Mike Andes tells landscapers it's halftime on July 1. The second half is where you make profit: cut waste, follow up on estimates, raise prices when demand peaks, and drop unprofitable customers now instead of waiting until spring.
Questions this video answers
June 30th at 11:58pm — the speaker frames this as the halftime marker heading into July 1st.
He claims Augusta Lawn Care made 70–80% of its profits in the second half of the year while growing.
Chapters
Hey, everyone, it's Mike Andes here@landscapebusinesscourse.com today is a very important message because as I'm recording this, it is June 30th, 11:58pm and we're about to head into the halftime show. The halftime show is literally the halfway marker of the year. It's July 1st. We're literally six months in. We're all the way through June. We got six months left in this year. And I wanted to give you three very specific tips in your business that you can apply to make sure that the second half of this year is as productive, efficient, and profitable as it possibly can can be in your lawn care business. Number one is you've got to realize we're only halfway. This is not the time to go on cruise control. This is not the time to think, oh, like, well, we really pushed hard in spring, and, you know, the labor shortage was really tough this year, and we didn't get as many good employees as we had wanted and didn't get as many customers. And really, you know, Covid really set us back a little. This is not the time of the year. Halfway is not the time to rest on your laurels. Whether you had a really, really bad spring rush and a really bad half. Don't worry. The fourth quarter is when NFL games are won. When football games are won is in the fourth quarter, not in the first half. And so if you had a really bad half, guess what? You got six more months. You got half the year left. And if you had a really, really good first six months and you were really profitable and everything was going great and you were growing and all the rest of it, don't rest on your laurels because the other team is also getting a pep talk right now. Your competition is getting a pep talk right now. And you better go into the after this halftime, you need to go into the second half stronger than you ever have than before. All right, number two is you've got to focus on profits. If you've been growing, if you've been buying trucks and getting more employees and hiring and firing the past spring, the past six months, you probably did not have much profits. You didn't see much money in the bank, cash in the bank, because you were buying things, you were hiring and firing, and all that turn causes waste. We talked about before growth sucks cash. And I've looked back at Augusta Lawn Care when we were first growing and growing double and tripling year over year, we didn't make but maybe 20 or 30% of our profit in the first half of the year. It was the second half of the year. It was the second half after the halftime show that we made 70 to 80% of our profits while we were growing fast. Because you buy all of your stuff you need in the spring, you figure out all your systems in the spring, and it's now the second half where most of your profits are actually made. And if you're going to focus on profits, it doesn't mean that we're just going to, oh, we're just going to coast. We're not going to grow. No, we're going to get diligent and on the offense about cutting waste in the business. Why am I spending all this money on advertising when I should be focusing on following up with my estimates, cutting back on how many estimates I give out, but then following up and increasing my close ratio. Why can I not be raising my price right now? For many of us, the grass is actually starting to go faster with Bermuda in certain parts of the country, it's starting to take off. If demand is high for your services, raise your prices now. Increase your, your profits, cut waste, do those things now. We still have six months left to really cash in. And trust me, most your profits in the lawn care landscaping industry are going to be seen in the second half of this game. Number three. It's really a principle from the Bible. Do not put off to tomorrow what can be done today. And what I mean by that is so many of you are going to say, oh, well, you know, this Covid was tough this spring. We didn't even hire as many people as we hoped. We weren't able to grow as much or we had a tough. Whatever this happened, the labor shortage.
What can you do today? Don't put it off to next spring. Oh, next spring will grow next spring. We'll get customers in the winter. That's when I'm focus on pricing and I'm going to focus. No, what you can do today, do it now. Stop putting off to tomorrow what you can do now. If you're going to create systems, if you're going to raise prices, do it now. If you have a bunch of demand and 3, 4 weeks of projects booked out and you've got work coming through your ears and you can't find enough employees, raise your prices. We had one of our franchisees right now that has almost doubled their prices hourly rate since last year because they're so busy. That's a good thing. And they're doing it again here in July, raising their prices again. Why? Because there's demand. This is the time to focus on increasing your profits and not waiting till next spring. There's no reason to say, oh, well, you know, I'm really busy right now, but I guess I'll just hire someone next spring, I guess. You know what? I'm really busy right now, but I'm just going to raise prices next spring and that's when I'll become profitable. Why wait? Why stop? Why take the next half of this game when it should be the most productive, efficient and profitable of the year? Because we've been figuring things out with your existing team. We've been figuring out the equipment set up and exactly where your customers and all the rest of it. If you need to go cut the fat, if you need to cut customers out, if you need to cut out certain services, do it now. Get offensive about making profit, stacking cash for the next six months so you can go into next year. Have the cash to be on the offensive during the spring rush because you've saved your money and saved your profits. And I want you to do one thing before you leave this video, and that's comment below what your plan is for the rest of this year. What's your goal? What is your goal for the rest of this year? And I wanted you to do this. I want you to comment because I want you to stay accountable to the community and the other listeners that are going to keep you accountable to what are you going to do in the rest of 2020 after this halftime show, after this halftime pep talk from me, your little coach, little squeaky guy in the corner in the locker room, trying to encourage you to stay on the offensive. Do not shy back. Do not stay back on your heels. Stay leaning forward. Stay aggressive, whether that is growth or that be aggressively going after profits in your business. I encourage you. We're only halfway through this game and the games are won in the fourth quarter.
