School of Management: In Business with Lawn Care

Lawn care operators need more than a spray tank and a license to build a successful operation. While well-trained technicians and a packed route will feed a company’s revenue stream, these basics don’t promise  profitable growth the next year.

Planning is pivotal.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail,” Terry Kurth told a room of more than 150 lawn care operators at a Lawn & Landscape lawn care professional training seminar, a precursor to its annual School of Management in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Kurth, director of development for U.S. operations for Weed Man, a lawn care franchise organization, offered the group a format for structuring a lawn care operation for success.

First, owners must step back and spend time working on the business rather than in it. While dealing with the day-to-day bustle, many entrepreneurs get locked into operations, not allowing time to strategically plan how they will grow their companies or secure profitability for years to come.

The advantages of constructing a business plan include:
· Internal to-do list
· Mergers and acquisitions
· Able to react to a changing environment
· Test growth plans
· Show your game plan to bankers and investors
Kurth pointed out, “Strategic planning is the tool that puts a well-constructed rudder on your business ship.”

When first getting started on a plan, consider hiring an experienced facilitator outside the organization to offer unbiased advice. Allow a minimum of two days to plan and step outside your environment. Conduct the meeting offsite to springboard creative thinking and inspiration.

Start by identifying your mission statement and your vision, Kurth stressed.
· Mission – functions you perform, for whom, how and why
· Vision – what you think you can or should become in the future

Many business owners approach their plans with a SWOT analysis, listing their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This base provides information on where the business must improve operations to protect its future success. It also highlights strengths that the business can market to draw in customers and differentiate from competing companies, Kurth noted.

Once owners evaluate their operations, they should target key issues to tackle and focus on action plans.
· Review data from your SWOT analysis, mission and vision
· Develop a list of issues that emerge from the analysis
· Reduce your list to the key issues you’ll deal with in the next few years
Action plans are:
· Similar to strategic plans, but include steps to be taken, tools needed and measured results
· Constructed by team members who will lead the action planning

Following is a strategic plan example that Kurth offered attendees:
· KEY ISSUE – Develop better communication between franchisor and franchisee
· OBJECTIVE – Identify where communication fails and implement corrective action
· STRATEGIC – Open panel a forum at the general session for brainstorming on communications
· ACTION – The communications team of Bill, Dave and Mary will collect comments from the open panel, prioritize what they feel are the top three and have a plan to implement them by April 1, 2003.

The author is a Contributing Editor to Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at khampshire@lawnandlandscape.com.