Last time we checked in: To get La Cholla Landscaping to $1 million, Gabe Lobato was going to have to pursue more commercial maintenance, which meant visiting potential customers and pitching his company’s services. Since that is not a strength of Lobato's, he was going to have his brother serve in that role for the Tucson, Arizona-based company.
But after a few weeks, a combination of the work/family dynamic, holes in the process and not having enough will to stay with the process, the two had to part ways. Now, that leaves Lobato with a hole to fill because he doesn’t want to do it himself. The change also has him questioning whether he wants to pursue more commercial maintenance work at all.
“I felt like I was set up to pursue something that I’ve never done,” he says. “It’s an extremely hard, discouraging task and does nothing to motivate me or make me feel good.”
Latest updates: While Ed Laflamme and Bill Arman are major proponents of commercial maintenance work to grow the bottom line, Lobato is challenging that. Lobato admits he has a fear of rejection and going from property to property to pitch his company isn’t a strength or something he wants to do.
“I would definitely recognize it as a flaw in my character,” he says. “I just don’t know how you overcome that.”
But before scrapping the idea of more commercial work, he is turning to technology.
He’s working with software that calls commercial property managers and attempts to schedule appointments with potential customers. He’s told it will take about three months to see a difference.
“My hope is that we’re not going to have to do a cold door-to-door system. If we had to do a cold door-to-door system, I’m not sure we’re going to be able to stick it out.”
Along with the fear of rejection, Lobato also questions if the company has the financial means it takes to pursue commercial work, and he would rather learn how to do residential better, which, if successful, may fuel him to pursue more commercial.
“I’m just really conservative,” he says. “I’ve never had to take out a loan for anything but cars or property.”
Playing it safe has worked for Lobato, so he has to really figure out if he wants to get outside of his comfort zone and be more risk-averse. Lobato did win a commercial job at good margins, but Lobato already had a relationship with that person, so it didn’t necessitate any selling on his part aside from putting in a bid.
That win didn’t result in a confidence boost for Lobato, and the thought of all that goes into managing a commercial project is a little overwhelming.
“It’s the equivalent of 10 monthly jobs,” he says. So, for now, he’ll test out the software.
“If that doesn’t work I have no idea what would become of our pursuit of commercial contracts,” he says.