Top 5 Profit-Boosting Strategies for Your Lawn Care Business

Unlock the top five actionable strategies to dramatically increase profits in your lawn care business while scaling efficiently. 📚 Level Up Your Money (New Release) 👉 Get Your Copy! 🎟️ Equip Expo 2025 👉 Save 50% off Equip Expo Ticket w/ Promo Code PAUL: Register Here 📲 Connect with Paul - Visit Official Website 🛠️ Paul’s Recommended Tools & Professionals 📈 Helium SEO: helium-seo.com 💻 Horizon360 – All-in-one contractor business software: gethorizon360.com 📞 CallRail – Track where your leads are coming from: callrail.com 📚 The Landscaping Bookkeeper – Know your numbers, stress less: thelandscapingbookkeeper.com 📈 Lawn Care Launch: thelandscapingbookkeeper.com/lawn-care-launch (new program for business owners) 🌐 Footbridge Media – Get a pro lawn care website: footbridgemedia.com 🎬 VIP On-Demand: Lawn Care Life Conference 🎥 Watch All Replays Now — Includes Brandon Gray, Andy Mulder, Jason Creel, Paul Jamison & more. Learn pricing, profit, burnout prevention, and how to scale smart. 📦 Business-Building Resources by Paul Price Increase Letter Template Contract Templates Know Your Numbers 📚 Paul’s Most Popular Business Books How to Build a Thriving Lawn Care Business: Buy on Amazon Cut That Grass and Make That Cash: Buy on Amazon Level Up Your Money (New Release): Buy Now 🌿 Paul's Online Banking Recommendation Relay's Online Banking: Open an Account

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Motive. Growing a landscaping company means more trucks, more trailers, and more equipment, and more revenue doesn't always mean more profit. Motive gives you one platform to see where your vehicles and equipment are, cut idle time and fuel waste, and protect your crews with AI dash cams. Motive customers report 20% annual savings on maintenance and fuel. See what it could do for your business at gomotive.com. Again, that's gomotive.com.

• 0:31Speaker 01

  Hello and welcome to the Green Industry Podcast, your go-to guide for building a more profitable and thriving lawn care and landscaping business. Your host, Paul Jameson, is the author of five bestselling books, including Cut That Grass and Make That Cash, and his latest, Level Up Your Money, all available on Amazon and Audible. Now get ready for more expert insights and practical strategies to boost your business and level up your life. Here's Paul Jamison.

• 1:08Speaker 00

  Welcome back to the Green Industry Podcast. Paul Jamison here in Tampa, Florida. Today, we're going to talk about the top five ways to increase profit in your lawn care business. Really, these five things will help any business, but we will specialize in the lawn care landscaping business with the examples. We're going to get started right out of the gate here. How do we increase profits in our lawn care business? Number one is to optimize our pricing strategy. There are a lot of chuck in the trucks out there who are using their old rates, and the problem with your price from two years ago still being your price is that the equipment, I don't know if you've noticed, Mr. Producer,

• 1:51Speaker 00

  I know you got some new equipment, but the equipment prices are going up. And not only is the lawnmowers more expensive and the power equipment, but to hire an employee, it costs more than it did a few years ago. Right? When I started my business, it was 2011. The main companies in Atlanta, Georgia, their man-hour rate

• 2:18Speaker 00

  Like the big companies, not the chuck in the trucks, but the multimillion dollar companies that were legit were charging their customers at a $45 per man hour rate. And then within that $45 per man hour rate, they were able to pay their labor and all of the expenses with that and then all the equipment and all yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. It was $45 per man hour. Well, now it's almost doubled. I know a lot of folks charge $75 per man hour, $80 per man hour, and many charge more than that. That's why I said it's almost doubled. It just depends on the business. And so my point is you can't charge what you used to charge and maximize your profits. You need to understand your

• 3:03Speaker 00

  expenses and understand your local market so that your prices can be competitive, but they need to be profitable. So you probably need to raise them. Now, the whole night conversation for another day about raising prices, because if you raise them too much, you might lose clients. But typically, I have a lot of friends in this industry. Typically, the bigger companies raise their prices about 10% a year. Some of them I know recently did 15% a year. So just be aware that if you want to increase profits, probably the first place you can start with is increasing your pricing. Now, Jonathan Potoshnik, a friend of mine, was on the podcast about a year ago. We were, Naylor and I got to

• 3:47Speaker 00

  go to his awesome home in Dallas, north of Dallas, Texas. And he was saying, you know, what's crazy is the very first thing that happened when he sold his, he had a, he used to own a CRM, and he sold it. And he's like, the very first thing the new owners did when they took over my company was they raised the prices. And he was like, duh, like, why didn't I think of that? You know what I mean? Like, they came in and like, not that they need to fix it, like it was a failing business. The business was absolutely booming and they paid him an outrageous amount of money for it. But the very, like, first order of business that the new company did when they acquired Jonathan's company is they just raised the prices. It's like, okay, why didn't I think of that one? All right. Top five ways to increase

• 4:28Speaker 00

  profit in your lawn care business. Number one, optimize your price strategy. Number two is to streamline.

• 4:37Speaker 00

  Your operations, so inefficiency affects the profits. And there's shout outs to Toro, they have a new software, Horizon 360. That can really help you streamline your processes. In addition to a CRM, I use a bookkeeper who connects my CRM to my QuickBooks online, to all of my bank accounts, all of that stuff is streamlined. So when I go out and I used to say swipe my debit card, but now they got the little, I don't know how it all works, but you just like put your debit card up next to the like machine and it's like ding, approved. So whatever that thing's called, it's so fancy.

• 5:21Speaker 00

  But when I do that, let's say I go to the gas station, right? And I, you know, run the transaction. Well, everything's streamlined. It then goes into my bank account system, into my CRM, into my bookkeepers, you know, dashboard thing, and then it gets put in the right category. And then when it comes time to do taxes, everything is squeaky clean. So how can you streamline your business?

• 5:51Speaker 00

  There's a lot of ways to do this, but technology and AI can be our friend. I know there's a lot of people that talk negative about AI and technology and all of this stuff, but ask the question, how can we use it for good? How can we use it to streamline our operations, to make things more efficient? Believe it or not, there's still people that aren't doing their billing online, like they're, they're collecting checks. I was at a pressure washing event last week and this guy was talking to him. I gotta be careful, I'm not gonna say his name or anything. He's in a different industry, pressure washing, but he's telling me that he has like 30

• 6:35Speaker 00

  checks a week that he takes to the bank. And I'm like, what are you, first of all, what are you doing collecting checks? And second of all, what are you doing wasting your time driving to the bank? And anyway, just it was like mind boggling to me. It's like just get your customers cards on file, bro, and charge them. You know, you can charge the, uh, the day you do the service, you can charge your customers card, or you can actually get them on like a monthly plan, where you just charge them on the first of every month for the work you're about to do that month. And anyway, I could see I wasn't really getting anywhere with them. So I just kind of like, all right, bro, have fun with all your checks and drive into the bank. But with a good CRM,

• 7:17Speaker 00

  again, the Toro Horizon 360, they're actually a show sponsor. So I want to shout them out for this point because Horizon 360 can definitely help you streamline your operations. All right. Number three, top five ways to increase profits. We've talked about raise your prices. That's kind of a starting point. Number two is look if there's any inefficiencies and if you can use technology, softwares, AI to make those better. And I know all of these could be their own standalone episode, but I wanted to, I wanted to get these out because I got annoyed at this pressure washing conference because these, these big buff tough pressure washing guys, you know, they're, I'm mingling with them, you know, being friendly and everything, but they, you know, talking to each other, talking to me like, how much you guys do last year? You know, oh, we did

• 8:01Speaker 00

  a million. Oh, we did 1.5 mil, you know, and this, this like, I don't want to say arrogance, but nobody said, hey, what was your guys profit last year? Hey, what's your net worth? How much money do you have in your bank account? How much money do you have in investments accounts? Like it's, it's top line, top line, top line, top line, which is the revenue of your business. And all of that is fine and dandy, but if you make a million dollars a year and you spend a million dollars a year, I don't know what, what's the brag about? We do a million dollars. Well, you spend a million dollars, brother. All right. Let me move right along. But, but it inspired me as all this talk was, no one was talking about profit. And it just bothered me. It wasn't my time and place to sit there and like, you know, stand on a podium and start preaching,

• 8:46Speaker 00

  here's the top five ways to increase your profits and your revenue doesn't matter if you're not probably, you know. So that's why I was like, you know what? When I get back to Tampa, get in the podcast studio, I gotta get this off my chest. Talk about the good old profit in your lawn care business. All right, number three is this, this will work to increase profits and that's to upsell additional services. Now, do your research before offering mulch and fertilization and weed control and hedge trimming and sod and mosquito spray and the list goes on and on. But, but by, but what I say be careful is like actually know what you're doing.

• 9:29Speaker 00

  So I think bush trimming, that's pretty, you know, you got, you gotta be careful. Like if you don't know how to prune proper plants and trees, you could really screw things up, but um, for most part, you can watch all this stuff on YouTube, but then if someone has, you know, all these shrubs that are overgrown, the simple way to upsell is just say, hey, Mrs. Smith, we can, you know, we can get all these, these shrubs, you know, looking crisp and clean and nice for you. And you just, you just upsell the customer. So Rich Jansen, he used to work for Brightview, I think it was Brickman back in the day, but one thing he taught me, he's like, when you're at a customer's property, always be looking around the property. Is there anything you can do to enhance the property?

• 10:13Speaker 00

  And then just tell the customer about it. It's not like a high pressure sale situation. You could just say, hey, I noticed in your backyard, you got a ton of weeds in that mulch bed, um, you know, would you like us to spray and get rid of all those weeds and then come in and um, we could actually put some ground cover in there. So like, kind of like the weed block, so it kind of blocks future weeds and then we could put some fresh mulch in there. Or, hey, you know, I noticed this tree in your backyard really needs pruned. It's not getting enough, enough sunlight to your Bermuda grass. And if we pruned it up, I think we'd get more sunlight in there and your grass might actually come in a little bit stronger and help. And you, you just look around the property and see where you can add something on.

• 10:58Speaker 00

  Now, you don't want to just offer everything and any, you know, everything to everybody. You want to, you want to do high margin add-ons. Mulch is, you know, if you price it right and you're efficient spreading out, that can be good. Fertilization and weed control is going to require some licensing and some tests that, you know, make you official and everything. And that varies from state to state here in the United States, but you know, look into ways that you can do more than just cutting that grass and making that cash. It's crazy, my friends that do weed, weed control spray, how much bigger their margins are than lawn mowing. So it's definitely a way to increase profits.

• 11:43Speaker 00

  We're going to hear a quick word from today's show sponsors, and I got the two most important ways. The list was kind of like five, four, three, two, one, but I saved two and one for last. So in my opinion, these next two ways will increase your profits the most. So we will talk about those coming right up after we hear word from today's show sponsor.

• 12:00Speaker 02

  What can $30 get you these days? A pizza, maybe a half tank of gas, or the ultimate lawn and landscape experience. This October, Equip Expo takes over Louisville, Kentucky with a massive 30-acre demo yard where you can test drive mowers, track loaders, UTVs, and more. Need a breakthrough? You can choose from over 100 game-changing education sessions, and when the day's done, you can enjoy the Big & Rich Concert free with your badge. Don't miss it. Contractors from all over the world are growing at Equip. Register now at equipexposition.com and use the promo code PAUL to save 50% off your tickets.

• 12:43Speaker 02

  That's right, tickets for just $15 with the promo code PAUL. You can get those at equipexposition.com.

• 12:51Speaker 01

  You're out there in the field mowing lawns, making money, working hard. But for every dollar you make, you're worried. Worried that you spend too much, worried that you won't make payroll, or worried you'll generate a big financial mistake. Simply put, you don't know your numbers. You're not alone. The Landscaping Bookkeeper has helped dozens of eager lawn care owners organize their numbers, learn the language of business, and build a solid financial foundation. Start your journey from simply earning money to creating a long-lasting source of income today by scheduling a free 15-minute phone call at thelandscapingbookkeeper.com.

• 13:29Speaker 00

  All right, top five ways to increase profit in your lawn care business. We talked about raising your prices. We talked about seeing where you can be more efficient and really streamline your operation. We talked about up-selling and looking around the customer's property. Where can you offer something more than just lawn mowing? Number four, this is so critical and important, and it is focusing on customer retention. So retention is a fancy word for your customers keep coming back. So new clients, right? We call it customer acquisition cost, or CAC. New clients cost a lot to acquire. You've got to market to them. You've got to take the time to go out and give them an estimate.

• 14:13Speaker 00

  Then you've got to build trust that you can provide the service. There's a lot that goes into getting a new customer. And what's a lot easier for increasing profit is not going out and just always getting new, new, new, new, new customers, but actually just keeping your current clients very happy. That can be regular communication, making sure that they're happy with everything. You don't want to overdo it. You don't want to, you know, you don't want to be like blowing up their cellphone or email, but making sure that they're satisfied with your service goes a long way.

• 14:51Speaker 00

  Really, the only reason we should lose clients is if they pass away. If you do a lawn care business long enough, you'll more than likely have customers pass away just because they're, you know, you start mowing their grass and they're, you know, Miss Smith's, you know, 76 years old. And you're, you know, 10 years later, she's 86. You never, you never know. You know what I mean? So I remember the first time one of my customers passed away. It was very sad. I was like, oh, man, you know? Yeah, I mean, I was like legitimately like sad.

• 15:20Speaker 00

  But that's, you know, that's one way you could lose a yard. And my first time it happened, it was a husband and wife and the husband passed. And then the wife, you know, I helped her out sell that not like real estate wise, but I made the, I made the property look really, really good because she sold it and moved in with family. But basically, you know, we tried to make the property look as great as possible. And then went on the market and sold real fast. So that, that was nice to help out a widow. But the point is you can't get mad if you lose a customer because someone passes away. Or the more common one is somebody moves, right? You're doing, you're doing Randy's yard and the next thing you know, he tells you, hey, you know, my wife got a new job in a different city and you've been great, but we're, you know, this is our last month because we're, we're moving.

• 16:04Speaker 00

  I'll put in a good word for you for the new, new homeowner. But, and then you got to be careful with that because um, there was one customer who moved and the new people moved in. And I, I saw the red flags and the property was simple. It was a plain Jane, my wedge trimmed low, you know, we're already on the street. No, no big deal. But these new people, I could just tell they were, they were problematic. So just because they, you know, the new people move in, you get, you still got to use your same vetting process. Is this customer a PETA? Pain in the butt. So focus on customer retention and what you can do to not neglect your current customers, but by making sure that you're going above and beyond to keep them happy.

• 16:50Speaker 00

  All right. Number one, or number five, depending on how you're looking at the, the list, is, is controlling your cost. This is where profit is made or lost. So.

• 17:02Speaker 00

  Cutting unnecessary expenses, it's just something that is the most common way to increase our profit and even in our personal life, it's constantly reviewing where can we trim the fat? How can I get a better deal on the commercial insurance for the business? How can I get my supplies cheaper? Right? Buying in bulk or buying at the right time, you know, there's a sale at your shop where you buy your power equipment and all of that. Well, if they do a sale once a year, I know Howard Brothers in Atlanta does their pro day in February every year.

• 17:44Speaker 00

  Well, that's the time to stock up on your string trimmer, string. That's the time to stock up on your oil for the 50 to one mix ratio. That's the time to stock up on blades and all. There's all these deals that we can get that saves money. Right? Buy your, buy your trimmer line for the year, literally depending on the sale they do, it's 15 to 20% saving. You got string trim for all year and you're not, you're not buying it every time it runs out. I know my friend who's in the fertilizer business, he bought three, I think it was $320,000 of fertilizer at the right time to get, you know, to get the best deal. And then he's got a shop where he stores it all, you know, in the bags and then they

• 18:29Speaker 00

  use it throughout the year. But there's a certain way that he could buy it in bulk and get massive savings. And I was like, 320,000, it was over 300,000. Like that's like the, that's like the cost of a house. But the way he did the math, he's like, well, if we buy it at the beginning of the year on, on discount, just store it in the big old shop, then we'll, you know, we don't have to keep buying it throughout the year. And the guy is very profitable. So he obviously knows what he doing, but the example is. How can you negotiate with your vendors and be wise about controlling your cost? And we've done so many episodes about saving money and things like that.

• 19:12Speaker 00

  And so where can you trim the fat in your business? Well, I hope this is, this list has been helped. Control your costs, be wise with your purchases, focus on customer retention, upsell additional services, streamline your operations, operations, and optimize your pricing strategy, AKA raise your prices. Hey, quick reminder, Equip Expo is coming up, October 21 through 24 year 2025. This is a great time to look at all the new gear. Network, network, network. That's the whole reason I go is to network. We have a promo code that can get you half off your ticket this year. So when you're buying your ticket, there would be a place there that says promo code.

• 19:57Speaker 00

  Type in PAUL, you can save half off. Now, if you're listening to this before September 4th year 2025, you still got a chance to double dip and get the early bird pricing plus the promo code PAUL. So your tickets would only be $15 with promo code PAUL. If you're listening after that, you can still grab your spot at equipexpo.com. But prices, the equip just keeps making prices go up. But the promo code will get you half off. So no matter what time of year you're getting your ticket, when it says what's the promo code, type in PAUL and you can get half off. Love to see you. Louisville, Kentucky, and love for you to come up to me and tell me, hey, Paul, profits are increasing, profits are increasing. Thanks. That, the stuff like that encourages me. When I'm at trade shows or whatever, and you know, you let me know you listen,

• 20:42Speaker 00

  you let me know the show's helping. That's what really fuels me to keep going because I could go out and go golf. And I already know, you know, I already know to, well, not that I'm good at it, but I already know the principle of cutting my unnecessary expenses, right? I already know the principle of raising my prices. I already know the principle of really understanding the newest softwares, technologies, AIs, and how I can streamline my operations. I already know to upsell, upsell, upsell. I already know about customer focus, you know, retention. I don't have to turn this microphone on and share all these things. But when people come up and they say, hey, man, I listen to your podcast really helped. Then that, that encourages me. To keep on going. So, but anyway, that helps out a lot at the trade shows and everything

• 21:25Speaker 00

  because I don't get to see all the messages on social media and everything. I try to, um, I try not to get on social media to like consume. I try to just, uh, my friend Al Blades calls it post and go. So I try to just get on there. If I want to upload a piece of content, I upload it, then I get out, you know, then I get off of there. And I got all these messages and all this stuff. And it's like, if I start going through it, there'll be like one really kind message where someone emails or DMs me like, Paul, I listen to your show. Thanks so much, yada, yada, yada. But then I got like 10 other messages that are just knuckleheads being dumb and people doing all kinds of stuff. And I'm like, I just, so anyway, I don't have time to go through all those and read all those and everything. I keep my sanity. So at a trade show, when you guys give the compliments or you give the feedback, that really, really,

• 22:10Speaker 00

  really helps Mr. Producer and I to keep ranking out these episodes to serve you at the highest level. So, all righty. Well, thanks for listening to today's program. I hope this helped you increase profit in your business and I hope I persuaded you to consider joining us at the Equip Expo, October 21st through 24th in Louisville, Kentucky. Save half off your ticket with the promo code PAUL. Thanks for listening. Hope to catch you on the next one.

• 22:49Speaker 01

  Hey, it's Marty, producer of the Green Industry Podcast. This episode is over, but check the episode notes for links to products and services that you heard about during the episode. And thanks for listening.