The Best Advice for ANY Landscaping Business

Hey everyone, it's Mike Andes and you're listening to the landscape business course podcast. Today we are going to be talking about the one thing that has made a big change in my business and so many other people's businesses. But before we get in today's show, a couple announcements. Number one, if you're going to GIE or you're thinking about going to GIE, which is in Kentucky, Louisville next week, October 17th on the Thursday. So this is next Thursday. I am going to be speaking in the Kentucky Expo center, room B102 from 4pm till 5:15pm it was an hour and 15 minutes. My topic that I'm supposed to be talking about is creating a world class team culture. And so again, this is next Thursday, 4:00pm, Kentucky Expo center, room B102. There's usually like in those rooms, there's like they said about 2, 3, 400 people that can fit in there. So make sure you're there. I'd love to see you guys. So if you're around Kentucky, if you're going to gie, make sure you are going to be there at that session, that hour and 15 minute session. I'm going to be talking about culture of your team and more specifically, how pay by performance really does affect the culture of a company and how to make sure that the financial and cultural aspects of your business are strong and pulling in the same direction. So I'm gonna be talking about that. I'm doing a bunch of Q and A because so many people can listen to the content on the podcast. I want to do as much Q and A as possible so you can get answers to your questions and get some more context and go deeper than what we just talk about here on the podcast. So that's next Thursday. Next week. The entire week I'm gonna be gone though, because I'm going to Iowa, Illinois and then Kentucky for the gie. So the first couple stops are for zero turn where we're doing videos of companies and trying to help them grow their business. So I'm gonna be taking that with Josh and we're gonna be doing making those videos and then we're gonna drive down to Kentucky. I was actually born, believe it or not, in Louisville, Kentucky where GIE takes place. So that'll be fun. Haven't been back there in years. So that's next week. Now something else that's happening in the next week or two is we're wrapping up the last group of 10 franchisees for Augusta Long Care Services. If you're listening to this and it's in November, December, like you know, this is not relevant, but if you're listening to this now, in October there's still a chance to get in. Probably as a franchisee, we have one or two spots. The reason I say one or two is cause there's someone that's supposed to sign, but they're still a few weeks out. So like there's still two spots available, probably one that is available to join as a franchisee. So if you're interested, I kind of need to hear from you asap because if I don't hear from you before the end of October, there will be no chance of getting in until next spring. And if you want to take advantage of the discounts, if you want to take advantage of getting six or seven, seven, seven months for free of no monthly fees from November all the way till next June, then you're definitely want to join the franchisee. Training is November 14th, 15th and 16th, September. So definitely want to make sure you if you're interested in the franchise, it's something you want to talk about, just go to augustalongcarservices.com franchise. You can sign up a call with me one on one and we can see if it's gonna work. Good for you. So I already know I have four calls booked next week, so I don't know if in two weeks I'm gonna even have a spot available. I'm just being open and honest, but I wanna fill the 10 spots. And then after that we will create a waiting list for next spring and that'll be probably February, March, we'll allow another. They will not have the discounts. They will not have all those things that this first group of 10 is. So again, if you've been thinking about it, jump in now and book that call with me. And I love to see you then. All right, so today we are going to be taking actually a thread that happened in the landscape business course Facebook group. And basically what happened in the Facebook group is I just said, hey, I posted time to share. Which one thing has made a massive change in your business. Share below. This could be a type of software marketing method book, tackle, tactical tip go. So I'm just gonna read some of the first maybe 10, 15 things that people posted that changed their business completely this year. And so the reason I'm doing this is because for every single business it's something different. And so I hope that by hearing 10 or 12 general ideas, you will be able to apply them in your business and hopefully see the same Changes that these individuals and these landscapers did. So let's just go ahead and get started. Cesar Solis. Just put cards on file. So obviously put cards on file, what that means is that you can reduce the amount of time that you have to wait. It can reduce your accounts receivable, your ar, and it can allow you to get paid the day you do the work, or at least the day you invoice the work. And so cards on file, you do have to pay usually 3% or so in credit card processing fees. That's kind of just what you have to pay to get, you know, use credit cards. But for Caesar, that was a big deal. Bottom line is how. I'm a big fan of whatever, whatever you can do to reduce AR accounts receivable and it reduce the amount of receivables that you have as a percentage against your revenue, the better. So, for example, you're going to see an episode, let me think, episode three of season two of zero Turn, which is gonna come out about a month. You're gonna see a landscaper that we went to and did a video with out in Rhode island, and literally 25 to 30% of his revenue at the end of the year was still in AR. So 300,000 in revenue and literally almost 100,000. It was like 70 something thousand in just accounts receivable. And the amount of the cash flow issues that are generated from that are enormous. And so cards on file is what Caesar helped him. Any way you can reduce AR is fantastic. I just had a report given to me from Lonnie, one of my office assistants, and she said, we have not sent a single person to collections this entire year. Every single person has paid. Nobody is 90 days or over on AR, which I'm thrilled about. So, again, having systems in place, having automated emails, having automated phone calls to remind them to pay, as well as a system in place to send them to collections is really important there as well. But cards on file definitely helps because you don't have to worry about that. Gerardo Hernandez said, employee handbook, having an orientation day for training, also a hiring system. So Gerardo basically made a handbook, having an orientation day for training. What that means is I do the same thing. So every single time we get a new employee, I might not have been the first one to interview them. I might not have been the one that was most hands on during the interviewing process. But the first day I'm going to spend with them and I'm gonna take them out for lunch, I'm gonna talk to them about who they are, get to know them a little bit. I'm gonna share a little bit more about me and my story and the business and how we got started, what we stand for, what we don't stand for. I'm gonna show them around the shop, make them feel comfortable and.

With myself since I'm not there a whole lot anymore. I want them to get to know kind of the founding story and what we're all about and make some really clear guidelines for them to be successful. And like I said, take them out for lunch, spend time with them. I turn my phone off and try to spend as much time as I can with them. And usually that's about half a day. So again, great tip there for Gerardo. Kevin Magnuson said Town Facebook groups I have found it a great place for leads and referrals. So if you go in your local town or, or city, local neighborhoods even, you can get into groups and these can be classified groups. These can be where people just kind of share, buy and sell. All of these are great sources of leads to post your services. Post before and after pictures. I feel like sometimes it does devalue the level of perceived value if you're posting just cheap photos. Like if I was to go on a Facebook group locally and I wanted to get leads from that, I'm going to be making sure it's very professional pictures and things like that simply because. Because traditionally someone that's looking on a Facebook group is looking for a bargain or a deal. Same thing with Craigslist, I find. And they're not willing to pay a premium price for a premium product and a professional service. And so usually we haven't used this one specifically, but in terms of getting leads, I think it's a great way I would make sure that you're getting the quality of client that you want by having great pictures and offers and making sure your words are spelled correctly and things like that. Brandon Tubek said mastermind groups Amity Morales said systems in place, check mark Caleb Irely Sorry Caleb Irely said landscape business course podcast learning while working made all the difference in my first year. Thanks Mike. I love marketing is also okay. Oh, he said this. Sorry. Thanks Mike. I love marking. Marketing is also a fantastic podcast. I've never listened to. I love marketing. But Caleb, that helped him a lot and in terms of the thing he mentioned about landscape business course podcast. Thank you Caleb. One of the things that he mentioned was learning while working. If you're still in the field, this is the prime time to plug in your headphones and learn. When I was just getting started out in the field at night I was going to school, getting my mba. During the day I was working on my business, doing estimates, working out in the field. But all the time when I was working out in the field I had my headphones in listening to something, whether it be something like a spiritual sermon, I would do that. But I would also balance and I would also listen out to books. Like literally you could listen to a book a day of some of the greatest minds in marketing and leadership and business that's out there and do it for like 10 bucks. So if you're out in the field, even if you're doing estimates and you're driving around, great resource is audible to listen to those throughout the day as well as podcasts like Caleb mentioned. Antonio Gonzalez wrote book oh Zero Turn book okay and the first landscaping Facebook group I was oh cool. Thank you Antonio. Join the group. Thank you. Carlos Rodriguez said Focusing on the business model, Isaac Miller put man our two biggest improvements in professionalism and standardization. We're implementing Jobber and On the Clock.

They are both flawless programs that are super simple and do everything we need at a low cost. We finally felt like a more serious company after signing up for those two things. If I could go back, that would be the first two things we signed up for then. Then they pay cycle after the first employee. Cool. So Isaac is down in Texas and Conroe, Texas and we were there for last season of Zero Turn and he said that Jobber, which is a CRM as well as on the clock have been great resources for him. Keegan McGinnis said structuring operations so that I rarely have to be on job sites, freeing myself up to be a full time salesman. Being available to do a quote the same day it's requested is huge. So thank you Keegan. That's great, great advice for everyone out there. One of the ways to do that is project management videos having estimates that are clear enough to be work orders so that the estimator you usually the business owner doesn't have to go back to the job site to show the project. So all of those things are fantastic in making sure that you're really clear in your estimate and your work order for the crew so that there aren't a bunch of gaps that you have to clarify with the customer. Matt Torrance put all the things listed above have made a huge impact, but none of it would have mattered without a shift in mindset. Realizing that I could impact the lives of my clients, employees and family has motivated me to keep pushing through the hard and to try new things. I don't get it all perfect and I still have a lot to learn but.

Changing my mindset from I just want to make a living to I want to change the lives of those around me through my work has been the biggest game changer. Another way to say it is I know my why Start with why by Simon Sinek is a must read for anyone that is wanting to grow a business. I read it about two years ago and it has given me so much direction. So thank you Matt. Matt was saying it's more of a mind shift change of just like wanting to make a living to actually changing the lives of those that work around me and through the work that he does. So great insight there. And yes, the book Start with why is a great book from Simon Sinek. Amity replied to Matt and said, I can't agree more. I said to my husband, do you realize we have seven families that depend on us making this business grow? That was a big eye opener for me too. Ezra. Ezra thank you. Ezra said. Getting to know Mike Andes I don't know about that, but Paul west put the importance of the question does this scale? So this is a good beautiful question that I had asked myself a long time ago and I mentioned this on the podcast probably six months or so ago. And that is everything in your business. Ask yourself, does this scale? Does the system that I implement, does it scale? If I hire this type of person, does it scale? This type of service way that we do this service, does it scale? Will it grow or will it break? If I add three more crews that do the same thing, if I double the amount of customers every week that we mow, will it break? Will it mess up? Will it be issues? Does it scale? Is a great question to ask if you wanted to grow your business. Dale Bondroff said Marketing Zachary Porowski said, card on file monthly payments only. No one time cleanups. So this is a really again it has to do with your business model. Some people love one time cleanups. That would be Augusta Lawn Care because it's one of our most consistently high profit margin services and it's a great way to get in the door as a gateway drug and get them on our services and then in our CRM to where we are marketing them consistently and they're hearing about us and then we get them on recurring services and then we get them on one time projects on bigger stuff. So we look at it kind of like as a gateway. However, there are people who are not trying to grow their company or they are focusing on other services like mowing or hardscaping. And cleanups is just a distraction. And so Zachary, that sounds like where you're at one time, cleanups can be a distraction from recurring services and it can also be a distraction from larger hardscaping projects. So again, knowing your business model, knowing what services you focus on and then being singularly focused on those is really important. Cecil Perkins put Implementing Service Autopilot has been a major game changer for us. Okay, okay. So implementing Service Autopilot. Yeah. So Service Autopilot is who we use in the franchise as well for Augusta Lawn care services and for the franchisees. And so if you have, if you have Service Autopilot and you go to Marketplace, you'll actually see a package called Augustination Package and that's actually includes like all our automations, our forms, our contracts, our tags, like everything, estimate forms, forms for people filling out applications to work. Like everything that we do at Augusta that we pre built for Service Autopilot is in there in the Marketplace now. We were able to get that. And I really appreciate Service Autopilot for working with us on that. Amity replied to Cecil and says how much are you paying monthly? What package did you pick if you don't mind sharing? Also, how many property can you route in one day? I can answer that. So Amity, in terms of paying for.

Service Autopilot, you're looking at between $80 and $200 per month. If you go to the $200, that's when you get automations. It's a pro package versus just the basic package at 80 bucks a month. And in terms of routing per day you can. It's not like I know way you're asking the Amity because that's because you use Lawn Pro and then it's capped out at 24 visit our 24 stops per day each route. That is not the case in Service Autopilot. So there isn't any cap.

Okay, I'm gonna skip a few here. Kevin Fairburn said honestly just learning to say no 100%. Like this is what we talked about in the past few episodes about getting focused clearly on which service you're offering and which ones you are not offering. And if you watch the interview I had with Upflip TV, if you go into Facebook or just search YouTube or whatever, you can search up Flip TV or just Mike Andy's and it was posted this week, I forget what they named it. I think it was like how to start a $1 million landscaping business. In that interview I talk about the importance of focusing on the core competencies of your business and how much More profitable a $500,000 company can be versus a million dollar business by someone having half the amount of revenue but far more profitable because they focus on a few core competencies and services and don't try to just grow their business by growing the number of services they offer.

Let's wrap it up with this. Judy also said service autopilot with automations and yes, automations are fantastic and if you can afford the $200 per month for service autopilot with the Pro version, then yes, automations are fantastic and we use them for Augusta Lawn Care and the franchisees. So anyways, I'm gonna stop it there. I hope something was said. There's just so many things and for every one of those people that mention something like that one thing changed their business. They said this is the this year that one thing changed their business. So everyone's asking well what's the one thing in my business that changed my business this year? And it's pretty simple. Pay for performance. It's been absolutely revolutionary for me as an owner, for the culture, for the amount of money we can pay people for so many things. So that's the one for me. And that is hopefully one of those things that was mentioned on here or the one I mentioned can help you grow your business and improve your business as well. Don't forget, if you are wanting to be part of the first group of 10 and get into the one or two spots remaining AugustaLawnCare Services.com franchise book a call with me next week. I am away out of town like the entire week. So if I have a four, I have four spots that I've already got filled next week for calls. I might be able to slot you in some places throughout there. So go ahead and book a call. There's a chance I might have to reschedule it with you if I have meetings or in interview or something like that while I'm away. But we will definitely get in touch and make sure you get set up. But you gotta get in touch with me before the end of October. Like you can't. It won't extend beyond that. So anyways, thank you so much everyone. Have a fantastic day. I'll see you next time.