Hello Everybody:
I was looking at the Polls & was looking at this thread...
http://www.lawnserviceforum.com/showthread.php?t=3830
There's a lot of page views there but not that many voting. The ones that are shock me. 59% guess at it? What's wrong with this picture?
I've been asking LCO's at the shop & only 2 out of 20 use a measuring wheel? I'm giving up & not asking anybody else, because I reckon your eyes are better & more calibrated than mine. So you can tell the difference between 17 acres & 21.5 acres. Hell no, no way you can. A fact!
Yeah, I'm guessing I can mow that with my 60" in about 4 to 6 hours. LOL you might be able to mow it in 3 hours or it might take you 7 hours. What difference does it make? I'll either get the job or not? Who cares, Well from what I'm reading you don't?
So I reckon that you let the customer dictate how many acres they have & you buy it, Hook, Line & Sinker.
Let me see here now & Some of You own more than one of these T00?
You buy a $30K Truck
A computer from $699 to $3000
Mowers ranging from $800 to $10K
A trailer anywhere from $1K to $5K
And Bla Bla Bla for $30 to $20,000...
You will even spend close to 20 hours Price Shopping a $800 mower & drive a 100 miles to save $85? I hope your Mother in Law moves in with you!
You'll drive 10 extra miles in your 3/4 ton ford pulling a 16' trailer to save .03 cents a gallon on gas, but Kick it at every red light trying to get to the next job quicker.
You have a cell phone, Answering Service, a Answering Machine & you still make potential Customers wait 1 or more days before you get back with them?
You have a $2,000 Dell Desktop at home, a $2,000 Laptop Puter at the Office, but when you give bids you make the customer wait until you can go home or the office & print it out, then you show up a day or so later after 3 other companies been there?
But you will not buy a $50 to $100 measuring wheel? Well I now fully understand now why you don't!
LOL, you need to have about 5 carpet guys come over & figure out how much carpet you need. They measure everything & see how much they vary measuring everything. Just think how far off they would be if they guessed at it?
I hope when one of your loved ones goes to get operated on that the anesthetist (Guesses at it by looking only) thinks yeah he's about 50 years old, non smoker, 180 pounds & probably a Diabetic. Then says yeah it will take about this much to put them under during this operation. I'm good at guessing at it, I got a $300K home & I make over $125K a year. I've only lost 3 out of 100 patients, so I know I'm a good guesser. (Yeah Right)
Do you ever wonder why you have a hard time getting those bigger bids? Hell just guess at it, LOL maybe you get the next one & if you don't who cares?
Lets just guess at everything? Who Cares?
LOL, Lets see how many other people guess at crap that's in some kind of business? OK, I'm waiting? Who else just takes wild guesses & pulls them out of the thin air?
I would say that if you can't make that Measuring Wheel pay off in about 3 jobs you should just give it up & get a job at Lowe's loading Lumber or something? Lowes has great benefits & Profit Sharing.
Or you could do this...
You have 58 accounts various sizes, you have a Measuring Wheel, You know exactly how many square feet of Grass, Mulch, Beds & Concrete surfaces you have.
You have a chart that tells you how long it takes you to mow so many 1,000 sq.ft. with different size mowers, you know how how many linear feet of edging you got & how long it takes you to do it.
No matter what size job you go on, all you got to do is measure it & in just a few minutes you will know within minutes how long it will take you to do that job, You will know how much Mulch it will take & how much fertilizer it will take.
You know how long it takes you to do all your Jobs & low & behold you are averaging the same amount of money per man hour on all your jobs...
So tomorrow if you decide to raise your fee per man hour $1.50, all you got to do is look at your drawing & measurements you took when you gave the Bids and then notify your customers of your raise.
If your customer wants their lawn fertilized or fresh mulch in the front yard only, you just look at your original drawing & measurements in your filing cabinet you took when you gave the bid. You do this on the phone, because you don't need to waste a trip & another hour of your time.
You measure that 17 acre property that Mr. CheatYa told you he had & you figure out that he was only off 4.5 acres of grass. That's enough to buy 2 measuring wheels easy per cut.
Or you could have guessed at that 17 acre property & figured it was 21.5 acres, then over bidded it by 4.5 acres per mowing? Get the Picture?
You will go very far with that measuring wheel, it's a promise from me!
Something else. What if that Indian Guy at the Corner Store guessed at how much gas you bought, Where would you be at Today?
You guess at Games, Cards & Womens Weight if you are real Tough. You don't guess at your Life, Your Business or Your Future! Or Do You?
I was looking at the Polls & was looking at this thread...
http://www.lawnserviceforum.com/showthread.php?t=3830
There's a lot of page views there but not that many voting. The ones that are shock me. 59% guess at it? What's wrong with this picture?
I've been asking LCO's at the shop & only 2 out of 20 use a measuring wheel? I'm giving up & not asking anybody else, because I reckon your eyes are better & more calibrated than mine. So you can tell the difference between 17 acres & 21.5 acres. Hell no, no way you can. A fact!
Yeah, I'm guessing I can mow that with my 60" in about 4 to 6 hours. LOL you might be able to mow it in 3 hours or it might take you 7 hours. What difference does it make? I'll either get the job or not? Who cares, Well from what I'm reading you don't?
So I reckon that you let the customer dictate how many acres they have & you buy it, Hook, Line & Sinker.
Let me see here now & Some of You own more than one of these T00?
You buy a $30K Truck
A computer from $699 to $3000
Mowers ranging from $800 to $10K
A trailer anywhere from $1K to $5K
And Bla Bla Bla for $30 to $20,000...
You will even spend close to 20 hours Price Shopping a $800 mower & drive a 100 miles to save $85? I hope your Mother in Law moves in with you!
You'll drive 10 extra miles in your 3/4 ton ford pulling a 16' trailer to save .03 cents a gallon on gas, but Kick it at every red light trying to get to the next job quicker.
You have a cell phone, Answering Service, a Answering Machine & you still make potential Customers wait 1 or more days before you get back with them?
You have a $2,000 Dell Desktop at home, a $2,000 Laptop Puter at the Office, but when you give bids you make the customer wait until you can go home or the office & print it out, then you show up a day or so later after 3 other companies been there?
But you will not buy a $50 to $100 measuring wheel? Well I now fully understand now why you don't!
LOL, you need to have about 5 carpet guys come over & figure out how much carpet you need. They measure everything & see how much they vary measuring everything. Just think how far off they would be if they guessed at it?
I hope when one of your loved ones goes to get operated on that the anesthetist (Guesses at it by looking only) thinks yeah he's about 50 years old, non smoker, 180 pounds & probably a Diabetic. Then says yeah it will take about this much to put them under during this operation. I'm good at guessing at it, I got a $300K home & I make over $125K a year. I've only lost 3 out of 100 patients, so I know I'm a good guesser. (Yeah Right)
Do you ever wonder why you have a hard time getting those bigger bids? Hell just guess at it, LOL maybe you get the next one & if you don't who cares?
Lets just guess at everything? Who Cares?
LOL, Lets see how many other people guess at crap that's in some kind of business? OK, I'm waiting? Who else just takes wild guesses & pulls them out of the thin air?
I would say that if you can't make that Measuring Wheel pay off in about 3 jobs you should just give it up & get a job at Lowe's loading Lumber or something? Lowes has great benefits & Profit Sharing.
Or you could do this...
You have 58 accounts various sizes, you have a Measuring Wheel, You know exactly how many square feet of Grass, Mulch, Beds & Concrete surfaces you have.
You have a chart that tells you how long it takes you to mow so many 1,000 sq.ft. with different size mowers, you know how how many linear feet of edging you got & how long it takes you to do it.
No matter what size job you go on, all you got to do is measure it & in just a few minutes you will know within minutes how long it will take you to do that job, You will know how much Mulch it will take & how much fertilizer it will take.
You know how long it takes you to do all your Jobs & low & behold you are averaging the same amount of money per man hour on all your jobs...
So tomorrow if you decide to raise your fee per man hour $1.50, all you got to do is look at your drawing & measurements you took when you gave the Bids and then notify your customers of your raise.
If your customer wants their lawn fertilized or fresh mulch in the front yard only, you just look at your original drawing & measurements in your filing cabinet you took when you gave the bid. You do this on the phone, because you don't need to waste a trip & another hour of your time.
You measure that 17 acre property that Mr. CheatYa told you he had & you figure out that he was only off 4.5 acres of grass. That's enough to buy 2 measuring wheels easy per cut.
Or you could have guessed at that 17 acre property & figured it was 21.5 acres, then over bidded it by 4.5 acres per mowing? Get the Picture?
You will go very far with that measuring wheel, it's a promise from me!
Something else. What if that Indian Guy at the Corner Store guessed at how much gas you bought, Where would you be at Today?
You guess at Games, Cards & Womens Weight if you are real Tough. You don't guess at your Life, Your Business or Your Future! Or Do You?
Comment