Spring-Green innovates humdrum lawn care

[Steve]

WOW This franchise is now taking in $26 million a year! This is a very fascinating article. They encourage their new franchise owners to run their business out of their garage to save money. It really makes you think about what you are doing. "They provide only services that don’t require a large amount of manpower or investment in equipment. This includes weeding, fertilizing, tree care, insect control and aeration. Surprisingly, it does not include lawn mowing. “We get this all the time, ‘um, why don’t you do this why don’t you do that?,’” Hofer said. “We do what we do by design. First of all, it’s got to be a high-margin service. It’s got to be high margin, low labor cost. " They only focus on high-margin services with low labor costs! Very interesting. Ultimately this allows them to grow larger with less employees. What's your view on this business and their business model? Spring-Green innovates humdrum lawn care to gross $26 million - Ask Tom Hofer, CEO of Spring-Green Lawn Care Corp., why he thinks his Plainfield franchising business is so successful, and he'll tell you, “Chicago is just the best lawn care market in the world. We just happened to land here by luck 30 years ago.” Hofer is partly right. The Chicago area, with its affluent residents and expansive, sweeping lawns, is undeniably a great lawn care market. But rather than luck, it is Spring-Green’s willingness to innovate and its dedication to local service that has led to the huge success represented by the $26 million in revenues the company generated in 2006.

__________________
- Subscribe to my Lawn Care Marketing Blog Feed and get daily tips sent to you. Free!
Download your Free trial of Gopher Lawn Care Software.

Lawn care business tips

VERY interesting.... and extremely business savvy! I like it... more power to them! = )

[Steve]

I hope these articles help. When you are developing your business, in my view it's really important to think big.

Think as if you are building a huge operation. As if you will franchise it. Write your business owner manual so you systematize everything. This will help you manage things and then be able to pass it on to others who will manage for you.

One of the many things that stood out to me in that article is how they focus on high profit low labor jobs.

It's amazing how the more staff you need to get something done, the more difficult it is to manage everything. Yet there are many things you can do to make a good profit and not need as many people.

Trust me... I'm making a book...

[Steve]

As you experiment more with the services you are offering, do you find certain ones are easier to do with a higher profit margin and do you find yourself gravitating towards marketing those services more so?