By the way ..not my garden!
I just knew it ..
When he came in the door with his notebook and pen and carefully took down the details I knew we were in trouble.
The garden was in a state, the grass was up to your kneecaps and it had been totally neglected since the end of last summer. I reckoned our poor Flymo wasn’t up to the job, so the idea was that we would try to find someone who could come in, give the whole place a once over and leave it in a way that we could look after it ourselves for the rest of the year.
Bear in mind that we have a nice 4 bedroom detached house in a housing estate with very average sized gardens both front and back.
After he left us we saw him pacing the front garden – It looked like he was measuring the area. Not good I thought.
The following day his quote arrived by email – €1,560 !!
Oh my god – I thought it must have been a quote for the whole year but when I read it carefully I realised it was for just the initial tidy up!
If there was ever a moment to spur me into action, this was it ..the next half dry evening the Flymo came out and together we attacked the grass – it took two more evenings and a few hours on the bank holiday Saturday but we cracked it!
We bought weed killer, moss peat, some flowers, a yard brush and spent pretty much the rest of the Saturday at it.
I totally despise gardening and this for me was a real punishment day (and evenings) and there is still plenty more to do.
I don’t care enough about the garden to have it perfect and I’m sure our expensive friend would definitely have had it spick and span but to me this was not worth it.
I guess at times we are like the “gardener”.
We do take careful notes, we spend time gathering as much information as we can, we try to fully understand the prospective client’s needs and issues and the challenges they face in their sector.
Armed with this information we go away, we do our own research and we write a Marketing and PR plan for them that will hopefully achieve their objectives. We then prepare a budget to execute the plan as economically as possible.
At times this is fine and everything proceeds but there are times when it is just too much for the prospective client and they must pass – sometimes they decide to cut their own grass!
Their garden will more than likely end up being like mine but sometimes with budgets being so tight that will just have to do.
The important thing is that we all do our best to drive forward and while that can be difficult with limited resources at least ..keep driving forward.
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion
Fuzion are a Marketing & PR firm with offices in Dublin and Cork
Tags: Fuzion, Gardening, Greg Canty, Marketing, PR
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 
May 4, 2013 at 7:52 pm |
Genius ! Love it ! Well done !
May 5, 2013 at 2:31 pm |
thanks a million
May 5, 2013 at 7:12 am |
Exquisite. Picture; Great Analogy;
May 5, 2013 at 2:30 pm |
thanks Patricia
May 6, 2013 at 4:55 pm |
Greg
Great blog. I have spent a fair chunk of my bank holiday in the garden. I am not a knowledgeable gardener but I find it a great excuse to be out in the fresh air. My aim is to keep the place tidy. Today, with my three year old girl, we moved a shrub and two blackcurrant bushes and she was delighted to be able to use her ‘watering can’. So my advice is to embrace the Garden!
I really like the analogy. My question is ‘how do you respond to a potential customer when you know that they can not afford your services, when you know they really need some help and you could provide valuable assistance’, How do you protect your own brand in these circumstances.
regards
donncha
May 7, 2013 at 7:12 am |
Thanks for the feedback Donncha – and a great question. I guess at all times prospects should learn about Fuzion and leave with the impression that we are a professional plan. Unfortunately for us these prospects leave with a well researched, though out plan, which they can execute themselves if they choose …protection? Hopefully they will realise that we are the ones to do this properly – ultimately we can’t protect ourselves. If we don’t put our best forward we won’t win the business.
May 6, 2013 at 6:54 pm |
I’ve dubbed this the “Reluctant Gardener”, I know how you feel. I need a lotto win to sort my garden! Great analogy though 🙂
May 6, 2013 at 8:25 pm |
thanks for the positive Trich – hope you are keeping well
May 7, 2013 at 3:54 pm |
Good analogy. Makes more sense to ask before engaging in a consultative process to gve a ballpark upper and lower figure so we dont waste time quoting for busienss we will never get. A type of ” depends on what you want but in simlar circumstances the project cost between X and Y. I’ll know better when I see it….
May 7, 2013 at 4:29 pm |
great point Chris
July 30, 2013 at 12:36 pm |
Great story & well written. I love gardening but I can see how some people just aren’t bothered. None the less its something that portrays your image and who you are, so it needs to be kept in check. Perhaps look at it as self branding in future and you might end up enjoying it.
Nah, as I type that it sounds ridiculous. Lets face it its tough work and time consuming. Again great article and really enjoyed reading it.
July 30, 2013 at 1:51 pm |
thanks Ray – people have painting parties – do they do gardening parties?