So, how have the ups and downs of the economy treated you thus far?  Are you seeing your customer base slowly shrink away?  Are you finding it harder and harder to line up new customers than in months or years past?  Well, if you have, you’re definitely not alone.

There’s absolutely NO DOUBT things are going to rough for a while.  I’d be blowing smoke up your skirt if I didn’t admit that.   However, that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to build a thriving, profitable business.

Did you know that during the Great Depression, a time many keep comparing our current situation to, there were more millionaires made than during any other time in history?  And did you also know that there are quite a few prognosticators predicting that we’ll see more billionaires come out of this current slump than any other time in history?

Why is this do you think?  What is it about these turbulent times that these millionaires and billionaires know that we don’t?

Well, to be completely honest, I don’t think they know any more than we do.  I think it’s what they DO that makes them so successful.  You see, instead of sitting in the dark, sucking their thumbs, these money-makers are out aggressively pursuing the many opportunities becoming available.

Now, you obviously need to proceed with caution, but sitting back, waiting for things to blow over is certainly no way to come out the other end of this mess smelling like roses.

In that spirit, I’d like to share with you 5 things you and I can do over the next little while to make sure our businesses keep growing and prospering in spite of the trouble marketplace:

1. Cut the dead weight

Listen, just because I’m saying it’s still possible to build a thriving, profitable business doesn’t mean you have to drag the whole flying circus along for the ride.  You’ve got to utilize this opportunity to get lean and mean.

Go over your organizational charts and look for ways to consolidate job functions without sacrificing productivity.  Are you keeping staff around doing jobs that could be done better, cheaper, or faster by someone else?  Have you considered outsourcing some of your more ‘commodity’ jobs?  Do you have employees that aren’t pulling their weight?

It’s important to look for every opportunity available to cut the fat and get as lean and mean as possible.  Sure, it’ll take some sacrifice and difficult decisions, but the well oiled machine you create right now will become even more profitable for you once things do turn around.

2. Implement systems for EVERYTHING

As you’re looking to eliminate unnecessary waste with your employees or processes, if you haven’t already, now’s a great time to begin the process of implementing systems for everything.

And I mean systems for EVERYTHING. Operational systems.  Equipment maintenance systems.  Employee hiring systems.  Employee training systems.  Financial management systems.  Customer service systems.  Joint venture systems.  Marketing systems.

Again, systems for EVERYTHING.  When you learn to systematize your business you’re able to accomplish more with less and all the added profit these systems produce flows directly to your bottom line.

3. Analyze your target market and adjust if necessary

In a tough economic climate like this there’s no denying the fact that a lot of people are struggling financially.  Joe the plumber isn’t the only one trying to squeeze every last penny of his paycheck.  Everybody feels the pinch.

However, there are some segments of your marketplace that are more insulated than others.  These are the segments you want to go after.  Why?  Because they’re less affected by the ups and downs of the stock or real estate markets, and they pay less attention to the talking heads screaming about how the sky is falling.  This means their grip on their pocketbooks isn’t as tight as everyone else’s.

Now, if you’re worried about competing in a more affluent market, don’t be.  The companies that are already there have NO CLUE how to properly market their business.  As a result, they’re probably competing on price, just like everyone else.

So with just a small amount of knowledge regarding how to differentiate yourself from the competition, you’ll absolutely blow away your competition and quickly become the service provider of choice.

4. Commit to becoming a master marketer

Listen, you probably don’t realize this because you’re down in the trenches every day, but when it comes to marketing your services, you and your competition are saying THE SAME THING.  As a result, your prospects and customers don’t know how to tell the difference and they usually end up making a decision based on price.

Now, be careful not to fool yourself into thinking they want the cheapest price.  They don’t .  In most cases, they would gladly pay a premium IF they were presented with the right value proposition.

Remember, the world doesn’t owe you a thing, but they’ll gladly pay any price for the right value.  It’s your job to present that to them and the only way you can do that is through effective marketing.

5. Focus the a healthy portion of your budget on your existing customers

This one is key in today’s market.  Unless every one of your existing customers is ‘Joe the plumber’ and his cronies, you should be focusing a good bit of your resources on selling more to your existing customers.  This means locking them into service contracts when possible and selling them additional services when applicable.

This also means you need to invest some resources in building a solid relationship with your customers.  Stop viewing them as a simple transaction.   Take the time to express an interest in their lives and they’ll reward you by remaining loyal through thick and thin.  Plus, chances are they have a few friends they’ll gladly introduce to you as well.

So, as you can see, right now is a GREAT time to grow your business beyond where it is currently.  However, it’s not going to happen by accident and will require sacrifice and work.  But it can happen.

Okay, okay.  The title of this post might be just a bit mis-leading, because in today’s competitive marketplace, without a website your business is TOAST.  The problem is, most business ONLY GET a website, and that’s it.

While a website can be a HUGE advantage when it comes to marketing your business, without a complete web MARKETING PLAN in place, your website is little more than an online brochure.  And when that’s all your website is, you might as well save your money or invest it in some other way to market your lawn care business.

What you need is a WEB MARKETING PLATFORM.  Here’s what your web marketing platform should include:

• A direct response website that captures the attention of your prospects, offers something of value, and then captures their contact information in exchange
• An automated follow-up marketing system so that once someone leaves their contact information you’re able to continually market to them on auto-pilot
• A traffic generating system that drives truckloads of qualified, interested prospects to your direct response website.  This system should include:
  •  Some paid marketing via Google AdWords, banner ads, or ezine ads
  • Some search engine optimization that drives FREE traffic to your site
• An on-going educational system that continually reaches out to the prospects that don’t respond initially and provides them with additional information, education about your products and/or services, and gives them opportunities to purchase these
• A consolidated effort with all of your offline market efforts, allowing you to maximize the effectiveness of ALL your marketing efforts

Look, if all you’re getting is a website that’s just going to sit there, here’s a little piece of advice:  SAVE YOUR MONEY.  Yes, you might get a few leads here and there, but not enough to make any real difference.

To truly maximize your online marketing dollars, get yourself a true Web Marketing Platform and watch your business skyrocket as result!

Everyday it seems like things are just getting worse and worse.  First, gas prices were shooting through the roof.  Then the mortgage companies were going belly up and some of the big banks followed suit.  Then we had to deal with the bickering across the political isle as our ‘elected officials’ crammed some ‘bailout’ package down our throats that most people really didn’t want.

 

Gee, you think we’re living in some turbulent times? 

 

Do I really need to answer that question?

 

You see, it’s in times like these when we find out who the serious entrepreneurs are.  As the news media continues to spew it’s biased agenda about how bad things are and how we’re all up a creek without a paddle, it’s the smart entrepreneurs that recognize this opportunity for what it is and really make a concerted effort to grow their business.

 

In last week’s newsletter I gave you 5 things you should be doing to not only survive this troubled economy, but ultimately thrive and come out the other end of this mess as the unquestioned leader in your marketplace.  Today, I want to follow that theme and talk about would should be your lifeline and ultimate key to success in today’s market.

 

You’ve probably heard me mention this before, but let me say it again.  Your absolute, most valued asset in your possession is your list of customers.  The ones that are currently, or have recently in the past given you money to provide services for them.

 

You see, your customers are your cash flow.  Without customers, all the other ‘stuff’ you focus most of your time on isn’t necessary.  If you don’t have customers, you simply don’t have a business.  Plain and simple.

 

Unfortunately, what happens once a typical business gets a new customer?  Or how do they handle the customers that have been with them for any period of time?

 

In most cases, they try to provide a quality service, but they assume that’s enough.  They think, “But heh, I show up every week and provide a great service for them!”

 

Yes, but unfortunately that’s not enough.

 

Consider the following, according to several sources (www.salesresources.com being one of them) it’s estimated that it costs you 5-20x’s MORE to get a new customer than it does to sell to an existing customer.  Do you need to read that again?  5-20x’s more!

 

Additionally, according to Marketing Metrix the chances of you selling additional services to your existing clients is between 60-70%.  In comparison, the chances of selling just one thing to a new customer is between 5-20%.  At least a 40-50% difference!

 

So if this is the case, why is it that most businesses are in such a rush to run off and spend more money to get a new customer when it costs them so much more than simply reselling to your existing customers?

 

Listen, if you really want to thrive in this economy then it’s IMPERATIVE that you focus time, attention, and resources on existing customers.  If you’re concerned about cash flow and are frustrated with all the wasteful, unresponsive marketing methods out there, divert some of your budget into building a 100ft wall around your existing customers!

 

To help you build this ‘Fortress of Solitude’ around your customers and to isolate you from the ups and downs your competitors are experiencing, here the one thing that will solidify your business during this troubled economy more than anything else:

 

A hard copy newsletter sent each and every month via SNAIL MAIL to every one of your existing clients.

 

Now listen, I know it sounds like a HUGE hassle and expense but it’s not. For around $.80/customer and 30 minutes of time you can send a customized hard copy newsletter each month and NOTHING will do more to strengthen that relationship and ensure your customers stick with your through this storm.

 

You see, while email is a great way to stay in touch, and it’s something I highly recommend you do as well, a hard copy newsletter has something email doesn’t.  It’s tangible. 

 

That means your customers can’t easily delete it.  They can’t put it in a ‘To Be Read’ later file.  And they know you spent some time and money on the thing so they’re going to actually read it!

 

If you simply send a revamped version of your brochure, or some ‘put you to sleep’ piece about lawns or landscaping, it won’t have the desired effect.

 

You want to make your newsletter fun and informative. You want it to be something your customers look forward to getting each and every month.

 

You also want to include some type of valuable offer, giving them the opportunity to purchase more of your services.  And it’s a great way to remind them that you accept AND EXPECT them to provide you with referrals.

 

Overall, a newsletter is a powerful marketing tool that every smart business owner should have in his toolbox.  Especially with all the ‘bad news’ the talking heads are spouting off day after day. 

 

If you’d like to see a sample of the newsletter I print each month, just reply to this and I’ll gladly send you a free copy of what I provide my Champion’s Circle clients every single month. 

 

On the 25^th of each month, the members log into a secure website, download the next month’s newsletter template, and in less than an hour they’ve got a ready to go customer relationship building powerhouse that will keep them thriving and growing while everyone else is simply HOPING to survive.

 

Now, while this is a pitch for my Champion’s Circle, the idea I want to leave with you is that you MUST focus on existing customers during this time.  Yes, the news is bad, but assuming you’ve targeted your market properly and they’re weren’t already just scraping by to begin with, they have money to spend. 

 

But it’s your responsibility to make sure they spend it with you!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, you’ve got to find a way to make yourself indispenable to your clients.  In other words, you need to be more than just the ‘guy that does the lawn’ or the landscape designer, etc.  You’ve got to figure out a way to make yourself so incredibly important in the lives of your clients that they really have to think hard about telling you to hit the road.

One of the ways you can do this is to make your business truly remarkable.  You’ve got to step outside of the box everyone else is playing in and figure out how you can become something that is more than what you are currently.

What do I mean by this?  Well, if all you’ll ever be is the ‘guy that goes the lawn’, then you subject yourself to the swings of the market and your customer’s moods.

However, if you become the source of enjoyment come the weekend, or the peace of mind when they’re driving home checking out everyone else’s yard, or if you’re just a total stress releaver because you handle EVERYTHING for the client, then you’ve stand a pretty good chance of insulating yourself from the roller coaster rides.

So, what do you need to do to become remarkable?  Figure out what you need to do to absolutely BLOW AWAY your customer’s expectations.  When you think you’ve settled on something remarkable, take it a few steps further.

Your customer thinks you’re only there to take care of the lawn?  Do that, but also be their ‘property advisor’ and give them recommendations and suggestions on how to improve it’s value.

You’ve landed a landscape design and installation gig?  Don’t just give them a beautiful landscape they can enjoy for years to come, but provide them with the manual, literally, on how to make sure it remains an enjoyable piece of their lives for years to come, and then follow-up at various times to make sure it’s still living up to what was promised.

There are ways EVERY business can become remarkable.  What’re you doing to make sure your business is?