Those of you who know the intimate details of my life, know that I pay the bills as gardener, or an industrial athlete (I prefer the latter, it sounds tougher).
If we provide bad work, we sacrifice the reputation of our business.
To paraphrase Andre 3000, If I do not move my feet, then I do not eat. The quality of my work is directly connected to the quantity of service the company I represent recieves. If we provide bad work, i.e. getting caught asleep on site, at the local grocery store reading magazines, or not showing up on site but still billing, we sacrifice the reputation of our business, and therefore loose clients. However, as gardeners, we try our best not to represent ourselves this way, because we rely on word-of-mouth advertising. If we do not recieve word-of-mouth recommendations, we would be out of business, or competing with phonebook, fly-by-night, minivan, landscrapers.
Remember word of mouth advertising?
– A handy-man, or a gardener, did a quality job, without unnecessary extras, or going over-estimate, and you recommend them to your friends and neighbors.
The butcher shop is always hiring
For gardeners, weeds are recession-proof, and those who are aesthetically motivated and need to maintain a kempt facade for their beautiful houses require our services. At our graduation ceremony, my mentor, Gil Wilkes, Ph.D., made a joke that the butcher shop is always hiring. Due to my geographic location, Victoria, BC, aka “the city of Newly-weds, nearly-deads, and garden-beds”, gardening is my butcher shop.
When you have a positive customer experience, you want to tell your family, friends, and maybe even your enemies, so they can get in on the goods. Last week, I went to the Pacific Northwest Raptor House, in Duncan, about 45 minutes from Victoria, BC. After a discussion on the historic use of falconry, my friend, Steve, a plumber, suggested I make the trip, and I propositioned a friend, from Alberta, to accompany me.
During the falcon demonstration, I kept saying to her “I am SO excited”, and “This is AWESOME!”. The bird of prey demonstrations were quality. One of the dives a falcon did even made the trainer say “That was so AWESOME!”. The trainers were informative, and friendly, and we walked away feeling like we had gotten our money’s worth out of our trip.
Here is the result, the best 6 minutes you will have all day:
Here is the result, the best 6 minutes you will have all day:
This video is not an advertisement, marketing ploy, or public relations stunt: It is a friend recommending a quality product to their friends/ acquaintances. I have not been paid to make this video, nor do I expect any reparations for it. If someone who reads this goes to the Pacific Northwest Raptor House, and has the same positive experience, this is payment enough.
Do you provide a service that would make someone, as busy as me (weeds don’t sleep, but I could sure use some), write and edit for hours to recommend your business?