Lawn Care Franchise Ownership Tips - Spring-Green

Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Early Spring

When the groundhog emerged from its burrow on Febuary 2, there was no shadow, indicating an early spring. If Punxsutawney Phil is right, homeowners need to start thinking about their lawn care plans for this year (if they haven't already!).

Our existing customers know they are set. They can count on their local Spring-Green Lawn Care franchise owner to be ready whenever spring hits. Spring-Green Lawn Care has cultivated great customer loyalty by offering excellent customer service. Retaining customers by keeping them happy is one of our key philosophies. This leads to return business, which is far less expensive than finding new customers, and makes recurring revenue easy for our franchise owners to find.

By putting the customer first, we are providing customers with the great service they expect from Spring-Green and creating high customer renewal that helps our franchise owners grow their business. This is a great business plan no matter when spring really starts. There may be snow on the ground in parts of the country, but we are always thinking about getting our customers’ lawns back to tip-top shape.

Happy New Year from Spring-Green Lawn Care

Happy New Year from Spring-Green Lawn Care!

On behalf of the entire Spring-Green Lawn Care corporate support center, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. We hope you all enjoyed the holidays and time with family and friends as much as we did.

With the New Year comes resolutions, and many people resolve to take better care of their homes for the next year. Your lawn is a big part of this, especially since it is one of the first things people see. It’s never too early to start thinking about lawn care for the spring. In fact, many people work out their lawn care plans even before the holidays. Call a lawn care professional like Spring-Green Lawn Care or submit a request via our website to find out what your lawn will need this year. Any one of our team members can get you set with a plan so that by the time the flowers start blooming, your lawn will be beautiful as well!

Kent Fisher Gets Started with Spring-Green Lawn Care

We pride ourselves on the start-up support we provide new franchise owners to help them get off to a successful beginning. Kent Fisher recently converted the lawn care portion of his business to Spring-Green Lawn Care, and over the past few weeks he has learned a lot from the corporate support center starting with a training and business planning session. Before converting, Kent felt that the lawn care services part of his business was stagnant, and he wanted to learn how to operate it effectively and increase revenue. Spring-Green’s systematic operation and training should make a big difference.

Kent came to our corporate support center for his initial training, and then a member of our support team went to Indiana with Kent to begin the in-field training. Our support team helps with staff development, computer support and in-field marketing support. Over the next few years, Kent and our other new franchise owners will receive daily communication, including conference calls and field visits in the first and second year of ownership. In addition to teaching new owners about lawns and tress, our support team provides valuable business advice. We focus on the areas that are most critical to the success of the business.

Our training and support practices go along with our philosophy that we are helping our franchise owners build a business for themselves, but not by themselves. We’ve been doing this for more than 35 years so we have fine-tuned our process.

Spring-Green is committed to having a mutually beneficial franchise owner-franchisor relationship. The training Kent is receiving right now is a great example of both groups working together.

Establishing a Good Work/Life Balance as a Business Owner

Family, friends and a balanced lifestyle are critical to happiness. We all want successful careers but not at the expense of those things that matter most in life. Spring-Green Lawn Care prides itself on providing a balanced lifestyle for our lawn care franchise owners. Starting a new business requires a lot of work, but with the help of our corporate support center, new franchise owners are able to establish solid back office operations quicker than other startup businesses. We help franchise owners develop a business plan, build a financial road map and set lifestyle goals.

More importantly, the Spring-Green business model is designed for a balanced lifestyle. Spring-Green franchise owners have a flexible daily schedule that does not require overnight or air travel. The lawn care business allows owners to be active and enjoy the outdoors if they choose. Business owners can pick their team and won’t need a huge staff even as their business grows. To expand, franchise owners just need to add a truck and field service professional, saving them the stress of finding a new location. Year-round cash flow in a seasonal business allows franchise owners to really enjoy their time off if they take advantage of the season planning cycle and recurring customer base.

The work/life balance is also something we encourage at the corporate support center. Many of us coach youth sports or are involved in other school activities. We are happy to be able to help our franchise owners achieve the same goal.

Spring-Green's Lawn Care Expert Harold Enger

You’ve probably never met anyone who loves lawn care as much as Harold Enger, Spring-Green Lawn Care’s director of education. Harold’s worked in the green industry for more than 30 years, and as our resident lawn care expert, has been instrumental in the development of the business. He helped create our Online Learning Center, has been a panelist at the annual Green Industry Conference, serves on the board of directors for the Illinois Professional Lawn Care Association, received the peer-nominated Leadership Award from Lawn & Landscape and Bayer Environmental Science, and is certified as an ornamental landscape professional and turfgrass professional.

As part of his dedication to the industry, Harold joined fellow industry peers as they donated their time and skills to PLANET’S PLANET Gives Back service project in Louisville, KY. The event took place in conjunction with the annual Green Industry Expo and Conference, also held in Louisville, October 25 & 26. Along with the Louisville service project, Harold will spend time with Engelhard Elementary School where an outdoor learning area will be installed along with general landscaping around the school grounds.

As director of education, Harold develops and implements educational materials and appropriate training programs for the Spring-Green franchise system, and the community, to help improve brand loyalty. Harold works with our franchise owners to provide educational opportunities including in house training, professional development seminars, online learning and field visits. He also provides support systemwide regarding plant identification, diagnosis of lawn and tree care problems and customers service.

Harold has his own Ask the Lawn Care Expert blog, which can be found on the Spring-Green website. He also has an educational lawn care video series on Spring-Green’s YouTube channel. Stop by the blog or YouTube page to learn from Harold’s expertise.

Spring-Green Lawn Care Returns from Successful GIE+Expo

Several of the Spring-Green support center staff attended the Green Industry & Equipment Expo in Louisville, Ky., last week. In fact, there were over 750 exhibitors at the show.

Our goal was to talk to green industry business owners or employees interested in growing their existing businesses by considering a Spring-Green Lawn Care franchise. We spoke to owners who were interested in converting the lawn care portion of their business to a Spring-Green franchise with our new Green Associate Roll-In Program. We also spoke to employees who could take advantage of our new Green Associate Assistance Program to start their lawn care franchise.

Based on the reactions from the great candidates we met at the GIE+Expo, we are confident that these programs are exactly what green industry professionals are looking for in a franchise. We believe people with experience in the industry make great franchise owners, and these programs are the perfect way to bring them to the Spring-Green family while helping them start a successful lawn care business at the same time.

We also learned about the latest innovations in the industry and got a chance to meet with suppliers of the equipment and other products we use. There are exciting things happening in the green industry that we look forward to implementing at Spring-Green. Interested in joining the team?

Spring-Green Lawn Care Set to Exhibit at GIE+Expo

Spring-Green Lawn Care is exhibiting at the Green Industry & Equipment Expo this month in Louisville, Ky. Spring-Green will be at booth 356, and will be sponsoring a drawing for an iPad at the show.

Spring-Green is among 750 manufacturers and suppliers of lawn and garden products, landscape maintenance, outdoor leisure products, hardscape products, rental lines, outdoor power equipment and related products exhibiting. The show has 18,000 participants in total, including exhibitors, dealers, retailers, manufacturers’ representatives, rental shops and distributors of green industry products, lawn and landscape professional services and more.

At the expo, Spring-Green will be targeting green industry business owners who are interested in converting the lawn care part of their business to a Spring-Green franchise or green industry professionals who want to become business owners with Spring-Green Lawn Care. The Green Associate Assistance Program and Green Associate Roll-In Program at Spring-Green are great incentives for green industry professionals.

The Spring-Green staff including strategic franchise development manager Russ Jacque is looking forward to the show, which takes place Oct. 25-26. Stop by booth 356 to learn more about the Spring-Green franchise opportunity and for a chance to win an iPad.

Franchisee Success Story in Tennessee

Rodney and Heather Gaddis opened Spring-Green Lawn Care in Franklin, Tenn., in 2006. Rodney is one of our original green industry franchise owners, having come to Spring-Green with experience in lawn mowing and maintenance.

Rodney—who holds an associate’s degree in business administration—opened a lawn maintenance company called Music City Lawns after college. He sold the company in 1994 to work with Heather and her parents at their inbound tour company, National Express Tours. In 2000, he went back to lawn mowing, opening Gadco Lawn Care.

Rodney started looking at other aspects of lawn care in 2004, and after reviewing several lawn care franchises, Rodney and Heather decided on Spring-Green. They now provide professional lawn and tree care services to southern Nashville, in addition to operating Gadco. With the two businesses, Rodney and Heather provide irrigation, landscaping, mowing, weed control, fertilization and more as a full-service lawn maintenance company.

“My main focus was to connect all the facets together and offer a full service in our area that really wasn’t offered,” Rodney said. “It’s allowed us to grow a little larger. Spring-Green’s experience in marketing, sales and support helps us provide top-notch lawn and tree care services to our clients.”

Rodney is in his seventh year as a Spring-Green franchise owner, and he is the perfect example of what we are looking for with our new green industry initiatives. Our Green Associate Assistance Program and Green Associate Roll-In Program are new incentives for green industry professionals like Rodney.

 

 

Free Money to Market Your Business: Spring-Green Lawn Care's Marketing Reinvestment Program

One of the perks of joining Spring-Green as a franchisee is the marketing reinvestment program. During the second full year of operation, Spring-Green applies up to $10,000 of the initial franchise fee to marketing and advertising expenditures. Marketing is a key part of the support Spring-Green provides to new and existing franchise owners and one of the ways it differentiates its company from other lawn care brands.

Acquiring new customers in local markets through cost-effective marketing programs is priority #1. "Spring-Green’s proven marketing systems influence over 70% of all new customers each year."  Our industry-leading business and marketing intelligence allows franchisees to select and analyze the best options for them. But, marketing does not stop there.

Following the spring acquisition season, the focus turns to selling additional services to existing customers. These additional services can be very profitable and often performed at the same time a lawn application visit is scheduled. Throughout the year, we have several key touch points with the customer and want to make sure we properly time and utilize each one, building on our relationship and maximizing our franchise owner’s profitability. 

Of course, measuring your marketing activities is critical. With our technology platform, we provide you access to monitor campaigns in real time and make adjustments as necessary. Find out more about our industry-leading marketing and business intelligence at www.springgreenfranchise.com.

Spring-Green Lawn Care Offers Transition Plan to Franchise Ownership

Spring-Green Lawn Care’s Flex Start program makes it a little easier for those considering transitioning from corporate America to owning their own business. Unlike many other franchise opportunities, Spring-Green’s Flex Start program allows candidates to operate in a part-time capacity when they first start their local lawn care business. 

Another benefit of the program is delayed start-up costs. Spring-Green Flex Start franchise owners do not pay royalty or advertising fund contributions until the earlier of three months after the date he or she begins operations or January 1 of the next calendar year.

We created the Flex Start program to allow our lawn care franchise owners to maintain an income and health benefits while going through the learning curve of opening a new business. Several of our existing franchisees got started under the Flex Start program and there first full year of performance averaged 20-30% better than a traditional start. 

"Learning any new business can be challenging. We believe the Flex Start program helps with the learning curve while maintaining income and benefits, ultimately leading to less risk for the new owner and a great potential for success!"