The Black Hole of Unbillable Activity

A wise consultant, Joe Mechlinsky from http://www.entrequest.com/ once told me, “Never confuse activity with achievement.” I still have this posted on my desk today. I find most designers are very passionate about their work. This is a good thing, but can also be their down fall. I find many designers end up spending more time designing, selling, and installing projects then they are charging. This will kill the design – build company.

The most profitable companies are often the ones that quickly go from call to cash (new lead to collecting). So where does that put the design – build companies? This is a process and often long process. Do we have to be a scratch and sign, in and out to survive? The answer is no. This would go against everything I and most of you believe in. So how do we compete and what’s up with the black hole?

The black hole is everything we are not charging for or say “it is built into my price.” Building it in is fine to an extent, but the reality what’s thrown into the black hole never comes back. The more that is “built in to the price”, the higher our price becomes. This gives you a disadvantage that’s hard to overcome. There is a good chance you are throwing it into the black hole, if you defend an activity by the following:

• It helps sell the job.
• I can’t charge them for that.
• It’s not that much concerning the size of the job.

Real examples could be: color designs, 3D designs, daily cleaning of the jobsite, tweaking (yes tweaking).

None of these things are bad. I actually I believe in doing all of the above. The problem is when we don’t charge for them. If we believe they add value to the job, we need to charge for it. Charging is the difference between activity and achievement.

Have a great week.

Why I don’t demand meeting with the decision maker.

I often hear people say they won’t meet without the wife and husband present. I understand the argument but hear me out. Who is the real decision maker? How do you identify the decision maker? Have you ever thought that maybe there is more to gain to win over the decision influencer? See this simple chart below.

More than once, I’ve been in meetings when I just had to shut my mouth. I’ve already won over the decision influencer in a previous visit. She knew exactly what she wanted, why and who she felt most comfortable buying from. She has done all the research and invested all the time. The husband had 100 reasons why they shouldn’t do this. I carefully watched her shoot down one argument after another. I also realized if this was my first meeting I would be trying to answer these questions. Also all people buy different. There are definite advantages letting them buy how they are most comfortable buying. Most couples have a system to buying weather they know it or not. They do what works for them. Trying to mix this up can do more harm than good.

Don’t get discouraged by only meeting with one spouse because you probably are talking to the decision maker.

Part Three: “When do you say no to a lead?”

Let’s look at what bad leads can do to you.

• Drain your time


• De-value your product


• Doubt your product


• Cause you to doubt your product and abilities

I want to spend a little more time on the last one. If you hear you are too ______________ enough times you may start to believe it. This is tough because obviously you need to listen to what people are saying. You need to constantly examine your process and product. I just ask you to make sure you are polling your target clientele and not being blown by every passing wind. Stand firm in what you believe. Ask a few of your clients why they chose you. We often ask new leads, “Who else you are talking too? or How did you hear about us?” How about something like this? “Mr. and Mrs. Jones, I know you called us because you saw the work we did at the Johnson’s, but why did you chose to hire me? Fair question isn’t? Don’t you want to make sure you live up to their expectations? Try and let me know if this tip helps you manage your next project.

Just in… #1 thing what poor leads can do? I’m on my way to testify about how much damage widening a road will do to their trees. Think about charging for insurance estimates. We do now.

Enjoy.

Part Two: When do you say no to a lead?

I trust everyone had a great week and is looking forward to an even better one. Spring is here in south central PA. The phones are ringing off the hook. I don’t have time to follow up on all the leads. What do I do? Sound familiar? Obviously the past few years have been tough on our industry. Most people built there companies up and then struggled to feed it. Everyone is trying to use their resources more wisely, which brings us to part two of “When do you say no to a lead?”
In part one I asked you to answer one question.

          Do you want more leads like this one?

Hands down we all say referrals are our best leads. After you knock their socks off, everyone will be calling you, right.  Let’s take a step back to see who this people will be.

• Your Facebook and website groupies because you will post a picture of this job on Facebook or Website?

• The client’s friends and family because they socialize with your type of clients.

• The client’s neighbors because they live in a neighborhood you are targeting.

• People that are will to pay your price because they understand and appreciate the value you bring.

If this job does not bring you referrals you will be left casting nets hoping to put food on the table. This week we focused on the positive of a good lead. Next week we will look at the negatives of a bad lead.

Enjoy.

When do you say no to a lead?

We all have run across those obvious leads that we run from. Mine was just last week. A general contractor called me and was trying to find a pool contractor for his client. I asked what the client was looking to have. His response was a 750 sq.ft., natural shaped pool. Can you make it 3’ in the shallow end and 5’ in the deep end? I tried to get more questions answered like: Do they want concrete or liner? Do they know the advantages and disadvantages to each? Do they want any sun shelves? Spa? It was immediately clear I was talking to the guy that gives all contractors a bad name. I obviously said sorry we can’t help you without drawing a plan to meet the client’s needs and desires. Then we can price out the job. We parted ways.
Again we all ran across the obvious ones, but how do we decide on the not so obvious leads? This goes back to your core values and vision for your company. Where are you going and how are you getting there? You only need to answer one question.

              Do you want more leads like this one?

Remember this is not a paying customer yet? What does your sales systems look like? Do you believe in your system? Do you have a system? There are many ways to address new leads. What works for one company might not work for you. Remember you have a goal, a destination. How are you getting there? Does your current sales system help you get there? What would you change if you could?

The only thing worse than having no leads is have bad leads. Bad leads often drain your most valuable resource – TIME.

I’ll follow up next with part two of this post.

Enjoy the week.

Why buy what you can't see?

Your client should no longer have to image or hope they will be happy with the landscape you will create.  Check out this cool video of some of our projects we have been working on.

Remember showing a lot of detail in your design will only help the best landscape designers.  If you are not a talented designer, you are better off keeping it rough and do a lot of selling.

What do you think?

How do you present your Designs?

Today I did a presentation at the GLTE in Grand Rapids, MI. The talk was “Increase Sales and Production by using CAD and 3D imaging”. I tried something interesting. I presented some of the session through “Go to Meeting”. I connected with my designer as if my audience was the client. He walked us through a design. We were able to ask him questions to see the 3D image from different angles. This isn’t the way of the future, but the way it is now.

I still come from a generation that would like to sit down in my client’s kitchen and review there project. I love getting to know my clients, but do they really want to get to know me? I don’t take it personal. We have to think about how the consumer wants to buy. Why not connect with our clients through the internet? This is better for us and them. We can do a lot less driving. This saves time and money. Less driving is a good thing right.

By the way, the GLTE is a great conference. I would suggest attending if you can.

How much information should be on a landscape design? Part Two:

Design Presentation

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. 

This question has different answers for different people. Boy, now I sound like a politician. Bear with me, I’m not copping out. What works for me might not work for you. You first have to ask yourself 3 simple questions.

• What does the landscape design accomplish for you and the client?

• How much time do you have?

• What is your UCA (Unique Competitive Advantage)

A simple answer to the first question may sound something like this: “The design shows the client what we are doing.” True, but not really. Some companies use the design to sell the installation, while others start by selling the design. The design process should be your first step to win the client. This starts before you ever come up with an idea. Your questions and follow up questions will quickly inform the consumer on how well you connect. Your questions will also demonstrate how much you know and care. Show you are the professional by how you approach the project not by saying how good you are. Does the design process get your creative juices flowing? Does it get the client excited? The more information you can get from the client the more you can apply to the design.

How much time you have should be looked at from 2 angles. First, how much time do you have to create the design? Even if you don’t have much time, make sure you know what you are creating. You can’t have an accurate estimate without a good idea of what you are creating. Believe me this will cost you more than just time. The second is even more important. Secondly, how much time do you have to oversee the project once it has been sold? How many times have you said we can figure that out on site? Where is the designer when it is time to figure it out? He or she is trying to sell another job, picking plants at the nursery, on vacation, at the gym, etc. The more time you spend up front the easier it is to pass off to production. This will leave the production staff with less questions and more time for the sales staff to sell.

Thirdly what is your Unique Competitive Advantage? If you don’t have artistic skills you have options. You can always capitalize on technology. Technology won’t make a bad design good, but it can make a design look professional and attractive. Your other option is to down play the design process. In order to do this you will have to be a good communicator. You still have to establish consumer confidence. This can be done by having a strong portfolio to back what you are saying. Also you may have to rely heavier on referrals. If you are artistic, make sure you express that through your designs. This will create immediate consumer confidence. The reality is all consumers are different and so are we the providers. Remember you are the only thing your competition can’t offer, leverage it!

How much information should be on a landscape design?

This question has different answers for different people. Boy, now I sound like a politician. Bear with me, I’m not copping out. What works for me might not work for you. You first have to ask yourself 3 simple questions.

• What does the landscape design accomplish for you and the client?

• How much time do you have?

• What is your UCA (Unique Competitive Advantage)?

You should have a clearer understanding once you answer these 3 simple questions. I find most people are somewhere in the middle. Next week I’ll follow up with each of these 3 questions in detail.

Happy Thanksgiving!