Adding on profit

Nature’s Turf started offering lawn care services in 2007, and Owner Adam Jackson says the company decided to focus exclusively on it in 2014.

Then, in 2020 the business added on termite and pest control as well.

Jackson says the move has taken them to the next level of profitability.

“Adding pest and termite control has been a big endeavor. The margins in lawn care are not what they were 10 years ago,” he says. “The business has changed. We feel like extra services are the best path to profit. The actual lawn care program, while it is profitable, isn’t the most profitable thing we do, it’s just the most popular thing we do.”

Jackson says he feels the lawn care business gets Nature’s Turf in the door and customers in this segment of the green industry are more likely to go for an add-on service like pest control.

“The lawn care business is a good business for getting clients to utilize more products and spend a little more money annually,” he says. “Then there’s less overhead associated with that client.”

Jackson says this works great for the efficient, route density he was looking to achieve.

“We’ve always thought it’s better to have three services on one client then to have three clients,” he says.

In addition to adding pest control, another big change Nature’s Turf has made is moving away from a pre-pay for the season payment structure.

“We’re really getting away from pre-pay and have gone to auto-pay, so we charge right after the service is done,” he says. “We found that in our market auto-pay has been better, because when people see what they’re spending annually it actually prompts them to cancel their service. Especially because it usually hits right after Christmas.”

Jackson adds that auto-pay also makes things easier if and when a customer does cancel services or moves.