BRIAN PAIGE
BUSINESS RECEIVES BUILDING BEACON AWARD
BRIAN PAIGE
BUSINESS RECEIVES BUILDING BEACON AWARD
Why Your Services Should Always Keep Evolving
By Jill Odom
Over the years, your business’ s core service may have shifted as you found your niche. Even when you’ ve found your sweet spot, it’ s essential to remain open to evolving in response to your customers’ needs and desires.
“ When you home in on that client, and you weed out the noise from everything else, your customer receives a lot better service,” says Jeff Fliginger, founder and chief visionary officer of Doctor Lawn Landscape Management, based in Great Falls, Montana.
Keep Refining
Fliginger says they’ ve been fine-tuning their services for almost 30 years, and it’ s not going to stop.
“ I think it’ s a continuous thing that you have to work on,” Fliginger says.“ We found what works for us, what doesn’ t work for us, and we’ re continually refining the processes in procedure to better meet our customers’ needs. What’ s interesting is that what works for us necessarily doesn’ t work for somebody else. You need to find what that is for your company and go with it.”
Wendell Furtick, owner and founder of Saluda Hill Landscapes, based in Lexington, South Carolina, agrees you cannot get comfortable as the moment you stop improving, you start falling behind. He says they will eliminate a service if they cannot scale it in a way that maintains the level of quality and profitability they expect.
Fliginger recommends looking at each service you offer and answering these questions.
Does the service fit in with your vision and mission?
Does the service provide a solution for your customer?
Do you have the capacity as a company to provide that service?
Can you make the service profitable?”
“ If you have a service that is really frustrating to you as the owner or your key project managers, after trying to fine tune or fix what you perceived was wrong, and you’ re still trying to put a square peg in a round hole, it’ s time to make a decision,” says Rich Leeman, owner of Landscape Technology Group, based in Vail, Colorado
Another element to consider is your customer feedback.
Julie Hayes, Selbyville branch manager for Sullivan’ s Landscaping and Maintenance, based in Milford, Delaware, says they act at the pleasure of their customers and solicited their feedback through a proactive survey to understand their wants.
“ As a company, we know where our challenges are internally, but we don’ t always see ourselves as well through the customers’ eyes,” Hayes says.“ We read and reread every single response, we accepted their criticisms, we listened to what they wanted, we pivoted in 2025 and we delivered. We want to be easy to do business with and that word spreads to bring us new opportunities.”
Jeffrey Riddle, owner of Alterra Design, based in Dallas, Texas, adds it’ s important to know what the market needs and craft offerings your customers may not even be able to articulate.
“ Many of our clients tell us they knew they wanted something better but did not know how to describe it or if it was even possible,” Riddle says.“ I think our clients have been looking for home services wrapped in a warm, personal, non-transactional experience but had just given up trying to find that.”
Communicating Changes
When it comes time to eliminate or add a new service, how you go about sharing these changes with your team and your customer base is pivotal.
“ There is always some resistance to change,” Furtick says.“ The key is explaining the reason behind the decision so people understand it and can support it.”
Hayes says when they were first transitioning from residential services and small commercial accounts to maintaining HOAs, they made the mistake of
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