bad call turns into more work

[Got Snow?]

there was light snow fall for most of the afternon on jan 18. so i call my guys and tell them to plow thier routes after the football game. i got about 3" at my house (that's the tigger). i pull into one account and the guy comes running out "think you really need to be plowing?"... i'm getting calls from my subs.." i only have 2" here" a few driveways were shoveled. The next day i get a few calls questioning my service. however i did get calls requesting service, last couple of weeks we got a couple of 1" events, forcasted weather was cold.......beside i had 3" at my house.

after struggleing with this for a day (still have to pay the subs....$750 total) and not wanting to loose customers or getting a bad rep i decided to send out a letter stating the snowplow service was complimetary to promote my new services. (property maintenece)

well who'd of thought but i've already recieved 3 requests for service! i'm lucky to have an oppertunity to recoupe the money i lost, but i guess the moral of the story is measure before you plow.

[Lawn Lad]

What I will tell customers about our trigger depth is that we plow a "proactive 2" or a "proactive 1"... or whatever the trigger is. I tell them that although the trigger is X, I will use my discretion and may plow in advance of the trigger if conditions warrant. We treat all seasonal and per push accounts the same, so we don't play favorites by running around at 1.5" and plow the per occurrence ones only and let the 2" seasonals sit. Pretty much if one gets plowed they all get plowed unless it would be completely unreasonable to plow the property (scattered lake effect can leave 1/2" here and 3" just around the corner).

Each market is a little different. Your customers must be a little more hardy than those around here if they want 3" triggers. I'd try to push the envelope by upping the amount of service if at all possible. We're trying to sell people on the advantage of a 1" trigger over the standard 2" and it seems to be working.

[Got Snow?]

we are currently working on 2 addition levels of service to address the 3" trigger.

[Snoworks]

I run my operation much like Lawn Lad has explained, with the exception of 1" triggers. All my clients commercial and residential get plowed at 1"! A majority of my residential customers are Seasonal(Pre-Paid) customers, so coming out to plow is never really questioned.

The commercials we have want to be cleaned at the first sight of snow, so there is no plowing issues on this end either.

Chuck B.

[BWhite]

Perception is everything . I actually show new customers three inches on a scale to make sure they realize what 3 inches is . To younger customers they like 3 or more . The elderly usually think 3" is more like 1-2" . These borderline storms are a real hassle, I have gone out and have received complaints

[Got Snow?]

Bill,
I'm glad to hear you recieve complaints as well (lest i be the only one) I really hate those border line storms. looks like we'll be getting another one sun/mon/tues.

on anthoer note, what is your trigger? also in other posts you said you plow with the storm. what is your max depth? how do you handle billing? (do you charge everytime you show?)

[BWhite]

Most of my customers are a 3" trigger . I give them a price to 11" and then it slides higher . I go back as many times as I see fit . on a six " storm, once would be nice ,but it limits the amount of customers . I normally dont charge for after the fact windrow cleaning from the city plows . Its can be a hassle but all my accounts are close by . I havent had my plow on the truck since the 12/15 storm . We are due for something ?

[Got Snow?]

Originally posted by BWhite
We are due for something ?

i'm not jinxing anything...................

[BWhite]

Todd Gross (channel 7 ) said maybe something on Tue

[4evergreenlawns]

Ditto to what Lawn Lad said.

I see more threads about residential customers complaining about the depth of snow than commercial customers. I have learned to aviod the "NWS verification required with invoice" accounts. As we all know snow depth can change within just blocks of each other within the same town. Therefore, NWS verification is worth less in light snow fall.

I lowered my trigger to 1" for my seasonal customers and then tell the few 2" per pushcustomers the rate I bid is based on plowing the route. If they want to be treated as a stand alone account that effects rates and service. I have never had a probelm with the accounts I do add to the route after that statement. In some cases when I had the feeling the account was going to be an issue with per push depths I just told them to get someone esle but thanks for the calland to keep me in mind if the person they hire fails to show up.

I had three calls last snowfall that was a 1"- 3" from accounts where the Vendor told the client "there is not enough snow for us to be out plowing" after the client saw our truck next door or accross the street in a clear lot. I carry fill in the blank contracts just for this.

One thing I have learned is that once you start giving services away it becomes expected and every invoice gets challenged with the "Did we really need to be plowed" or "why did you salt".

Unless your margins leave so much room for follow up and revisits I can not see every doing this. Even on revists if we only plow out a entrance or just salt blown over area we bill accordingly at .25 levels.

If you are doing work at margins that leave room for extra labor after the fact than it would seem your rates are higher than market and it is just a matter of time before you are out bid. Maybe this applies more to the commercial market but I try to keep up with what the market will bring and servicing clients on the higher end to validate "market rates for quality service".

As for EARNING not giving away new accounts. I have just added 10 new lawn accounts off of new snow customers who were unhappy with their previous vendor who "always had a reason for not plowing" which left the lot looking bad.

As Lawn lad said, it all depends on the location and what the market demands.

[Lawn Lad]

One thing we do, which we don't advertise, is pro-rate some work depending on how much work do. I generally will charge full price if we do more than 50% of the property, day or night. However, when we go in to do touch ups, we will prorate in increments of 25%... so I will put on the invoice .25 or .5 or .75 or 1.0 as the quantity times the set price. The descritpion will read "Plowing/clearing of snow from parking lot: 1 - 4" - PRO RATED". I make sure I call attention to the proration as well as those times I "do not charge" for service. For instance, I may do some touch up plowing which takes three minutes to hit parking spaces and then I salt. I might list "no charge" for partial plowing, and then charge a full salting, which does cover the cost for both, but it looks like I'm giving a little something to the customer based on how we invoice the work.

[4evergreenlawns]

Again I would have to agree with you and we do the same thing.

[Got Snow?]

so i did the right thing?