All right, it has been almost 10 years since Lawn Care Directory got it’s start. In order to improve the user experience for those of you trying to find a landscape company, I literally went through and called every single premium advertiser we had in all 50 states that was listed before Jan 1 2010 to make sure they were still in business.

The results of this little escapade really surprised me. Apart from it taking me a week to make over 1000 phone calls, the experience was very enlightening. Here were my takeaways:

1. It is unbelievable how many companies do not answer their phone or have in their answering machine greeting their company name. Answering the phone “Hello” screams out unprofessional.

2. I was surprised to see how many companies were still in business but had a completely different business name. How are you going to build a brand people.

3. Most of the companies listed with Lawn Care Directory are still in business and doing great. Yeah I ended up deleting more than 200 companies from the directory, but I spoke to so many companies that love being members of our directory. Listen to what one landscaper had to say when I called him:

July 5, 2010

Hi Adam,
Just wanted to let you know that having my business listed with lawncaredirectory.com that my business has grown. Approximately 35 to 40 percent of the calls I get are from the listing.
When a search for lawn care companies in the local area is done, the listing with lawncaredirectory.com always pops up on the first page. Thanks for getting your website out there in front.

Thanks
Ron Cobb
All Pro Lawn Svc

Conclusion: I have more confidence than ever that Lawn Care Directory will provide the best experience to both lawn care/landscaping company as well as the property owner looking for the best company to do the job.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about what gets me to buy something. Or better yet, what gets me to choose one company over another when making a purchase.

For example, a couple of months ago I decided to buy a hot tub to put outside my house. I went to what I dubbed as “spa alley” where literally 4 spa companies are within 1/2 mile of each other.

The first store I went into the kind of assumed I was looking for a cheaper spa than I really was and to be honest I didn’t know what I wanted yet so he showed me around and I left knowing I wasn’t going to make a decision after one stop.

The second store I went into the salesman was energetic and very knowledgeable. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about spas from this guy but I didn’t mind because his energy was contagious. He took the time to show me each spa and explained all of the features and differences of each.

In doing this he hit one of my needs that I didn’t even realize was possible to be met. See the house next to mine is a two story house and I worried about privacy issues. Without knowing my worry the spa salesman showed me a spa cover that folds up and forms a wall for privacy.

I left there feeling great about buying a spa from them.

The final store I went to the salesman (which is a misnomer, I should say “guy working in the store”) had no energy and seemed like he had no desire to speak to me. As I was the only person in the store I expected for him to take a greater interest in what I was looking for.

I had to ask lots of questions to get any information out of him. When he finally showed me his hot tubs I found one that was the most like what I was looking for, and about $1000 cheaper than store 2.

So who do you think I bought from?

You guessed it. Store 2.

What can we learn from this experience? When you are running a business whether it be a lawn care business a hair salon or whatever, if you want to be successful you need to do 2 things.

1. Be enthusiastic about what you do. Your energy and passion or lack thereof will be contagious. If you go give a bid on a job be confident in your ability to do the job and let the customer know how great their yard will look when you’re done. Remember people buy from people, not from businesses.

2. Find out and fill the needs of your customers. If your customers main concern is that there lawn always looks like it has been freshly cut, then instead of saying “Sure I do weekly, bi-weekly and monthly lawn maintenance” you need to say “We’ll make sure to come every week so that your lawn always looks like it has been freshly cut.”

Meet the needs of your customers and they will sign up with you and stay with you forever.