mistakes this season?

[K.Carothers]

Now that the season is over, what did or didn't you do that you are going to change next year? I can say that I tried to grow way to fast. This was my second season and I tried to get as many customers as possible. All I was looking at was the$$$. I didn't have any problem building my cutting customer base to 67 lawns but the work load was unmanageable. I didn't take in consideration that these customers needed other work done. I promised the world"yes Mr. Jones we can trim up ALL your hedges....next week" Next week comes, we are backed up, Pull up to Mr.Jones(praying he is not home), he is and I do the old I'll be back in 2-3 days. 7 days later we pull up to Mr. Jones backed up once again and so on...... I have to be honest and say I did this more than once. I didn't intentionally mean to put these customers off I just didn't manage my business the way I should have and I do know better than this. Next year I am concentrating on less customers and more services to these customers allowing me to build a solid foundation instead of "mass customers" that you can't give 100%

[J Hisch]

If you are going to be full service I have found it helpful to have a crew to hedge, mulch, annuals, sprinkler maint, and lawn Care apps. I know the feeling..

[TURF DOCTOR]

Stay focused every second, stay driven, work smart.

[Expert Lawns]

The one thing I want to do differently next is put more time and money into advertising. I rely pretty much on beginning of the year flyers. After that it's pretty much word-of-mouth, referrals, and my truck lettering to bring in more customers.

[rodfather]

Mistake I made? Hmmm, not selling out and semi-retiring when I had the chance...

[tiedeman]

I have made the mistake too of getting too big too fast before. That was when I had to hire my first employee. Not fun at all. Pace yourself and know your limits that you can provide to customers in the amount of customers and the quality of service

[YardPro]

do a little advertiving is select areas. we have done none in the last 6 years

[Expert Lawns]

Originally Posted by Turf Docter

Stay focused every second, stay driven, work smart.

very good advice

yardpro, when i advertise, i usually have a target area. most of the time it is in/near neighborhoods that i already have a few accounts in. i like a tight route. this is why i'm not in the yellow pages nor do i do newspaper ads. it's too unpredictible

[K.Carothers]

Originally Posted by YardPro

do a little advertiving is select areas. we have done none in the last 6 years

YardPro, not advertising in 6 years and still in business means you are doing some good work. Are you planning on developing another crew next season or has you business slowed down and need fresh accounts?

[YardPro]

we do NO advertising.
our yellow page listing is only what you get for free with the commercial phone line.

we have a few areas that we are trying to get into. but they are about a 15 min ride ( a long way out for us).
lots of really nice homes with year around residents.