Mow and Blow?

Credit: Bill Gillespie

I live a few miles from downtown. My “city folk” pals say, “you’re outside of the city limits. You’re in the county.”

That’s true. I live in the county. The lots are bigger. The city police don’t serve our neighborhood. Maybe that’s a good thing. Her Ladyship likes her music loud. I’m sorry. I digress.

Our place is right at three acres. It was heavily landscaped by the previous owners. There is something in bloom every single day. I can’t imagine what they spent getting this place planted.

The grounds aren’t as lush as they were when we moved in (18 years ago) but they’re still spectacular. Passing cars slow down as do lawn service trucks. You can’t drive by without noticing the trees, shrubs and flowers.

It goes with the turf (see how I did that?) that we get knocks on the door. Yard crews introduce themselves and ask to price maintenance. They’re convinced they can do the work and save me money. They know who I hire and their rates are definitely lower.

Most of the time they are less expensive. It’s enough to notice too. Let’s face it. If you can afford a mower, trimmer and blower you can be in the Lawn Service Business.

But, most of these guys define maintenance as Mow & Blow. Their faces go blank when I ask about pruning. They’re completely lost when I ask about planting, thinning out trees, shrubs and top-dressing turf.

Lawn Service Companies Are Not Equal.

Let’s switch things over to print. How do we sell? How do we evaluate what clients need? Where does our grasp of need start and stop? Do we only “mow and blow?” Printer equivalent…collect specs and bid?

I talk to great people every day. Some are company owners. Some are C-Level managers. Some are reps that want to sell more stuff. I enjoy every one of these conversations.

Having said that, more than a few think account acquisition and management is the printer version of mow and blow. They rely on their bids do all of their selling. They bid for what was requested and nothing more.

I hear it often, “the market around us is growing but we aren’t. I can’t justify adding equipment. Our prices are fair. How can we get our reps to sell more with less price pressure?”

The guys that express these frustrations want to mow and blow. They don’t want to do new stuff. They don’t want to invent services. They don’t want to do the finesse stuff that separates them from the pack.

They want to do what they’re comfortable with. They just want to be paid more for it. Ain’t gonna happen!

Here’s a pro tip. Equipment doesn’t sell stuff. Neither does price. Innovation does. Getting in touch with what motivates your prospect is critical. Your price isn’t. Your price won’t matter if you can take care of the important stuff.

Talk to your prospect. Ask questions. Get in touch with what winds their watch. Look for patterns. Solve those problems and sales will happen. They’ll happen at your price too.

I don’t want to worry about my yard. I want to enjoy it. I don’t want to learn about a fungus or bug because I lost shrubs to it. I want my lawn dude to keep them away.

I’m willing to pay for quality. Everyone is.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions.