If you are starting you own landscaping business, you will have no problem getting business if you start out right. Once you have all the equipment you need, your insurance, licenses, and more, there are still some more things you need to do to get it off the ground.
Business Plan
Take time to prepare a business plan for your landscaping business. This plan documents your goals for your company, and the route you plan to take to grow your client base and revenues. Other things you should include in your business plan include:
- Strategies you plan to use to meet your goals
- Potential problems you may have and how to solve them
- Organizational structure of your landscaping business
- Capital needed to finance your business
The Small Business Association provides free help to create your own business plan.
Website
Most people today search online when they are looking for something, such as a landscaping business in their area. For this reason, your business needs to have a website. If you do not have the skills to do this yourself, you can someone to do the web design for you.
Before you hire someone to design your website, ask him or her if you can look at some of the websites he or she has created for customers. When you get to the website, look over the design. It should be set up in a way that it is easy to navigate through, and gives you a good experience.
Most web designers put their name at the bottom of the pages they design. Look there and make sure his or her name and/or company name is listed. Talk with him and her about the type of website you need, and make sure they can provide it for you.
Ask the web designer to give you some references of past clients he or she designed websites for.
Marketing
Marketing your business is one of the most important things you need to do. After all, you cannot have a business without customers. You should have some business cards printed up showing you company name, your name, and contact information. Prepare some brochures to hand out to people. Talk with local stores in your area, and ask if you can post one of your brochures there.
Place an advertisement in your local newspaper, and let it run for a few weeks. Call your friends, family, former employers, past coworkers, and anyone else you can think of to promote your business. Tell them to let people they know about your business.
If you drive a truck for your landscaping business, have the name of your business and contact information painted on the side of it. If you do not want to paint it, you can have magnets made up to place on the side of your vehicles.
If you live in a cold area, you may want to consider extending your services to shoveling snow off driveways, patios, and walkways.
