Imagine with me the freshly cut grass of a brand new lawn client of yours. The grass looks pristine and manicured, the signs of a job well done. The birds are chirping. The skies are bright blue. It's summertime, and the mowing season is here!

The business is booming, you've been growing your clientele list, but then it happens. You pull up to that one client that you really, really dislike working with.

You can't exactly put your finger on it, but you hear yourself saying

"Not so-and-so's lawn, this one is such a pain"!

If I had to rattle off the list of reasons during the summer that I could lose momentum or my attitude over, it usually comes down to one factor: the price I'm receiving for a job I'm about to do, or have been doing.

One thing that I can share from experience, when I am muttering words like that, is that there's a 95% chance it's because I don't feel I am being adequately compensated. For one reason or another, the price we're about to charge doesn't align with the work we're about to perform.

Changing the Words Can Help With Changing the Price

Let's imagine for example you started quoting lawn service a while back at $25 a week for your maintenance services. Now your current rates are $30 a week. Your current client signed up with you 3 seasons ago, but you never got to raising their prices to your current rates.

So you take it on the chin every week, and after 2 additional seasons, you almost have a negative attitude or resentment for a client you have been working for. You know there has to be a conversation about a pricing change, but don't know how to go about it.

The simplest answer I can share is talk to your customers about a price adjustment. No one wants their prices raised, but many folks find it way less threatening to have their prices "adjusted".

I mention to my clients, whether in writing, an email, or a phone conversation, that we will be adjusting their pricing in the upcoming season. I feel it's far less threatening to customers to hear that their prices are being adjusted "$2, $3, or $5 a week”, vs jumping to "$120 a month", for example.

I've found that a majority of customers that we've had to adjust to our current pricing were extremely fair and flexible with the pricing adjustment.

Do we want to raise prices? Well, not necessarily. But do we need to adjust prices from time to time to keep up with industry averages and our revenue goals? You bet.

Let's be honest, sometimes our overhead increases as the business grows. Sometimes our skill set changes and we become more valuable. Other times we just want to adjust the pricing because the job takes longer than what we previously estimated.

As our business matures and develops, we need to be able to retain our customers, and adjust our prices accordingly. I've found that when I have more accurate pricing for the services I deliver, the better my business runs and the better my attitude to my clients and our operation.

Oh and of course, we definitely become more profitable and have a better attitude towards our clients!

If you're coming up against some clients that you have interest in raising their prices, consider doing a price adjustment instead. You may find it far less threatening for them than a price increase, and it may just give you the increased revenue and profit you've been looking for.

Brian Fullerton
Brian's Lawn Maintenance