The profit margins of your small landscaping business will let you know how successful your business is. It shows you whether you’re pricing your services properly, and helps you manage your costs better. These work together to enable your business to stay more profitable.
For your business to profit however you’ll need to build proper profit margins. You don’t want to have to worry about paying your utility bills. You should also have enough capital to invest in your business if you find it necessary.
Is It Profitable To Run A Small Landscaping Business?
If your small landscaping business is successful, then you should have a profit margin that falls between 15% and 45%. This is not the same as your operations profit margin. This figure tells you how much income you have left, after taking into account your costs of operations. These include labor costs, material costs, overhead costs, as well as costs associated with tools and equipment.
In order to make your small landscaping business profitable, you’ll need to estimate costs properly. You should also charge your customers competitive prices for your services. But how do you build healthy profit margins for your business? Let’s find out how to calculate your profit margins first.
Calculating The Profit Margins Of A Small Landscaping Business
The first thing that you need to do is determine what your business’ overall revenue is, within a set time period. Then, for that same time period, write down your operating costs. Now, subtract your expenses from the revenue.
Take the number that you get, and divide it by the revenue. This will get you a decimal figure. You need to then multiply this decimal figure by 100, in order to find your profit margins. You should keep recalculation your profit margins every two to three months. When you have regular records regarding your profit margins, you can better make strategic decisions about business growth. You’ll be able to tell when you should reduce expenses or adjust prices. You can better make decisions that help you turn your small landscaping business into more profitable.
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How Can You Increase Your Profits From Your Small Landscaping Business?
If you think that your profit margins aren’t adequate, then there are several things that you can do to make your business more profitable. Here are some ways you can improve your profit margins.
1. Raising Prices
The first change you should make is raising your prices. Do this incrementally, say by 2% in one go. Over time, small increases in the price can start to add up. Remember that you might need to deal with objections from customers if you choose to raise prices. Listening to complaints isn’t unusual, but you should know how to respond to them in a way where you don’t lose your customers. This means you’ll need to brush up on your customer service skills as well.
2. Reducing Overhead Costs
Pore through your business finances to find out if there are any extra or unnecessary overhead costs. In the beginning, set a small but achievable goal for yourself. You could start out by trying to save $100 every month when it comes to overhead costs. Now, look at your business expenses again. Try to find places where you can reduce overhead costs. Maybe you can negotiate your rent, or pay a lower cell phone bill.
3. Building An Efficient Team
With a team that’s efficient, you’ll be able to ensure that more work is completed faster. Consider reducing tasks that aren’t directly related to fieldwork or customer service. Ask your employees to go out for fewer coffee runs.
Ensure that your employees spend their billable hours doing useful tasks. These could include monitoring inventory, handing out business flyers to passersby, checking equipment, and more.
4. Attracting More Clients
When you attract more clients for your business, you gain the freedom to raise how you price your services. This can in turn help you increase your profit margins. Consider setting up a business page on Facebook. Use this page to build an audience online, that is likely to hire your services. You can even run ads for landscaping on Facebook or Google, to attract more clients.
Think about getting uniforms for your employees, with your business name and logo emblazoned on top. Get a vehicle wrap for your work van, so people know about your small landscaping business when you drive the van around. You can hand out business cards, build a business website, create a blog, and much more, to attract new clients to your business.
Conclusion
If you want your small landscaping business to be profitable, then you’ll need to monitor your profit margins. You should also actively try to increase your profit margins. This guide shows you how you can run a profitable small landscaping business.
