While there are several things that make one group more successful than the other, the one that really sticks out to me is the difference between working ‘in’ your business and working ‘on’ your business.

You see, everyone works ‘in’ their business. This is the actual day to day labor that goes along with running a business. For a lawn care business owner it’s getting crews lined up, managing employees, keeping track of finances, making sure customers are satisfied, etc. Anyone that owns a business does this. You don’t really have a choice.

Now, those business owners that are very successful are the ones that actually take the time to work ‘on’ their business. What exactly does this mean? Well, working ‘on’ your business is doing all the things that you know you should do to make it run more efficiently, more resistant to competitors, and better prepared for future growth. These are all the things that the average owner thinks about doing but never really gets around to doing.

One of the most important and potentially profitable ‘working on your business’ activities you can do is to develop and implement marketing systems that keep a steady flow of customers streaming into your business. Most LCO’s simply put out a few ads during the year and they don’t do much else because they say their ‘too’ busy.

Well, if you want to take things to the next level you need to redesign your days so that you have the time to work ‘on’ your business. You need to have good people in place so that you can take yourself into hiding occasionally for a few hours at a time to work on things that will make life much easier and much more profitable for everyone involved.

While it’s not very often you see people selling door-to-door today, it still happens quite frequently. In fact, you may be one of only a handful of lawn care businesses that does some door-to-door selling to drum up business as the year begins. If you are, I applaud you for your intestinal fortitude but question your value of time.

Now, even though you may be one that doesn’t go door-to-door physically, your marketing materials may still be having the same effect as those old-time salesmen jamming their foot in the door. You see, successful marketing is about telling those that have a need or are interested in what you can offer in a way that gets them to buy without brow-beatint them about it.

Contrary to many may think, you don’t have to beat people over the head with a souped up sales message or throw in a whole bag of ‘freebies’ to convert prospects into paying customers.

The key to getting your message delivered without having to shove your ‘foot’ in the door before it gets slammed in your face is to make sure you’re delivering it to people that want to hear what you have to say. In the case of a lawn care business, that would mean home or business owners that have a lawn that needs to be maintained on a consistent basis. These people should also be familiar with the type of service you provide and they should expect to have to pay a fair price for it.

If you can consistently deliver a benefit-laden sales message to these folks, you’ll never have to send marketing materials that have to slam a foot in the door in order to be ‘heard.’

I can’t believe it’s already the first of April and I’m sitting here wondering where the first three months of the year have gone. It’s amazing how quickly time flies and as I’ve thought about where it’s all gone it got me thinking about the importance of having a plan in place.

You see, marketing should be a year round exercise but it’s easy to neglect it because you’re caught up in the day to day operations of running your business. You should be doing something every month of the year to get referrrals from your customers, develop referral relationships with complimentary businesses, and attracting new customers through the normal marketing activities.

That’s a lot to keep track of.

That’s why it’s vitally important to put together a marketing plan ahead of time that you can refer to throughout the month and year. For example, just last night I took out my marketing plan I’d made at the beginning of the year and reviewed the previous three months and then
looked ahead to the next three months.

I looked at all the upcoming holidays, mainstream (Memorial Day - May 29th) and non-mainstream (Administrative Assistants Day - April 26th), and then worked backwards to
figure out when I need to start my various marketing campaigns.

I did the same thing with my email messages and blog posts. One of the things I’d decided in reviewing the previous three months was that I hadn’t done enough to build a relationship with you and gain your trust. As a result, I’ve decided that over the next few months I’ll be communicating with you more, giving you more marketing, business, and personal insight that I hope you’ll find helpful.

You should do the same with your lawn care business.

Take some time in the next day or so to pull out a calendar of the next three months. Look at all the upcoming holidays and decide to start several weeks in advance of these holidays to begin marketing campaigns that will crescendo and peak at the holiday.

Or make up your own special events. It doesn’t have to be something that’s already on a calendar for you to use it as a reason to create a special offer. Use your imagination and be creative.

Again, marketing should be a year round activity but it’s easy to overlook it because you’re too busy running your business. Don’t let this happen to you. Take the time to plan out your marketing activities and then set to work making them happen.