appreciation of your customers on an individual and collective level. You can also use this opportunity to provide content such as home-based training routines. Kids can practice these between sessions. The added value will boost their thoughts toward the brand.

This is supported by the fact that regular interactions keep your company fresh in their mind. So, you should see more regular bookings from repeat clients.


Ensure your schedule remains packed

Keeping your schedule full and spots fully booked is essential for any service-based business. Especially when you are focused on serving multiple children at once through group training. Good organizational skills will be one of the most valuable attributes you can possess. When offering fitness tuition like one-to-one sessions, good organization will allow you to see more clients.

For day camps, the goal is to achieve maximum capacity and then avoid drop-outs. Day camp registration management software allows you to stay on top of the situation while also organizing invoices. After all, bookings count for very little if they aren’t followed by prompt payments. Discounts on bulk placements – either booking out multiple weeks or having siblings join together – can work well too.

Gaining maximum bookings allows you to adapt and increase the capacity. Or raise your prices. Likewise, having more people signed up for sessions makes sessions more fun.

Look for additional revenue opportunities

The bulk of your earnings will come from running day camps or sports-based coaching sessions. However, there are many opportunities that can be used to supplement your primary source of income. Providing online sessions, either by dedicated coaching or downloadable plans, can work well. It also means you can reach out to audiences outside of your geographic limitations.

In addition to content and online training, you could consider merchandising. Whether it’s custom printed t-shirts, mugs, or training equipment doesn’t matter. It is another potential source of revenue that also feeds into the process of building a community vibe. Therefore, the direct and indirect rewards can be huge. Sales can be completed online or before and after sessions.

Additional revenue streams could include renting out equipment. Or offering photography and video footage to help kids treasure their memories.

The final word

Your day camp or other sports-service based business can only become a success if it has a steady flow of revenue from a large audience. As such, taking the necessary steps to build a bigger customer base and maximize their value will be key. When supported by secondary revenue streams, the hopes of seeing sustained success will be greatly improved. You’ve got thos.

3 Ways Energy Modelling Can Help Developers in NYC

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Energy modelling|3 Ways Energy Modelling Can Help Developers in NYCThree ways energy modeling helps developers in NYC are: UBEM tools allow large-scale simulations of buildings’ energy usage, and performance-based approaches allow for more design freedom than prescriptive codes do. According to thecotocongrop – NYC local law 97 provider, NYC’s Greener, Greater Buildings Plan requires that buildings over 25,000 sf benchmark their energy use. This data is then used to determine a building’s energy grade and ENERGY STAR score.

Electricity markets facilitate change in the power system

New research has shown that electricity markets can help developers in New York City make changes to their power systems. The current research focus on two types of electricity markets: spot markets, which involve immediate physical delivery, and futures markets, which involve delayed delivery and are used for risk hedging. The researchers are interested in developing new rules and frameworks for electricity markets. They also study the impact of active demand-side participation and price-responsive bids on the day-ahead power market.

The electricity industry faces new challenges as it attempts to modernize its power system. It must replace outdated infrastructure, mitigate storms, integrate variable large-scale renewables, and incorporate distributed resources into the system. The electricity industry needs to change its business model and integrate new technologies in order to keep pace with the demands of its consumers. Historically, investor-owned utilities have operated as vertically integrated monopolies or were deregulated markets. These systems were expensive and inefficient, and today, only one third of the US population is served by these utilities.


UBEM tools allow the energy simulation of buildings at large scales

UBEM provides the energy demand of buildings at a large scale and incorporates several key characteristics, including building geometry, glazing area, and year of construction. This model allows for the calculation of energy efficiency in agglomerate building stock and its associated service provisioning. Unlike top-down simulations, UBEM allows for the evaluation of several refurbishment scenarios with detailed analysis of the energy saving potential and economic aspects.

While UBEM tools allow for detailed simulations of buildings at a large scale, they require considerable computational effort to develop. However, the resulting models are capable of identifying the right mix of renovation measures and policies. Other typologies of UBEMs are limited to annual energy consumption and do not include spatiotemporal detail. UBEM tools enable energy simulation of buildings at large scales, and they can be divided into two main types: bottom-up physics-based UBEM and top-down UBEM.

Electricity storage capacity is expected to grow

New York is pursuing policies to increase energy storage, and hopes to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. To date, New York has established a 3GW goal for energy storage deployment. The Commonwealth of Virginia set a slightly larger goal of 3.1GW by 2035. As of this writing, nine states have energy storage targets, with Maine becoming the most recent to adopt one. By the end of this year, New York will have a total of 1.7GW of electricity storage capacity installed.

Despite this significant increase in demand for electricity, the impact on grid capacity is small. Energy storage resources contribute a net load to the grid, or electricity consumed more than they inject. NYISO predicts that these resources will only affect 1% of the system’s load, though new, more efficient technologies may reduce this impact. But it is still not enough. Until then, electricity storage is expected to continue growing in NYC.

Impact of electrification on future electric system demands

In the city, a bill has been introduced in the City Council to ban gas hookups for new buildings. State lawmakers are pushing for an all-electric building requirement by 2024. The bill would also ban fossil fuel conversions after that point. In New York, the bill was introduced in May but was amended in late October. As a result, the bill could face stiff opposition from the same players.

The electrification of citywide buildings will likely shift peak power demand from summer to winter. This will raise demand levels. But these changes will not happen overnight, since the pace has been slow. The utilities have time to adjust to the new peaks. By upgrading the energy efficiency of buildings and installing heat pumps, developers can keep demand increases manageable. This may require governmental programs and infrastructure upgrades to keep up with the rate of electrification.

Keeping Your Business’ Energy Usage Low

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Energy Usage|Keeping Your Business' Energy Usage LowThere are many reasons why you might want to keep your use of energy as low as possible in your business. For one thing, it is obviously a good time to be doing that right now, with the way things are with the planet, and you can say that you are doing your part while also being a more attractive brand in the eyes of people. But energy saving is also financially savvy, and your business’ books are going to be much better balanced as a result of these kinds of changes. With that in mind, here are some of the best ways to keep your energy consumption down.

Strip Down Processes

Many businesses that have been in operation for a long while end up having far too many processes going on at one time. This can be a real nuisance, as it often means you are just going to be expending more energy than you need to – and you’ll probably be wasting time, money and other resources in the process. So an easy thing you can do to help with this is to strip down your processes until you are left only with what you really need. Do this once a year and watch as it changes everything about how you work.


Focus On Conservation

It’s generally best to put more of your efforts into conservation of energy rather than simply using less. There is a subtle difference, in that with conservation you are employing methods for holding on to energy rather than limiting yourself in any way. To achieve this, you might use a variety of techniques, from heat wheel reliability to building your office building with Passivhaus in mind. However you do it, conserving energy in this way is absolutely something you want to make sure you are doing right.

Take An Energy Audit

Every now and then, it is wise to submit your business to an energy audit, as this way you will be able to work out exactly what is going on, how much energy you are expending, and so on. You can start to see where the main problems might be and gain recommendations for improvement too, all of which will help you considerably if you are keen to improve your business with energy in mind. You can carry out the audit yourself, or for more reliable results hire an external auditor to do it for you.

Look At Supply

Sometimes all you really need to do to improve your energy usage is to take a look at the supply of it to your business. It might be that you are not with the best supplier, and often changing them out can make all the difference in the world, so that is something that you are going to want to consider for sure. This might be all you need to do, and as such it would be a particularly easy and simple approach to take in order to keep your business’ energy usage much lower.