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From our friends across the big pond but I feel many of the challenges and issues are similar to us in the UK.

I have cherry picked a few of the more interesting segments from the annual Green Industry Benchmark Survey.

This survey was sent to thousands of green industry professionals that asked questions related to their business practices, their outlook for 2014, and the challenges they face in their business.

Green industry businesses are very optimistic about 2014.
The number one takeaway is that 2014 is shaping up to be a good year. Consider:
• 96% expect the economy will improve or stay the same. Just 4% expect it to worsen.
• 93% of respondents expect their business to grow revenue in 2014, up from 75% in last year’s report.
• 75% expect to grow their staff in 2014, up from 54% a year ago.
• 69% plan to raise prices, with a few saying that they hadn’t since the Great Recession began, another sign of an improving economy.
Interestingly, last year’s benchmark report was very accurate when predicting what percent of respondents would see revenue growth. Last year, 75% of respondents expected revenue growth in 2013, while the actual results from this year’s survey show that 73% experienced revenue growth. Let’s hope that accuracy proves true in 2014 as well.

Finding good employees is a significant pain point.
Finding good employees is a major concern for many green industry businesses. 55% said it was somewhat difficult, while 24% said it was very difficult. Just 18% said it was somewhat easy, while 3% said it very easy. Additionally, attracting and retaining employees was cited by 22% of respondents as the area of their business most in need of improvement, second behind only marketing to acquire customers.

Green businesses value great service above all else.
Considering green businesses deliver a service, it shouldn’t be surprising that satisfying their customers is of great importance.
We decided to test that theory by asking whether they preferred to make the margins they expected or budgeted on a job, or whether they would rather have a satisfied customer.
We expected the majority to say they would rather have a satisfied customer. We didn’t expect it to be such a landslide, though. 94% of respondents said they would rather have a satisfied customer than meet the margins they expect.

Email marketing is underutilized.
According to a study by the Direct Marketers Association, email marketing has an average return on investment of $43.52 for every dollar spent, near the top for any marketing tactic. So it’s surprising that green industry businesses typically aren’t using email to market their business. Consider:
• Less than 40% of respondents have an email newsletter
• Less than 30% send transactional emails to customers– like appointment confirmations, reminders, or emails after a service has been completed
• Less than 25% send bulk email promotions.
Interestingly, more than 60% are using social media as a marketing tactic. Yet, recent reports continue to show that email offers a much higher rate of return than social media. Granted, it’s hard to measure social media ROI, but even given that, email marketing is a tool that – if used properly – can generate revenue.
Email is a huge missed opportunity for many green industry businesses.

Field service software makes a difference.
This is the second year that we’ve completed the Green Industry Benchmark Report and the second year in a row where those who use field service software are more likely than those who don’t to experience revenue growth.
The numbers also show that those businesses using field service software tend to be less owner-centric. For example, we asked how comfortable a business owner would feel going on vacation in the middle of their busy season. 66% of respondents using field service software would be very or somewhat comfortable leaving the business in the middle of the busy season. Conversely, just 43% of respondents not using field service software would feel comfortable leaving the business in the busy season.

Green businesses heavily attend educational events.
Asked how many trade shows or educational conferences they attended in the past year to improve their business knowledge, we were surprised to find that:
• Just 5% of respondents hadn’t attended a trade show/educational conference in the past year.
• 58% had attended 2 or 3
• More (44%) attended three or more events than attended one or less (23%)
The numbers are obvious: green industry businesses are actively seeking information that will help them improve and grow their businesses. If you’re in the group that isn’t attending conferences or trade shows, you may be at a competitive disadvantage.

QuickBooks dominates the accounting software market.
If you own a green industry business, odds are you’re using QuickBooks to manage your financial accounting. 80% of our respondents indicated that they use QuickBooks, while 17% are using some other solution – including a Sage product. Just 3% are using nothing at all.

For the full report, download the 2014 Green Industry Benchmark Report today and you’ll find even more great nuggets of information that can help you manage and improve your business in 2014.
Visit http://www.hindsitesoftware.com/2014-green-industry-benchmark-report.cfm to grab your complimentary copy today!