ISSUE FOCUS: WEED CONTROL: Getting More Green From Weed Control

They grow like, well, they grow like weeds, and a lawn care operator can pull them or treat them, but they always seem to keep coming back.

But a weed’s resilience and tenacity also keep LCOs busy and in business, whether it’s treating with a preemergent for broadleaf pests or using a postemergent to combat grassy intruders that pop up in a summer lawn.

However, LCOs often do not fully realize the full value in their weed control programs, or the cost of not providing one to customers. When LCOs don’t have a solid handle on the full cost of offering an effective weed control program to their clients, they undervalue their services and fail to maximize their profits.

SELLING SEASON. Homeowners hate weeds in their lawns and it’s the main reason they subscribe to an LCO’s weed control program.

“The main reason clients call on us and want the service is to kill the weeds,” says Jim Campanella, president of The Lawn Dawg in Nashua, N.H.

But successfully selling a five-step weed-control program is more complicated that just tacking on a simple price point.

“Weed control is a standard application and most homeowners recognize the problem with weeds in their yards,” says Jim Fetter, regional sales manager for Bayer’s lawn and landscape group, Research Triangle, N.C. Weed control is the starter sale, he says, and clients should be introduced to other services such as disease and insect control.

And a weed control service isn’t exclusive to lawns. Over the last few years, Campanella has introduced an additional service that treats weeds in shrub beds. The three-step program treats the shrub beds with a pre and postemergent product in late spring, and then again with a postemergent product at six-week intervals.

“We just started to offer the service and it’s become quite popular among our clients,” Campanella says. “No one likes to have to weed their shrub beds.”

To increase sales effectiveness, LCOs should take a consultative approach to selling their weed-control services, says Justin Gayliard, specialty products sales representative for Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, Ind. One approach that is effective is developing a partnership with the client in order to understand their needs and their limits, he says.

“Ask the homeowner what their expectations are,” Gayliard says. “Just offering a weed control program and not asking what the homeowner wants will lead to not matching your services to the particular homeowner’s needs.”

And mismatched services create dissatisfied customers, says Gayliard. To increase customer satisfaction and repeat business, he suggests LCOs tailor a particular weed-control program to each individual customer, especially when handling new clients.

But clients aren’t the only ones who need a thorough education on weed control services.

An LCO’s sales force, as well as any employees who deal directly with clients, such as technicians, must learn how to strategically position the positive attributes of a comprehensive weed control service to lawn care customers, says Scott Potter, a senior sales specialist at Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, Ind.

“I’m a strong believer in under promising and over delivering,” Potter says. “A lot of employees, especially newer employees, over promise and under deliver. For example, guaranteeing weed control is dangerous business. New employees may be working on incentive and it’s easy to make promises you then can’t deliver on. Make sure the technicians and sales people know how to correctly position the weed-control service.”

PRICING POINTERS. Correctly pricing out weed control services may hinge on any combination of variables, including an area’s economic makeup, geographic location and length of season. It’s a valuation each LCO needs to examine closely. Ultimately, the majority of homeowners care only about how much it will cost to keep their lawn weed-free and looking lush, full and green. Often LCOs forget that most clients only want the bottom line.

“The average customer doesn’t want a square footage price,” Potter says. “The LCO should know their cost per thousand square feet, but the customer doesn’t. Price the service by the job.”

When developing weed-control pricing, LCOs should focus on customer segmentation and remember that not all customers are the same, says Steve Stansell, lawn care marketing manager for Syngenta, Greensboro, N.C.

For example, some cost-conscious clients want only the very basic services, Stansell says. With these customers, LCOs will only walk these lawns a couple times during the year and should price their services accordingly. However, an estate will have much higher expectations and will be willing to pay the price for a showplace, weed-free lawn, Stansell says.

“Successful LCOs clearly segment their services and can price that way,” Stansell says. “The level of weed-control service changes from customer to customers, so a lawn care company should offer variable prices accordingly.”

Likewise, LCOs can price their services in regard to the use of a particular pesticide and individual weed varieties, Fetter says. For example, there are opportunities to use specialty applications and cleanup products, such as a postemergent for crabgrass control, or an herbicide that controls cool-season grass in a warm season lawn, he says

“To a large degree the LCO has to differentiate the prices based on the service, the convenience and the guarantee,” Fetter says. “But it may be the best way to get additional profit/premium out of weed-control services.”

FOCUS ON PROFIT. In their approach to weed control, LCOs should focus on being more preventive than reactive in their service in order to maximize their profits.

“Taking a proactive response and using preventive products in a weed control program will help decrease the hidden costs of having to use a postemergent pesticide,” Gayliard says. “If the LCO has a callback because the postemergent product isn’t working as fast as the homeowner wants, or weeds continue to pop up after they spray, it will lead to dissatisfied customers who may cancel their service.”

There is a distinct difference between treating for grassy weeds and broadleaf weeds, Potter says. Grassy weeds, as a rule, are easier to control than broadleaf weeds with preemergent treatments, he says. Broadleaf weeds, though, are hidden profit robbers.

“Broadleaf weeds in the homeowner’s lawn are the biggest profit robber,” Potter says. “The number one reason a customer will cancel service is the lack of broadleaf weed control. For some reason, crabgrass here or there is ok, but when a dandelion shows up, that one weed seems to irritate the customer enough to cancel service.’

Traditionally, LCOs battled broadleaf weeds with a postemergent strategy, hitting them after they’ve come up in the lawn. However, the newer, and possibly the best opportunity, is to treat broadleaf weeds with a preemergent herbicide, Potter says.

“Using the preemergent reduces the number of postemergent sprays on broadleaf weeds,” Potter says. “When (a preemergent) was used, we’ve been able to reduce callbacks on broadleaf weeds alone by 85 percent.”

Gayliard suggests LCO consider using blended products, combination pesticide formulations that treat with an herbicide and feed with a fertilizer. A “three-way” formulation – two herbicides and a fertilizer – may also be employed.

“The fewer trips you have to make to the client’s lawn, the more profitable and more efficient you’ll be,” Gayliard says. “If they can use their liquid weed control, along with their crabgrass prevention, and along with a fertilizer, that’s one trip to the lawn, but three line items they’re billing the client. Less trips with more service is always better for the customer.”

“Using a preventive product first will help generate less trips to the lawn,” Gayliard says. “Good service, no callbacks while minimizing time spent on the client’s lawn, is more money the LCO will make.”

In addition, choosing between liquid or granular pesticide treatments, or using a combination of the two, is dependent on an LCO’s personal preferences and experience with the products, Stansell says.

“An LCO has to look at their area and determine what kind of flexibility they would like to have in using a liquid or granular product,” he says. “Most use a little bit of both.”

Settling on a proactive approach to weed control, such as in the battle against broadleaf pests, can increase an LCO’s chances of generating greater profit margins. However, some weed-fighting experts suggest treating with high-quality weed-control products, while more expensive in the short term, will help boost overall, long-term profits.

“LCOs should make sure they’re using a good quality product with the proper rating and timing for their particular area,” Stansell says. “Quality products are the first line of defense. Consider the few extra dollars against the cost of a callback or the loss of a customer.”

Likewise, trying to shave costs by using poor fertilizer blends with a preemergent herbicide is not a good idea,” Fetter says. “If the LCO is using a fertilizer plus a preemergent herbicide, it’s important to use a high-quality fertilizer. Because particle size counts, if the LCO is using a product with small particles they can get a better count per square foot and they can get better control.”

Callbacks for weed eradication can severely cut into an LCO’s profit margins.  For example, at many small- to mid-sized lawn care companies the same individual who applies the weed-control treatment is the same person who has to deal with the callback, creating excess labor costs and reducing efficiencies.

“A callback can cost about $44 -$55 (in technician wages and benefits, chemical cost and overhead) just to go back on the lawn,” Gayliard says.

“That half hour spent dealing with an unhappy customer is time not treating another customer’s lawn and making revenue,” Potter says.

In order to better manage treatment schedules, Campanella suggests LCOs examine their callback data and determine when there is a spike in service calls.

“Keeping on top of your treatment schedules is a huge factor in reducing your callbacks,” Campanella says. “You’ll probably begin to see the biggest increase in service request come after about five weeks. If you can narrow down that date you begin treatment right before the weeds begin to appear in your clients yard and this should reduce the need to make service calls”

While callbacks can set back profits, LCOs shouldn’t discount the financial impact of losing a customer to poor service or repeated callbacks due to a weed-infested lawn.

“The cost of a callback from poor weed control and unsatisfied customers gets more expensive for the LCO every year in the poor customer return rate,” Stansell says. “And the cost of losing a customer is expensive.”

“The objective of an LCO’s weed-control program is to eliminate that to the greatest degree that you can,” Fetter says.

Therefore, when establishing a weed control program LCOs need to take additional profit-prohibiting variables into account, such as the quality of the pesticide, the amount of rain fail and whether or not the LCO has experience with a particular pesticide brand or formulation.