I'll Probably Lose This One And One More.............

[spotremix]

i do my routes based on days not the week. thats why i can move people around better. if i need to hit the north side of town 2 days a week it happens. as long as there is no back tracking on any individual day. if i have to visit one neighbor hood monday and then again on fri. i can do it as long as all my other clients for those 2 days are in the same area. i think i'm making sense.

plainly put it doesn't matter to me if my route for the week goes north south east west or north west south eas or south east north west.

this allows me to swap any day for any other day. i can easily swap tues or fri or mon for thurs or whatever.

[MASTERMOWER]

i do my routes based on days not the week. thats why i can move people around better. if i need to hit the north side of town 2 days a week it happens. as long as there is no back tracking on any individual day. if i have to visit one neighbor hood monday and then again on fri. i can do it as long as all my other clients for those 2 days are in the same area. i think i'm making sense.

plainly put it doesn't matter to me if my route for the week goes north south east west or north west south eas or south east north west.

this allows me to swap any day for any other day. i can easily swap tues or fri or mon for thurs or whatever.

You mow on a 3-5 day rotation or what? Why would you need to swap out days other than to kiss ass?

Yeah, I could swap days too, but I'd never do it. I don't want my customers thinking they can call the shots when their lawn gets mown. I keep consistent routes which never change, keeps efficiency up, production high. By summer I'm flying through the lawns while you're flopping around town installing/uninstalling mulch kits here and there....everything is second nature for me, though boring. 28 lawns per day. Oh, and my customers love me too.

[spotremix]

You mow on a 3-5 day rotation or what? Why would you need to swap out days other than to kiss ass?

Yeah, I could swap days too, but I'd never do it. I don't want my customers thinking they can call the shots when their lawn gets mown. I keep consistent routes which never change, keeps efficiency up, production high. By summer I'm flying through the lawns while you're flopping around town installing/uninstalling mulch kits here and there....everything is second nature for me, though boring. 28 lawns per day. Oh, and my customers love me too.

i don't swap unless absolutely necessary and i don't install uninstall mulch kits either.

i have my schedule i make at the beginning of the season and i stick to it, but if i should ever need to i can move say for example mondays clients to thursdays and move thursdays to monday. no big deal, doesn't affect the route whatsoever.

[safari lawn]

i don't swap unless absolutely necessary and i don't install uninstall mulch kits either.

i have my schedule i make at the beginning of the season and i stick to it, but if i should ever need to i can move say for example mondays clients to thursdays and move thursdays to monday. no big deal, doesn't affect the route whatsoever.

I think the issue also need to be looked at, if you mow me Thursday and move me to Monday are you going to eat the cost on weekly mowings? since your now mowing me 4 days into my 7 days, and if it keeps flip flopping your essentially over charging the other customers who have to go along for the ride of 1 or 2 customers.

In our area I do some weekly and some bi weekly but early spring its all 7 days no matter what, it really should be done every 5 days, cant eeek out 3 more days because the grass will outgrow you quick.

I know the customers I have that say weekly, I am getting a call on day 8 and are just as pissed if I cut it day 4 or 5 because of conflicting schedules.

Might not be an issue you for you but may be for others.

[no brown lawns]

Revamping service that you provide should always follow your lead. Unless otherwise specified by customer, most of your client will understand. Those that don't will never fit the mold and eventually will fined someone else to do there bidding. You will find in the end you were correct to let them go and you will be just fine. Carry on!

[Stephen M.]

Revamping service that you provide should always follow your lead. Unless otherwise specified by customer, most of your client will understand. Those that don't will never fit the mold and eventually will fined someone else to do there bidding. You will find in the end you were correct to let them go and you will be just fine. Carry on!

Very well said. I once had a customer who wrote for a couple of major golf mags who wanted her lawn cut every 10 days. I told her I didn't do the 10 day schedule; it had to be every 7 or 14 days. She chose the 14 day schedule. But the way it worked out, I never heard a peep from her when she arrived the day after I cut it, but she ALWAYS complained on the week it wasn't cut. I think she thought if she complained loudly, she would force me to cut on a 10 day interval. It didn't work and I eventually told her to take a flying leap and go find another company.

I never wanted to do a 10 day schedule because of the rotating days. The complaint I always hear from 10 day customers switching to a 7-14day rotation is "I never know when the guy is coming". My thought is that if a customer signs up for the 10 day rotation, they need to do what the lawn guy does and mark a calender out for the year. DAH.

BTW, do you know how GOLF got its name?




The F word was already taken.

[spotremix]

I think the issue also need to be looked at, if you mow me Thursday and move me to Monday are you going to eat the cost on weekly mowings? since your now mowing me 4 days into my 7 days, and if it keeps flip flopping your essentially over charging the other customers who have to go along for the ride of 1 or 2 customers.

In our area I do some weekly and some bi weekly but early spring its all 7 days no matter what, it really should be done every 5 days, cant eeek out 3 more days because the grass will outgrow you quick.

I know the customers I have that say weekly, I am getting a call on day 8 and are just as pissed if I cut it day 4 or 5 because of conflicting schedules.

Might not be an issue you for you but may be for others.

i personally don't have any cost eating.

if i'm mowing say 10 people a day and i need to move my monday people to thurs and my thurs people to monday i do just that.

i would finish the a week as normal and then the start of the next week start with the new schedule. depending on the month there is still gonna be only 4 cuts for each client even with a swich.

with the new schedule on monday i would be cutting the clients i just cut last thursday, grass will be a little short but no big deal. and on thursday i'll be cutting the clients i use to cut on monday, grass will be a little long, again no big deal.

there's still 4 cuts a month for each of those clients (depending on the month).

[steve-o]

Sporty Needs To Come To Hooterville.................

you wouldn't last long here sponge-bob. :laughing: if that works for you, that's what counts. i ain't figured it out yet.

steve

[MASTERMOWER]

Shhhhhhhh, it's Sport's secret...

i ain't figured it out yet.

steve

You ain't? It's so simple, even a smilie can do it. :alien:

Customer ---><--- Sport

[safari lawn]

I guess its not too bad around here, Just picked up a new job today, and even charged my top dollar for the yard. I know I am under the market value I charged $40.00 and I am sure in this neighborhood the going rates is around $45.00 - $50.00 for a corner lot.

Start mowing it next week, another successful referal.

[spotremix]

what is so hard about swapping a day. seems pretty simple to me. mondays people get cut on thursday and thursdays people get cut on monday. how much simpler can you get???

or are you all forgetting i only do it if it is absolutely 110&#37; necessary. in the whole 3 season i've been in business i've done it twice.

[MASTERMOWER]

I can't forget if I never knew............

or are you all forgetting i only do it if it is absolutely 110&#37; necessary. in the whole 3 season i've been in business i've done it twice.

110% eh? I've never experienced that myself.

Why would you swap days anyhow? Rainouts err something? Even then........................?

I've been mowing for over 10 years and I ain't ever had to break my consistent weekly scheduling. I really don't understand the need to move one days mowing up by 4 days (11 day rotation)and the other days mowing back 4 days (3 day rotation). Seems screwy. Then again, I love people like you....makes my consistency look VERY good to my customers.......

If it's one damn lawn that's the cause, move the damn lawn up (or back), not the entire days work, or better yet, tell the customer "tough sheot."

Carry on my wayward son. :alien::alien::alien:

[safari lawn]

What Makes 100&#37;? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%


And


K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But ,

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And,

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty, that While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, its the Bull**** and Ass kissing that will put you over the top.

[safari lawn]

i personally don't have any cost eating.

if i'm mowing say 10 people a day and i need to move my monday people to thurs and my thurs people to monday i do just that.

i would finish the a week as normal and then the start of the next week start with the new schedule. depending on the month there is still gonna be only 4 cuts for each client even with a swich.

with the new schedule on monday i would be cutting the clients i just cut last thursday, grass will be a little short but no big deal. and on thursday i'll be cutting the clients i use to cut on monday, grass will be a little long, again no big deal.

Thats what I was getting at, I have customers in the spring that really cant go past 5 days, I cut them 7 but if the monday customer has to wait until thursday thats 10 days, they are not going to be happy, as well as the other 10 customers that get mowed that day. The customer that was mowed on Thursday will be pretty pissed about having the yard mowed 3 days after it was just cut.


there's still 4 cuts a month for each of those clients (depending on the month).

In some ways I agree with you, I can do a few without an issue, but my problem is all my customers are referals from others so I have multiple houses per stop, but if you are trying to make your operation as smooth as possible it may not be possible for the bigger operations, or people who have further distances to drive. When I started I had jobs spread so far over that I drove 100 miles on a Friday, and it was a straight line. I have since limited my area to about 10 square miles.....

I have had to keep small to make this work with my FD schedule and have to rotate jobs, but its only 1 day either forward or back ie.. working Friday mow Thursday one week and friday the next, I still refuse to mow on weekends.

[GeeVee]

she don't like it and told me it puts her in an awkward position as she entertains on weekends and her neighbors mow theirs on weekends.

Not following her logic, Who's she chapped at? But you're good.

I swear, some of these discussions are so lame. Even if you are in the snow belt, its XX cuts per season. Quit dicking around with how many cuts in a row or how many days between. I weren't never in the snow, and as close to tropical year round mowing as you can be. With a full service company, I'm there every week anyway just dying to not have to run mowers. After a year, you aren't going to be on top of me anyway and they stopped counting service items....

Customer service is the customers perception. If you are the professional, and they want your professional service, they don't jerk you around, and they accept your decision when they make the request, the first time.

If you are perceived to be a chump they can manipulate- you are.

My business, my choice. Never anything less.

Uh Stephie? Its Beaucoup- meaning many or plenty