← Profits with Pajak
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What do you do when your competitor is cheaper, louder, and showing up everywhere and your phone isn't ringing like it used to? Do you lower your price or do you double down? Because one of those decisions will grow your business and the other one will quietly kill it.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Yardbook, the All in one CRM for your lawn care business. And as an exclusive partner of this podcast, you can get started today and begin simplifying your business and maximizing your profits. Sign up now@yardbook.com the link is in the show not time now for profits with PayJack, an essential podcast for you in the green industry who are looking to unlock the full potential of your business. Hosted by John Pajak, your certified financial coach, the show features in depth discussions with successful entrepreneurs, thought leaders and industry experts. Providing practical advice and proven strategies on financial planning, operations, marketing and sales. Profits with Paycheck has valuable insights and action steps that you can implement today for creating long term success. Now here's John Pak.
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Welcome to Profits with Paycheck, the podcast where you talk about business strategies and financial insights for the green industry. I'm your host, John Pak and today we're tackling a topic that every one of you has dealt with at some point in this competition. Not just competition, but the kind that gets under your skin. You know, the guy down the street charging half your price, the new company flooding Facebook with ads, the customer who yells, well, I got a cheaper quote. Well, you know, what do you actually do about it? Do you lower your prices? Do you fight back? Do you ignore it? Well, today I want to walk you through exactly how to handle competition the right way without destroying your margins, your sanity or your business. So let's take a look at this. You know, there is a wrong way to respond to competition. You know, let's start with what not to do. And the biggest mistake I see, especially in the green industry, is panic pricing. You know, competitor shows up cheaper and suddenly you feel like you need to match them just to stay in the game. And that's how businesses die. You know, you didn't calculate your, your, your pricing based on what your competitor charges. You calculate it based on your cost, your time, your overhead and your desired profit. All these things, they lead to your goals too. Okay? Your goals and your competitors goals might be completely different. And when you drop your price just to compete, you're not competing anymore. You're surrendering. And here's the reality. If someone is charging half your price, they're either cutting corners, not paying themselves properly or they simply just don't understand your numbers yet. And this is, this isn't your lane. Now you have to understand what kind of competition you're facing too, because not all competition is created equal. And I find that you kind of have three types. You got the low baller and this is the guy who's undercutting everyone. He's usually new, desperate, or just completely oblivious. You've got the legit competitor and they're priced similarly. They offer similar services and they actually run a real business. And then you got the premium player, they charge more than you and they're winning because of branding experience or service. And you have to identify which one you're dealing with because your strategy changes depending on the type. And you don't fight a low baller the same way you compete with a premium brand. You know, a lot of times we talk about it, you got to compete on value and not price because if you're competing on price, you've already lost. There's always someone willing to go cheaper, but not everyone is willing to go better. And value is how you win. You know, again, this is, you know, like in my world with fertilization, weed control, our programs compared to our competitors, it's not apples to apples. You know, a lot of our, our competition, they have a program, but it is not nearly as deep as ours. It doesn't cover as many things. It doesn't address issues that our lawns face. If they do, they're. Those things are add ons. So when people look at this, they want to look at the value. This is why a lot of times in our, in our estimates, you know, we, we will show like what we do well, how we're going to approach it. How are we going to give them that lawn that the customer wants? And you know, this is part of that value. You know, we are, we have professional communication without directly calling out competition. We're showing how we are different with our services by being very transparent and communicating well with our clients so that they could actually see that. Apples to apples, no, this is not apples, it's apples to oranges. And maybe you like citrus a little bit better. I'm not exactly sure. Okay. Another value point is showing up when you say you will. I cannot express how important this one is. There's nothing more frustrating to a client when you say you're going to be there and then you're not there for three days because of weather or whatever it might be and you neglected to tell them or it's a Perfectly beautiful day. And they're like, okay, I'm expecting, I'm expecting them to come on Wednesday. Where are they? And they never show up. You know it when you, it's again, this goes back to communication and showing up when you say you will because that is more, I mean it's happened to me where we've had weather delays or whatever and people, we start to lose trust if we don't show up when we say we will and we don't show up. So another thing is, you know, with value, it's showing clean and consistent results. You know, educating your clients and having systems and reliability within your company. And think about it like this, your ideal client is not looking for the cheapest option. They're looking for the least risky option. Yes, I know a lot of them are very price sensitive, but at the same time, you know, if you buy something and it doesn't, let's just say you buy a wax for your car, right? And you buy the cheapest one and you realize that man, you have to use like twice as much of this product to get, get it done. It takes you way, way longer to get the results you're looking for. And you realize after all said and done, you've spent more on that product than what if you just would have went up one shelf and bought a better car wax, you would have gotten better results. Less time would have been in input and you would have been happier. It's like all these things combined, you could see like, oh yeah, it would have been worth the extra, you know, the extra money just to go with the premium option in the first place. And I'm just kind of comparing that to, you know, regular services. You know, they might see this low, low price, but then they realize, oh, in order to get the results I want, I have to you, I have to get more services or I have to get extra add ons because these things were not covered and they ultimately will probably spend more money with the other company. Well, I'm speaking for myself, I should say if they just would went with us, they would have been a more comprehensive program. So excuse me, when you're again, you want to, your customers are looking for reliability and you know, they don't want to take risk, they just want the results. They don't want to play around with stuff. They just say, look, take this off my plate, I'm giving it to you, I want this result and I'll pay you for it. And when you, then when you could achieve that, you could position yourself as the professional, the expert, the reliable one. And then price becomes less important. Back when I was getting my lawn care business off the ground, I was juggling routes, invoices and customer notes with paper and prayers. It was chaos. Until I found Yardbook. Yardbook gave me the structure. It helped me track chemicals, route efficiently, invoice faster, and most importantly, it helped me grow a profitable business. If you're tired of duct taping your systems Together, go to yardbook.com and sign up for free. And if you're ready to go premium, use promo code paycheck to get your first 30 days on me
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Are you mowing lawns, running crews, and still wondering where all the money went? You're not alone. Naylor Taliaferro of LCR Media has been there. And that's exactly why he created Profit Accelerator Live. Join Naylor and expert speakers John Pajak and Eric Triplett for two powerful days of hands on workshops designed specifically for lawn care and landscaping business owners in Richmond, Virginia, June 26th and 27th. This isn't a conference where you'll sit in the back and take notes. You'll leave with an actual business plan in hand, knowing exactly what to charge, how to manage your time, and how to attract better customers. Tickets are just $299, but right now you can bring a partner or fellow business owner or free with our two for one special. Tickets are just $299, but right now you can bring a partner or fellow business owner free with our 2 for 1 special. Only 75 spots are available and they will fill up fast. Use the link in the show description or go to profitacceleratorlive.com to secure your spot today. Put more money in the bank and more time in your schedule with Profit. Profit Accelerator Live hey, before we jump
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back into the episode here, if you're if you're wanting to grow your business and stay ahead of where the industry is going, you need to check out the Lawn and Landscape Technology Conference. This event is happening July 22nd through the 24th in Scottsdale, Arizona, and it's one of the only conferences specifically focused on technology. They got AI and all these other systems that they're focusing on in the green industry and we're talking about real strategies to help you run your business more efficiently, increase profits, and stay competitive as things continue to evolve. This isn't just another trade show. This is a working conference. You're going to get hands on education, practical insights, and connect with other business owners who are trying to solve the same problems as you are. And here's the best part. I'll be there on Pod roll covering the event along with some of the great people in this industry. We're going to have Naylor Taliaferro from LCR Media, Mike Garvey and Larry Delisanti from the side Hustle Squad podcast, Cornell Mack from the Omni Attack with Mac. So if you're going to be there, come find us, come say hello, and let's talk shop. And if you're not signed up yet, go check it out right now. The link is going to be in the show notes, but it's lltechconference.com so seriously, if you want to stay competitive in 20, 26 and beyond, this is the kind of room you need to be in. All right, so let's get back into it. You don't beat competition by reacting emotionally. You beat it by having a strategy. And this is where everything ties back to what I teach all the time. You control your numbers. You can control your confidence. You don't beat competition by guessing. You beat competition by knowing your numbers. And the specific number set that you should know is your cost per hour, your cost per application, your break even point. When you do those things, you stop being emotional, you stop, you stop reacting, and you start making decisions with confidence. Because now when somebody says you're too expensive, you could confidently say, no, I'm priced correctly. That's power. Most of us aren't going to say that. We're a little scared. But when you do know your numbers, the confidence starts to ooze out of you. You're like, no, I know our pricing is very quite fair. Matter of fact, it is very valuable. So let's talk about some strategic moves that could actually beat competitors. You know, let's, let's get down to the meat and potatoes and talk about what actually works. And here are a few strategies that, you know, I've implemented and you know, others that I look up to have used to win. And again, one, increase your average ticket. Bundle your services together. If you've been listening over the past couple weeks, you've noticed I've been talking about this a lot. And when you can bundle, add ons or services that you're doing and turn them into a single package to where you could just spend a few extra minutes and still, you know, complete these things while you're on the property, it's very powerful. It's very, essentially, you know, you, you're not necessarily just lowering your price, you're increasing the value. Because regardless of what you do. You might be doing fertilization and weed control like me. You might just be mowing. You might just, you know, you might be irrigation or landscaping. Whatever it is, there is something there that you could find to where you could bundle the bundle services together, which is going to help your client. They're going to see, like, wow, I only have to call one guy to get all this done. Okay, It's. It's very powerful and it's helpful. It's incredibly helpful for the client. They're getting exactly what they want, and it help. It helps you because now you're building trust, you're building value. And not only that, but you're building your bottom line because you're doing what your client wants you to do, and they're paying you for it. The second thing that you should really look at is tightening your routes. You should be looking to dominate streets. That's your first goal. That's the first step. Once you get a. Once you get a client somewhere that meets your. Your client avatar, you know, it's the people that you want to be working for, the people that could afford your services. Your first thing is to get that client. Then the next thing is to. To start expanding to your neighbors, to their neighbors. I should say dominate the street. And ideally, you want to dominate that neighborhood. And when you start owning a street, you reduce your drive time and you increase your profitability. Third thing you want to do, you want to improve your marketing message. Stop saying what you do and start saying why it matters. Don't just say, ah, do fertilization, weed control. Instead, switch it around. Say we provide a thicker, healthier lawn without any guesswork. You know, something along those lines. You want to sell the end goal. You're not just like, yeah, we do mowing, we do fert, we do irrigation, repair. It's like, okay, great. It's a list of things people aren't looking to buy. A list of things. It's not like a grocery list. You know, maybe they are, maybe that's. But I find it's easier to sell a desired outcome, and that's what should be. You should be focusing on. Focus on retention. This is the fourth thing I want you to look at. You know, your best defense against competition is a strong relationship with current clients. That alone, if they don't trust you, you know, they're gonna just pass you by and go ahead with the cheaper guy. But if they trust you, they won't even call the competitor. Or when the competitor leaves a note on the door or knocks on the door and says, hi. They're not. They're gonna be like, no, it's okay. I got. I got a guy. We got somebody. We're happy. Can't tell you how, how much, how many times that happens. But, you know, the fifth thing that you do is be professional. Most companies in most competition, they lose simply because they're inconsistent. And this. This is a really important one to remember is just because you got the client doesn't mean that they're going to be yours forever. You have to be professional. You have to be consistent. You know, say what you're going to say, do it. Do what you say you're going to do, and then actually follow up. If you say you're going to be there on Wednesday, then be there on Wednesday. If something happens, then be professional and educate, or not educate, but, you know, communicate with your clients so that they understand why you're not there. Answer your phone, follow up, do what you say. You'd be shocked how far that alone will take you. So just to kind of bring things home. Competition is not something to fear. It's something to understand. And if you react emotionally, you will lose. But if you respond strategically, you're gonna win. The goal is not to beat every competitor. The goal is to build a business so solid and so clear and so valuable that the right customers choose you every time. So, you know, just as a few takeaways for you, just never lower your price just to compete. You want to identify the type of competition you're facing, focus on value and not being the cheapest, and know your numbers. So you could price it with. With confidence. When. Because when you're using strategy and not emotion to grow your business, it's a. That's a whole different world, man. You're a different animal. Because if you're really emotional about it, well, yeah, I could. You're unsure. You know, you sound very weak. People are not going to go with you. But if you could, if you're confidently speaking about what you know, what you do and what you're charging people, people pick up on that, and they will, trust me. It sounds weird, but they'll kind of flock to you. So, as always, I hope that you got some great information from this episode. If you want to want, please share it with another business owner that might be struggling. Also, I want to thank you, as always, for listening. God bless. Keep pushing through and we'll catch you on the next one. Thank you once again for listening. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with fellow business owners. Your support means the world to me and helps keep the show going strong. I want to give a special shout out to our friends at Yardbook. Their continued support has been instrumental in bringing this podcast to you week after week. If you haven't checked them out yet, visit yardbook.com and see how they can give you the tools to streamline and manage your lawn care business. Also, don't forget to explore the resources and upcoming events that I've collected just for you in the show Notes. These are curated to help you stay ahead in your business with the latest tips, tools and networking opportunities. Whether it's a new tool, an insightful article, or an event you don't want to miss, I've got you covered. Until next time, keep pushing through and God bless.
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Sam.