What makes you better than......

[George777]

What makes your company stand out from the rest in your area? Also why should a customer select your company over the others?

Example: We all know that Eric is the stripe master and so that is one way he stands out from the rest.
I have herd the term cut, blow, and go. If you have 10 -14 customers per day how can you not cut, blow, and go.

As for my partner and I we found out that we were moving to fast and not doing as good of a job as we should. After realizing this we slowed down and now when we leave the job site everything is done right. Granted I've only been in this business for 6 months. I understand that speed will come with time.

I'm sure every company out there thinks they are the best, but what is the best? As far as I'm concerned if my customer is happy than I'm happy. We do something I call a "once over", that is when after we are done we walk around the property to ensure it looks good.

I would be interested in hearing from ya'll because I know we all think we are the best. A long time ago I learned to do your best and compare yourself with no one.

[kris]

I beleive we still have alot to learn in the maintenance area....
We also do "a once over".. we are dependable,curtious,liecenced,insured,uniformed....been around for a long time...do we do the best work? I don't know... we have some sites that just aren't interested in the "disney look"... we are in and out...we do what they pay for...they are sites I would rather not have our trucks seen at...other sites I am proud to be seen there and we give them the total service that they pay for. I suppose I would rather just do the ones that I am proud to be seen at but that is not the case. Someday??? maybe...but those quick in and out commercial sites pay ok.

[Evan528]

"cut, mow and blow" landscaper refers to one that only "mows the lawn as appoesed to providing full services for the customer. I am no longer taking accounts that arent full service. When you only mow a property you have zero control over the look of the landscaping, weeds, shrubs, ect. A property of yours with poor beds and such gives you a bad name whether you maitain them or not, passer byers dont know that.

[George777]

Evan528, nice response for some reason the lawns I fert look better then the ones who have an outside company doing it. Is it possible since they don't maintain it that they don't care? Or maybe they water down the product so it will stretch farther? I do not know. I must say I'm not impressed with the companies in my area that only spray and fert.
That Lesco fert I use even seen to bring out a deeper green.

[kris]

I find this post very interesting and would like to know what other companys do...perhaps I should get a truck with no lettering to do those mow and blow accounts????... sure not ready to give them up.

[Fine Lines Lawn]

Any company that practices quality and attention to detail will stand out above the rest. Quality service is not a talent, but an attitude. Business ownership sets the tone for this attitude and spreads it throughout the organization.

[thelawnguy]

I make a good living doing mow and go accounts. Some folks just wont (or cant) mow but like to tend to other aspects of the landscaping and are willing to pay for the service.

I also do pretty good at my full service accounts.

My service area consists of older neighborhoods with mature landscaping. A 40 year old subdivision is considered new housing developments.

Give the customer what they want. Other homeowners talk about your finished operations less than your egos will be willing to admit.

[lawnboy82]

i know i am not better than my competition. i may be at about the same level as them in certain areas, better in others, worse in others. depends what you are talking about. maintenance i am below, landscaping i am at their level, sometimes above. and tree work i am at their level. the thing that makes me stand out though i think is that i know my customers on a personal basis. i never really just send out bills. usually i go and see the person with the bill. or i stop by to pay visits just to say hello, or make sure that everything is alright at the property. so i believe that that is what sets me apart, is my public relations. not to say that i havent been fired for having to be chased after, however the people still really like me. and when asked who does their landscaping it is: matt, not HL tree... even my best customers dont know the company name, they know my name.

[lawnman_scott]

What makes me better? Not a thing. I do lots of mow and go, may not look as nice, but they still pay me. Who makes a better burger, Mcdonalds or Billybobs burger hut? But who makes more money? Money motivates me, not looking at a lawn and saying wow isnt that a great job.

[Lawn DOG]

You only get one chance to make a first impression! If you have long hair and tatoos what image do you think that reflects on your company? Do you allow your employees to smoke on the job site? Are they uniformed? Do they act respectfully around your clients? Do they cuss? Do they whistle or stare at women? Do they take inventory of your clients belongings? These are just some of the things that I will not tolerate in my company. This is also why I have cornered the market of the rich in my area.
One more rule I thought I would share we do not take care of any trailor parks. No exceptions. In my area we leave these to the bottom feeders.
REPUTATION IS EVERYTHING!

[awm]

I PRETTY MUCH DO THINGS THE WAY I WANT.DONT TRY TO BE BETTER OR
WORSE THAN.I DO HAVE HIGH WORK STANDARDS WHICH I MEET .
THATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ME AND A HIRED HAND.I WORK TO
MY OWN STANDARDS.NOT BRAGGING,JUST THE WAY I WANT IT.
LATER TM

[Toroguy]

The nice thing about being solo is I do the work, I communicate with the customer, I know all the customers names and family members, pets, recent illnesses, etc. I have lost one account in four years to quality, the owner missapplied fertilzer and I was expected to mow 10" grass every week for the original quote.

And like most of the people on this forum I try to continuously improve my work, equipment, and business.

There are people in the biz who are not doing quality work, or are not reliable. Those last two should be enough to set you apart and ahead.

And if the competitors havnt done a search on the web, they may not know about lawnsite. I truly believe this site has shaved two years off my learning curve.

[1MajorTom]

I think we stand out for our dependability. I don't know how many times we get phone calls from people who are looking for a lawn service that is dependable. It is unbelievable how many customers we pick up because their former service just never showed up on a timely basis! We are consistently told that we are much higher priced than anyone that they previously had. We tell them that they are paying for a fully insured legitimate business and they will be paying for dependability.

Our first customer we got called up on the phone and said, "Gary don't cut no grass no more. I want my grass cut every Thursday. Can you do it?" We've been doing it ever since, and in three years we have only missed ONE Thursday. Thursday evening he calls up and was concerned that maybe one of us got injured because we hadn't shown up. We explained why we weren't there, and got there the next day to cut his grass. Never missed another Thursday since.

I know in a previous thread people were coming out and saying they aren't dependable. In our area, because we are dependable, that's how we stand out. One thing is certain. People want their grass cut.

Yep, we have mow and go's. But when we leave them, they still are looking nice. A good clean cut, trimmed, and sidewalks blowed off.
We can't help it the area we live in. Some of our accounts just don't care about their hedges, they don't care if their lawn is lush and green, they aren't interested in an aeration. But so what? They still need their grass cut, and I know we do a good job.

When we can sell an aeration we will. If we can do some hedges we will. We also have some good accounts where we can leave a decent stripe on the grass.

I do agree with Lawn God though. No trailer parks for us. Not interested in that type of work.

[Davis TLC]

Dependable, reliable, caring. I treat every lawn better than I do my own, mine is always the last to be cut usually on Sunday afternoons. I take the time to talk to the customer to see if they have any concerns or to point out any problems I see developing, which really sets me apart from a lot of LCO's here which have mostly Hipanics working for them. NO, I'm not bashing Hispanics, but the customer wants someone they can voice a concern to on the job, not someone they have to call at the office who may show up in a couple days or not at all. I take the time to make the lawn look its best. New customers are pleased with my work and comment that their lawns have never looked so good. Long time customers are still with me for the same reasons. I don't fly off the trailer and fly over the lawn leaving half the grass uncut, or clumped up, or blow grass into the flower beds. I take the time to do the job right, like the customer expects.

[David Gretzmier]

we are the only company offering lawns, chemical, beds, irrigation and installation/construction in our area. we install and maintain all and keep very high standards. we make more per customer, don't have to have as many, don't have to train employees to FIND as many. the biggest selling point: customers only call us, only get one bill to pay. many employees are cross trained to be able to move in different ares, mowing guys help installation in winter, chemical helps irrigation in hot unsprayable times, etc. Dave g

[joshua]

geogre, great point, i have been saying that to myself for the longest time, about outside companies that fert. my properties. they are not at the lawn every 5 days like i am they don't know what it needs and when it needs it, they only geuss and bring what their boss says to bring and they put it on.

lawnboy, i know what you mean by customer not even knowing my company name. they just know me as josh, and i always stop at the door and say hi to them even if i bill them at the end of the month. you have to get to know your customers and treat them as people not customers who need your service.

major tom said it all, almost all of my accounts are mow and gos, but they are money, and they pay very well. and when i can sell them a extra i'm happy about, nomatter if its just edging the drive or hedges. but these are the people who give me 2-4 refeals each year, each customer.

ok about quality i feel i am mowing every lawn very good, and if i wasn't people wouldn't stare at the strips i leave as i am cutting the place, granted i know other guys stripe just as good as me and most guy stripe better, but i have yet to see it in my area, and thats no lie,on landscaping i'm level with some of lanscapers, but nowhere as good as the big only landscaping companies.

what sets me apart from the rest of the mowing compaies in my area is that i care about how the lawn looks after i cut and between the time i cut it, if i go yb account i cut yesturday and they had a branch comedown(big branch) you can bet i'm gunna stop and get it out the yard so it doesn't take away from how the lawn looks. if i can see a lump or 2 in the lawn when i think i'm done i'll put a 2nd cut into it instead of grabbing the blower and blowing them out.

[Island Lawn]

Dependable, quality work, licensed, insured, educated, and experienced!

I make special effort to regularly communicate with my customers.
I sometimes use this opportunity to sell additional services.

AND I SPEAK ENGLISH!

[NateinAtl]

I would say the main things that need to be considered are:

quality work without cutting corners
proactive communication with the customer
professionalism. Uniforms, nicely printed invoices, bid sheets, etc.

When I started doing lawn maintenance the first question I had for friends and family members that have a company doing their lawn was why they used one company over another. Some of them answered price, but most answered that they need good communication with the company. If you know you can't get to a lawn on it's normal day, they want you to call and tell them rather than them call you and you explain why you didn;t show up. Things like that will help you keep customers. If you get a customer that just fired another company, ask what they are looking for prior to you offering a bid. I wouldn't specifically ask what the previous company did to get fired, but I would try to lead the customer in that direction.

One last thing you can do to seperate you from other comapnies is to find a niche. Try to find something that you do that other companies don't offer, or find something that you do much better than other companies. Eric's striping is a good example. Maybe you can trim boxwoods in the shape of elephants, or you can build great stone ponds.

Trying to differentiate yourself in the landscaping field is hard. You may have to use your companies name to differentiate yourself.

[dmk395]

Being a perfectionist always helps.

[John from OH]

I have to say its my employees. They are dependable, courteous, and professional on the job. For the most part, we all offer basically the same services, with the same equipment, the same brochures, whether we admit it or not. Employees make or break you.