It’s Monday Morning: Think Customers First

image_pdf

Think about your typical Monday morning.

What’s on your list of top to-dos?

My guess is it’s fixing a rundown piece of equipment, making sure your crews show up on time to a job, tracking payments on some late invoices, answering questions from foremen, figuring out what to do about the employee who called in sick or didn’t show up at all and dealing with other typical Monday morning headaches.

In your daily life running a landscape business — especially on Monday mornings — you are faced with a lot of distractions. They all seem important. But what should matter most and fire you up most on a Monday are your customers.

We can talk about customers and getting to know them better and giving them a great brand experience all we want, but if we aren’t actually making them our first priority, we might be limiting the time we have available to get to know them.

Ask yourself these questions on your next Monday morning:

  1. When was the last time you actually spoke to a customer who is loyal to your brand?
  2. Do you know the profiles of your loyal customers? Who are they? What are their interests/hobbies? What do they do in their spare time? What do they spend money on?
  3. How much money do you spend annually on chasing new customers? How much money do you spend on better understanding and rewarding your loyal customers?
  4. Do you really know what people are saying about your company?
  5. Have you recently spent time on the front lines with the people selling your services or performing your services?
  6. How much do you spend on customer research?
  7. Does anyone in your company have a job description that includes better understanding your typical customers?

The answers to some of these questions might disappoint you.

But as with any other challenge, admitting you have a problem is the first step. After all, it’s another Monday morning; the week is young. Do something about it.