With any luck, you were able to take some time off around the holidays to relax and recharge for 2020. With time to reflect and decompress, we look to the upcoming season with fresh eyes and new found energy. Make the most of the winter months before the season officially kicks off in the spring. Now is the time to channel your energy into annual business planning and give your business the direction and momentum it needs to have its best year yet.
Your 2020 plan doesn’t have to be overly complex, but it does need to be organized and give you the framework to map out your next year of business. Whether that is updating your marketing strategy, assessing your service portfolio, gaining competitive intelligence, developing new customer leads, spending time educating yourself and team, or evaluating your purchases and inventory—every business can benefit from planning out their upcoming year. When you plan ahead, you get ahead!
Be Strategic with Your Purchases
Planning your purchases can help you save money on your bottom line. An Early Order Program is one of the easiest ways to be strategic with the purchases you make—buy like the big guys do. See how an Early Order Program can help you get a step ahead of your competitors and grow your business. Check out these five benefits:
1. Beat the Manufacturer’s Price Increases
Manufacturers are raising prices again this year. Increased materials cost could mean trouble for your bottom line. Get ahead of the increases and lock in your material costs now, before the prices go up. Central’s Early Order Program will help you lock in lower prices. Better yet, there is an opportunity to take advantage of additional cash discounts, double reward points, and extended terms.
Not sure what products you need? Not to worry, your Central sales rep can help provide you with the history of your past purchases to make sure you are purchasing what you need for a successful year.
Looking for another way to combat price increases? Check out our Contractor’s Pricing Guide that can help you raise your prices without losing customers.
2. Increase Cash Flow: Get Product Now, Pay Later
Cash flow is often a concern for business owners. Its no different for landscape contractors, especially early in the season. Perhaps you have a large job that is slow to pay or you have an unexpected expense.
Strategic purchasing can help ease your cash-flow worries. When you utilize an Early Order Program, you get the products you need to finish your job now, and pay for it later in the season when cash is flowing better for your business.
3. Easy Inventory Management
Whether your installing a new irrigation system, fixing a broken one, or adding landscape lighting to a job—you need product. When you don’t have the materials you need to do the job, work can be delayed, or worse yet—stopped. Nothing is worse than having to wait for materials to finish a job.
Keeping the right amount of inventory can help you make sure that your team doesn’t stop working and that your customers get the services they need quickly. Central can help you forecast your inventory levels based on your historical purchases, so that you have the right quantity of the products you need. Leverage Central’s Early Order Program to get the inventory you will need all season long.
4. Streamlines Your Day-to-Day Operations
As we just mentioned, nothing is worse than having to wait for material to finish a job. Sending a team member to drive back and forth to the supply store costs money, time and resources. In many cases, resources such as employees are already very limited.
An Early Order Program helps streamline your day-to-day operations by having the inventory you need on the jobsite. Less back and forth, less shifting team members across town to different jobsites. It helps to keep your team on the scheduled job and keeps them working instead of waiting for materials or driving across town to pick up supplies.
5. More Rewards = More Awesome
Central offers the most flexible and rewarding loyalty program for the professional contractor. Earn points with all of your purchases of irrigation, lighting, turf and equipment products which can be redeemed toward your choice of rewards.
Your participation in the Central Rewards Program also gives you access to educational, employee recruiting and marketing resources tailored to drive your success. You are automatically enrolled in the program. When you commit to Central with an Early Order Program, you can even double your rewards! Ask your Central Rep to learn more.
Finally
Rely on Central to help, whether it’s questions about inventory management, strategic purchasing, marketing strategy, or business planning. We stay at the leading edge of the industry and we’re ready to help you grow!