How Is Your Lead Flow?
According to a recent poll I conducted with over eighty people, around 40% are feeling a softening in the market, yet another 44% are having their best year ever.
Is This A Tale Of Two Cities? What Are You Experiencing?
Even if you are having your best year ever, your success can cover up future pitfalls. Let me explain.
I recently spent 3 days running a Leader’s Edge Peer Group with an inspiring landscape entrepreneurs from across the US and Canada.
Photo of our dinner
The host landscape company allowed us to see the inner workings of his fast growth company.
We were all impressed with:
- His super talented young leaders, and
- Their embracing of technology and systems across the company.
- And all his positions were staffed with quality people.
No wonder his growth was so strong.
Yet, as they say in investments, “Past results are not indicative of future returns”.
His reputation is very strong. However his marketing was weak — and if the economy drops off, they will feel it.
Past results are not indicative of future returns Click To Tweet
The Challenge For Him, And For Many Companies In Our Industry:
His firm lacks people with true salesmanship DNA. And the relationships his employees have with their clientele is below par: They simply don’t have enough repeat and referral business.
Would he (or you) be able to drum up work if the lead faucet shut off?
Poll Results
As you can see from this poll below, almost 60% of respondents are doing “the same or better” than last year.
But things can change quickly. Only 6% are feeling “concerned” about a “very soft” market, but that can change overnight.
Your large backlog and the fact that you are turning away business now can cover up a softening that can impact you by year’s end.
Your Challenge:
- Keep Your Pulse On Your Local Market (developers, builders, architects, landscape peers), so you can see a softening coming; and so you know if your experiences are similar compared to local peers.
- Reinvest Money Into Better Or More Marketing. Speak to new marketing firms to double check if your current firm is giving you the best results. Network with your peers (like we do in our peer groups) to see if you are on the cutting edge of marketing. Aim for your marketing to be better than others in your market.
- Ensure Your Client Relations Are Extremely Vibrant: Keep tabs on their properties, their happiness, and their desire for upsales. Make sure your clients have strong relationships with multiple people inside your company, and that they are both satisfied and delighted. Measure your success by your “retention, repeat and referral” business.
It’s time to shift away from obsessing about employees only, towards a renewed obsession about your clients, too.
Every company should have a Customer Service Ethic, similar to Company Core Values, that all employees are taught how to honor and execute.
Regards, Jeffrey!
P.S. If you want to discuss this more in depth with other industry leaders, email me about joining one of my Leader’s Edge Peer Groups. It will change your life!
Also, you are invited to join us in Petoskey, Michigan in August for our Summer Growth Summit. where you can get a renewed burst of insight and energy to end the year strong.
