SERVICE GROWTH PLANNING

We interview Jack Moore , CEO of GrassPerson

“ We are attempting to expand our commercial business while we are trying to refine our residential business ,” said Jack Moore , GrassPerson CEO . “ We ' ve got ideal client profiles and demographics , and we ' re trying to continue to hone that and find clients that look like our better clients or our best clients . As that happens , we might pare back some clients that don ' t look like our best clients .”

OPE + met Moore at the National Association of Landscape Professionals conference last fall and spoke with him recently to learn about the work and the process of growing a landscaping business . Moore has keen insights into the business he ’ s built , and he shared with us about specialization , expansion and acquisitions . Here is a summary of that conversation .

OPE +: Specialize or expand ? Can you talk about the considerations you ’ ve made around growth opportunities ? Jack Moore : In full-service , high-end residential and commercial landscaping , you ’ re trying to sell a lot to a few people . Whereas with regular lawn care , you ' re trying to sell a little bit to a lot of people . Those two marketing strategies don ' t work together very well . Your clients get confused when they look at your digital presence . You have to answer the question “ What am I ?”

Our company started off as a mowing service . Like most companies , it took us a while to get to $ 1 million in sales . Then it took a while to get to $ 2 million . But we grew through momentum and brand awareness . Now we have a fleet of approximately 30 vehicles that are all professionally wrapped . It takes a while to really start to scale .

When COVID hit , we knew there was a market segment we did not want to service . They were low-profit or no-profit clients . So , we cleared down our client list , which cut our annual revenues by 25 % that year . It was a big hit , but we did that on purpose . Now we ' ve overcome that , and we are growing at a double-digit clip . But the progression of the growth over the last 10 years has been low to mid double digits – like 12-15 %, which is controllable and it ' s what has been our target .

Now we are working on lighting . We ' d like to double that business every year . Lighting requires fewer people and trucks . It ' s easier to sell , and it ' s easier to install . It ' s just a cleaner business and it ’ s more profitable . Lawn care is a lot of touches with a lot of people , a lot of vehicles and equipment , but we can ' t grow that fast enough because it ' s also very profitable .

Expansion has little to do with how many people are calling us to ask for service and more to do with what we believe

See GrassPerson , Page 30

28 OPE + September 2024 www . OPE-Plus . com