On last night’s show, Green Industry consultant and Landscape Management columnist Frank Ross discussed the financial reasons so many landscape contractors fail in business. Some fail to make a profit, some fail to control labor and some just don’t have that “fire in their belly” that pushes them to succeed every day.
Although we didn’t get through all of his top 10 “fails,” the failure chain could be boiled down to two things: money and planning. Or more precisely, the lack of money and the lack of planning. Ross says cash flow is vital to the success of your business and is probably 90 percent of why companies fail. Cash flow needs to be watched carefully so that work is being billed and money is collected soon after it’s completed. Doing so helps keep your customers satisfied, your balance sheet in check and your company in business.
To gain even more insight, listen to the interview in its entirety by clicking here. Ross wrote about a similar topic for last year’s Landscape Management Business Planner in “How to prevent business failure.”
Show: Frank’s Top 10 Financial Reasons Why Businesses Fail
Guest: Frank Ross of Ross Payne & Associates; 3PG Consulting
Date: June 26, 2013
Editor’s note: As part of a partnership between Landscape Management and FD2B Talk Radio, we post an “Insight of the Night” every Thursday from the previous night’s radio show. FD2B Talk Radio is a Green Industry radio show that broadcasts live every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern. Its host and founder is LM columnist Jody Shilan, who’s also the editor and founder of FromDesign2Build.com.
