There are lots of reasons why not.  You have to kiss alot more frogs to make the same profit dollars, lots more opportunities to screw up, or your market is too small and you just end up losing out.

BUT, what iIFthe shoe fits and you can make a fair amount bottom line and IF you understand what you have to do, and IF you could get rid of your obsession with being perfect, then, does it make any sense?

In the right market (a large one), and if you have the skills and Plan in place to do this, you could get a lot of jobs and make a good, even great living.  I suggest you don’t make this decision without looking at it.  Consider the Hows.

HOWS  First you have to figure out how to extend times between waterings.  Joey Pouches will allow this to happen even though there is an upfront cost for the product, they are paid for in a relatively short space of time and the increased profit from lower windshield time and replacements and on site labor works.  Next, by using the Joeys you can have techs that are not as skilled or require higher training.  Takes out the how much, how often scenario.  Years ago several companies in CA did just this using CWI’s.  They still report that those accounts are the least trouble and the most profitable.  Now with the Joeys, these pluses are increased greatly.

BUT.  It still comes down to how you view yourself.  Are you the Horticultural Gurus?  Do you think of yourself awsthe Plant Guy first or Businessman first?

And, what if there is a melding of the two that still leaves a little of each, self esteem and a few extra dollars.   It is a decison that needs to be made.  Use the tools available to increase profit while still positioning your company to work with pricing that gets and keeps accounts. 

Bottom Line?  You have got to know how low you can go before you cut into vital organs.  Then, if you have to go to low to get or save the job, JUST SAY NO, politely of course.  And for those of you with sales person(s), make sure they know how low they can go and consider lowering commissions if they go below a fixed profit margin/dollar range.  It’s called tough love.  What good is it to get the job when the only one who made any cash is the salesperson?  It is a 2 way street.  No go out there and….sell some TOPsiders for me.  Barb

Every year one of your clients holds an auction for some worthy cause and they ask you for a "donation".  Or, it is Holiday time and they donate stuff to a local Kids Toy Drive.  You donate a few poinsettia.  Still, why it is all for a good cause, you go away muttering under your breath, feeling just a bit abused.  I used to feel that way until one year I woke up and smelled the eggnog.  This is a great opportunity, and I suggest you change your attitude.  Here’s the Plan.

LOSE THAT FEELING.  In fact, get in there and participate.  Why not?  You are going to have to do it anyway, so why not think ahead and figure out a way to contribute so it makes you look good, is good for your business and still doesn’t break the bank?

BECOME PART OF THE TEAM.    Find a Special at your Nursery and donate with a lot of splash but not a lot of cash. Maybe you could even get the Nursery to chip in for some acknowledgement.  Holiday time?  Bet you have an old, gently used 7 and a half foot artificial tree stashed away some where.  Put gold balls or red ribbon on it still leaving lots of room for "company ornaments", place it in the Employee Dining Area and let the company sell paper cutout Santas they sell for $1 each, the money going to their favorite charity.  Or, the tree is the center for the boxes of donated toys.  And, don’t forget, after mid December nurseries sell poinsettia for a buck apiece.  Make a huge splash and donate a bunch.  Only stipulation is the pointsettia have to leave the building so you are not conned into caring for them. 

TAKE THE CREDIT   It does no good to give stuff and not get the credit.  Signage, article in the company Newsletter, follow up letters to your contacts for allowing you to participate, all go a long way to being part of the Team.  Now go out there and get ‘em Tigers. and sell some TOPsiders for me.

Relationships with clients vary one to another.  With some clients, you feel as though they are family.  You are invited to weddings, charity functions.  Yep, Bill is family.

Then there is The Mentor.  Client Joe has encouraged you from the git go and loves hearing about the new jobs or awards you get.  He feels he is personally responsible for some of your success.

Steve, on the other hand, trades leads with you all the time.  He is your Networking Bouddy. 

Others act as Teacher, Boss, Whiny Child, etc. 

The point here is that it is important that you figure out  which relationship you have with each of  your clients and  perform accordingly.  Give the Mentors and Teachers acknowledgement for a part of your success,   Let the Family Guy know about your kids accomplishments, show pictures.  Give the Networking Guy lots of leads and newspaper clippings.

Understanding the dynamics of some of your client-contractor realationships can go a long way toward making your business life easier. 

One word of caution.  If you ever have to switch contact from your company to a new sales exec or whatever, ramp up slowly.  Stay involved.  Give lots of props to the new contact and so on.  Changing the dynamics can be tricky so be aware.

And, as a revue, please re read Interiorscaping War of Words.  This is a blog I wrote back in 2006 and is still something you and your techs need to discuss from time to time.  One word can mean the loss of a client.  Horrors!

And, sell a few TOPsiders for me!

We all know that not all clients are created equal.  Some are long timers and never give you a call or complaint.  They have a consistent payment history.  They sing your praises.  These "perfect" clients probably make up 20% of your customer base.  Lucky you.  Then there’s the rest.  These clients may have one or more of the following "challenges".

• Consistenly Poor Payment History
• Consistently Poor Communications
• High Complaint Percentage
• Low Percent of Contract Increases
• Low Refferal Percentages
• High Management Turnover
• Haggling

Sound familiar?  Well, by evaluating each client as to the above characteristics, you can formuate a Plan to deal with them specific to the problem.  And, that is exactly what I suggest you do..  Lets look at each situation.

Poor Payment History.  This case needs a discussion with the client contact or their accounting department.  Ask what meets their needs best.  Automatic billing to a company or if a residence, personal credit card?  Keeping invoices for the same amount each month with any changes or add ons billed separately?  Quarterly billing?  Just by asking you have alerted them to the fact that you are a small but professional business.  Setting up payment, letting them know what you can do to meet their needs says a lot and may help aleviate the problem.

Poor Communication.  Periodically ask who you should be talking to if there are concerns.    Key people get transferred, let go and so on.  This shows you want everything to go smoothly and gives you the chance to get in front of  the client in a positive manner.  And, often, a face to face results in requests for MORE PLANTS!

High Complaint Numbers.  As a friend of mine once said, "kill ‘em with kindness".  Give them a monthly checking in call.  Respond to complaints immediately.  And, follow up with a report of what was done, when and why.

Low Contract Increases.  Reevaluate each job annually for profitability and give them fair warning of potential increases such as ones tied to cost of living tables etc.  Review the account to see if it can be reengineered so that even if the charge remains the same, your profitability goes up.

Low Refferal History.  Again, a visit with a request works wonders.  Testimonial letters, sister company referrals, even a gift orchid can get your client to help you grow.  Best of all, it reinforces the positive feelings they have about you.

High Management Turnover.  This is most often experienced with Hotels venues.  You spend years making a good friend and, bingo they are transferred to Cincinnati and the new guy wants to cut costs.  Two strategies here.  Ask the one leaving to have the new guy give you a three to six month grace period and then perform like heck.  Next don’t forget old Joe just because he is moving to another property.  Maybe he would want your recommendation on who to use in his new city and you just might be able to sub out that work.  You just never know.  Does it ever happen?  Yep, it happenend to me…twice.

Haggling.  Be prepared.  Go into every meeting with your pricing structured so you can give up something but not really.  He will think he has won…..

Bottom Line is that I bet you already know the client personality traits for each of your clients.  Just come up with a Plan in advance.  Clients are like live plants.  They need maintnenance too.  Now, go out there and give them some water, Tigers.

I know new Sales is one of your biggest challenges, but what are some others?  Email me at barbhelfman@aol.com and I will address them in future blogs.

Couple of things.  Joe Byles and I  will be doing a webinar for Kathy Fiedw’s program on Tuesday, May 18,2010 at noon EST/9 AM PT.  Topic is Green Roofs, other uses for Freedom Squares and Joeys.   We will be on the line to answer questions especially addressing your questions about How to’s for Green Roofs. 

 One company back East has done Seven (7) Green Roofs and I will have detailed info as to the what, how, why and Best Practises.  To sign up, go to kathy@kfaconsultingbiz.com. 

The webinar is 1 hour long and you will receive a copy afterwards. 

Technology is changing so fast and, with it, every facet of our world, personal and business.  Let’s see.  Bet a few years ago you decided you needed a web site.  You found someone to design it, spent time talking about how it should look etc. and, after, a long time (much longer than you had anticipated), plus several thousands of dollars, you had a web site.  Whew, you thought, that’s one more thing I don’t have to worry about.

Not so fast.  Most often these first trials were not what was wanted or needed.  Most were just a listing of who and where you were. Phone, address, email address, and a bunch of pretty pictures of plants and containers.  Usually they were difficult for visitors to navigate, took too long, and just didn’t cut it.  And, as for driving business to you?  Well, fuggedaboudit.

What to do?  Well, lets see if this can be remedied.  First, have a good long hard look at what you want from your web site.  Is it your "Brochure"?  Do you want to drive leads?  Both?  Each of these strategies demands different designs and have different costs.

Most IP companies just need the "Brochure".  It has to be pretty, easy to navigate etc.  It is there for clients and prospects to log on and find out about your company and its credibility so, heres where you want to be brief and to the point, list accomplishments, awards, testamonials, and what services and products you offer.  Step 2 is to have photos of Products, plants and containers as well as Holiday.  For most small local companies, this is enough.  Warning: Stay away from the fancy morphing and fireworks.  Pretty, yes but this razzle dazzle takes too much time.  Keep it short and sweet.  And, please stay away from all the fancy fonts.  Easy to read is better.

If you want to go beyond the Brochure, the next step is to drive leads to you through the site.  Once upon a time you or your designer needed to insert into the program, Key Words.  These increased  the probability that web browsers would find you and direct traffic to your site over others.  Now there is GOOGLE.  Changed everything.  They do things differently and the secret key words are different too.  Now there is something called search engine optomization.  Bottom line, you can get with another web site expert and see this is done (more $$) or you can go pay by click.  The latter means you set up an account and a budget with Google and pay so many cents per click when people get directed to your site.  One way, though expensive, to corral people interested in a service in your area.  To keep costs down you can set up a not to go over budget.

My advice?  Find a good search engine optomization guru and have them critique your existing site.  Boy, will you get your eyes opened. 

Every so often one of your clients will ask if you can take care of their plants at a location just a bit too far, or at a distance from your usual service area.  Instead of saying "no", consider subbing the service out to another plantscaper (non competitor).  Make sure they bill YOU, not the client.  Then, you add on a %, say 20-25% for your management and you bill the client each month.  The charge to you should include replacements so you have no out of pocket costs.

You will need a brief contract with the sub.

However you set it up, this is an opportunity to give your client additional service and make a few bucks on your own.

I know nothing about vehicles but, over the years, I learned just how important it is to have someone who does be responsible for ongoing care.  Poor tire pressure, missed oil changes, and poor wheel alignment can suck $$ in higher gas use.  Same goes for vehicle appearance.  Dirty vehicles whether yours or your techs give your company a terrible image. 

Appoint someone to be in charge and put everything on a schedule whether it is maintenance or washing.  I suggest cutting a deal with a local repair/maintenance shop to get discounts.  This can be argued as "given business" so a discount is to their advantage.  Also ask that they notify you of Specials, Tire Sales, and the like so you can save even more.  Do this for the company gas card as well.  It may be that you can let them have your vehicles for service on "off" times.  Another way for a Win/Win situation.  Then, relook at this arrangement every year or so.

And, while we are talking about vehicles, look at the graphics on vehicles.  Is your web site prominently displayed?  800 or  regular phone number?  On the other hand, unless you are a retail location, you do not need to take up space listing your address.  Instead, a line stating your geographic area would be more to the point.

Lastly, check out insurance coverage and consider bidding it out every few years as well.  Now, go get ‘em, Nascar drivers.

Every so often it is important that you review your vehicle and other insurance packages.  Times are tough and it just might be that you can get the same or better coverage from another company hungry for your business.  Or, maybe you have better driving records in place.  Get competitive quotes.  It is worth the time and effort.  Time we were on the other end of that stick, huh??

Hmmm.  Wrote the above blog some weeks ago.  Then I had dinner with several interior scape buddies who were in town for a meeting.  Dinner talk came around to the topic of insurance and several recounted tales of discounts on vehicle and other business insurance as well as reduced lease prices for their facility.  Yes, in the latter case they had to extend the length of the lease, but, their attitude was it was a win/win situation.

So, get on the phone, schedule that meeting with landlord or agent and get some savings!!  The worse thing that can happen is that they say, "No".  Then you can either stay or get other quotes.  What’s good for the goose, etc.