THE HERRING GROUP
PriceRight and PriceRight Plus Ops InsightsIntelligent Pricing for Aspire Users
Requirement: PriceRight and PriceRight Plus Ops Insights are only for landscape industry companies on Aspire.
Reliabile. Accurate. RELEVANT.
Price More Confidently
PriceRight is an intelligent pricing service that allows you to accurately set up pricing in your Aspire Software.
The financial experts at The Herring Group have created a proven, thorough system to help you navigate the nuances of setting up accurate labor and burden rates, pricing markups, and target net margins in your Aspire software. We utilize your current data and discuss market pricing for labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment rental, and other direct costs to calculate these basic building blocks for Aspire pricing. You will receive feedback throughout the process and step-by-step instructions on how and where, in the system, to populate these elements of pricing.
Our goal is to help you price with confidence. By working together, we will eliminate the confusion and enable you and your team with smart data: information that is more relevant and actionable.
What results can I expect with the PriceRight Service?
» Inspired confidence in the company’s pricing
» Clear direction and understanding of labor burdens, markups, and target net margins
» Historical analysis of financial data to inform pricing
» Informed and calculated burden rates and markups
» Explanation of the numbers for you and your team
Meaningful Data
When it Comes to Pricing, I Feel Stuck. Will This Help?
We know implementing Aspire is a significant commitment of time and resources. We want to help increase your return on investment by showing you how to price accurately and consistently. When you have accurate and reliable data to build your estimates, you’re able to empower your team to make better decisions and hold each other accountable to achieve the target estimates on jobs.
We have experience observing and walking alongside companies attempting to make a necessary transition in pricing. When a landscape company starts out or is smaller, pricing by intuition and “gut” is common and tends to work, as it is likely only the owner who is making those decisions. As owners try to scale their businesses and implement a “smart” system, this is where the challenges with pricing occur.
We have been through the process many times and are here to guide you on setting the pricing parameters within the system to make it work best for your company, while accurately reflecting your expectations and market conditions.
Pricing Matters
What are the Common Pricing Problems?
Pricing is one of the four reasons why landscape companies are not seeing a net profit margin of 10% or greater.
The other three reasons companies are not seeing a net profit margin of 10% or greater include: managing labor hours; renewals/renewal pricing; and the misunderstanding that growth equals more margin. Hint: Growth almost never means more profit margin.
Relying on Incorrect Labor Burden Rates
There is a lot of math and more than a little thought involved in calculating accurate burden rates for Aspire.
Forgetting Costs
It is easy to overlook costs and not include them in burden calculations or the indirect/overhead amount used to calculate markups.
Double Counting Costs
Sometimes, costs are included in both burden rates and overhead recovery markups.
Pricing by Intuition
This approach works okay when the company is small, and the owner can do the pricing. It does not scale well.
Making The Most Impact
Who Should Use PriceRight?
PriceRight is currently available for landscape companies already on Aspire or those implementing Aspire with non-snow revenue of less than $5 million. For companies who have been on Aspire for more than 8 months, we encourage PriceRight Plus Ops Insights to also receive feedback on your Aspire ticket data. We recommend a more comprehensive service, the Path to 12%, for snow revenue and for companies with green annual revenue greater than $5 million.
Consider The Benefits
What will “Ops Insights” do for me?
» In addition to solid pricing, PriceRight Plus Ops Insights also includes a detailed review of your Aspire ticket data and incorporates three extremely beneficial reports we build for you, in your system.
» These include highlights of job performance by property and division, labor efficiency down to a crew leader level, and gross margin by service. These reports stay in your Aspire system for you to control the date range and other relevant filters, as you use them in the future.
» This detailed review occurs in two to three comprehensive video calls where our financial experts will provide you with both financial and operational insights designed to give you specific, actionable next steps.
PriceRight and PriceRight Plus Ops Insights both help you accurately and reliably set up pricing in your Aspire software
Finding the Right Fit
Compare Options
PriceRight
Intelligent Pricing Service- For landscape industry companies on Aspire
- Focus on pricing
- Annual green revenue < $5 million
- Time on Aspire < 8 months
- Helps companies price with confidence
- Benchmarking to other companies
- Up to 5 labor wage cost calculations
- Up to 5 labor burden rate calculations
- Up to 6 green divisions for markups in Aspire Moneybag
- Time required: 20 minutes + 2 meetings
PriceRight Plus Ops Insights
Intelligent Pricing + Aspire Ticket Review- For landscape industry companies on Aspire
- Focus on pricing and labor hour management
- Annual green revenue < $5 million
- Time on Aspire > 8 months
- Helps companies price with confidence
- AND provides operational and financial insights from Aspire ticket review
- Creates executive-level Aspire reports
- Benchmarking to other companies
- Up to 5 labor wage cost calculations
- Up to 5 labor burden rate calculations
- Up to 12 green divisions for markups in Aspire Moneybag
- Time required: 25 minutes + 2-3 meetings
Path to 12%
Integrated and Customized Strategy- For landscape industry companies on Aspire, Boss LM or similar software
- Focus on pricing, labor hour management, net profit by division and profit by property
- Annual green revenue > $3 million or fast growth
- Time on Aspire: pre- or post-go-live
- Helps companies improve profit margin and create healthy life margin for owners
- Financial leadership simplifies complex reporting and helps with strategic decision-making
- Creates executive-level reports
- Creates dials/reports to drive accountability
- Extensive benchmarking to other companies
- Calculations for indirect job costs and overhead costs by division
- Snow pricing strategy + markups
- As many as necessary labor wage cost calculations
- As many as necessary labor burden rate calculations
- As many as necessary – snow and green – divisions for markups in Aspire Moneybag
- We supplement your existing team by leading the pricing and reporting initiatives and preparing the reports
- Time required: 2 or 3 meetings monthly
PriceRight FAQs
Which companies will benefit most from PriceRight?
- Requirement: This service is only for landscape industry companies on Aspire.
- PriceRight is currently available for landscape companies already on Aspire or those implementing Aspire with non-snow revenue of less than $5 million.
Which companies will benefit most from PriceRight Plus Ops Insights?
- Requirement: This service is only for landscape industry companies on Aspire.
- PriceRight PLUS Ops Insights is currently available for companies with more than 8 months on Aspire and green annual revenue less than $5 million.
I’m a $12M revenue company. Why can’t I get PriceRight?
Landscape industry companies over $5 million in green revenue (and often smaller companies that also include snow revenue) typically require additional considerations and involve complexities that go beyond the scope of our PriceRight services. Larger companies also have a higher need for processes, reporting and metrics for accountability in order to manage and monitor the profitability and efficiency of their business. We can better accommodate these enhanced needs through a more detailed pricing process with strategic conversations that are a part of our comprehensive Path to 12% model.
What information is needed from my company?
Once you purchase a PriceRight product, an email will be sent from The Herring Group with detailed instructions on how to get started. We will be using the information you provide from your payroll system and a trend report from Quickbooks or other accounting software. Whether you currently have your payroll with IPS, QuickBooks or another provider, the instructions will direct you to provide us with exactly what is needed to start the process.
If you purchase PriceRight Plus Ops Insights, we will also send a request for access to your Aspire system. With at least 8 months of data, Aspire represents a gold mine of information. We provide a detailed review of your Aspire ticket data and incorporate three extremely beneficial reports into your system for future use.
What are the final deliverables?
The following deliverables are included for both PriceRight and PriceRight Plus Ops Insights:
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- Up to five burdened labor rates to be used in your Aspire item catalog for estimating.
- Up to five labor burden percentages, stored on the employee record and utilized to calculate actual labor costs in Aspire reports.
- Individual markups for direct labor, direct materials, equipment rental, subcontractors, and other direct costs for each of up to six divisions or service types (excluding snow) that are entered into your Aspire system to produce accurate pricing.
- Recommendations on changes to the company’s chart of accounts which will help align gross profit in Aspire and the company’s income statement produced by its accounting software (e.g. QuickBooks).
If you purchase PriceRight Plus Ops Insights, you will also receive the following:
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- A detailed review of your Aspire ticket data including operational and financial recommendations.
- Three proprietary reports, built for your Aspire system. These reports include highlights of job performance by property and division, labor efficiency down to a crew leader level, and gross margin by service. These reports stay in your Aspire system for you to control the date range and other relevant filters, as you use them in the future.
How much time will my company need to invest if I purchase PriceRight?
In addition to pulling the simple payroll reports, you will be asked to join two video conference meetings (we use Microsoft Teams) to explain the pricing mechanics and reach a consensus with your team on pricing. Each meeting is approximately 1-hour long.
Ready to Focus on Pricing?
Take the next step to price more confidently and reach your growth goals. Let’s get started.