Currently, the landscape business is thriving, as much as fresh flowers in the spring. If you're running one of your own, you’re now working in a competitive $94.7 billion industry. Your workload, which might have been fine for your small team to handle before, may now be overwhelming. In that case, remember our points from our article on building a solid landscaping company—that employees comprise the backbone of your company and that investing in qualified professionals can bring tremendous value to your growing business.
However, if you’re ready to expand your business further and make it more competitive, here are 5 team members you should consider onboarding.
Project manager
If you’re looking for someone to act as your right hand, hire a professional to oversee things. A project manager can utilize their expert organizational skills to plan and see through a project from beginning to end, communicating with stakeholders and your team in the process. If your company was hired to create an attractive outdoor space for a school, it’s up to you or your landscape designer to craft the ultimate vision—but it's your project manager who will have a thorough understanding of how to work through local regulations and zoning requirements. They’ll outline your idea to stakeholders and monitor how your plan takes shape. With a project manager, you can rest assured that your team remains synergistic and your landscaping output will develop into its best iteration.
Accountant
A developing business needs someone to always be on top of the books—making hiring an accountant paramount. They can keep track of your company’s daily, weekly, and monthly transactions and turn them into insightful and comprehensive financial reports. Accountants are especially helpful when you’re redesigning your business’s accounting system. You might have been leveraging the cash basis method and only recording revenue or expenses when you pay or receive money—but now that more people are requesting your landscaping services, you’re thinking about whether you should switch to an accrual basis, recording right when the transactions occur before any money is exchanged. Your accountant can help you make an informed decision that will provide you with the best tax breaks. Hire an accountant for smoother financial processes for your landscaping business.
Chief marketing officer (CMO)
A flourishing landscaping industry means stiffer competition, and you’ll want your business to keep the edge it’s gained after years of hard work. You should therefore consider hiring a CMO to expand and supervise your very own marketing team. This professional will amplify the voice of your landscaping business by creating comprehensive plans and outreaches geared toward your target market. For example, they might identify a marketing opportunity during the dry summer months, propose a campaign that generates interest among your ideal clients, and oversee those campaigns as they are conducted. Employ a CMO to boost your sales and elevate your business' marketing mojo.
Customer service representative
Now that you’re a sought-after landscape business, it’s time to channel and organize your client calls and requests—and if you want to keep that small business feel, using a chatbot just won't cut it. A customer service representative is perfect for that. They’ll utilize their polished communication skills to answer your customers’ basic questions, complaints, and orders, allowing you to get involved only when it’s time to make executive decisions on landscaping projects. Hire a customer support rep to handle initial direct interactions and lay the productive groundwork for a positive relationship with your clients in ways that AI can't.
Gardener
At this stage of your landscape business development, you might want to tackle more challenging projects that may include sophisticated greenery design. If that’s the case, consider employing a professional gardener who can assist you with their horticultural knowledge and turf management skills. These professionals can help you install and maintain your ideal landscape design for a project, such as if you want to go above and beyond a customer’s request for avant-garde topiary or a flowery arc for a garden’s grand entrance. To align your vision with your gardener, you can use our app to photograph the landscape you’re managing and edit it using advanced augmented reality features. Hire a gardener to enhance and beautify your landscaping.
Managing a growing landscape business can be difficult and rewarding. Support your upswing by hiring these professionals to take your business to the next level.
Article contributed by Runa Jaclyn
Exclusively for
