Standardization: Run Your Lawn Care Business Like Southwest Airlines!

Hey, everyone, it's Mike Andes, and you're listening to the Landscape Business course podcast. Today we're going to be talking about standardization, and we're going to mention three specific areas in your business that you can standardize. But if there's something that you've standardized in your business that you found very helpful, I'd love for you to share that in the comments below if you're on YouTube or on Facebook. So please do post your comment below of what you standardized in your business to make it more efficient, more profitable, and more streamlined.

Before we get started, if you haven't already, make sure you sign up for the conference, just go to landscapebusinesscourse.com, click on the conference tab, lots of more information. The dates are there in January 2020 for landscape summit, so definitely want to see you there. And it's a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We start Thursday evening. Goes all the way till Saturday evening. And really, really looking forward to it. One of the topics we're going to be talking about is how you can increase your profit margin by double. Like, double your profit margin simply by things like standardization and effic. And so we're gonna kind of briefly talk about some of these things today, but I'd love to see you at the conference. We can dig deep into your numbers and customize a plan for the efficiencies of your business. So when we talk about standardization, a lot of the things that come to my mind is some of the companies that have done a really good job of this and most of the companies that you can think about when it comes to standardization, they really revolve around logistics, moving things, transporting things, putting things in the mail, doing things by freight, things like that. The reason for that is because they have to have the same process done thousands, if not millions of times a day. And so they have to have a standardized system in place to make sure that they can save every single penny they possibly can, that they can maximize profit. They can reduce the amount of labor that's needed for each package or for each product that they're sending out. And so a couple of Those obviously are UPS, FedEx, Amazon. If you look at UPS trucks, they're generally the same. Like we have a UPS portal or a hub in Bellingham, Washington. And when you sit there in the morning and watch all the trucks drive out, they literally every single one looks exactly the same. Same size, same shape. They all have the same type of tires on. Everything's exactly the same, very standardized, same colors, logos, everything like that. Obviously, same thing with FedEx. They have a few different types of trucks. They have the same, you know, obviously same branding, but they have delivery trucks and they have semi trucks and they have different types of planes, but all of those are standardized. You don't have 20 different types of trucks that are delivering a pickup truck and then a van and then you have an SUV and then you have a cargo van and then you have a box truck. They have very standardized ways of delivering these packages. And same thing with Amazon. Another one that Mike Callahan recently talked about that I thought was interesting was Southwest Airlines. Obviously they are known for standardizing their fleet of airplanes in order to be more efficient with that. It allows so many trickle down effects from that. Number one airlines, their pilots all have the exact same controls, the same plane every single time, less chance for air. Same thing with the engineers and the mechanics. They're looking at the same type of plane every single time. They get to know that plane very well. They don't have to deal with 10 different types of models and 10 different types of sizes of nuts or anything like that. Oh, you know what's interesting? I remember this from my MBA class and I don't know if it's still 100% accurate, but I remember that one of the engineers in my class.

Was from Boeing and he said that Boeing has, he asked everyone the question, he said, how many bolts, how many size of bolts do you think Boeing has? And it was crazy. There's only seven different sizes of bolts that make every single airplane that Boeing creates. And this is a couple years old. So maybe it's changed since then. Maybe that's why the 737 Max has not been doing as well. But the fact that Boeing, this massive company, billion dollars of revenue, building thousands of airplanes all around the world, and yet they had standardized the size of the nuts that they use and the bolts down to seven different types of. It didn't matter if it was from interior all the way to the engines. Seven different sizes, that's amazing. And the amount of efficiencies that they got from that is incredible. But when you go back to Southwest Airlines, everything from the stewardesses and the stewards to the people loading the baggage, to the people who, the customers that were gunning onto the planes because the plane was standardized the same every single time. It led to people being able to get loaded on faster, luggage getting on faster, incredible turn times. So 15 minutes of them pulling into the gate, unloading people, loading more people on, loading all the bags on and getting out, incredible amount of efficiencies are gained by standardization. But I think when it comes to standardization, I think that standardization is not just a cost savings vehicle or cost savings tool. I really think that it can actually become a. A core competence of your business that leads to more customers and leads to a brand image of consistency. All right, so when you think about Southwest Airlines, there's certain things that make them stand out. Things like not having assigned seating and everyone being able to go on the plane. The reason for that is because every single plane is the same. So, like, they don't have to worry about having five seats in the middle and then three on the side. Like, all of them are going to look exactly the same, three on both sides. And so standardization, I feel like, can actually become part of your branding. It can become part, like, for instance, ups. When I say ups, most people think. Most people think about the standardized size delivery vehicle that they. That UPS uses to deliver in the local market. That's literally because they see it all the time. It's the same one all the time. They begin, the brand becomes one in the same with that standardized image of that delivery vehicle. And so I feel like standardization is not just a cost saving tool. That is a huge reason for doing standardization. But I also think it eliminates a lot of options and choices that we're talking about today for your customer, thereby making their buying decisions simpler and making it easier to do business with you. So I'm going to go through three different ways that I really feel you need to standardize in your business. This is not a comprehensive list, and I'd love for you to post below in the comments of ways that you've standardized your business. Number one is equipment. So if I had to rank myself in or give myself a grade on the level of standardization that we've used at Augusta locally, equipment is by far and large the worst because we buy trucks based upon their functionality and much more upon the numbers instead of the brand. Because I was not about to let go of a vehicle that we could buy and save four or five thousand dollars on because I wanted a certain Chevy or I wanted a, you know, type of brand. I was much more. When I was. As I was building Augusta, it was like, what size of vehicle do we need? What's the best deal? And when I found a deal that was like 50, 60% off, like, there was no way I was gonna be like, oh, no, I'm buying. I'm not gonna buy that $4,000 vehicle when it's usually worth. When it's worth 8 or 9,000. I'm gonna go buy a 10 or $12,000 vehicle. Cause I want it to be the same and standardize my trucks. So I did not do that. So I get probably a C minus in standardization of trucks, trailers at our local shop. But it is definitely something that as we've grown and now we don't necessarily buy a ton of equipment or trucks and things, but as we do replace our fleet, we'll actually absolutely be standardizing things. We absolutely do standardize things within the truck. So, like, what type of.

Like, is there a cloth, Is there a spray. Whatever they're called, a spray bottle, Spray bottle in the trucks. Like all those things, the stuff inside the trucks and stuff inside the stuff inside the trailers, where everything is laid out inside the trailers, is completely standardized. The same type of racking systems, the same type of tools and equipment are in every single trailer. Where they're at is exactly the same. The type of racking is the same. The dimensions of where the mowers are in those trailers is all completely standardized. And so it doesn't matter if someone is using the first trailer we ever bought or the trailer we bought a year or two ago. There is going to be the same pieces of equipment. There's gonna be the same tools, like the hand tools. So there's gonna be the same amount of trimmers and the same amount of blowers. They're gonna be in the same spot. There's gonna be the same type of push mower. And so standardization of trucks, trailers. And then also your mowers and your tools are really important. The reason for this is because if you have four crews going out, four or five crews going out, and they all have trailers for mowing, you're gonna definitely wanna make sure that they know what is standard in terms of what should be on the trailer already. So when they see on their job jobs for the day that they're gonna need a shovel, they already know, okay, there's already standardized that there's a shovel in my trailer. I don't need to go get one from the shop, okay? But then when they see an aeration job, it's like, oh, okay, that's obviously not standardized. To be in my trailer, I need to get the aerator out of the shop and put it into my trailer. And then knowing what things are inside the trailer ready and what things are not. So we keep it very bare bones in our trailer setups and our mowing setups. In terms of things that they have in the trailer, we don't have a ton of stuff because I just hate clutter. And I always find that flat surfaces somehow collect clutter. So shelving, things like that, whether it be in the shop or whether it be in trailers. So we have everything on the walls hanging up as much as possible. And.

Really strip it down as little things as possible in terms of what do they need in the trailer? Strip it down to the minimum things. Anything else they can throw in. Any sort of extra tools, you know, ladders, things like that, they can throw that into the trailer. But standard is going to be just the bare minimum. Hand tools, trimmers, blower, mowers, sprayer. Let me think. And that's pretty much it. And, like, we have standardized tool tool kits as well. So even for hardscaping jobs, instead of having a whole bunch of tools hanging up the wall, we have toolboxes. And inside the toolboxes is labeled what's inside, and it's a checklist of what's supposed to be inside that box. So that way, when someone's looking to do a hardscaping job, they know if they pick up that box and we have four of them, because that way we can do four hardscaping jobs at the same time. They know if they pick up that box, that there should be a rubber mallet, a metal mallet. There should be a line level. There should be safety glasses and gloves and, like, a whole bunch of, like, measuring tape and all the standard. Like, I think there's like 15 things that are inside of that toolbox. So that way it's all standardized. They can grab it and go. They don't have to, like, look them on the wall. Okay, I need the mallet, and then I need a tape measure. Okay, where's the line level? Like, standardizing what's in that toolbox. They can grab it, go, and when they come back, they know it needs to be inside, and it's all good to go. So trucks, trailers, mowers, and your tools as part of equipment is something that you can standardize. What's great about doing the standardization, too, for tools and equipment is you don't have to train people on 50 different types of mowers or like, okay, we got this type of trimmer, and then we got this type of edger, and then we got this type of weed whacker. Just standardize it. That's the beauty behind things like the steel combisystem and all these other systems that are coming out from other manufacturers where you gotta use one motor and then a whole bunch of attachments Again, it's standardization. You train person on one thing and they can use a whole bunch of different types of tools. That's why brands, when it comes to brands, people always ask, well, what type of brand to use? I always say use the nearest dealer to you, the one that's gonna be the best service, that has great turn times when you have broken pieces of equipment or you need a part. And the reason for that is because I want to make sure that if I have five mowing crews, I can have one backup mower. And if any of five of those mowing crews go out, I can throw my backup mower in and it'd be good to go. I don't need a juggle goes. Okay, well I got two Honda mowers and I got four X marks and I got one Echo and then I got one whatever X mark like skag. And you're juggling stuff and don't know where it's at because you know people have moved things around. Now there's backup equipment when, if you just standardize everything, it's easier for the office to keep track of things like that. So standardization is great for equipment. Simply for training purposes and skill level for your employees doesn't have to be as high and the learning curve isn't as much when you have the same equipment all the time. Same thing with trucks and trailers. Really driving a truck that is going to be the same, you know, bed height or bed width, or bed length and size of trailers. If you have a whole bunch of different sizes of trailers, it's hard for people to learn how to drive with the truck and trailer. It's harder for them to learn how to back up with the trailer when, if it's always the same, like we always do a 7 by 14 enclosed trailer, or we did, now we're going to trailer setups, but like we still have the trailers, but they're all seven by 14. Again, just to make it very easy, because we know that all our trucks are gonna be 8 foot beds. We with a 7 by 14 enclosed trailer. So once they know how to back that thing up, they're good to go. I don't have a 20 footer and then a 12 footer and then a 24 footer and then all over the place. So you got one size, you do the same all the time. Same thing with our dump trailers. Three dump trailers, they're all the same color. Same size, same everything just bought different years. So another thing that you can standardize is your materials. This is the one that's probably most important, honestly, in my opinion, standardizing the blocks and pavers that you have, you do not need to have 50 different types of blocks. You don't need to offer a bazillion different types of paver patio designs to your clients. We stick to the same one or two. Literally 90% of our hardscaping jobs include one or two different. Two different designs. So if you look at pictures and all that, it's very, very similar in terms of type of product design, everything. The reason for that is because I don't show them a book from the manufacturer with a bazillion options where they're gonna choose some obsolete thing. I'm going to show them pictures of work we've done and ask them if they like it. If they like it, I'm giving them an estimate based upon that. We've installed 100,000 times. We're really efficient at. We already have a bunch of it stacked up at our shop, and when there's leftovers, we know we're gonna be able to use it later on. It doesn't become waste. Also, your crew gets very, very efficient at installing that product. You can be more price competitive, and there's just lots and lots of reasons why you'd want to systematize and standardize the blocks and pavers that you use in hardscaping jobs. Same thing with plants. You do not need to have every plant in the book available to your customers. Offer 20, and if they want extra, they can go get them and bring them to you. Offer the same ones, get your guys very familiar with them. You can show your customers that you've installed certain ones and you know the pricing on it, you know your markup, all of those things. You know how readily available they're at growers. So standardizing your blocks, your pavers, your planting, all very, very important. Something we're going to talk a lot about at conference. Another thing you can do is materials. You want to standardize your bulk materials. So that way, the same type of mulch, the same type of rock, the same type of gravel, and then again, the type of pictures and the videos and the things you use in marketing is going to be what dictates what your customers ask for. If you show 50 different types of mulch and all the different fines and colors and textures and different types of wood. Like, if you do all this and give them all these options, you're gonna start becoming inefficient because now you have leftovers. And then I see all the time people on Craigslist. Giving away two or three yards of material. I know the fact that it's what it is is they know they're not going to install that material at some other property. So it's cheaper than just give it away. I'd much rather know that if I'm going to have the same type of mulch and sell all my jobs, I can order a whole bunch more mulch, get a better price on it and use all of it. And if there's any leftovers, I can bring it back and know it's going to be used within a week or two. And so having standardization of materials is the number two thing that you want to do. The third thing you want to standardize is your sales system. All right, so each one of these I can make a whole video on. But how do you standardize the first part, your estimate process? That is the collection of lead, setting up the estimate, going out and bidding on the work. How is that process, how is it standardized? The follow up system, how do you, once the estimate's been sent, how do you follow up with that person? How do you standardize that so that every single time there's predictable results, predictable level of acceptance on your estimates? And again, just like ups, they want to predict how many boxes can fit in every single one of their trucks. So what they do is they get all the same types of trucks. I want to know exactly what percentage of my estimates are going to get closed. How do I do that? I have a predictable follow up system that every single estimate is pumped through. And therefore I have a standardized process, reviews, and your lead recycling. So lead recycling is once you've done work for somebody, they are not a dead lead. They're warm, you've done work for them, they're happy. You want to have a system in place, a standard way of communicating with them to keep them in the loop, keep them warm. Might be monthly newsletters, might be mailers, might be a letter for Thanksgiving, might be a gift card, might be a $50 gift card for your services. Whatever it is, you're going to keep that lead recycled in your process. And again, you've gotta standardize that process. You can't be like, oh, Mr. Jones was a good customer, let's make sure we stay in contact with him for your estimate process. You can't be like, oh, I know they're close to my house and so I'll do them today versus so and so who called yesterday for an estimate, but they're on the other side of town, so I'LL push them at the end of the week. You've gotta have a in place for your follow up system. Oh, Mr. Jones, I did an estimate for him the other day. I think he's gonna accept. So let's make sure we follow up with him. Whereas you know Ms. Sally Jr. Down the street, she, you know, I didn't really feel good about that one. I just bid it really high. I don't really care about. Let's not follow up with her. Like you've gotta have a standard way of following up, a standard way of doing estimate, a standard way of asking for views, a standardized way of recycling those leads and getting more customers coming back to you recurring. So those are just the three ways I wanted to talk about today. Your equipment you can standardize. It leads to massive amounts of efficiencies. Materials definitely an area that most landscapers lose a lot of money on. They close less sales on and their profit margins are massively hindered because they're offering way too many options for materials. The third thing is your sales system. Probably the biggest thing to your profit margin and the size and the growth of your business is going to be creating standardized ways of the estimate, the follow up and then the lead recycling after the sale is completed or so those are the three things I want to talk about today. Your equipment, your materials and your sales system. They got to be standardized and by having those standardizations creating efficiencies, you can make a more profitable business. But I'd love to know what are you doing in your business to create standardization to create more efficiencies. Comment below on YouTube or on Facebook and I'd love to see you at the conference where we're going to go very deep in all of these areas and look at very specific examples of where you can save money and increase your profits while actually becoming more cost effective for your customers. So I really look forward to that. Make sure you check out landscapebusinesscourse.com conference and I'll see you in January. Thank you so much. Have a great day.