Knowing when or if expanding your service offerings is right for you creates an "interesting dilemma," remarked Steve Glover, president and CEO of Symbiot Business Group, Sandy, Utah, former Associated Landscape Contractors of America president and a 22-year veteran of the landscaping industry.
Making the decision to expand into new markets is a personal decision that only the owner can make, Glover continued.
"If you feel like you've penetrated your core business and that you've done all you can do, then it might be time to expand," he said.
However, Glover warned that contractors must look before they leap and be sure that expanding is the right thing for their businesses.
"Oftentimes we make the decision to do something and then we justify it rather than asking the right questions and then deciding to do it," Glover emphasized. "You need to ask the questions and then answer them honestly to make sure you're not kidding yourself."
Some pertinent questions to ask include:
Glover himself has experience with this when he decided to add more services to his former company, L&L Landscape Services, Sunnyvale, Calif. Glover decided to add interior landscaping, parking lot sweeping and landscape construction to his list of service offerings - and not all proved to be profitable for his company.
"The interior portion didn't do real well, but the parking lot sweeping and landscape construction worked really well," he explained. "Both these businesses required analyzing the business and the types of personalities needed to run them."
For example, Glover related that employees working with interiorscapes need to be more nurturing and take more time with the plants than do exterior employees. Also, for the sweeping business, Glover knew he'd need employees willing to work at night. It's these types of details that owners should consider before deciding to expand their business, Glover advised. If these details are overlooked, it could lead to disaster.
"The biggest mistake contractors make is not giving the new business the entrepreneurial commitment that they gave their original business," he declared. "They have to be willing to pay the dues to be successful. Their original business probably wasn't profitable at first, why would this new part be?"