How to Have the HIGHEST Prices in Town (Lawn Care Business)

Hey everyone, it's Mike and you're listening to the Business Bootcamp podcast. Today we're going to be talking about how and why you want to be the apple of your industry so you can make higher profits and grow your business more. Before we get in today's show, a big thank you. Today's sponsor, which is Gusto, if you haven't already, go to gusto.combootcamp try out their software completely free for 90 days. You can do direct deposits, ach directly into the accounts of your employees or for their payroll. And they can see all of the deductions, taxes, workers, comp, all the rest that comes out of their paycheck. They can see it all very transparently. Check it out. Today, completely free, 90 days, Gusto.com Bootcamp now, today I'm talking about something that I actually had a coaching call about with a landscaper. But this really applies to any industry that was struggling financially because he knew his prices were too low. And his concern was that he, in the past, he has lowered his price or raised his prices and lost customers. And he looked around in his market, his competitors, and saw that they're cheaper. My customers literally will tell me they're going to leave if I raise the price by $5 a month or whatever it might be. And he was afraid to raise his prices and charge what he was worth, charge what he needed to charge to actually make a profit in his business. The past few years, he hasn't been growing very much. So regardless of what industry you're in, I want to encourage you that if you think you're in an industry that is a commodity, that people are always looking for a lower price. I really encourage you to think about this analogy or this kind of story that we see played out in bigger businesses. And I love to look at other companies that are bigger that have a lot of they're public, there's a lot of information about them to be able to draw conclusions and how I can learn from them. So when I Look at Apple vs Microsoft and the operating systems that they created.

Today, if you go to an Apple store, you're going to pay 1500, $2000 for a computer. Now, the same specs of that computer on a Windows operating system, maybe a Dell or a Lenovo or maybe not Lenovo, but like a Samsung or, you know, one of these other cheap computers that run a Windows software literally might be 5, 6, $700 and have the same amount of RAM, the same amount of memory, etc. And some would argue a better Computer from a hardware standpoint. But what makes Apple so unique is the fact that they're able to charge a premium price, double the cost of another comparable product. And yet people line up to buy them. It's not like, oh, should I buy an Apple versus a Windows? Oh, these are the same products, this one's cheaper, I'm gonna buy this. No, people buy the higher priced product that is significantly higher priced with much better margins. And they buy that product because they are interested in the brand, they entered the design, what that brand represents, and people are willing to pay that higher price. And I believe in our industry, whether it be lawn care, landscaping, service based, whatever industry you're in, I want you to start thinking, how can I be the Apple in my industry? How can I provide enough value to my customer that not necessarily intrinsic in terms of the hardware or the service I'm giving, like mowing lawns, a basic commodity, Most anyone can do it. But how can I provide a common service with uncommon results? How can I make something that is so, you know, everyone can do it, it is such a commodity and make it something special, Whether that be the speed of your service to do estimates, whether that be the communication and the professionalism of your staff, whether it be your branding, whether it be your professionalism online. So when I was speaking with this individual, I said, look, the first thing you have to do is realize that right now, by you not having a website, by you not having decals on your trucks, by you not having these fundamental elements of looking professional to the customer, the perceived value of potential customers to your business is much lower. They don't think feel that you're worth paying a lot more money for because you simply do not have the appearance of being very professional. And so when we look at an Apple versus a Microsoft and we look at the profit margins of an Apple product versus a Windows product, you got to realize that they're making way less units selling as a Mac, for example, versus a Windows computer that is sold millions and all over the place. Every single manufacturer can utilize their software, but at the end of the day they make much less margin. And so when it comes to your business, you gotta ask yourself, do I wanna play the volume game, the Microsoft Windows operating software operating system, or do I wanna go after Apple which is going after that 10% of the market that is willing to pay a premium price for a premium product and service. They're willing to pay for someone that they can communicate with, speak their own language. They're willing to pay for someone that has online reviews. They're willing to pay for someone that has a website. And guess what? They're willing to pay a price that's far above the cost of what other people are willing to pay. That are literally the worst customers that you could potentially have. And they're the ones who are price sensitive. Most of us in the landscaping, lawn care industry know your lowest price customers are usually the ones that give you the most problems. The ones who are willing to pay a premium price. They expect a premium service, and they're usually the ones that order more products from you, more services. They. They buy the upsells, and they are the ones that are willing to pay a premium price. And you get higher profit margins on them. And when you get higher profit margins, you're able to now invest that money into marketing, actually start to grow. And so one of the reasons why the individual I was talking to, he's like, I can't raise my prices on my existing customers because they're gonna leave. And I've literally. My business has been slowly going down over the past few years. And so that fear of losing customers has kept him from raising prices. But raising prices is exactly what he needs to do to be able to tap into profit margins. But you can't just raise your prices and be like, oh, well, I'm gonna raise my prices and I'm gonna keep. I'm gonna make more money. No, in order to charge that higher price, in order to accommodate that, you need to have a higher value to the customer. And that doesn't come in the form of bigger trucks, bigger equipment. No. What do they care about? They care about communication, the speed of communication. They care about the ease of doing business with you. They care about your professionalism online. They care about having the reviews online to make sure they're making a good decision. The trust is with you. Before they make a buying decision, they want to have a card on file. They want to make sure that your emails and your phone calls are answered promptly. These are all things that are valuable to the customer. And if you can deliver on those things, you can charge that higher price, attract a better client, have a higher profit margin. At the end of the day, you don't need to have the volume game. You don't need to have 90% of your market going after them. You can go after that small percentage of people. They're willing to pay that premium for a premium service. So if you're afraid right now of losing all of your customers that are too low of price, and you're like, no, I can't do that because I lose literally half or three quarters of my customers and I know they're underpriced, I know I'm not making a profit. But these are the wrong type of customers because I haven't been professional in the past. I haven't had an online presence, I don't have a website, I don't have fast communication. I'm going to do that. But I'm worried about losing all of these old customers. This is what I would recommend, and this is what I recommend to this individual is going forward, charge a higher price. And in the meantime, set up your website, have a Facebook page where you post consistently, make sure you get online reviews, make sure that your trucks and your equipment and if you have a storefront has great signage and branding. Make sure you do those things because those are the things that are valuable. Make sure you have systems in place to answer the phone quickly, answer emails quickly, get an accepted estimate or proposal on the schedule as soon as possible. Those are all things that are valuable to the customer. Do those things and then by doing those things, you're gonna be able to charge a higher price to new customers. Now by having that website, having that branding, you're gonna start to bring in new leads. And in my opinion, new leads is like new oxygenated blood for the body, right? The same way that our heart is beating to move and circulate the blood through our body and re oxygenate it, whatever that means going through the lungs, put oxygen back inside the blood. I really believe that, like oxygen to the blood, new customers and leads coming into your business is vital because then you're able to shed off those old customers. So as you build your brand, as you get that brand image of a premium product and are attracting better clients that are higher paying, higher profit margin customers, you're not able to get rid of those lower margin, less profit, much more picky, price sensitive customers, you're able to get rid of them. And better yet, you're given the confidence to know that if I do raise prices on them and half of them leave, I'm okay with that because I now have a consistent flow of high quality leads that are coming in that are attracted to my premium service and are willing to pay a premium price. That's how you build the apple of your industry. And you should really try to think, double think, triple think, second guess yourself. If you're going after the model of being the Windows operating software where it's for everybody and you're the lowest price, the cheapest cost, and your margins are absolutely squeezed to thin. Thin margins. That's my tip for the day. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Mike Andes. You've been listening to Business Boot Camp podcasts. Until next time, Be great, because nothing else pays.