Starting a Business
How to Start an Artificial Turf Business
Want to open an artificial turf business? Our practical, easy-to-follow advice serves as an essential launching pad to get you going.
For those who want to open an artificial turf business, we go a step beyond other business how-to articles by offering specific advice on what to do first.
Artificial fields and lawns can deliver significant cost savings to facility managers and residential homeowners.
Range of Artificial Turf Applications
Since its emergence in the 1960s, artificial turf has been associated with indoor sports venues and doormats. While sports facilities continue to represent a large share of artificial turf revenues, today synthetic turf can be found in a much broader range of applications and settings.
One of the fastest growing segments of the artificial turf industry is the residential market. High maintenance costs, water shortages and other factors are the demand for synthetic turf installations as an alternative to organic lawns. Based on it durability and low maintenance requirements, the Synthetic Turf Council is quick to point out that artificial fields and lawns yield a long-term cost savings to facility managers and residential homeowners alike.
Pricing & Market Positioning for Artificial Turf Startups
Pricing needs to be a front and center concern for your artificial turf business startup. Residential and institutional customers understand that synthetic turf installations are expensive, but competitive ignorance can easily cause you to price your startup out of the market.
On the other hand, low pricing can also have a detrimental effect on market positioning. There are a multitude of low-end synthetic turf businesses that undercut the competition with inferior products and shoddy installations. For most startups, the optimal pricing strategy is to somewhere near the center of the marketplace.
Customer Acquisition Tips for New Synthetic Turf Providers
Although a well-known sports venue can give your startup a major revenue boost, competition for high visibility turf projects is fierce, resulting in tight profit margins. But since a major client can be a marketing goldmine, it may be worth sustaining a loss just to land the contract.
For example, A-Turf, a relative newcomer to the synthetic turf industry, significantly underbid the competition to land a turf installation with the Buffalo Bills. Although the company likely sustained a loss on the installation, the contract generated countless PR placements and positioned the business as a cost-efficient provider of high quality artificial turf.
Essential Features of Business Plans for Artificial Turf Businesses
Every business plan is unique, yet the most effective plans share a handful of essential traits.
If your plan lacks required elements like an executive summary or marketing plan, it could jeopardize its potential to deliver real benefits to your startup.
But in today's business environment, it's also important to discuss the external factors your artificial turf business is facing. As a rule, we recommend including a PEST (Political, Economic, Social & Technological) analysis in your business plan as a way of addressing potential threats and opportunities at the macro level.
Evaluate Competitors
Long before you open an artificial turf business in your area, it's a good idea to find out how strong the competition is. We've provided the link below to help you generate a list of competitors near you. Simply enter your city, state and zip code to get a list of artificial turf businesses in your town.
Gain a knowledge of how existing firms have positioned themselves in the marketplace, and then design your business in a way that sets you apart from the others.
Getting Advice from Experienced Entrepreneurs
Once you've finished assessing the competion, the next step is to learn from folks who are already in business. If you think your local competitors will give you advice, you're being overoptimistic. The last thing they want to do is help you to be a better competitor.
On the other hand, an individual who has an artificial turf business on the other side of the country will be much more likely to talk with you, provided that you won't be directly competing with them. Indeed, many experienced entrepreneurs enjoy offering advice to startup entrepreneurs. In my experience, you may have to call ten business owners in order to find one who is willing to share his wisdom with you.
So, what can you do to find an artificial turf business entrepreneur in another community?
Simply, try our helpful link below, type in a random city/state or zipcode, and start calling.
Buying Advice for Artificial Turf Business Entrepreneurs
Without a doubt, it usually makes more sense to acquire an artificial turf business than it does to pursue a startup.
Yet for many entrepreneurs, financing represents a major hurdle to buying an artificial turf business. Business acquisitions are easier to finance than business startups, even though the financing process can still be exhausting.
Even so, before you approach lenders, we strongly recommend you dedicate a few minutes to reviewing our resource on Business Acquisition Financing Tips.
Don't Rule Out Franchising
The odds of making a success of your new business are greatly increased if you purchase a franchise and benefit from the prior work of others and their lessons learned.
Prior to starting an artificial turf business, you would be wise to investigate whether franchise opportunities in your space might be worth investigating.
The link below gives you access to our franchise directory so you can see if there's a franchise opportunity for you. You might even find something that points you in a completely different direction.
More Advice for Startups
These additional resources regarding getting started as an entrepreneur may be of interest to you.
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Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs