Dumping Customers

[bohiaa]

Man O Man, I am really starting to dump Customers.

got rid of 4 this week.

With all the free time, I have picked up 6.

Getting rid of the slow pay's. PITA's, and hard cuts.

It sure is wonderfull to send out the letter saying this is the last time we will be servicing your lawn care needs.

[M.C.L.C.]

I love it!!! We are not a HUGE company compared to a few others here in town, but we have reached the point this year that i can do the same with our P.I.T.A. customers.....with the biggest smile on my face. I personally however enjoy telling them this while on the phone. :laugh: They usually call to tell me about the one blade of grass that was missed by a crew, or a sqft of DIRT didn't get any fertilizer, and i have the joy of simply telling them to find someone else to do it then!!!!!! Cuz we are moving on :walking:

Love it!!!!!!!

[ed2hess]

You must have plenty of money, to dump customers in July:hammerhead:

[tomgolfs44]

Dumping clients in July is not always a bad thing.....Last year was my first year full time with no corporate paycheck to back me up. I had three bi-weekly clients that needed to be serviced weekly by mid-June. I called each of them mid-July basically begging to allow me to service them weekly. (explained the benefits to their turf, me, etc.) and all three said, "my grass does not need to be cut every week". One guy even went as far as to call me a liar saying that I did not double-cut his yard because his Son watched me "every-time" and said I never cut it twice. I ate it as I needed the money to feed my family and pay my bills. June '06, 45 clients.......June '07 98 WEEKLY clients.............. just sent out all three invoices thanking them for their business and wishing them luck with their new lawn service. :cool2:

[bohiaa]

I love it!!! We are not a HUGE company compared to a few others here in town, but we have reached the point this year that i can do the same with our P.I.T.A. customers.....with the biggest smile on my face. I personally however enjoy telling them this while on the phone. :laugh: They usually call to tell me about the one blade of grass that was missed by a crew, or a sqft of DIRT didn't get any fertilizer, and i have the joy of simply telling them to find someone else to do it then!!!!!! Cuz we are moving on :walking:

Love it!!!!!!!

I'm loveing it too, I had this guy call once and he said there were about 5 to 10 leaves that we mised, I told him that we would get them next time.
O NOOOO, he wouldn't have that.

he was one of the 1st ones to go. The funny thing is that they have NO ideal why were dumping them.......... DUH.

[bohiaa]

You must have plenty of money, to dump customers in July:hammerhead:

Quite the oppsite, that's why you dump.

[M.C.L.C.]

Well here lately we have had the good fortune of picking up several 10+ larger homes, nice weekly lawns thats signed up for the works...mowing, 6-step fert program, tree and shrub fert, tree and shrub spray etc etc... So with gaining those we can stand to tell the others that are pains to go mow it themselves, or go spray their own weeds. Great feeling. oh, and yeah i love hearing them ask the question " why?" i just love to give them the answer! Then i do this dance......:cool2:

[All_Toro_4ME]

Yea, its a good feeling firing a customer. I had 2 that found something to complain about everytime, didn't matter what it was. Or worse yet, add additional duties and jobs to be performed, but still expect to pay the same amount per cutting...

[bohiaa]

Well here lately we have had the good fortune of picking up several 10+ larger homes, nice weekly lawns thats signed up for the works...mowing, 6-step fert program, tree and shrub fert, tree and shrub spray etc etc... So with gaining those we can stand to tell the others that are pains to go mow it themselves, or go spray their own weeds. Great feeling. oh, and yeah i love hearing them ask the question " why?" i just love to give them the answer! Then i do this dance......:cool2:

I like that dance.........lol

yea starting out seems ya get all the crap jobs the other co's wont take.
so after ya build up it's a wonderfull feeling...


Think I'll do that dance

[topsites]

I hear you, anymore I do it even in slow times, with only a few exceptions it literally has to hurt worse to dump them than not to, I just got to that point myself... I know it ain't right, but what can you do, in 6 years customers have never even remotely proved that things would change consistently, once in a 100 or a 1,000 someone turns a new leaf, but that's just not worth it.

It's more than just the money, the ANGER I used to get out of this just isn't worth it for one because it's always that same old song and dance... A lot of those yards don't need cutting but 6-7 maybe 8-10 times the whole season and I waste trips driving by their house just to see it hasn't grown. Then it's a hard cut or cheap customer who slow pays too (if they ever pay), man that used to get me going. The wealthier ones can do it too, but they usually pay up in the end and are like "how much I owe" and me like "700" and they don't even flinch as they stroke out that check and "here you go sir!"

It's also one of the reasons why today I see a hard cut or a cheapo coming and I price the cut higher, helps make up for it for one, hope they call someone else for another. I mean they gang up on you, I swear they do, some say yes to whatever quote knowing already they won't pay... Once I got that call a few times in september talk about "Oh why my grass isn't growing at all anymore, we're done for the season thanks!" my perspective slowly changed, among many other things that clued me in to how it really is.

You must have plenty of money, to dump customers in July:hammerhead:

I tell you the secret to it all is save your money, that way even during hard times you got thousands in the bank... Nothing screams "see ya" louder and better than 5-10 or 20 thousand in the bank, absolutely nothing beats sitting at home watching tv instead, because once I figured it out, either way you're going broke so why bust a sweat over it? :laugh:

Peace out

[Grits]

Why is it that everyone boasts about dropping customers? I agree it feels good to be able to drop a PITA and know that you have plenty of business without them. But almost everyone on here kind of brags about it. IDK, just an observation.

[wooley99]

I probably picked up somebody's PITA today. I was asked for a quote late last week. I did it and left a message on her phone. The lawn was obviously already being serviced and looked good. Today she calls and accepts the quote. I didn't ask what happened to her last LCO because I can't think of a good way to do so and wouldn't count on the truth anyway. We'll see...

I can't afford to turn down much and if I didn't take the goof balls I wouldn't get any good stories to tell later.

[Vikings]

I think they brag about it because it's so hard to do.. at least for me. Then when I finally have the straw that broke the back, it's such a relief I feel almost... Heroic.:)

[YardMedic]

In the business of "reading people" with both landscaping & fire/ems. Obviously when I'm on the municipal time clock, I have to use tact & finesse along with extreme restraint NOT to say what I want to say. In my business, though, I can be perfectly candid. 2 separate times I declined work before starting. You know people are never satisfied with, "I'm sorry but I won't be able to take on this property." There's always a question of why. Ok, do I lie to them & lose credibility, or run a great risk of offending them? The same response of mine was used twice. "I'm in the business of knowing people, and my feeling is that you're going to be a difficult customer." I told the second of these customers (last year) that I could tell he'd be the one out in the yard each time I came to question every single movement I make, and that I'd end up telling him to go sit down (which I didn't feel as though I should have to do, and ultimately wouldn't by declining his work). Intuition plays a big part for me. Lost a few jobs for it, but it was worth saving a hassle.

Funny stories guys!

[zz4guy]

Ahhh I just dropped my biggest PITA rude & bitchy custome today. Feels so good I want to have another beer.

First thing she said to me after my quote of $29 is "can you do any better than $29?" I said $28 since I really wanted the income.

So today I'm mowing it for the third time and she comes up to me and says "you did such a rotten job the first time I got somebody else." I asked her why and she said I left big patches undone, which I KNOW is not true becasue I check over each lawn before I leave, especially the first time.

So she was basically price shopping and found some complete moron to mow it for $25 probably. In reality it is a $30-$35 lawn around here.

I told her she could have at least told me before I drove all the way over and she said she didnt know I was coming. *****. I was a little mad but on the other hand happy happy happy to drop that account!!

[SethFrickey]

I Once Had An Old Lady And She Was Never Happy So Told Her I Was Going Up $10.00 And She Told Me She Would Find Somebody Else ! I Went From 20 To 30 And Boy Was I Happy

[Vikings]

Ahhh I just dropped my biggest PITA rude & bitchy custome today. Feels so good I want to have another beer.

First thing she said to me after my quote of $29 is "can you do any better than $29?" I said $28 since I really wanted the income.

So today I'm mowing it for the third time and she comes up to me and says "you did such a rotten job the first time I got somebody else." I asked her why and she said I left big patches undone, which I KNOW is not true becasue I check over each lawn before I leave, especially the first time.

So she was basically price shopping and found some complete moron to mow it for $25 probably. In reality it is a $30-$35 lawn around here.

I told her she could have at least told me before I drove all the way over and she said she didnt know I was coming. *****. I was a little mad but on the other hand happy happy happy to drop that account!!
She dropped YOU! There's a difference.

[zz4guy]

She dropped YOU! There's a difference.

You're right. But I've never been so happy to be dumped by one of my customers before! It felt great!

[kandklandscape]

mclc what a wonderful intro on your website, love to have something like that on ours, who did this for you

[ed2hess]

Why is it that everyone boasts about dropping customers? I agree it feels good to be able to drop a PITA and know that you have plenty of business without them. But almost everyone on here kind of brags about it. IDK, just an observation.

I don't get that part either.....sorta like topsite says....look at me I got plenty of money I can get rid of difficult customers. We ain't dropping anybody...but we bid properly.

[echeandia]

Why is it that everyone boasts about dropping customers?

I don't think it is bragging about being able to drop a customer. It's more about the relief people sense now that they don't have to deal with a problem anymore.

[TNT LawnCare Inc.]

We have never dropped anyone and i dont plan to. Yes we have plenty of business and plenty of money. All i'll say is be careful dropping customers the same word of mouth will Travel. We have a few complainers to,but it goes in my one ear and out the other. I do agree about the none paying customers but thats a no brainer. I still cant figure out why some of you wont do bi-weekly customers.

[M.C.L.C.]

hey kandklandscape, his name is tyler, there is a link to his site from at the bottom of our website. Thanx for the compliments

[Woody82986]

I have an older guy that I mowed for up until today. Since the beginning of the season I have tried to get him to go weekly but he just wouldn't do it. I have it priced well for a bi weekly so it isn't the money that is upsetting me, its the fact that no matter what I do, his lawn always looks horrible after I cut and I am tired of my business being associated with this quality of work. He was late paying in April for March, May for April, June for May and he still hasn't sent payment for June. I finally sent the notice today that I will no longer be able to service his lawn. I justified it by stating that I still have not received payment for last month and he has a history of late payment and he refuses to go weekly even with all the rain we have been getting. I hate to have to let clients go. He is a nice man, but he won't listen to reason and even when I call him regarding payment, he always says its in the mail but it always comes almost a week later. It really gets me down when I have to do things like this, but in the end I have to do what is best for myself and my business.

[YardMedic]

I have an older guy that I mowed for up until today. Since the beginning of the season I have tried to get him to go weekly but he just wouldn't do it. I have it priced well for a bi weekly so it isn't the money that is upsetting me, its the fact that no matter what I do, his lawn always looks horrible after I cut and I am tired of my business being associated with this quality of work. He was late paying in April for March, May for April, June for May and he still hasn't sent payment for June. I finally sent the notice today that I will no longer be able to service his lawn. I justified it by stating that I still have not received payment for last month and he has a history of late payment and he refuses to go weekly even with all the rain we have been getting. I hate to have to let clients go. He is a nice man, but he won't listen to reason and even when I call him regarding payment, he always says its in the mail but it always comes almost a week later. It really gets me down when I have to do things like this, but in the end I have to do what is best for myself and my business.

It's amazing that Joe Homeowner thinks he knows enough to dictate how we do our work! I try the soft counselling & education as to how lawn work goes, and that cutting every 2 weeks is gonna beat on my equipment (like plowing a foot of snow all at once), and I'll have to mow twice as long to get a good result, so instead what the lawn needs for better overall health is to be cut twice as often (ie: weekly) for the same price as it would have cost them for every 2 weeks. When they need further wake up call, I simply say "There's only 1 way for me to do the work, and that's the right way. This is what the right way is..."

[bohiaa]

I have an older guy that I mowed for up until today. Since the beginning of the season I have tried to get him to go weekly but he just wouldn't do it. I have it priced well for a bi weekly so it isn't the money that is upsetting me, its the fact that no matter what I do, his lawn always looks horrible after I cut and I am tired of my business being associated with this quality of work. He was late paying in April for March, May for April, June for May and he still hasn't sent payment for June. I finally sent the notice today that I will no longer be able to service his lawn. I justified it by stating that I still have not received payment for last month and he has a history of late payment and he refuses to go weekly even with all the rain we have been getting. I hate to have to let clients go. He is a nice man, but he won't listen to reason and even when I call him regarding payment, he always says its in the mail but it always comes almost a week later. It really gets me down when I have to do things like this, but in the end I have to do what is best for myself and my business.


Very niclely stated.....

this is one of my points, some of the bi weeklys that dont care, they dont realize the work being preformed is a direct reflection on the company.

it always amazed me that people make the decissions for themselfs and dont consider the company