Demand naturally start to slow for lawn and garden professionals every summer, primarily in July and August as people go away on holidays and their lawns and gardens become less of a priority, but that doesn’t mean your business has to slow down as well. There are plenty of strategies you can deploy to keep your business busy during the summer months, and here are a few:
Reviews
Contact customers and ask for Google reviews to help build your business. Asking for reviews is the best way to have continued dialogue with your customers, and continued dialogue is how you build relationships. Having these conversations also opens the door to discussing any unmet lawn and garden needs they may have around their home.
Referrals
Never ask for a review without asking for referrals as well. Explain that things slow down in the summer and this is a great time to get reduced rates and quicker turn around times on the services you provide. Ask your customers if they have any friends or family that could take advantage of the summer slow down while benefiting from all the amazing quality and value your work provides.
Newsletters, email campaigns and special offers
Produce email list of your existing customers and create marketing campaigns or newsletter on platforms like Mailchimp offering summer lawn and garden tips and special incentives. Creating special offers around enhancements like bark mulch and river rock installations are always very effective. These are quick and easy services to deliver in the summer, and unlike lawns and gardens where growth tends to slow down in dry summer months, installations and enhancements can be done year round.
Unsolicited Quotes
Replace “selling” with “education” in your business. Visit all your regular customers in the summer and provide an estimate for all the work that may be required around their homes for the Fall. Pruning, trimming, hedges (not cedars) can be offered with an incentive to get the work done in the summer. Suggest enhancements like river rock and bark mulch wherever you feel it would add value to the aesthetic of the property. Provide all the services as line items on a quote and let them select the services they would like to have done.
Schedule Annual work for the summer
Schedule all annually recurring work l(like pruning, trimming and strata/commercial property cleanups) for July and August every year. Push the recurring work to slower months (like July, August and January, February) so you have more capacity to do seasonal work like Power Rakes in the Spring and leaf cleanups in the Fall. Spread demand for your services year-round.
Take a Break
Spring is usually a very busy period for Lawn & Garden professionals and come July and August most are exhausted. Take advantage of the natural slow down in demand in the Summer to take a break or a family holiday to recharge. Fall will be around soon enough, and everything will be non-stop again until Christmas. Give yourself a well-deserved break and rest while you can.
Hopefully these simple yet effective strategies will help keep you as busy as you want to be through the summer months. Onwards and upwards!