JimLewis
LawnSite Fanatic
- Location
- Beaverton, OR
First off, I want to say I don't want this to be a thread for Bashing TGCL. Arguably, there are lots of things we could criticize them for. And those threads already exist. But I am specifically looking for a discussion on what positive things TGCL does that we can and should learn from.
Obviously, they're the biggest and most successful in our industry - financially speaking anyway. As a for-profit company, they are probably a wonderful example in a lot of ways as to how to make good profit. So what are some of the ways we can learn from them?
I don't have any insights into the way their company is run or to what makes them so successful. I wish I did. If anyone reading this HAS worked for TGCL for a long enough period of time to gain some good insights, please share.
But even without knowing about the inner workings of the company, I think there are certain things we can learn from them just at face value. Below are some of the things that stand out to me that seem to be worth learning from. I'm interested in your feedback too!
* A good solid name that people remember.
* Uniformity. Every truck, employee, estimate, etc. looks very similar. You can instantly recognize them.
* Duplication. They seem to be experts at it.
* Getting full $ out of each customer. Now this is a sticky point with a lot of people because we, as business owners, don't like the idea of being pushy. We think, perhaps correctly, that customers will be offended by us constantly bugging them with suggestive selling techniques. And so maybe we shouldn't go quite THAT far, as to be annoying. But on the other hand, it's often said that one of the biggest flaws of most companies is that they don't advantage of their existing customers enough. I know our company is often guilty of this.
* Professionalism. From the trucks they drive to the estimate forms they give out to the way they handle billing. Everything about them is run professionally. They don't driver beaters. They don't knock on your door if your payment is late. They don't use cheap estimates printed from their home computer. Now, I am not saying that we can all do all of this right now. But maybe these are things to strive for.
Those are just a few things off the top of my head. I'd love to hear more. Surely, there are some more things we can learn from this Billion-dollar-a-year company.
Obviously, they're the biggest and most successful in our industry - financially speaking anyway. As a for-profit company, they are probably a wonderful example in a lot of ways as to how to make good profit. So what are some of the ways we can learn from them?
I don't have any insights into the way their company is run or to what makes them so successful. I wish I did. If anyone reading this HAS worked for TGCL for a long enough period of time to gain some good insights, please share.
But even without knowing about the inner workings of the company, I think there are certain things we can learn from them just at face value. Below are some of the things that stand out to me that seem to be worth learning from. I'm interested in your feedback too!
* A good solid name that people remember.
* Uniformity. Every truck, employee, estimate, etc. looks very similar. You can instantly recognize them.
* Duplication. They seem to be experts at it.
* Getting full $ out of each customer. Now this is a sticky point with a lot of people because we, as business owners, don't like the idea of being pushy. We think, perhaps correctly, that customers will be offended by us constantly bugging them with suggestive selling techniques. And so maybe we shouldn't go quite THAT far, as to be annoying. But on the other hand, it's often said that one of the biggest flaws of most companies is that they don't advantage of their existing customers enough. I know our company is often guilty of this.
* Professionalism. From the trucks they drive to the estimate forms they give out to the way they handle billing. Everything about them is run professionally. They don't driver beaters. They don't knock on your door if your payment is late. They don't use cheap estimates printed from their home computer. Now, I am not saying that we can all do all of this right now. But maybe these are things to strive for.
Those are just a few things off the top of my head. I'd love to hear more. Surely, there are some more things we can learn from this Billion-dollar-a-year company.
