Landscaping
Landscaping Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
Work out what winning one landscaping customer costs, and whether the route makes them worth it.
Result
Sales time is included because it is a real cost of winning work even though it never appears on an advertising invoice. Recovering under 100% on the first job is normal in the trades, provided customers come back.
Get a Free Business AuditWhat moves the number
- Marketing spend and the quoting visits it produces.
- Close rate, since unconverted quotes are paid for too.
- Whether the customer is on an existing route, which changes their value entirely.
Where this one goes wrong
Valuing all customers equally. A customer on an existing route is worth substantially more than an identical one twenty minutes away, and acquisition spend should reflect where customers actually are.
Questions
About this calculator
Should acquisition be targeted geographically?
In maintenance landscaping, yes. Winning three adjacent customers is worth far more than three scattered ones, and marketing can be aimed at a route rather than a city.
What is the hidden acquisition cost?
Quoting visits. Landscaping quotes usually need a site visit, which happens for every prospect regardless of conversion.
Does the first season cover acquisition?
Often it has to, particularly for maintenance where the annual value per customer is modest. Retention across seasons is what makes it pay.
The formula
acquisition cost = (marketing + sales cost) / customers won
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How to use this calculator
- Marketing spend per month ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $3,200.
- Sales time and tools ($). Quoting time, CRM, call answering.
- Leads per month. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 70.
- Share that become customers (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 32%.
- First job value ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $340.
- Gross margin (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 44%.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to cost to win one customer, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Marketing spend per month | $3,200 |
| Sales time and tools | $900 |
| Leads per month | 70 |
| Share that become customers | 32% |
| First job value | $340 |
| Gross margin | 44% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost to win one customer main result | $183.04 |
| Cost per lead | $58.57 |
| Customers per month | 22 |
| Gross profit on the first job | $149.60 |
| Recovered on the first job | 81.7% |
Each customer costs $183.04 to win, and the first job returns $149.60 of gross profit, 81.7% of the acquisition cost. The rest has to come from repeat work.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only marketing spend per month, this is what happens to cost to win one customer. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Marketing spend per month ($) | Cost to win one customer |
|---|---|
| $1,600 | $111.61 |
| $2,400 | $147.32 |
| $3,200 example above | $183.04 |
| $4,800 | $254.46 |
| $6,400 | $325.89 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Marketing spend per month ($)
- A money amount, starting at $3,200.
- Sales time and tools ($)
- Quoting time, CRM, call answering.
- Leads per month
- A number, between 0 and 20000, starting at 70.
- Share that become customers (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 100, starting at 32%.
- First job value ($)
- A money amount, starting at $340.
- Gross margin (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 95, starting at 44%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Cost to win one customer | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Cost per lead | A money figure. |
| Customers per month | A number. |
| Gross profit on the first job | A money figure. |
| Recovered on the first job | A percentage. |
Seasonality is not in this
Coverage and material figures assume the area you enter. Slope, access for machinery, existing growth and the time of year all affect both quantity and labour, and none of them appear in a calculation like this.
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.