The phone call with the landscape business owner started like this:
“Tony, we’re working harder than ever… but the bank account ain’t growin.”
Sound familiar?
Here’s the good news. There has never been a business problem that the right price increase couldn’t fix.
When profits fall short of your goal, the fastest, easiest way to improve them is to raise prices.
Now before you start sweating bullets, let me tell you what not to do.
Don’t send a price increase letter to every lawn or landscape customer.
That’s a mistake.
Many contractors think a price increase means every customer gets the same percentage increase. In reality, that’s rarely necessary.
Instead, identify the 20% of customers producing the lowest dollars per man-hour. Those are the accounts quietly stealing your profits.
Raise prices only on those customers. Think about what that means.
You’re not raising prices on 80% of your customers. You’re only addressing the accounts that need attention the most. Those are the accounts not carrying the financial load.
Raising prices on the bottom 20% makes the entire process faster, easier, and far less risky. If you have 100 accounts. Fix the bottom 20.
Here’s something we’ve learned after working with 400+ landscape contractors.
Customers who genuinely appreciate your service usually accept reasonable price increases with very little resistance. If you’re delivering dependable lawn services, showing up when you say you will, and solving problems, you’ve earned the right to make a fair profit. You may be surprised to know that the customer already knows that you are underpaid!
So, if you’re doing good work, they will accept your increase with very little resistance.
And if one of those low-profit customers decides to leave? Don’t panic.
They were already consuming your time and resources without providing the return your business deserves. That production time can now be invested in better customers who value what you do.
We’ve watched this strategy work over and over again.
When a contractor raises prices on the bottom 20% of their accounts…
- Profits double.
- Cash flow improves.
- Stress goes down.
The checking account finally starts looking like all those long days in the heat were worth it.
“A fat, juicy bank account is something a landscaper should be proud of.” Tony Bass
Remember, y’all didn’t go into business just to stay busy. You went into business to build something that supports your family, creates opportunities for your employees, serves your community, and rewards the risk you’ve taken as a business owner.
Profit is payment for the risk you take. You probably need more profits because you have accepted a ton of risk.
So…make smart price adjustments every year, and you’ll never find yourself needing one giant price increase across your entire customer base.
Small corrections made consistently beat massive corrections made too late.
This is the first punch in the one-two combination that creates exceptional lawn and landscape profits year after year.
Stay tuned…
Next time, we’ll cover the second punch: increasing landscaper productivity.
Because when you combine better pricing with higher productivity, something amazing happens:
- Your crews accomplish more.
- Your costs go down.
- Your profits climb.
And you’ll discover that sometimes the fastest way to make more money isn’t working harder…
It’s simply running a smarter lawn or landscaping business.
Profit Greatly,
Tony Bass, Founder
478-822-9704
P.S. – Want to learn the step-by-step system for dramatically improving profits? Download the Double Your Profits Guidebook at SuperLawn Toolkit.
Get the e-book delivered to your inbox. Read it. Follow along the examples. Adjust your prices. Use the price increase letter found on page 14.
Study the negotiating strategies found on pages 15.
You will instantly begin to build a stronger lawn service business—and a healthier bank account.
