And
with a record-breaking warm winter comes lots of spring-time ticks, ants and
spiders. To offset that image of rampaging bugs, let’s focus on what appears to
be a two- to three-week early spring season with warm days, quickly growing
grass and the wonderful sound of lawn mowers doing what they do best. Put the
odor of freshly cut grass and timely rainfall with all the above and you almost
have OPE industry heaven!
What
have you done to bring more people into your shop or business this spring, or
were you lucky enough to have them show up on your doorstep during the early
warm weather? Did you try something different to market your business to
potential new customers? Or, did you stick to what’s worked well for you in the
past? The old adage of “The harder (and smarter) you work, the luckier (and
more successful) you become,” has never been truer. You can’t afford to wait to
make something good happen in your business. Ask some of the salespeople that
call on you to share successful marketing ideas used by other businesses
similar to yours. Don’t ever hesitate to copy someone else’s best ideas in your
own business. What worked well for someone else might very well work for you
too.
I
enjoy reading about relationships between businesses and their customers, and
how those relationships have changed and adapted in the digital age. Aaron
Shapiro, CEO of digital marketing agency Huge, wrote in an article in the April
issue of the McKinsey Quarterly that
consumers are increasingly interacting digitally with companies. Growing
digital customer relationships means “the location of your businesses is no
longer a barrier to transactions; brands alone aren’t a proxy for quality; and
pricing is increasingly transparent.” Your digital customers may know as much
about your product as you do. They may know your cost and selling price and
your competitor’s selling price. Your digital customers probably don’t care if
your run your business out of your bedroom or have a location that looks as
nice as an Apple retail store.
To
compete effectively, you must not only run your core business (operations)
successfully, but also the software layer that connects the people who use
digital media and technology to interact with your company. Most likely, your
company wasn’t created to build and operate great customer-facing software.
Ours wasn’t either. But you or a dedicated resource must make sure the way your
customers are interacting with you digitally meets their needs, is easy to use,
and strengthens your relationship with them.
The
number of virtual consumers will only increase as people born after the
Internet’s advent become the primary consumers and business decision makers. As
time goes on, it becomes more and more critical to attract and win over
digital-first consumers. You can accomplish this by making each additional
digital interaction more frictionless and enjoyable. Otherwise, frustrated
users will head straight to your competitors, even if their prices are somewhat
higher.
Here’s
a good piece of business advice: “Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you
down to his level and beat you with experience.”
Unfortunately,
most of us learn this fact through our own experiences with this type of
person. If you’re a quick learner, then I bet you haven’t repeated this mistake
very often.
I
hope you are having a very busy and prosperous spring. I know our dealers and
service center customers are. Be sure to keep one eye on your expenses. During
busy times, we tend to watch the revenue line go up because it’s a lot more fun
than making sure expenses don’t get out of hand. Exploding labor and overhead
costs will quickly eat up the additional profits gained from great revenue
growth. Don’t let expense surprises ruin an exciting start to your 2012
business year.