Recessions are tough on everyone. People spend less on travel, retail, and real estate—but where does landscaping fit into the recession picture? Although your landscaping expertise will still be in demand during a recession, it won’t be business as usual. The good news is that getting organised now is your best way to fight a recession and even build up your skillset.
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Although some of your landscaping work is essential, there will be some differences during a recession. Maintenance and repair work may continue, but large-scale landscaping projects will likely be put on hold.
Your clients aren’t likely to invest in a new pool when finances are restricted. During a recession, you can expect more essential maintenance jobs and fewer luxury projects.
People won’t be throwing their money at a new company when things are tight, so you want to focus on securing jobs from existing customers.
A recession brings enormous financial stress, so some clients might struggle to pay their bills on time.
With the right tools up your sleeve, you can stay focused and may even grow your landscaping business during a recession.
When money is tight, customers are unlikely to revamp large outdoor spaces. That means you need to focus on essential landscaping jobs. If it’s not already your expertise, consider specialising in maintenance landscaping like weeding, pest control and lawn mowing, so you’re more likely to get work despite the financial climate.
With the potential for missed client payments and fewer jobs, you need to get a tight grip on your finances. Whether you’ve hired an accountant or not, claiming your business expenses now will help to gather that extra cash you need behind you.
Here’s some guidance on business expenses:
Reining your spending is always important, but during a recession, it’s crucial. Review your finances to decide where to cut back and stack away any excess cash. An easy way to reduce unnecessary spending is streamlining admin processes like quoting, invoicing and scheduling into one job management software instead of paying for various subscriptions.
There’s no point in making a business plan midway through a recession. Futureproofing your business is all about being organised before the tidal wave hits. Get processes in place now so that you’re less likely to be shaken if a recession does strike:
When the going gets tough, it’s more important than ever to focus on what you can control to grow your landscaping business. A recession might not be the time to win new customers, but perfecting your landscaping marketing plan could help retain your existing ones. Marketing doesn’t need to cost the earth – there are plenty of offline marketing strategies and low-cost marketing ideas, especially for landscapers.
Successful businesses have one thing in common: they find a way to stay positive and carry on when the going gets tough. A recession will test you, but if you stay optimistic, you’ll be one step ahead of many other landscaping companies. Plus, you’ll become more robust, having implemented strategies to help your landscaping business withstand challenging times.
No one is thrilled when a recession strikes, but there are things you can do now to set your landscaping business up to survive. It’s sensible to have maintenance experience under your belt, so you’ll be in demand regardless of what the economy is doing. It’s also a good idea to secure more work now so you have a large, loyal customer base to fall back on. Refreshing your marketing strategy and investing in job management software like Tradify can help you do that.
Try Tradify for free, or pop over to one of our live demo webinars to see it in action.