5 Ways to Effectively Grow Your Business

Small business owners can get stuck on a growth plateau. Trying to overcome a hurdle—whether it is higher income, more clients, or any other measurement—doesn’t need to be especially difficult. With the right tools and strategies, you can grow your company to a large-scale lawn mowing franchise.

(For more information about the specific tools U.S. Lawns franchisees use to grow, and how to apply them, download our ebook!)

# 1 The Right Owner

First things first, growing your business starts with you, the owner. Strong leadership is essential to make a commercial landscaping and lawn mowing franchise work. Your ability to successfully manage a team and delegate responsibilities makes all the difference with your business’s growth.

In order to expand your business, you need to be able to step into the role of leader and owner. When you start out, you may spend time landscaping, mowing lawns, and working directly with clients. In order for your business to grow, you need to be able to let go of the role of hands-on landscaper to fully embrace the role of a business owner. Simply put, you cannot spend your time on growth efforts and still mow every lawn and weed every flowerbed.

We want to emphasize that owning a franchise is a good fit for people from a variety of backgrounds. A lot goes into owning a business, so people who do not have landscaping experience still bring a variety of relevant skills to the table.

#2 The Right Business Model

The business model that you use has a huge impact on your ability to grow. Starting a business from scratch means spending a lot of time learning the ropes of your industry, choosing your services, and writing manuals and procedures to have a complete business model. The biggest perk of investing in a franchise instead is that all of this work is already done. In fact, joining a franchise means you don’t waste time and energy that do not have the greatest impact on your business at that given time.

#3 The Right Customers

When you start getting into the lawn mowing franchise industry, how do you know which clients are the right ones? Look for the clients who have a budgeted line item for grounds care each month and who have a vested interest in having grounds that look good. Those clients are commercial property owners and managers.

Without a doubt, the key to expanding your business is switching to commercial clients. Working with commercial clients has the potential to earn higher revenue with a smaller number of properties. Forming relationships with commercial property managers and decision makers to earn their business will be critical to effectively grow your business.

#4 The Right Employees

As we mentioned, a key to growth is being able to delegate responsibilities and step out of the role of the landscaper. In order to do that, you have to have a team of dedicated employees who you can trust to represent your brand. Remember that it is not enough to simply hire workers and send them on their way. You have to train them, teach them the standards, and give them a reason to stay. You can read more about employee recruiting and retention here.

#5 The Right Systems

In a service based business, it is important for each customer to get quality work. Putting systems in place, including standard operating procedures and tools, keeps your employees and customers happy. When you join a franchise, you get the benefit of using tried and true systems and procedures, which puts you on the path to growth faster.

The small businesses that do not reach the top of their respective industries, either financially or personally, are lacking in one or more of the above areas. To get your business to the next level, take a serious look at how you are doing in these five areas.

To join in the U.S. Lawns commercial landscaping and lawn mowing franchise system, read about our steps to getting started.