Look back to move your business forward in 2026

By John Corban

As business owners, we are busy and often more hands-on than we want to be. So, when someone asks, ‘How is business going?’ we tend to give quick answers like ‘Not bad, but enquiries are a bit slow’ or ‘I really need another team member.’ The start of a new calendar year is the perfect time to honestly review how your business performed in the last six months of the previous year, so that you can improve results for the coming year. To make the process easier, I have broken the review down into major areas.

Your schedule

When you think about your weekly or fortnightly routine, how could it improve? Do you create a schedule in your calendar that includes:

• The critical tasks you must do such as working on the tools, holding sales meetings and quoting.
• The tasks you wish you were doing consistently including team meetings, sales follow-ups, job tracking and reviews.

When you schedule the work that you wish you were doing, and make it a habit, your weeks will run far more smoothly and effectively.

Money and profit

Are you happy with your sales and profit over the last six months?

• If yes, great, move on.
• If not, spend 30 minutes reviewing your last 6-month profit and loss statement.

Look for areas that may be costing your business too much, e.g. materials, labour and/or running costs. Then think about what you can adjust to improve profitability. Costs are unlikely to decrease, so you may need to:

• Increase markups on materials or labour
• Review and adjust your charge-out rates.

Quoting

You will usually know if your quoting process needs attention. Consider the following questions:

• Can someone (a partner or administration support) help set up quotes so that you only need to adjust numbers and send them off?
• Have you updated material prices and recalculated employee hourly rates recently?
• Have you increased your charge-out rates this year? With wages, materials, and operating costs rising, your pricing might need to rise too.

Project management

Strong project management underpins profitable, high-quality outcomes. Take time to evaluate your systems and performance so that you can highlight where improvements will yield the greatest results:

• Are you reviewing projects to ensure they are delivered at the profit you originally quoted?
• Have you dissected the last couple of finished projects to see what went right and what needs improving?

If you are not already undertaking these reviews, focusing on these areas can create major improvements in profit, quality and execution very quickly.

Team

A thriving business depends on a motivated, connected team. Listening to, supporting and investing in your staff helps create a workplace where people and ideas grow. Ask yourself:

• Have you encouraged employees to provide feedback on what could improve?
• Do you schedule bonding events, training workshops or development sessions?
• Are you spending time listening to your team and helping them grow?

A strong, supported team is one of the biggest contributing elements to business success.

Marketing

Consider these important questions if you want your business marketing to be more impactful:

• Are you happy with your current social media and marketing efforts?
• Could your content be stronger?

You could improve your marketing by:

• Booking a professional photography session to obtain updated images.
• Scheduling a day to capture photos of recent projects and your team at work.
• Delegating your social media to someone who can give it proper attention.
• Updating your website to reflect your current work and services.

A broad overview at the start of the year can prevent mistakes, reduce costs, increase income and profit, boost workplace culture and improve how your business operates.

I have listed many areas to think about, so start with just one or two. It will not be hard work when you focus on one area at a time and start seeing the improvements. The positive changes will encourage you to continue.

As you will know from your experience, small and consistent improvements will make a big difference over a relatively short period of time.

Have a great 2026!

John Corban

Landscapers Coach

M: 0433 271 980

E: john@landscaperscoach.com.au

W: landscaperscoach.com.au