You may be feeling that times are getting tough and competition is growing. As an artificial turf business owner, how do you help your business stand out from the competition? Think back to the basics. When you first started, what was it that you wanted to do differently from the others—unique designs, quality work, or superior service. How about all of the above. All those things are important and should be the backbone of your business however, making sure your profits are growing are just as important.
Emergency Fund
Knowing how important your profits are make you question what percentage you should be at to maintain a healthy and happy company. Should you make 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%?
As you think about what kind of profits you’d like your business to be yielding keep an emergency fund in mind. What if you have a repair that needs to be addressed during the warranty of your installation? You see…your artificial turf business needs to ensure you’ll have properly set aside a repair contingency fund for each project so that when a repair call or email comes into the office, they are prepared and ready to get your repair scheduled and most importantly fixed to your complete satisfaction. If your artificial turf business is operating on fumes, which happens quite often, you’ll be stuck with taking that from your profits, and if not in your budget you may be tempted to compromise the quality of the job. This can damage your business integrity.
Experienced Crew
I’m sure you’re already aware that a more experienced crew is always going to cost you more. And when thinking about how you can increase profits you may first go to adjusting the expense of your crew. However, this is not the area to skimp on and you should always consider using the most experienced crew possible. A solid experienced crew will help get a quality job done in half the time and solve problems when issues arise. You will end up with more satisfied customers, awesome reviews, and most importantly great referrals. This will be money well spent, Guaranteed!
Medium to Low End
When trying to decide your price point, you can get a very good idea as to what you might expect your project will cost on the medium to low end. There are so many factors that can come into play which will raise the price of your project (i.e. the accessibility of your install in terms of whether it is in the front yard, backyard, upstairs, downstairs or even through your house, to the type of turf you choose, drainage issues, excessive roots, how many square feet you have, whether you want turf deodorizer, a putting green, mow-strips, extra labor costs, etc.) Staying in the medium to low end will help your price point be competitive yet at the same time be ready for any issues that come up.
The Takeaway…
The key takeaway is to refocus on some important factors that can help you build a stronger foundation for your artificial turf business. A business can’t solely rely on excellent customer service or perfect backyard design. If you’re not already doing these things mentioned in this article, we hope you take a moment to revise your goals and put them into play. Choosing to look the other way is putting your business at risk. When an issue arises, where will you pull the funds from if you have nothing in reserves? Or what will you do with a crew that doesn’t take the job seriously and is costing you time and money per job? A business based solely on price or cutting corners to reduce the price is simply not sustainable and oftentimes results in a lose-lose scenario for all parties involved in the transaction. These things are not only for your safety but for the longevity of your business. By implementing these simple things you’ll be left with the confidence you need to make the right decisions on which contractors to hire, what your price point should be at, and be set with an emergency fund that prepares you for any bump in the road.
