Getting the worm

For nearly 20 years, Bruce Love has used early order programs. The president of Lawn Rx in Pennsylvania says he’s worked with the programs since founding the company in 2004.

The deals, especially on chemical lawn care products, just keep getting better and better.

“Over the last five or six years, a lot of distributors and vendors have really upped their game to get people to buy early,” Love says.

Josh Wise, the CEO of GrassRoots Turf in Georgia, has been in business since 2002. He’s also used EOPs for at least 15 years, maybe longer. Wise estimates that the deals he’s received over the years have saved him thousands of dollars. He believes it’s often 10-15% on products they purchase.

Even still, Wise warns contractors wanting to start EOPs to wade into the water first — don’t just jump in.

“Make sure you don’t bite off more than you can chew,” he says. “Sometimes with EOP, they’ll have a program they’re running, (like), ‘If you buy a case, you can save on this (product) and this and this.’ If you’re not going to use it, don’t spend the money.”

Experienced contractors like Love and Wise feel they’ve struck the right balance, both saving money and ordering just the right amount. From estimating next season’s needs to finding a place to put all that product, here’s how they’ve maximized their EOPs for their respective companies.

Forecasts in the Fall

Many suppliers begin offering their early order programs Sept. 1, and some even incentivize particularly early orders with eye-popping deals that disappear as time wears on. Love says his company doesn’t start ordering until about October, which is when he feels the craziness of the summer maintenance season finally tapers off into the offseason.

To participate in any EOP, contractors will need to know just how much product they’ll need the following spring. Love keeps his formula simple — he accounts for how many clients they had that current season and adds somewhere between 10-20% growth.

Wise believes EOPs can actually push contractors into a forward-thinking mindset.

“A good thing is, it makes guys have to plan,” Wise says. “If you’re going to participate in EOP, it kind of forces your hand to think about, ‘What are my sales going to be next year? What’s my retention going to be like next year?’”

Wise says if he knows his sales team and marketing dollars will be the same, they’ll simply “rinse and repeat” what they did the prior year, factoring in how many new sales they had the previous year and their customer turn rate.

Wise also estimates how much to buy based on how many acres they’ve treated before, calculating the average square footage per property. For example, if the average square footage of treatment per property is 600, and he thinks he’s going to sell to 500 more customers, he knows that he’ll need enough product to cover the new 300,000 square feet. He’ll add that number to the square footage he already has booked for his clients.

So, if it’s 2 million square feet they serviced the year prior, Wise simply adds the 300,000 square feet and now has 2.3 million square feet to cover with product the following year.

“I’m conservative on my sales numbers,” Wise adds. “I’d rather have the problem of, I need another case of that product, because my sales are more than I said they would be.”

One other factor worth considering is what types of pest or weed pressures your region might face the following year. Love says that by the fall, most contractors should have some idea what those pressures might look like. For instance, in his area, chinch bugs, armyworms and spotted lanternflies have all emerged as newly prevalent threats in the last few years.

“You may get a different pest in the area or need some new chemistry on something,” Love says, “But you can foresee that going into the next season.”

Playing the game

Wise cannot emphasize the importance of relationships enough — he says they’re critical to getting the best possible deals each autumn.

To participate in any EOP, contractors will need to know just how much product they’ll need the following spring.

“Relationships are huge. You want to be loyal to your vendors,” Wise says. “I think EOP is very, very good, but guys have to think outside the box, too.”

Thinking outside the box for Wise looks like constant communication with the vendors and dealers. For example, Wise says if he needs 100 gallons of herbicide but contractors need to order 26 gallons to reach the top-tier discounts and rebates, he’d place orders with three different vendors, especially if it’s an agency product that’s the same price regardless of where it’s purchased.

Now, in this hypothetical, Wise says he’s got three vendors who appreciate his business. In the future, they might even give him deals on non-agency products where prices can be negotiated.

“When you’re talking and working deals, there’s plenty of deals to be made with your vendors,” he says. “Maybe they’re sitting on pallets of fertilizers or something.”

For Wise, it’s even helped with getting deals on equipment, though EOPs usually focus specifically on preemergence and postemergence products. If he orders EOP through his supplier representative, Wise says he’s asked them if they can knock $1,000 off a spreader, and suppliers may say yes to keep client loyalty going.

In terms of the numbers, Wise admits EOP is often best for companies that are a bit bigger. It’s why he might have his franchisees participate in EOP through him rather than individually.

Still, Wise says there’s lots of irony in how EOP works.

“When you’re small, everything costs more,” Wise laughs. “When you’re big and you can afford it, it’s all cheaper.”

Love also recommends really studying the math on the EOP offerings for each program. Typically, he’s found that the parameters of the savings earned aren’t always clear. Rebates, rather than discounts, can especially get complicated.

“When they say you’re getting 10 cents off here, 10 cents off there, it’s usually that you’ve got to purchase a baseline and then there’s calculations that aren’t so much straightforward,” Love says. “You’ve got to really examine that and get help from your rep to see what your true savings are going to be.”

Love adds that often, suppliers are selling similar products but with different titles. Comparing the active ingredients, quantity sizes and overall price among distributors is key to getting the best deal.

“Every manufacturer has the same kind of products but just under different brand names,” he says. “You’ve got to know what kind of chemistry you’re buying.”

Anticipating arrival

When the products actually come in, Love recommends having a plan for keeping the EOP products in stock. Sure, it’s nice to save money on the products you’ll need, but once those products actually ship, you’ll have to put them somewhere for the season.

Lawn Rx recently built a 4,500-square-foot warehouse to store its chemicals. Considering some suppliers want to ship the materials over the winter — and that some dealers can’t hang onto the products for everyone they sell to — it’s important to have a plan in place for all that product.

Wise also says his team can store the products it buys, but he says many smaller companies are operating out of their own garage or a storage unit. So, he recommends having conversations with vendors first on whether or not they can hold onto the products.

Wise also remembers when his company was small and the tough conversations he had with vendors about affording all he ordered. It’s not easy to call and ask to return products if they ordered too much, but he acknowledges that EOPs can drain smaller companies short on cash flow. That’s why having a gameplan for product arrival is just as important as getting in on the hot EOP deals. After all, Wise says the savings might not always be worth it if you ordered products you don’t actually need.

“Some guys will buy more than they need because of the savings, but in the long run, did you spend more money than you had?” he says. “Now you’re cutting back on your marketing dollars or you can’t hire that technician.”

Love says contractors who act early but act with a strong game plan are the ones who ultimately win with EOPs. It’s no big surprise — the saying goes that the early bird gets the worm. But being responsible while acting fast is critical to success.

“There’s no real secrets or anything like that,” Love says. “You’ve just got to know what you want to do and jump on it because the savings are significant.”

The author is associate editor with Lawn & Landscape.