Unlock Efficiency by Embracing Modern Technology

Imagine an employee on your team solely dedicated to managing your resources and finances. They’d ensure that you’re within budget and that your bids are profitable. They’d look for ways to expand your services.

Landscape software does that for you without the need to hire an employee.

With landscape software, you can track each job’s:

• Labor hours

• Material use

• Equipment costs

• And more

Accurate job costing leads to better budgeting and financial planning. There’s less room for error and overruns. 

The right software can also identify opportunities for improvement and expansion. Find out whether your bids are priced competitively or if you need to make adjustments to stay ahead of your competitors.

Landscape software can also tell you which of your services generates the most revenue and profit or where you can expand your offerings based on customer needs.

Enhanced productivity

There are hidden costs to using outdated technology that add up quickly. Modern technology streamlines operations and boosts productivity.

Take drive time, for example. If your crew isn’t using the shortest, most fuel-efficient route to each job, you’re wasting resources and racking up miles. Mobile apps with advanced routing capabilities and GPS integration help your crew avoid that.

Project management is another area of your business that benefits from modern technology. Use one app or platform for tasks like:

• Managing the sales funnel

• Job scheduling and route management

• Purchasing and inventory management

• Equipment tracking and management

• Time tracking and communication

No more manual calculations or consulting calendars. No more juggling and storing physical documents and records. No more passing paperwork back and forth, either.

The right software houses all your paperwork in one convenient, accessible location. Your landscape software is a single source of truth for you, your team, and your customers.

Make data-driven decisions

How do you check in on the health of your landscaping business? How can you tell whether your company is doing well or not? And how do you make the right decisions to help you achieve your business goals?

You look at your business data.

If you are not using technology to compile and analyze your data, however, your data can be overwhelming and stressful to look at.

Technology can help you understand and make decisions about:

• Pricing your work for profit

• Pricing your work competitively based on location and services

• Finding new customers

• Pinpointing opportunities for revenue

• Improving current operations to raise your bottom line

All this can be done without consulting calculators or confusing spreadsheets. It’s all in the technology you choose.

Data-driven companies are 58% more likely to achieve revenue goals and 162% more likely to surpass them than competitors. Use your data to increase profits and drive innovation. Technology makes it easy to do so.

Automate common processes

In the landscaping industry, many tasks and processes are used multiple times, even in the course of a single day. 

In one day, consider how many times you:

• Dispatch your crew

• Send an invoice

• Receive a payment

• Route crews to a job

• Respond to a customer message

• Schedule a job

• Create estimates for new jobs

• Update bookkeeping

• Track hours

• Add more expenses

• Follow up with a customer once a job is completed

Now, how many of these tasks and processes are you completing manually? 

Automating all or even some of these tasks with appropriate apps or landscape software will help your day-to-day operations run more smoothly. Automating also ensures that all steps are followed and critical information is included.

You’ll free up more time, too. Employees estimate that automation can save up to 240 hours a year, while business owners who automate these common tasks can free up as much as 360 hours annually. 

Reduce errors

Using technology to handle everyday tasks not only frees up work hours; it also helps reduce errors. It can reduce errors by up to 40%. 

Mistakes happen when you do things manually. Handwriting is illegible, or something is misspelled. Data is entered incorrectly at the end of a long day. Information is miscommunicated between two people.

Technology, such as templates, automation, and AI, reduces the possibility of those errors. 

Business management tools and customer relationship management platforms (CRMs) often provide customizable templates to save time. Templates might include:

• Estimating and proposals

• Automated responses to new customers

• Follow-up messages to existing customers

• Requests for payment

• Invoicing

• Inventory

• Equipment management

Furthermore, AI tools and automated processes can fill out these templates for you. You can even schedule them to be shared or sent to the right person automatically.

These automations reduce the risk of human error, either through manual entry or simply by missing key information in a message or form. They also save time spent fixing mistakes and correcting someone on your team. 

(And possibly appeasing an unhappy customer.)

Retain more talent

Embracing modern technology streamlines and improves your business operations, yes. That’s not all it does, however. The right landscape software will help your team perform at their best.

When your crew feels supported and equipped with the proper tools to do their jobs, they’ll feel satisfied with your company. You’ll notice increased employee motivation and engagement as well.

You’ll even attract top talent if you’re looking to hire. When faced with the choice of joining an outdated, paperwork-heavy landscaping business or a modern, efficient business, who do you think job seekers will choose?

Ready to embrace the change?

Making changes to your business's foundation and processes in your business is easier said than done. Even with clear benefits, it can be challenging to break away from doing things “the way they’ve always been done.”

Remember, manual processes like paper records and Excel spreadsheets are prone to error. They take time to create, fill out, and store. They’re not easily accessible to your customers or crew members. 

Change is scary, but it’s worth making the leap to landscaping software and tools. You can enjoy streamlined operations and a more efficient business with the right technology.

Aspire makes the transition from manual to modern easy. Optimize your processes, automate your tasks, and support your team with field service software Aspire. Book a demo today.