7 Steps to Become an Eco-Friendly Lawn Care Business

Becoming an eco-friendly lawn care business is one of the best ways to expand your market segment while minimizing environmental impact.

Use this article, you’ll discover the essential steps to becoming an eco-friendly lawn care business, such as:

• Choosing what type of eco-friendly lawn care business you want to become
• Establishing credibility with a sustainability certification
• Starting to sell fast with the best marketing strategies
• Demonstrating your commitment to going green

Remember, it’s never too late to become an eco-friendly lawn care business. Plus, you don’t have to totally convert to green services in order to reap the benefits.

Use these expert steps to choose the extent of green services you want to offer, and instantly expand your market segment to reach more leads.

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What Going Green Means for Your Business

Before we dive into the best steps for becoming an eco-friendly lawn care business, let’s quickly talk about why it’s a great opportunity for you.

Did you know, 92% of homeowners are looking for more sustainable solutions for their homes?

Additionally, 62% of businesses have made eco-friendly improvements.

Which means, you’re missing out on a huge market segment that’ll cause you to fall behind the competition if you don’t start taking action in the eco-friendly space. 

1. Choose How You Want to Turn into an Eco-Friendly Lawn Care Business

The first step in becoming an eco-friendly lawn care business is to choose which services and aspects of your business that you want to turn green.

For example, do you want to offer a few select green services, or do you want to entirely go green?

Take a look at a few different ways you can become an eco-friendly lawn care business:

• Offer eco-friendly products
  • E.g. fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, renewable landscaping products, etc.
• Provide green irrigation alternatives
  • E.g. smart sprinkler systems, drought-tolerant grasses/landscaping, drip irrigation, rainwater collection systems, etc.
• Leverage environmentally conscious practices
  • E.g. take advantage of composting, mulching, etc. to reuse organic materials
• Make the change to hybrid or electric vehicles and equipment
• GO PAPERLESS with the #1 lawn care software

These are just a few of the countless ways you can integrate green solutions into your lawn care business.

Whether you choose to go entirely green, or if you decide to offer a few green services, you’ll instantly expand your market segment by joining the green movement.

2. Establish Credibility By Getting Certified

By far, proven credibility is one of the easiest ways to begin selling your new eco-friendly services.

The best way to gain this credibility with leads and clients is by getting a sustainability certification from a third-party.

Take a look at some great third-party green certifications you can get:

• Green Shield Certified
• GreenPro Service Certification
• Green Business Bureau Certification
• Green Business Network Certification

These are just a few of the many green certifications you can get for your eco-friendly lawn care business.

While you don’t have to get certified in all of these areas, these certifications are a great place to start in establishing credibility in proving to clients that your business is sustainable.

3. Leverage the Top Pro Strategies for Selling “Green Services”

Even though you might be hesitant to join the eco-friendly space due to cost, many clients are willing to pay higher prices in order to be sustainable.

In fact, studies have shown that 64% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products.

Plus, selling your new green lawn care services isn’t as complex as you might think.

For example, here are a few easy ways to sell your new sustainable services:

Sell the Benefits (Not the Service)

Instead of selling the service itself, it’s important to sell the benefits of the service.

Take a look at a few benefits you can sell to clients:

• Reduce your carbon footprint
• Minimize your environmental impact
• Decrease your water and energy consumption
• Protect your family, animals, and lawn from harsh chemicals

Provide Compelling Evidence for Sustainability

By providing compelling evidence for the growing need for more sustainable practices, you can sell your new green services more easily.

For example, here are a few compelling pieces of evidence you can sell to leads and clients:

• On average, a gas-powered mower generates the same level of pollution as driving for 11 miles.
• 60-70 million birds die each year due to pesticide poisoning and thousands of pets are accidentally poisoned from lawn care chemicals.
• 40-60% of nitrogen used in fertilizers end up in groundwater, surface water, or wells that provide drinking water.
• Pesticides have been linked to neurochemical and behavioral dysfunctions in humans.

4. Take Action to Demonstrate Commitment to Going Green

Whether or not you decide to become an eco-friendly lawn care business, you can still take action to demonstrate your commitment to going green.

Take a look at a few ways you can show your community your commitment to sustainability:

• Volunteer or sponsor sustainable events
• Donate or volunteer at local eco-friendly charities
• Volunteer to create green spaces in underserved areas or parks

By taking action to demonstrate your commitment to going green, you can further establish your local reputation for being a dedicated eco-friendly lawn care business.

5. Promote Your New Eco-Friendly Lawn Care Business With Proven Marketing Strategies

Now that you have a plan in place for becoming an eco-friendly lawn care business, you’re ready to begin planning your marketing campaign.

Here are a few ways you’ll want to begin marketing your new green services:

• Use two-way texting to promote your new services
• Launch an email campaign to sell your green services
• Implement an organic and paid social media campaign
• Create videos explaining your new services and commitment to green

Plus, did you know you can use automations to automate your campaign and track results?

You can even set up custom triggers to funnel clients and leads into different email segments based on the actions they take.

Automations is the  #1 way to follow up  with clients. If you’re not using it, your business might still be successful - but it won’t grow. 

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In Service Autopilot, our automations send emails and texts to:​

Every lead after an estimate is completed

Clients after their property has been serviced​

Remind leads and clients to send you customer feedback​

Update outdated or declined payment information​

Inform them when a service can’t be completed due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. weather)​

Remind them of maintenance tips (i.e. putting a cover on the outdoor faucet before the winter)​

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6. Use Promotions to Amplify the Selling Effectiveness of Your New Green Lawn Care Services

In order to quickly and easily sell your new green services, consider launching limited-time promotions to amplify the results.

For example, these are a few types of simple promotions you could run:

• 25% discount on one visit for those that sign up by the deadline
• 25% discount on one visit for every successful green service referral
• 50% discount on one visit for the first 100 people to sign up for the new green services

These are just a few of the endless types of compelling promotions you can use to boost the sales of your new eco-friendly lawn care services.

Just keep these things in mind as you’re creating promotions:

• Be specific
• Provide compelling value
• Clearly explain the exceptions and restrictions
• Make it timely with a tight deadline (e.g. one week)

7. Get Testimonials, Reviews, and Referrals to Continue Sales

By far, testimonials, reviews, and referrals are the easiest ways to passively continue sales. The key is to only ask your happiest clients. In other words, don’t ask all of your clients.

First, you’ll want to send surveys to find your happiest clients:

• 90-day email surveys
• Text surveys after each service

Then, after receiving a positive survey or compliment, you’ll direct the client to submit a review or provide them with a referral offer.

You can incentivize referrals by offering a discount or free upsell for each successful referral. However, the FTC cautions against incentivizing reviews.

Also, did you know, you can use Service Autopilot’s automations to automate these email and text surveys? Plus, you’ll even be able to track the results in real-time.

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Reach More Clients as an Eco-Friendly Lawn Care Business

Use these next-level steps to become an eco-friendly lawn care business, and instantly expand your client reach.

Now, you know how to become and eco-friendly lawn care business and:

• Minimize your carbon footprint
• Establish a local reputation for being sustainable
• Easily expand your market into the green service market
• Effectively sell your new green services to new and existing clients

Remember, it’s never too late to transition into an eco-friendly lawn care business. Use these pro strategies to determine which green services you want to adopt and start selling fast!

Related: Jobber Alternative: The Best Lawn Care Software

Originally published Sept 7, 2023 12:02 PM CT