KPM Blog

KPM and Sno-Way have teamed up with a National Account that represents residential snow plowing services throughout the entire North East. SnoHub, launched last December, is looking to bring the Uber Taxi Service model to snow removal. Open the app, press a few buttons, and you can track a snowplow crew as it makes its way to your driveway. The app, which is now offered for both the iPhone and Android, connects homeowners with snowplowing businesses for on-demand plowing. It provides a flat-fee pricing structure, either $69, $79 or $89, based on the size of the driveway. Payments are handled inside the app, with SnoHub collecting a transaction fee.

“We may need to Get External to notice.” 

The Landscape Industry has experienced steady growth between 2010 and 2015, with an average annual increase in revenue of 6%. In their 2016 Industry Outlook, Green Industry Pros writer and associate publisher Gregg Wartgow shares the results of their fall survey of Landscape Contractors, and the future is bright!  Wartgow points out that “Roughly two-thirds expect to grow their sales in the installation, maintenance, and lawn care divisions [this year]”. Wartgow references housing starts, commercial construction and foreseen increase in per capita disposable income as key contributors to sustainable growth through 2020. These increases in new construction also draw in higher demand, which inevitably allows landscaping professionals to increase their profit margins.

An organization’s culture is developed, in most cases, through the activities of the people involved over time. The activities, by way of only a few examples may be:

• The way people speak to one another
• How they serve a customer
• The backdrop behind how decisions are made
• Empathy for customers and each other
• Or, from a long history of processes, procedures and policies

Sometimes a culture is borne out of an organizational creed, mission statement, prayer, or the leader in the organization.

It is entirely viable that a culture can attract people in the examples noted. “ABC company is a great company to work for,” one might hear. Do they pay high compensation? Do they give a lot of time off?

This year, Small Business Saturday is on November 28. It’s a day that encourages consumers to shop small and local. Since American Express started the initiative in 2010, eighty-eight million people have shown up to “shop small.”

In the outdoor power equipment industry, shopping small means to forgo the big box stores and take your business to the locally owned outdoor power equipment dealership in your area. In addition to supporting the community where you live, shopping local has other benefits.

Local outdoor power equipment dealers provide knowledge and services not found in big box retailers. For landscape contractors looking to make a significant investment in their next piece of equipment, that’s especially important.

So, why shop local for your outdoor power equipment?

Steve Redan founded Kenvil Power Mower in 1957 as a retailing, servicing outdoor power equipment dealership after the untimely passing of his dad.  With the need to support his mom and siblings, Steve’s mom signed him out of high school, and with a modest loan of $150 from a neighborhood friend (and Steve never forgot this gesture), Steve purchased his first three HomKo lawnmowers for resale.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of small business births is exceeding the exit rate of companies, or company closures—a positive trend we haven’t seen since 2007.  With increasing competition, how can your small business stay ahead of the pack?

So where do you begin? Begin by investing some time organizing yourself. Invest time in writing a job description and preparing yourself for the interview process. You will either spend your time on the front end organizing or on the back end dealing with the fallout from hiring the wrong person. Hiring the wrong person can cost you in productivity, employee morale and financially.

An increasing number of Lawn and Garden dealers are starting to realize the benefits of selling plows in addition to lawnmowers.  They can satisfy more of their customers’ needs during the summer and winter months as their current landscape customers who are cutting grass from May to September are also the ones pushing snow from November to March.  Servicing the needs of your customers year round will drive more business to the bottom line.

The question becomes where do you start? 

More and more commercial landscapers have grown their companies into year-round businesses.  They are not only cutting grass and maintaining lawns throughout the summer growing season, but many commercial landscapers have matured their business to include snow and ice removal throughout the winter months. Upwards of 60% of commercial landscapers are now also pushing snow.  So, what does that mean to most Lawn and Garden shops throughout the Northeast?  It means you are missing a great opportunity!  

Chances are, you have been extremely successful in earning the commercial landscaper’s respect with his lawn equipment.  That landscaper places his trust in you when it comes to purchasing and repairing his lawn equipment.  Don’t you feel he would do the same when it came to purchasing his snow and ice removal equipment?