[Bill Schwab]

I have been dangling this thread in my head for a few days, thinking of all the wonderful things I learned this year. The biggest problem was where the heck do ya start? So, here are a few things that really stuck out over all the stuff we gleaned this year.

Since we are only in our third year in busines here, the new area still poses some challenges.

Among the top of my list from this forum, was, from Paul, that SRW walls use thier weight to help hold the slope they are installed on. After having been to many SRW forums, either I missed that tidbit, or, the talk went right into the crux of the topic at hand and did not discuss the basics of an SRW.

Second, from this forum, was again, Paul, and Pelican, that slump in concrete was how wet, or dry the load is. I've poured alot this year, and heard the term, and thought it mean't something totally different. Our Keystone walls, for example, are cast with a zero slump. Sidewalks and drives are poured usually at a three slump.
Technology has it's place. We are gradually getting into lazer grading instrumentation. Pauls experience was invaluable reading old posts and moving slowly before dropping big bucks.

JW's plant of the week is a true learning experience, even though I don't post much, I kind of play the game in my head.

From equipment seminars, it was learning about the capabilities of the rubber tracked loaders fairly new to our markets. Since properties are getting smaller, the equipment needs to get smaller.

From life, I learned that people are, for the most part, good with good intentions, but, there are tell tale signs of when someone is not befitting of your operations. I also learned more about various cultures, and personality types, what they are most likely to buy or not buy in the markets we operate. I have no problem identifying who is most likely to take time and not buy services vs invest in our company by choosing our services.

With my time at a premium, this is crucial to optimize sales and operations time. For example, there are three basic speech patterns types all people have. They can have one, or all of each type, in a range of percentages. Kinesthetic speech types are more outgoing, friendly, more apt to purchase what we have to sell. Visual types are very precise, anal, typically price shoppers who, may buy, but less likely that others. Visuals are also those who, will without fail, be breathing down your neck the whole length of the job. People who work out of home, or older people can fall right into this catagory without too much effort.
Audial speech types are usually do it yourself people, (thrifty)who, think nothing of taking mass quantities of your time (if you let them) and either do a job themselves, or, find a guy at the street corner after gleaning every bit of knowledge they can from you.
People from different cultures, foreign born, are most likely to ask 100% or more questions before commiting to a sale, if they commit at all. Bottom line pricing is also a trait. Depending on area of origin, they may continue calling and asking away, without ever having a commitment to our company.

Identifying this type of behavior early on is essential to optimizing our time. I learned that, when I push for a commitment to go any farther, (I'm talking dollars and cents commitment here) those types of people will move on. If I can sense this type of behavior by the questions asked on the phone interview, asking for a small fee ($250.00 or sometimes less depending on the nature of the work interview) for our time, will end much wasted time before it happens. It also presents a commitment before the job starts. 99% of the time, if someone pays a consultaion fee, knowing that it will be taken off the cost of the work that will commence, the job is usually ours to loose. If we do loose it, our time was compensated for.

I also learned that on any given day, we are one step out of bancruptcy, and one job away from financial freedom.

There are a few people who, if you allow them to, will cheat others. I learned if this happens that it is 99% thier fault, and 1& our fault. It is our fault for letting it happen. At any one time, we as business owners have the right to stop the job, and ask for payment to date. We had this occur in January and have played catch up all year. I'm proud to say, after this Christmas, that will be behind us.

I learned, that it is far better to make truck payments, than have trucks paid off, and have your head under the hood often. It took a while to get to this position, having a love for mechanical things, and, the finances just were not there. Once they were, and we got out of the truck repair business, the landscape business took off and flew.

How many have you helped along the way, and from that help, has it come back to you 10 fold? For us, I can't emphisize this enough. When you give, you gain. For us, the more time we got off the target of me, or ours, and got into more of a servanthood leadership, the whole world unfolded before us.

I will remember a few other things after I send this post I'm sure. So, how about your list? We all have our core knowledge, but, what did you learn this year that really stands out, or enhanced your core knowledge?

[Paul]

Thanks for the compliments, Just goes to show that us retired people can still remember a few things from the past...........

This was one reason the forum is around and hopefully will help more here and in the future.
















Oh and the bill is in the mail

[VoodooChile]

The first thing that comes to my mind is: Talk to everybody.

Makes life and the bottom line much richer, cause your next friend and/or client is frequently found in surprising disguises and places.

[Hamons]

I just wrote my monthly article in my column that is published in a local gardenig magazine on this very subject -- what did my customers teach me about life.

Good to take time to refelct

[AZTLANLC]

I did learn a lot of good thing this pas season but maybe one of the most valuables was to enjoy life
I was up to the point that I was still worry about my business even after getting home, now my business line has an strictly schedule, wife doesn't take calls after 6:00 pm, try not to work Saturdays and strictly no more work Sundays.

[cutntrim]

I'm not the type to wax philisophically, but each year I learn a little more about how to hopefully improve my business,

Leasing new trucks, rather than running older ones, has also been a pleasant surprise for me also.

Projecting confidence in my abilities during meetings with potential customers is contagious. If I'm confident, then they're confident in me.

Allowing employees more freedom to make mistakes, and learn from them is something I'm constantly struggling with, as I naturally tend to micromanage everything.

Negotiating, rather than dictating terms is another area I'm working on. With customers and employees. I have to resist the "my way or the highway" urge that in the past I've many times given into.

That's about all I can think of right now.

Oh, and being a Detroit Lions fans is a very painful experience, year-after-year-after-year-after...

[prapoza]

I learned, again, to trust my gut feeling on prospects. Seems like every few years I ignore my gut feeling on a prospect and that prospect becomes a nightmare client.
This time of year I'm doing a lot of financial stuff, reports etc... We did some kind of service for 254 clients this year. The lowest was $37 for a lawn app the highest was landscape construction $66K. 114 of them did $500.00 or less contributing less than 1/2% to our gross for the year. Time to up-sell or kindly let'em go.
Learned lots of other stuff too, can't think of it just now.

One very important lesson was that their is a great industry forum with little if any BS. Thanks guys! Happy Holidays.

[Stonehenge]

Cut'n - I'm a Detroit fan as well - today's loss was pretty painful.

I learned some important lessons this year, as I do every year. I think the most important and most painful lesson I learned this year is to not relax any quality or quantity standards in the name of employee training. I was more of a hard guy 5 years ago when directing employees, and thought that last year and this, I would ease off, to allow employees some time to learn and grow. I think that in doing that I got soft over the last couple years, and that softness has trickled down.

The result of that softness is slow work, allowing the guys to take 30 minutes to make a decision on a 25 minute task, etc, and the bottom line was hurt because of it. I realize I need to take more of a Bill Parcels (NFL football coach for those not in the USA) approach of "win now", no matter what you have for a team.

I also learned that my weaknesses tend to be in the book keeping end of things, and that I need to spend more time getting a firmer handle on that this off-season. That analysis has already begun.

When I started this site I thought there were about 2 dozen people on the web in our industry that were really sharp people that I could learn from. I've learned that there are quite a few more, and I feel pretty lucky to have them as members here.

[justgardens]

1.I've learned to trust my gut instincts.
2. I've learned to reach my goals I must have a reasonable plan. am going to reach ALL my goals I set for the next season. I didn't get that dump trailer this year because I goofed off on other things. My husband has helped set up a plan for my business & purchases and I am sticking to it. ( Don't all of you wish you slept with your banker?)
3.I've learned I don't want every job.
4. I've learned great customer service gets harder the bigger you become. I keep learning how to become better at it.
5. I've learned that there are other business owners just like me out there on this thread that can offer ideas and support when I don't learn very well.

[jwholden]

Here are some of the things I (re-)learned this year.

1) Trust your gut about clients. If something doesn’t seem ‘right’ it probably isn’t. Things that haven’t seemed right this year include prospects that talk to many other contractors before me or are too busy to meet. Referrals from contractors in my trade tend to be a waste of time (They like to send me the chaff). I would like to note that these referrals are what got me started in the business, beggars can't be choosers.

2) Charge what you are worth. Know what it costs to operate your company and make sure you are making money on EVERY job EVERY day. Never take a job for the sake of having something to do, use ‘free time’ time to pursue more lucrative work. I raised my rates this year, in addition to other changes, and am happy to say I had my best year in the eleven I’ve been in business. I am now left with the thought, “Why didn’t I do that sooner?”

3) Don’t give away ideas without getting compensated for it. Charge for your designs! You must be compensated for your education and/or ‘hands on’ experience. The job may seem easy to you, but it isn’t for someone who doesn’t do it daily.

4) Take care of existing customers before seeking new ones. When I started in business I was so eager to find new customers that I would ‘ignore’ or ‘put off’ calls for work from existing customers. That is plain stupid. One hundred phone calls from perspective clients are great, but I am going return all calls from current customers first.

5) Know your strengths. We all have certain types of work we do well/profitably and others we don’t. Don’t spend your time on a job with mediocre profits while passing up a bread and butter job.

6) Trust your employees. If you can’t trust them they shouldn’t be employees and find replacements. Never let a ‘bad apple’ stay on because you need bodies. I’d rather work a long day with a good crew than a short day with a poor one.

7) Find a way to separate work form your personal life. You must be able to turn off/turn down your brain about work when you are with family or friends. I still have a long way to go to master this art.

8) Learn to recognize spending habits, interests, and personalities of people in varying occupations and ethnic backgrounds. Know which to avoid and which to embrace.

9) Just because you are detail oriented doesn’t mean your client is. Be ready to supply details of how you will install the walk or plant the landscape, but understand that 90 % of your clients don’t need this level of detail. They trust/depend on you to do it right. I’m still working on letting go of the details when talking to clients and focusing on the big picture.

10) Find contractors in related trades who you TRUST and who do GREAT work and find them work. Consider arborists, irrigation installers, lawn maintenance specialists, etc. If you give out their name they will reciprocate by giving out yours. These have become my best leads. Make sure whomever’s name you give out doesn’t compete with your services in any way.

11) Don’t get in the habit of charging less for family and friends. Knock off a certain friendly percent for them if you must. If you do not set the tone for family and friends you will end up working for free seven days a week. Nothing ruins Christmas Day more than a family member busting your stones over when you are going to install their front walk or come to thier house to 'take a look' at the landscape. Jeff hit it on the nose when he said he doesn’t work for friends and family.

12) Remember the 80/20 Rule. Eighty percent of your profits come from twenty percent of your customers. Aim for the top twenty percent and you will be better off in the long run. This year I got better (still a way to go) at saying no to undesirable/unprofitable jobs and it had a positive effect on my bottom line.

13) Never insult a customer. It seems obvious, but as comfortable as you get with your clients never let your guard down and say something you may regret. You may have said it as a joke, but we all have a different sense of humor. Furthermore, write down the name of the wife, dog, son, daughter etc. as soon as possible once you hear it. Review these names BEFORE your next meeting and BEFORE you make a call to schedule an appointment. I could have saved myself much embarrassment if I followed this one more often.

14) Time spent at GTX is NOT a waste of time, no matter what your wife/husband or girlfriend/boyfriend says. This forum is like cliff notes on being a contractor, you get the big picture without wasting your time on filler material.

15) It is NEVER going to be easy, you may as well ENJOY the ride.

I am a one owner two employee company that specializes in residential design/install. Please read my ‘lessons’ with this in mind.

[BJR]

I learn't to deligate more so I could have more time in the office during the day and spend the nights with my family.

I also learnt that if you screen your enquiries and increase your prices by 20% you don't loose any more quotes than you did before.

Lifes too short to work for nothing. Don't undervalue yourself.

[agla]

Always open the envelope and look at the tickets even if your wife said she checked them out, or you might have four tickets to opening night of NFL (Patriots-Colts Sept. 9) tacked up on your bulletin board in December and $260 less dollars in your account.

[justgardens]

Agla- Ouch!

[site]

Once you have achieved success you can't just sit back. You need to continue to work just as hard as ever to maintain that success.
Dump bad clients, bad employees, and bad machines as quickly as possible. Replace them with fresh- and hopefully better versions.
Find your sweet spot where you make profits, and stay there.
The seven P's are as true as ever- Prior proper planning prevents piss poor performance.

[justgardens]

I like those 7 P's.