While many industries are still suffering from a spike in the cost of doing business, the home service market is booming and is expected to grow by $6,5 billion over the next four years, according to the research firm Technavio.

Fueled by technical innovations, a strong growth forecast, and updated customer needs, your HVAC or plumbing company could see more expansion than you imagined.

That’s why you must have a five-year growth strategy to help you make the critical decisions that allow your company to scale without growing too fast or missing the mark entirely.

When you first started out, you more than likely drew up a business plan to show lenders or other stakeholders that you knew what you needed to do to get your business off the ground. But that business plan needs a five-year growth strategy supplement to help you overcome the challenges that a bull market presents.

Review Your Success

While a business plan was probably enough to get you started, a five-year growth plan needs to be consistently revisited to ensure that you are hitting your goals.

Whenever the market changes, you miss targets, or a major event happens in your company, you should review your five-year plan and take corrective action.

Making a financial review should happen more frequently than many home service contractors realize. When you sit down each month to go over your cash flow, profit and loss statements, and overall financial health, you should also revisit your five-year plan to see if it is still accurately reflecting your company and your market.

Your long-term success depends on your ability to grow and adjust to that growth. Properly scaling your business shouldn’t be left to chance.

Stuck on a Plateau

Your HVAC company may have been growing at a steady pace in its first years of existence. But, once you’ve reached about $1 million to $3 million in revenue, you slam up against a ceiling, and you feel as though no matter what you do, you can’t break through that plateau.

You may have noticed that your company has become more complex, your management is out of ideas or your technology is no longer keeping up with employee needs. This all causes your company to burn the cash that should be counted as profit.

This is where a five-year growth plan comes into play. Your plan needs to speak to your company’s ability to scale operationally. What you were doing to earn that first $3 million annually may not work by just doubling your efforts. You need a whole new strategy that incorporates the right innovation, the right personnel and the right data.

Buying the Right Technology

You have to be able to invest in yourself and your company. That means you may need to upgrade the technology you’re using so that you have the correct data you need to make critical decisions. In the home service world, that means you may need to scale to a more powerful customer relationship management (CRM) platform or marketing and communications tools that allow you to stay in touch with your customers and your crew.

The tech you purchase isn’t just there to help your team better manage their day. It should also provide you with the customer and market data you need to scale your business. This can help you decide if you need to widen your customer net or delve deeper into your current customer bases’ untapped needs.

Always Be Recruiting

The biggest expense of any company, by far, is its personnel. This is the area where you can get the most return on investment if you invest wisely.

With the skilled trades labor shortage, you can’t afford to be short-staffed or novice-heavy. This means you should be reaching out to high schools and even starting a training or apprenticeship program to attract new workers.

Studies show that younger generations are more attracted to businesses with a positive company culture.

One way to show what it’s like to work at your home service business is by posting on social media. Posting images and videos of your team solving problems, enjoying each other’s company and volunteering in the community will do more to drive potential employees toward your business than posting on job boards. You want to be the company everyone wants to work for.

And don’t forget to review the roles of your critical managers. The people who manage smaller businesses may have a more general approach and can switch between roles, but those who manage larger companies tend to focus more on technology and strategy to make sure the team is working together toward one goal.

Having the right type and style of leadership in your growing business can determine if you crack your growth ceiling or continue to hit your head on it.

Use Your Data

If you’ve never done a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis or it’s been a while since your last one, now is the time to prepare a new one.

Many smaller home service companies stall because they aren’t reviewing the data they have available or can easily gather. 

You need to understand your company’s key performance indicators (KPIs) so that you can determine if your company is meeting its operational goals. Your KPIs tell you if you are focusing on the right projects, if you understand the risk factors that threaten your success, and if your team is meeting their goals.

You also need to do some market research. This can involve analyzing your competition to see what they’re doing correctly and how you can gain a competitive advantage. 

You should also develop a profile of your avatar customer. Use your CRM and other tools on the market to help you determine who your target audience should be and why.

Finally, use relevant data to determine what services your customers want, how you can best offer those services and what your ideal market should look like.

Repaint Your Vision

After reviewing your success and addressing the issues that may have lengthened your stay on the growth plateau, it’s time to update your five-year growth plan and let your team know your new vision.

By repainting your vision, you let your team know your new goals and objectives and what it takes to get there.

Your employees want something to believe in and they want direction on how to get there. Sharing your financial canvas with some motivational paint will help your team meet your five-year growth plan.

CEO Warrior Director of Training, Kevin Hill has a strong background in operations and understands the importance of meaningful connections and strategizing for personal and professional growth. Hill has more than 20 years of industry experience, including founding and running two start-up companies. He excels in teaching home service business owners how to recruit and retain top talent. He mentors them on how to create an environment for growth in leadership and exceptional sales and business process development to exceed their business goals.