Why a Good Relationship with your Lawn Care Dealer is Vital for your Landscaping Business
April 28, 2022
In this video
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The importance of having your lawn care dealer’s support
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Signs of bad service
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Example of a loyal dealer and how it benefits your business
There are many things to consider when choosing a machine, specifically a large piece such as a mower, to run your business. Does it have the features I need and will it complete the job the way you want it to? Is it comfortable and user-friendly? Does it have the right price point? From my experience, though, I really want to share what I feel is the most crucial piece – dealer support.
We are from a smaller community, and funny enough, our mower of choice was invented and manufactured right here in our county. There are several different options to choose from, though. We have looked around and have found that a couple of machines might even be comparable to the Dixie Chopper’s that we run. We have just come to find, though, that what our current dealer offers us is just unmatched.
Before Josh & I established Freedom Landscapes, he was already familiar with our dealer. He had been in and out of there plenty of times with the previous business he worked for. They knew him pretty well. Then when we ventured out on our own, and I was doing a lot of in and out of their shop, I started to see how vital our relationship with them was.
To start, it is a very comforting feeling to walk in and they know you by name.. Believe me, walking in somewhere and admitting that you are going to lose hundreds of dollars in revenue due to a machine down is not a comforting place to be. They not only know each of us as individuals, but they know our machines too.
As this relationship builds, a good dealer recognizes that you are a full-time business and your equipment is your livelihood, so getting a loaner mower is a huge benefit when your equipment fails! We are able to rely on our dealer in these types of emergency situations because of the relationship we have built with them over time.
Lawn Care Dealer: Bad Relationship Signs
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If you walk into a dealer time after time and they aren’t greeting you one way or another when you walk in the door, that is a red flag.
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Never return your calls when you check on the ETA of a repair – red flag.
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Making no effort to keep your business and making you feel confident enough to refer others to them – RED. FLAG.
How Can a Lawn Care Dealer Help Your Business?
It is a two-way street. We, as consumers, have to respect to them as well, even when under a tremendous amount of pressure to complete deadlines and beat the weather. Mechanics can get overwhelmed. They can’t make distributors get parts or products there faster than the shipping trucks can drive. Having a give and take and understanding relationship is where it is.
Humphrey’s Outdoor Power in Greencastle, Indiana, has gone above and beyond for us. I called one day because we needed a starter ASAP. They had none in stock and were on back-order, with no estimated restock date. Paul, one of the team members there, was helping me look online to see if we could find anything. He was doing all he could to help. I finally let him know I found one but it was markedWAY up, but it could be delivered in 4-5 days. He still wasn’t satisfied and told me not to order it just yet. When we got off the phone, Paul started calling every other dealer he knew of to see if anyone had one in stock. He calls me back and tells me a dealer about 45 minutes away had one, and he had them put it on hold for me!
You better believe I jumped in the truck and went and picked it up! See, Paul’s goal was to help solve our problem. Even if that meant the money from that particular transaction wasn’t going to flow into his business. What was important to him was taking care of us. And in return, we do all we can to flow whatever business we can through them.
Having a dealer near you for emergencies to keep you running andtakes the time to learn about you and your business and is willing to do whatever they can to support you is, by far, the most important thing when purchasing equipment.