Who gets the worm? Why the early bird, of course!
Who gets the business? Stay tuned...
This week marked another "fork in the road" opportunity for me. It was "man versus machine" time at the Palazzolo house. No, not me versus my computers! Instead, it was me versus my lawn mower. Yes, while most North Texans have already mowed their yards weekly for the last month, I have adopted a new "organic" approach and let my yard grow. Grow that is until I got a postcard from the home owners association requesting I take a "less than organic" approach. I'll spare the granola comments I spewed from my mouth upon receipt of said postcard for now!
Out to the garage I went to fire up old Toro. Last year, after 12 years of ownership I finally had him tuned-up. $95 later (I paid only $65 for him) I was guaranteed that "He'll run just like new!". I didn't purchase him new, so I assumed he'd run better than the sputtering/choking machine I'd experienced. Well, he did run great. He ran great that first time out of the shop. The rest of the season he was plagued with what I can only call "premature completion anxiety" for which I am certain there is a pill! The poor old-boy could barely finish the lawn without stalling 4-5 times...He was pathetic for a 15 year old! Well here was his opportunity to redeem himself after taking the Winter off. One pull (potato), two pulls (potato), three pulls (potato), four pulls (potato)...This could go on and on and on...because it did! Some twenty pulls later I decided that poor old Toro had seen his best days. My shoulder on the other hand would take some serious icing down by my massage therapist "Ms. Coors"!
Fortunately we have great neighbors who are lazy and don't cut their own lawns. My wife actually talked with several at an event known as "Bunco" or "Bunko" or however you spell it or drink it or whatever they do at those get togethers. These ladies in attendance were happy to recommend their own "crew" to her. I got their numbers the next morning and began to call. I left messages for all of them and asked them to come on down to my house and view the yard and give me an estimate. This might have been a sign that I did not get a single one of them on the phone! Guess what? Not one of them returned my phone calls! Business must be good this time of year in North Texas, so I did what any "organic" grower would do...I waited for the crew that handles my next door neighbor and approached them!
These guys were real good. They could have told me it was $100 per cutting and I would have said "Ok"! Fortunately they didn't and after a couple of go-'rounds we got to a price point that was mutually agreeable.
Here's the moral of the story...Business today does not always go to the best. I have no doubt in my mind that the crews recommended by the ladies of bunco/bunko may do a better job than the crew I ultimately hired. Unfortunately I'll never find out! Why? Because business today go's to the quick! The crew that I was able to have quick access to got the job. You will get more business than your counterparts if you are simply quicker than them. John Maxwell in his book "Talent is Never Enough" says this is true if you don't belive me!
Think quick, act quick, be quick. Jack be Nimble, Jack be Cashing Checks!
PS - I still have not received a call from any other lawn crew...Maybe they drove by and noticed my "organic" experience was no more!
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