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Hello and welcome to the lawn hustle.

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Season number two, episode number 15.

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I appreciate you tuning in.

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I trust you've had a good week and a great weekend so far.

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If you're in the lawn care business,

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I know you are extremely busy during this time of the year.

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The grass is growing quicker than you can mow it.

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The phone is blowing up with mulch jobs and pruning and river rock installs.

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I know you're busy and I appreciate you listening.

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In this episode, we're going to discuss

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10 ways that you can grow your lawn care business.

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Growing a lawn care business requires a combination of quality service,

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smart marketing, and solid business practices.

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I want to share with you 10 ways that will help your business grow.

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Number one, offer quality service.

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Make it a habit to consistently deliver high quality service.

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You don't want to go in and mow a yard, skip trimming one week,

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or the back doesn't look too bad, so I'm not going to mow it today.

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I'm just going to rush, rush, rush and get through the schedule.

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Don't create those kind of habits.

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When you show up every week, you do the best job possible.

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I was raised whatever you do, you do it as unto the Lord.

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In other words, you show up every week and you give it your very best.

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Be the best version of yourself and offer high quality work every week.

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Get into a pattern, whether it's you trim first

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and then you mow and blow, or you mow, trim and blow.

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However you do it, whatever works best for you.

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I have my routine, I have my pattern.

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It works best for me.

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So that's what I do every week. I show up, we trim, we mow, and we blow.

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If there's obvious weeds in flower beds or mulch beds, we take just a little bit of time

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and pull the weeds as we go.

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The little things that you do make the difference.

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The things that maybe no one asked you to do, but you saw it,

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and you respond to it, and you go above and beyond.

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That's what creates quality service.

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You've got to realize that a satisfied customer becomes a repeat customer.

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And more likely they are to refer you to others.

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No one wants to make a recommendation to somebody

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who they don't know if they can depend on,

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or they don't know if they're going to show up from week to week.

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Put every customer on a schedule.

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That way every morning when you wake up

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and you stumble to the coffee pot, you can look at your schedule and you know

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before you leave your home what has to be done that day.

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Every customer of mine is on a schedule, Monday through Friday.

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Saturdays are set aside for catch-up days if we get a lot of rain during the week

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or side jobs.

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But set your customers on a schedule and you show up.

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You're dependable and they know if their day is Tuesday or Wednesday

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or whatever their day is, they know you will be there

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and they will get the best quality job possible.

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Number two,

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get certified and educate yourself in the green industry.

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Now I know some areas you might not be required to be certified,

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but it's always good to educate yourself.

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Take a course,

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read a good book, take notes.

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I enjoy watching our influencers

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reels and watch their their content

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because I can learn something from it.

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I read the comments, I read their replies.

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I get a better understanding of why they do what they do,

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the steps that they take, what order they take those steps in.

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So educate yourself,

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get certified. Obtaining certifications related to lawn care

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and landscaping can enhance your credibility.

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Continuous education and new technologies, new techniques

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and eco-friendly practices can also give you the edge.

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You want your business to be on the cutting edge.

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You want your business to stand out. You as a business owner,

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you want to stand out in the crowd and I have noticed in my area

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there's lawn care businesses popping up like crazy.

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Every day you see on Facebook somebody new

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looking to cut grass, $20, $25.

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Trucking the truck, Dan in a van.

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They go out of business as fast as they got in business

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and that's why I encourage you if you want your business to grow

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stand out. Be elite in your area.

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Number one, we said offer quality service.

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Number two, get certified and educate yourself.

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Number three, invest in good equipment.

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Now when I started out all I could afford

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was a couple motors that I found on Craig's list

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and I had problem after problem after problem.

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Wheel motors going out, hydro pumps going out,

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tracking, being off hard to keep a straight line.

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Just one thing after another and those mowers become a money trap

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because all I was doing was working hard and throwing money into an old mower

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just to try to keep it running.

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So as soon as you can I encourage you to invest

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in high quality good equipment.

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Number four, build a strong brand.

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Create a memorable name and a logo.

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Ensure your branding is consistent across your uniforms,

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your equipment, your website, your marketing material.

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It builds recognition and trust.

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When they see your logo on your shirts, match the logo on your truck,

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match the logo on your envelopes, on your social media sites, on your website.

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Everything is consistent. It brings authenticity to your business.

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It makes potential customers feel like they can trust you.

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Number five, build you a professional website

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that is friendly, that showcases your service

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before and after photos, client testimonials, contact information.

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Not only is it important for you to have a website, it is also equally important

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for you to have good social media websites

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or web pages.

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TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all of those are great marketing tools.

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When I post a reel, I tag my city.

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That way people in my local area see the work that I do.

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I was in the grocery store, standing in line, waiting to purchase

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the few groceries that I was there for.

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And a lady, about three registers over from me,

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started pointing at me and shaking her hand.

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I didn't know what was going on. I was about half scared to death.

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And all of a sudden she said, I recognize you.

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We watch your reels on Instagram and TikTok.

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She said, we love to watch those videos where you are going real fast.

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What she meant was she likes watching the time lapse videos.

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She recognized me because I had a company shirt on

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and the name professional lawn maintenance.

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And the lawn care service that she follows on TikTok

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just happened to be professional lawn maintenance.

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So I encourage you to post reels, post high quality content,

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make it interesting,

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build a following. You're marketing yourself, you're selling

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yourself, you're letting your community know that you are available

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for service.

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Number six, word of mouth.

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Encourage your satisfied customers to refer others

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by offering incentives such as maybe a discount on a future

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service.

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For every successful referral that they give you,

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maybe a small finder's fee.

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Number seven, network locally.

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During local business groups, I belong to all of mine on Facebook.

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What's up in Newcastle, Indiana?

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Mowing Muncie, out and about in Newcastle, out and about in Henry County.

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These are local pages groups that I belong to

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because I can advertise my business on their pages

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and I have gotten a lot of work from customers

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on Facebook.

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You want to number eight offer a wide range of services.

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You don't want to get stuck just offering one thing

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because seasons change

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and when the grass is no longer growing, you got to be able to stay busy

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and keep your business running, keep employees working,

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keep finances coming in. So offer a range of services

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include landscaping. There is a difference in

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lawn care and landscaping.

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Major difference, not everyone that mows is a landscaper

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but not all landscapers know how to cut grass.

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Maybe offer garden care,

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pest control, seasonal cleanups, spring and fall cleanups.

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You might want to offer fertilization,

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irrigation,

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aeration. There is a wide range of work

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that you can offer your clients and your community

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and by adding services to your business

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it increases

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the probability of financial blessing and success.

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So don't get stuck just offering one service.

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Offer a wide range of services.

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Now

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if you are good in one thing it certainly is okay to focus on that.

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If it's landscaping focus on it, if it's aquascape focus on it,

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water features are beautiful. If it's mowing and you can lay the best

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stripe in town focus on that but add other services

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to your list of services.

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Number nine, focus on customer service.

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Be prompt in your responses to inquiries.

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When someone sends you a text or someone calls

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be quick to answer the text or return the phone call.

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Reliability and keeping appointments

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and friendliness can set you apart. In other words if you schedule

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a time to meet a client

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don't show up early and don't show up late and God forbid

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you not show up at all.

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If you tell somebody you're going to be there at six o'clock to give a mulch

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estimate you're pulling up at six o'clock

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because being punctual, being a man of your word

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sets you apart from your competitors.

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And number 11, excuse me number 10

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always seek feedback to improve your service.

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Ask the customer are you satisfied?

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And if you are satisfied will you go to my google page

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and leave me a five star review. Don't be

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intimidated to ask for a five star rating.

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When I do a job whether it's mulch maybe a privacy fence

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or a deck something that we do in the slow

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season when the grass is not growing

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I ask every customer are you satisfied?

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The answer is yes. Then will you please go to my google page

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and please leave me a five star review.

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That helps me when people are searching

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in my area for lawn service. It moves me up the list

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and I'm one of the first ones that catches their eye

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when they're scrolling through google looking for

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a lawn care business.

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Implementing these strategies can help increase

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your customer base and improve your customer retention.

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It's not just about getting a bunch of customers.

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It's how long can you retain those customers.

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I've got customers that I'm working for today

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that I started servicing their property the first year I was in business

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so I've been able to retain them. It's not just a number.

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You know I've got this many clients

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but how long can you retain that list of clients.

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That's what sets you apart when you're able to take a video

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and post it on social media and you can write a caption.

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I've been servicing this property for 15 years.

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The thought automatically is he must do good work

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to be able to retain that customer.

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So

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I hope that

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these 10 things that we have talked about will help you

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grow your business, stay motivated,

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find the right balance between work

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and continuous improvement,

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taking care of yourself, celebrating achievements

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and staying connected with others in the industry

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will help you maintain a high level of motivation

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and will help you to continue to grow your lawn care business.

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I wish you much success.

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I wish you much happiness

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and thank you for listening to the Lawn Hustle.

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Join us again.