Much of being successful in business has to do with doing the little things very well. However, many of the little things the successful green industry professional needs to do are very simple and often overlooked. We tend to gravitate towards those “magical silver bullets” that will solve everything. The truth is: there are no “magical silver bullets.” Success in our industry, in my experience, comes from an unrelenting focus on the consistent application of a few tactics. So, here are three Do This, Not That ideas:
1. Screen every prospect that calls your office; don’t just run out and see them without having a conversation on the phone first. For years, I would take a lead, not ask any questions and just run out of the office to meet someone, anyone. After many “dead runs” I changed my approach. You have to spend our time with prospects that fit the profile of your “ideal client.” So, here’s what you do going forward. Every prospect that calls you gets asked questions that help you make sure they are someone who might be a good fit for your services. Questions like, “Where did you hear about us?”, “What is your budget?”, “When do you need this work done?” and, “Have you worked with a professional landscaper in the past?” all will help you see if they are a fit. So, screen prospects; don’t just go see everyone and anyone and hope they will hire you.
2. Call your existing clients to make certain you have done everything you possibly can for them before you go marketing to new clients. Look, marketing is an essential part to building a business. No firm can grow without creating awareness in the marketplace. However, the mere notion that sending out postcards or putting an ad in an upscale magazine will help you grow is silly. A lot more goes into it. So, start by making sure all your clients are shown what’s possible for their properties. Your job, as a professional, is to show them what’s possible. If they’ve purchased from you once, there’s a great chance they will buy from you again. It’s a lot easier to sell a lighting system to a client who has already allowed you to install some landscaping than to sell a lighting system to someone responding to one of your postcards.
3. Follow up with each client that does business with you via a survey or phone call. Again, a lot of us are going so fast, we end up taking our clients for granted, and not following up with clients who just completed transactions with you is a big mistake. We get busy though and don’t slow down long enough to realize the importance of doing this. In fact, many of us, rather than thanking an existing client are on to talking with a new prospect that hasn’t done anything with you yet. I’ve done it and if it weren’t for the process we’ve put in place to survey our clients that is followed automatically by our office, I’d probably not get it done either! (Just being honest.) So, are you asking your clients if they’re happy?
All of the above are simple things we need to follow to make our businesses work.