All too often I drive past a job and wonder what the lawn guy was thinking. The edges are poorly done... And there are random chunks of grass on the lawn.

It looks horrible.

I often walk my dog past a local business, and I've commented to my wife about the state of the lawns.
I figured that it was because the business got a worker who didn't know much about lawn mowing to do the lawns.

I was shocked to walk past the other day and see one of the largest landscaping companies doing the lawn.

The guy with the mower kept on changing the height... And the guy with the weed eater was going the wrong way with the machine.

Now, I know it can be hard sometimes to keep employees on track. You say one thing, and they do another.

That was one of the reasons we scaled back from five vehicles to two.
​We felt that our standards were dropping... And it was really hard to find people who cared as much about our business as we did.

We even had an agreement that if a worker finished their day's work early, they could go home. However...

If a customer complained, then they went back and fixed it up on their own time.

That worked OK, but it wasn't really the answer for us.

However, the one thing that we can all control is our own standards on the job.
If you want a good business, then you need to set high standards and stick to them.

If I'm in the vehicle and just about to leave a property and I see something that's not right... I stop, get out the tools, and fix it.

The worst is when you reverse out of a drive and see a pile of grass from the blower where your vehicle was parked.
​Still, I stop and fix it.

That is a real pain... But it's important.

If you're not happy with your job, then how do you expect the customer to feel?

One of the reasons that our business name actually ranks in the top five Google searches for lawn mowing in Hamilton is because we work hard to keep our standards high.

• We always trim the edges.
• We always use the blower.
• And we always turn up on time.

If for any reason we cannot get to a job, then we text the customer to let them know.

It's the same with quotes. We always turn up. If we cannot do the quote, we pass it on to another company that we know will turn up... Or tell them we cannot do the quote so they can continue their search.

We answer the phone promptly and call people back immediately.
The only time a call will ever go to the answerphone is when I'm on the phone or am talking to a customer.

A person standing in front of you is much more important than someone ringing. Y
ou can call them back when you're finished with the customer.

There is a name for this type of business management.

The fact that it is becoming less and less common can be the thing that makes your business stand out.
It could be a great leap forward for your business if you decide to embrace it.

So if you want to build a lawn care business that stands out through high standards and good old-fashioned service...

Join our free community where we share systems for maintaining quality, managing customers, and building a reputation that ranks:

​[Join the free Lawn Business Builders Pro group]​

Stuart

P.S. Inside the group you'll find checklists for quality control, customer communication templates, and how to build a reputation that brings in referrals. All free.

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