Dan In Focus

I learned a lesson in customer service the last two weeks. Well, I should say I have learned the lesson for over 8 months, but those lessons have not been positive. Over the last month, I finally have a good example to follow.

Last fall, my wife hired a landscape architect to design a master plan for our new house. We have landscaped two houses before, but spent a lot of time and money redoing large portions each time. She wanted it to be done right the first time on this go around – something I really appreciate, since I really hate the work. The design done by Stephanie Hansen of Countryside Landscape Design was really well done. While Stephanie and Denise chatted merrily about plant species, I looked at the amount of grass to be removed, dirt to be brought in, boulders (not rocks, BOULDERS) to be placed and sprinkler lines to be moved. Ugh. This was going to be a lot of work for someone. Hopefully not by me.

Learning lessons in all the wrong places

I started calling landscape companies for bids. I figured with the economy being what it was and winter fast approaching, someone would like to pick up another job before the snow flew. Boy, was I wrong. I couldn’t get more than a couple of companies to even return my call. I finally convinced them to give me a bid, laying out the rule that Denise wanted to do all the planning of shrubs and flowers herself. She is the gardener, after all, and it would be therapy, not work, for her. Upon giving bids that included planting anyway, I requested they do as I asked and remove that part out from their bids. Their response was to not return my phone calls or emails. Silence. Nothing. Are you kidding me? How is that good customer service. It began to dawn on me that if I wanted this project done, I was going to have to do the work myself.

Testing a theory

When I read Write It Down, Make It Happen by Henriette Klauser, I started a small journal where I wrote down the things I wanted. Here is an entry for January 2, the very first day I began writing my desires down:

I want to pay someone else to do landscaping.

This is one dream I really wanted to happen, so in the early Spring, I started making more phone calls. The same thing happened. I would get estimates including the pieces I didn’t want them to do, only to be unceremoniously dropped when I requested it taken out. Finally, one landscaper confided that I was removing the biggest profit margin item on the list. By the way, he didn’t even call me back with the bid either – he just disappeared, too.

Finally, a good experience

I had just about given up when I came home one day to find a door hanger advertising a local company, Forrestbrook Landscaping. It even had a coupon for $200 off for a quick booking. I called immediately and to my surprise, not only did they answer the phone on a Saturday, Chris came over an hour later to look over the job. He had a bid back that very night for the exact job I requested. After I swallowed a little at the price, I realized I would have to reduce the scope of what I wanted done. I called Chris back. He enthusiastically discussed options and helped me develop a three-year plan to get the entire job done. He assured me breaking it up was no problem for him – he would be glad to do it.

Strike that. Make that a “great” experience

Chris and his gang got started early on Monday last week. They arrived exactly when they said they would. After a quick check on final details, the crew flew into the task. By the time I left for work an hour later, they had the sod removed, sprinkler system nearly fixed and were starting to dig holes for the trees. My neighbor, who builds houses and knows about landscapers, reported he was shocked to see how quickly they finished up, sweeping the sidewalks and street behind them. After a couple of rain delays, the curbing company showed up to finish the job. Even these guys were the best I have worked with, checking and making small modifications to the plan at no charge.

Testing customer service

The real proof came this week. I finally got a chance to work with the sprinkler system after the curbing had dried sufficiently. Water came shooting up out of the ground in the wrong place. I called back, hoping Chris would even answer my call. After  all, he had his money. Not only did he answer, he had a crew over the next day to see what was wrong. They found the break in the worst possible place, directly under the new curbing. After a little puzzling over options, they figured out how to cap the pipe. They wanted the pipe to dry for a couple of hours before testing, so he requested I call him when I did. When I called back at 8:30pm, he cheerily answered the phone. Clearly, his stock is rising in my book.

Now for the real test…

Late last night, Denise was preparing the list of shrubs for planting. This is a multi-hour research process for her which she dearly loves. In the process, she discovered Chris had missed a couple small boulders in one bed on the plan. I figured there is no way they would want to deal with that now, since the boulders are from a quarry in another county and would be overly costly to deal with now. I figure the best we could hope for was to have them include it in next year’s effort. I suggested she email Chris and let him know, bracing myself for the worst. I offered to place them myself in a hopeful compromise. To my surprise, Chris replied within 15 minutes, apologizing for the miss, promising to get the boulders and place them for us. He is even offering to let us take advantage of his discount with a local nursery for the shrubs Denise wants.

Customer for life

Did all this service cost Forrestbrook Landscaping money? Absolutely! It has taken time from their other jobs and money out of their profit. What is the result? There is no doubt on who I am calling for the rest of my landscaping. Whenever anyone asks for a reference, I will gush praise until they ask me to stop. I’ll even write a blog post about it. These guys get it! The money they will get from future sales will far surpass the small investment of time and money now. They have just secured another salesman whom they don’t have to pay. Customer service may cost more in the short-term, but in the grand scheme, it the best thing for the business.