You’re not imagining it—every season, the labor challenge gets harder. You want to take on more work, grow your business, and serve your clients well. But when good workers are hard to find (and harder to keep), even keeping up feels impossible.
Many landscaping business owners are feeling the same strain. One recently shared in a Green Industry Pros interview, “Labor is still a monumental issue, and I don’t think that’s ever going away.”
If you’re like most landscape business owners, you’ve probably said it out loud too:
“We’d be unstoppable if we could just get more out of the team we already have.”
Good news: you can. And it doesn’t require burning out your crews or overhauling your team. It starts with giving your teams something they’ve likely been missing for years: clarity, ownership, and motivation.
Unlock Hidden Efficiency in the Team You Already Trust
Instead of hiring more people (and hoping they work out), look closer at the team already clocking in. One of the most powerful growth strategies is helping your existing crews become more productive—with less friction and more buy-in.
This doesn’t mean pushing them harder. It means helping them work smarter. When crews understand how their work affects the bigger picture—and they’re part of the conversation—performance improves naturally.
The Secret to Better Performance? Start Small and Make it Visible
You don’t need a sweeping labor strategy to start seeing results. Start with something simple:
- Did the job take longer than estimated?
- Did scheduled hours line up with actual time on-site?
- Can your crew leaders explain how they did compared to last week?
At BomData, we’ve seen real results when companies start involving leaders at all levels in weekly reviews. That sense of ownership ripples out. Before long, crews start holding themselves accountable—because they can actually see how they’re doing.
Motivation Through Transparency
Charles Schwab once turned around an underperforming mill using one visible chalk number. No new rules. No bonus program. Just public visibility.
Every shift saw the number of “heats” the last team had completed—and wanted to beat it. Competition kicked in. Output rose. The plant turned around.
The lesson still holds true: crews want to win—they just need a scoreboard.
Schwab later explained the success:
“The way to get things done is to stimulate competition—not in a sordid, money-getting way, but in the desire to excel.”
As Dale Carnegie shares in How to Win Friends and Influence People, that same principle applies today. When teams see where they stand—and how they can improve—they naturally start pushing themselves to get better. But this only works if the data is accessible.
How Landscaping Used to Do It—and What’s Been Lost
Before the rise of software, landscaping companies used whiteboards in their shops. Schedules were clear, crews wrote down their job times, and everyone saw how they were doing. Green meant efficient. Red meant over hours. And every crew leader could compare performance—instantly.
“That whiteboard was a leaderboard,” says Daniel Currin, CEO of Greenscape and co-founder of BomData. “Every crew leader could see how they were doing and how their peers were doing. It created awareness and pride. But once we moved into systems like Aspire, that visibility disappeared.”
Aspire is a powerful tool, but over time, data became something only office staff or admins could access. Field teams were left in the dark. They showed up, did the job, and went home—without feedback, context, or connection to the company’s success.
“The guys we were asking to do the work just… did the work,” Currin said. “They didn’t understand how they influenced the success of the company. There was no feedback loop. Just show up, do the job, and go home.”
Bringing Back a Proven Process—with a Modern Approach
That’s where BomData comes in. BomData brings back the clear feedback crews used to have—and makes it even better.
By turning Aspire’s data into crew-specific insights, BomData helps team members see how their work impacts the business. No spreadsheets. No extra admin work.
With our TV leaderboard displays, performance becomes part of the everyday conversation again—without creating a competitive culture that burns people out.
“BomData gave us back what we had lost—the ability to make performance visible and drive accountability in a positive way,” says Daniel Currin, CEO of Greenscape and co-founder of BomData. “Now our teams can see where they stand, and that awareness leads to action.”
Want to see how it works? Check out the leaderboard setup guide here.
Labor Efficiency Starts with Team Engagement
You can’t control the labor market – but you can start getting more from the people you already have.
When you give them visibility into performance and involve them in the improvement process, efficiency becomes a shared goal – not just a management metric.
BomData helps you:
- Engage your crews in meaningful ways
- Make performance visible and actionable
- Drive efficiency without micromanagement
Ready to turn your team into your biggest efficiency advantage? Learn more at BomData.io.