Editorial: David and Goliath
By Daniel Pepper
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
- T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
American poet
Do you remember the story of David and Goliath?
A small boy using a sling to strike and kill a man much larger than
him.
In the lawn care industry, your small business has many advantages
over your bigger competitors.
Bigger is not necessarily better. You don't have to be a big lawn
business to get rich.
If you do get bigger, don't lose your personal touch. Don't let your
customers become numbers.
GROWING OUT OF CONTROL
If you follow the tips & tricks in "The Formula" you will find the
winning combination that spells victory. In turn, your lawn care
business could grow as big as you want.
Just don't grow out of control.
Growing out of control can easily spell disaster. The quality of
your lawn care services can drop dramatically if the training
doesn't continue to be productive.
Your sales team could leave because you are focusing on
growing at all costs rather than growing under control.
Your customers could start complaining, leave, and not come
back.
I have seen it time and time again -- a booming lawn care business
go broke. The owner goes full circle right back to where they
started. All is lost.
WATCH OUT
Don't fall for the myth that bigger is better. There are many
advantages being a small business. You can move faster. You
can be very personal with your customers and get to know
them on a more thorough basis. The list goes on and on.
If you do grow bigger, just be sure to not lose your personal
touch.
And don't grow so fast that you have more supply than there is
demand for. To be truly successful with a lawn care business,
you want to reach the point where demand for what you offer
is greater than the supply you have of it.
This is the secret to riches because it allows you to raise your
price upward to meet the demand and make bigger profits!
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AN EXTRA PIECE OF MARKETING ADVICE...
Early response incentives and expiry dates are an absolute must for your lawn business marketing offers.
When creating your expiry date, make sure to allow for a reasonable amount of time for delivery of your mail, customer readership and response. The point of the expiry is to add pressure, for immediate response.
Your lawn business early response incentives should be attached to dates inside of the expiration date. A couple of examples of early response incentives are:
If you plan on sending a decent sized direct-mail package, make sure to put at least one weekend into the time period before the first of the deadlines. This is because a lot of eople seem to hold the material to read over the weekend.
And no matter what you do, remember that you will get a little flurry of lawn service orders immediately after an expiration date.
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Tomorrow Will Be Today Sooner Than You Think
By Daniel Pepper
Every day is an opportunity in itself. The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that it will become your today sooner than you think. How so easy it is to drift through a day and just waste it. All that could have been accomplished passes us by. And one day after another and then its been a week. Then that week of accomplishing little turns into a month and then a year. Soon we may find ourselves years down the road wondering where the time went.
Everyone of us must remember that we cannot save time. Time is being spent no matter what we do. All we can control is how we spend our time.
Have you ever wondered how two people both with 24 hours in a day can have dramatically different financial outcomes? One makes $100/day and the other $10,000/day but they both had the same amount of time. Time is filled with opportunity but there must be a constant awareness to take action so that your tomorrow is more fruitful than today.
Here's a sobering thought. When life comes to an end, that's it. There is no way to get the time back. The only thing that counts is how we played the game.
We must take action. There is incredible value in every moment of our lives. These moments can seem so insignificant that they can pass by us like 2 ships passing one another on a foggy night.
Here's the great news. You and I still have all the time we need to accomplish what we were designed to do. There isn't an endless supply of time to do it so we must take proper action throughout the day constantly aware that the clock is ticking.
So as you ponder the things you want for you, your family, and your business, take every moment throughout your day to think about whether what you are doing is taking you closer or further away from your dreams.
Tomorrow will be today sooner than you think.
Until next time...
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