The summer is coming.

Today I wanted to talk about the big summer push that all your merchants will be focusing on (including myself at work).

Its the time of year where you get up in the morning, go to the kitchen, make yourself a coffee (or tea) look out at the garden and because the sun is rising nice and early you get to see the blank canvas that is your garden.

Well at least this is the scenario that your customer is going through, this year (fingers crossed & touch wood) we WILL have a summer and instead of your potential customers thinking "You know what, lets go to Spain with the money we saved for the garden as we wont get to enjoy it even if we get it done" there now thinking "You know what, Lets get this garden done and we can finally have a BBQ and invite the neighbours round and show off".

So your customer has you round to get a quote, you price up the labour but where do you source the materials?

This is the big question! There is no easy answer this year because so far ALL my competitors at work are throwing out very good deals and some i cant keep up with no matter what i do.

My advice first off is get an idea of what your customer wants doing (yes i know I'm telling you to suck eggs again) once you have an idea get on the Internet and check the big guys out (national merchants) there all putting up digital firework displays on there homepages and see if there deals are matching up with what your customer wants.

My second piece of advice is ring the smaller regional merchants, these guys are usually backed by a buying group like L.I.M.A so there buying power is still pretty strong and again see if there matching up with your customers requirements.

Now we have a product in mind and you show the customer and there happy with what you've shown them so like a previous post advised get them down to YOUR merchant, let them see the product in the flesh.

Not only will this put your customers mind at rest with what they have chosen, the merchant can close your sale (job) for you and even offer add on sales (which could lead to more work for you....that you get paid for of course).

I'm speaking from previous and very recent experience as a landscaper came down with his customer and they wanted a new shed and a decking area, well the shed was a straight forward sale, just a bog standard apex shed but the deck turned out to not just be a 6m x 10m deck which was originally wanted it actually turned out to be the following:-

6m x 10m decking area,
Handrail, Baserail, Balustrade, Newels,
An arch,
and alot of Stains, Timber protectors.

This gave my landscaper a much bigger pay day.

The last thing you should all look out for is watch out for hidden inflated materials.

So you have a great deal on paving slabs! cheaper than every other merchant and your happy right? well what if your sub base costs more? or your cement? I would break the enquiry up into two parts if you really want the best deals, price up the prep work and then price up the finishing product, this way merchants and suppliers wont try and sting you as its alot harder to hide an inflated price when its broken up into smaller parts.

In summary for this post, your options for landscaping this year are in my opinion the best it's been for along time, a recent suppliers meeting informed me that alot of my suppliers took a really heavy hit on sales as winter lasted 12 months last year so they are pushing hard to make up for it this year, deals are flowing like rain in summer 2012, take full advantage and if you do need any help or advice don't hesitate to ask me.

Your suppliers delivery service.

Today i wanted to talk about a very important part of your suppliers business, the delivery service they offer.

This may sound a little broad but let me explain, the last two weeks in my merchant we have had four different relief drivers (I'm sure you understand the terminology but just in case, they are drivers who are hired to cover when our normal driver is off) and without sounding rude three of these drivers couldn't find there arse with both hands and one was up to standard.

This post is not really about relief drivers but the regular delivery drivers your merchant has employed, this may seem in words a small and obsolete subject but just for a second think about it.....

Have you ever had a driver with a bad attitude?

Have you ever had a driver who wouldn't help you handball a couple of heavy items?

Have you had a driver who is incompetent on the crane and makes you wince when he has a pack of blocks swinging 12ft in the air next to your newly built section?

Have you had a driver that has the urgency of a sloth on cannabis?

I've worked with quite a few drivers over the years, maybe close to 100 taking in agency drivers that come and go and i can only think of four who were the "perfect" driver, these guys were fast, reliable, helpful, knew the customers well and one of the most important aspects they carried around with them a positive can-do attitude, if i needed any one of these drivers to stay late or come in early I would barely need to even ask.

My point with this post refers back to "know your merchant" your merchant is only as strong as there weakest link, whats the point of a fantastic driver if the sales staff are incompetent? whats the point of the worlds greatest salesman if the yard staff can't pick your order right? what's the point of having all the right ingredients for a fantastic merchant if the company itself is putting a noose round there neck which restricts pricing or is asking them to reduce stock?

So if we get back on track with the drivers, it's very easy to spot a good driver, it's how they carry themselves when they turn up for a delivery, it's how they handle the crane, it's what there attitude is when something is wrong with the delivery, I talk about know your merchant but the driver is a huge piece of the customer service you require, so next time you get a delivery what type of driver is going to turn up to your site?

Also if you haven't checked it out already please visit the TCPG page, I may have gone on a bit about these guys in the past but I can't stress how important it is to just take a look if your going to be starting a job.

The Consumer Protection Guarantee