The following are the 5 basic steps in building a successful lawn care business. Intertwined through these steps you should always consider building your brand image.

We often hear from clients that they would like to build their brand image after they've been in business for 4 -5 years. While it's great that they are thinking about their brand image, what a difference it would make if they had considered that brand image from day one!

Image is something we have whether we try for it or not. In other words, what the public sees, is the image they have of you. If you're driving old rusted trucks then that's the image they'll have of you. If your logo looks like it was created by someone on their home computer, then that's the image you'll have.

First impressions are important. They are formed by your brand image.

1. Build route density. Route density is the key to profitability. Building your business exclusively on referrals is dangerous. In order to grow, you end up taking all or most referral business. Referrals don’t always come in from a tight geographic area, so density isn’t maintained.

2. Profile and target your most profitable customers. Not all lawn customers are equally profitable. Profile customers regularly and monitor profitability. Which is your most profitable segment? Homeowners, homeowners’ associations, office parks, developers? You should know this and sell accordingly.

3. Build up your lawn care bench. Prepping for growth is crucial. Many companies pass up growth opportunities because they don’t have the staff to take on new business. The best companies don’t miss growth opportunities because they build their bench and have people ready to handle opportunities.

4. Build cash reserves for future growth. Lack of capital will stand in your way to grow. Build a cash reserve so that when opportunities arise, your company has the capital to fund it.

5. Maintain consistent lawn care marketing efforts. Maintaining consistent lawn sales effort even after you've grown the business when it's easy to cut overhead by reducing your marketing costs. Companies tend to drop their lawn care marketing after growth has stretched their resources. When they need sales again, they start over with an all new sales effort. This doesn’t work. It takes time to build sales traction and it's better not to lose it in the first place. Continue selling. If you absolutely get more work than you can handle, selectively drop a few unprofitable customers for the more profitable ones. Build your brand image.