When Precision Landscape Management Outgrew Spreadsheets, Aspire Stepped In

For growing companies, what worked in the past may not work for the present. Just ask Brian Gray, the Maintenance Division Director at Precision Landscape Management in Greenville, South Carolina. 

“When you're a small business, at about a million dollars, you can manage a lot of things through one person,” Gray said. “You're able to pull reports and compile it all onto a spreadsheet because you might have 50 clients or (so).”

But in 2022, Precision was scaling quickly, and Gray knew it was going to take more than one person with a spreadsheet to juggle hundreds of lawn care customers.

That’s why Precision joined Aspire, which provides real-time data around profitability, performance, and customer experience. 

“The first year (with Aspire) was hard,” Gray admitted. “But the second year that we've been using it, we've been able to make some significant financial decisions based off what's coming out of it.”

Today, Aspire is a source of truth for Gray, helping him chart a course to hit Precision’s ambitious financial goals. 

“We're on track to do $8.5 or $9 million this year,” Gray said. “To break that down into daily chunks of, ‘How am I going to get that?’ It's a lot easier to get everybody on board that way.”

With data comes clarity—and profitability.

Last August, Precision was running at a net-negative profit—something leadership didn’t even realize until that December during the end-of-year close process. Finding profitability felt like “a pilot flying blind,” Gray said. 

This year, Precision is in a much better spot. At any time, Gray can quickly access up-to-date numbers that tell him how his team is performing. 

“(These reports) automatically tell you a story,” Gray said. “It tells you, ‘OK, I need to put a little bit more pressure on the production side of things, and I need to have some conversations with our account managers.’”

Those decisions matter: Precision’s net profits are up around 6% to 7% this year, Gray estimated.

“The fact that we know why we're going to hit that net profit is actually very calming,” Gray said. “(Aspire is) giving us the ability to put pressure on the things that need to change for the better.”

Software that centers human connection

Companies join Aspire for its powerful tech features. But the software has also allowed Gray and his team to form stronger bonds with customers and industry peers. 

• Relationship building: Gray wanted to track which maintenance customers returned to Precision for design-build projects. Using tags in Aspire, his team can flag which customers have converted and further cultivate that relationship.

• Support when you need it: Navigating complex software can be overwhelming, which is why Gray appreciates the responsiveness of his Aspire account manager to troubleshoot issues. “It makes it so much easier to just shoot him a quick email,” Gray said. 

• Rub elbows with your peers: Through Aspire’s networking events and conferences, Gray has met other leaders of landscaping businesses who’ve started “bouncing ideas off of each other,” Gray said, and have plans for monthly check-ins to swap ideas.

A partner in learning and growing

With Aspire, Precision’s team has “leveled up our financial IQ,” Gray said, especially around pinpointing profit margins. 

In the past, the company struggled with generating accurate estimates. Now, Aspire helps managers understand, “before we even send an estimate or an opportunity to somebody, what (the) estimated gross margin is off that job,” Gray said. 

But those estimates are only good if Precision can execute the job on time and under budget. 

At the end of 2023, Gray realized his team had a 60% efficiency rating for maintenance contracts. 

“(Aspire) made it easy to set metrics for our salespeople to send estimates at a certain gross margin percentage, and then also hold our guys accountable to producing it and executing that work at that gross margin,” Gray said. 

This year, the maintenance team has improved its efficiency by 25%. 

For Gray, tools like Aspire will allow the company to grow—and let the team focus on what it does best.

“The three things that we say that are different about Precision is (we are) reliable, responsive, and (do things the) right way. By utilizing some of the back-end stuff in Aspire, it helps us to get closer to that,” Gray said. “We're still not perfect, but we're headed that way for sure.”