It can be tough to find a practical, simple, and affordable software solution for your landscaping business. Some software can seem as cluttered and random as the weeds you’ve been hired to pull out. Keeping track of inventory, searching for documents, and managing accounting can be arduous chores if your current software system doesn’t have the right features, or if you’re using a bunch of disconnected and inefficient software solutions.
Pruning the garden of your software and technology stack, so to speak, is just as important as the pruning you do for your customers. In fact, it’s this kind of pruning that needs to be taken care of before any of the physical weeds can be removed. Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts for what to look for in the landscape management software you depend on to be efficient and competitive as a business.
DO automate as many daily tasks as possible.
This can include scheduling jobs, dispatching landscapers, online booking, and even managing invoices. The best landscape management software provides an all-in-one interface where everything and anything can be put into your computer system, saving your business time and money. Learn it, then love it.
DON’T rely on pencil and paper systems for your documentation.
Joanne Bratton from Aspire explains:
“Creating estimates on paper gives more room for error, especially if more than one person at your landscaping company writes estimates. Without a centralized business software system, inaccurate and unprofitable estimates often result from:
- Shortage of time.
- Erroneous or repetitive manual calculations.
- Inaccurate labor and materials costs.
- Inconsistent proposals.
- Lack of visibility into costs of past landscaping projects.”
Save some trees (and lots of time, money, and labor) by switching to a landscape service software! ERP software solutions are designed for easy and effective landscape and lawncare management that avoids these major pitfalls that come from not utilizing the best landscaping management software on the market. Combining accounting, CRM, project management, HR, operations, and more into one easy to use interface allows your business to take on more work and to better service the customers that you already have.
DO make the most of marketing.
A key service that landscape management software offers is the ability to launch automated email campaigns, raising brand awareness and netting more clients for your business.
DON’T ignore the full range of possibilities that your landscape management software brings to the table.
Look for a software that boasts a full suite of features from accounting to dispatching. Remember, every employee in your SME can make use of a landscape management software system, meaning executives, accountants, gardeners, architects, salespeople, and so on can streamline their workflows equally. Most of these software systems are available as an app, meaning your employees will be able to add customer and job information, estimates, photos, and service notes with just a few clicks.
DO try a free demo.
Budgets can be tight, and there are lots of different kinds of business management software out there, so look for a software that has a free trial period.
DON’T clutter your business with too many software systems that don’t work properly with one another.
Simplicity is key—one single, integrated software system that your entire business can run on is always more efficient (and cheaper) than using a bunch of systems to complete your work. The quicker and easier you can accomplish a task, the better your workflow will be. Landscape management software allows you to spend less time on back office things like accounting, inventory management, or rooting around for documents and more time making the decisions that matter. For your employees, it means more time spent in the garden!
