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KellyUGuerrero's avatar
KellyUGuerrero
Contributor 3
2 months ago

🌟 Ask-an-Expert: Low Revenue? High Costs? Let’s Improve Your Margins with Actionable Feedback 🌟

Are you charging enough? Paying too much in labor? Missing out on profit? 

Hey, I’m Kelly Guerrero, owner of HomePro Coaching. After over two decades in the service business, I sold my 7-figure lawn care business, and I now help business owners like you streamline operations and achieve sustainable growth. 

From June 26 to July 2, let me help you price with confidence, make smarter, faster business decisions, and make sure you actually pay yourself! 

Fill out this free downloadable cheat sheet 📥 👇
https://www.homeprocoaching.com/freedownload to calculate your numbers and track everything going forward.

🛠️ Drop your numbers below:

  • Revenue per job
  • Net profit margin
  • Gross profit margin
  • Labor % of revenue
  • Close rate (estimate conversion rate)

🛠️And I’ll help you:

  • Identify weak spots
  • Ask the right questions
  • Suggest easy wins to improve your margins


Not sure of your numbers? I’ll guide you on where to find them in Jobber or how to estimate.

Let’s work on your business this week—not just in it. 💪

If you've not yet registered for my session at Jobber Blueprint Live, "The 5 Numbers That Will Make (or Break) Your Business," check out upcoming events here: jobber.com/events.

6 Replies

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  • Hey Julie!  This is a great question! 

    If a business owner wants to start focusing on selling their business within the next 3-5 years there are two numbers I would start prioritizing - Net Profit and Close Rate.   

    Net Profit: Because this is the single most critical number buyers care about. A high, stable, and clean net profit increases your multiple and makes the business more attractive. They’re not buying revenue – they’re buying earnings.  How do you get there?

    • Start cleaning up the books now.
    • Eliminate personal expenses from business accounts.
    • Show consistent profit trends.

    Close Rate:  Often overlooked but this is critical because it gives you a birds-eye few to the systems in place by the business.  Because high close rates show that your sales system works, your marketing is dialed in, and your service has demand – all attractive to a buyer.  If the number of estimate requests is high enough that you need one or two sales people NOT the business oiwner to run quotes, then this shows your marketing system has also been perfected.

    • Build a repeatable sales process.
    • Track how many leads convert and why.
    • Document what's working to pass it on.

    At the end of the day, buyers aren’t just purchasing a business – they’re buying predictable profit and a proven sales engine. Nail your net profit and close rate now, and you’ll be in a powerful position when it’s time to sell.

  • julie's avatar
    julie
    Jobber Community Team

    Hey Kelly, awesome webinar this morning! I've got a question for you

    What numbers should business owners start focusing on if they are building a business and want to sell in 3-5 years?

  • Thank you Kelly for working with us all!

    Revenue per job: ranges from $50 (mowing visit) to $20k (landscape install or lawn renovation)

    Net profit margin: 27% (not including owner's salaries)

    Gross profit margin: 53% (not including owner's salaries)

    Labor % of revenue: 23% (not including owner's salaries)

    Close rate: ~60%, we were close to 100% over the last few years, however we increased our rates this year and are seeing a lower close rate now. We are fully booked though, so I'm not worried about the decrease in close rate. 

    • KellyUGuerrero's avatar
      KellyUGuerrero
      Contributor 3

      Thanks for sharing these numbers — you're clearly running a sharp, intentional operation. That 27% net profit and 23% labor ratio (excluding owner salaries) is impressive, especially as you're scaling prices. Love seeing that you’re still fully booked even with a lower close rate — that’s exactly how healthy pricing power should work.

      Quick question: do you track gross profit by service type? I find that’s often where the real “aha” moments come from — especially when deciding which services to double down on or drop.

      • whitehollow_llc's avatar
        whitehollow_llc
        Contributor 2

        Hi Kelly,

        That is soooo good to hear, thank you. We are still in a pace where we have a lot of loans to pay down (which I guess aren't represented in those numbers), so sometimes it feels like we just work to pay the bills.

        Yes, I am a former engineer so am very much into numbers. I track profit rates by job type. Mowing, not surprisingly is low on the list, but it secures a lot of other bigger jobs from those customers and leads to referrals. We haven't had to go looking for any work this year, it has all been referral based. Also my husband (who own's the company with me) works another full time job, so mowing keeps the crew busy on the days he has to work his other job.

        Job TypeGross Profit MarginNote
        Brush removal95% 
        Plowing81% 
        Overseeding74%only did 1 this year so far (this is more of a fall job, so we expect more then)
        Lawn install71% 
        Skid Steer work70% 
        Pruning & Landscaping61% 
        Landscaping60%small plantings, etc.
        Spring clean-ups58% 
        Mulch installation55% 
        Lawn repair55% 
        Mini excavator50% 
        Stump clean-ups48% 
        Mowing47% 
        Landscape design & install45%Usually higher, we have only done one so far and have 4 more to do
        Tree work31%Low profit margin, but generally high profit $ compared to other work. Profit margin low because we sub out tree lift & operator