As someone operating a small business I find myself wondering occasionally ‘what is my edge?’ or what is it that I do that makes me different to the 99% of other people who install reticulation and lay turf.

I have pondered this for a while and it seems that the whole notion of ‘over-delivery’ is possibly most in line with my own business ethos and personality.

Every time we have had a tradesman come to our home who has gone the extra mile, or delivered superb service I will keep his card or even enter his number in my mobile, because I value that kind of attitude.

By contrast this week I hired a bob-cat driver to do a very easy job of spreading soil for one of my customers. With a minimum of charge of 3 hrs labour ($240.00) he was in and out in 30 mins and did very well out of it. However there were some areas he couldn’t get to with his bobcat and he needed to use a wheelbarrow. He told me that because he ‘hadn’t quoted’ on using a barrow he wasn’t prepared to do the work. I did it yesterday and it took 5 minutes – literally. The customer thought he was an arrogant dipstick and I would never use him again because he took the opposite approach of ‘charge for everything’.

I’m not into ‘doing it cheap’, partly because it doesn’t pay very well (and I figure if I am going to work bloody hard I want to get well paid for it!) but also because it means I am under pressure to deliver the same quality service in a faster time than is reasonable – or lose time and money. I did advertise for a while that I guarantee to be the ‘cheapest price’ on new installations, but no one ever took me up on it by comparing my price to someone else’s – so maybe price isn’t the biggest factor.

I also have a ‘widow’s and orphans’ policy (generally speaking) so some people get stuff done for nothing or for very little cost because they are more needy. I was going to call my business ‘Robin Hood Reticulation’ at one point – because the money I make off the rich will be used to fund the poor…

But I have pretty much decided that my ‘edge’ will be in the area of:

– a top quality job and not cutting corners

– excellent communication with customers by phone, email etc to make sure they are confident in what I am doing

– punctuality and reliability – starting and finishing on time

– a fast response on any warranty issues (24 hrs ideally)

– going the extra mile in every job, yet not in a way that sees me lose $$

My price is still pretty much the same as everyone else’s but I’d like to think people will feel good when I have finished the job.

Sadly ‘over-delivering’ these days usually involves simply turning up, finishing the job and not being indifferent to the person you are dealing with. There are so many who simply don’t front, do a shoddy job or communicate in grunts.

Anyway just a refection on how I see business developing…

I’d be interested in refelctions of other small business operators. What is your edge? Or how do you function in a way to maximise your business in line with your personality?

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