18A-Create a customer avatar

My customer would be working adults that do not have time to take care of their own yard.  They would be wealthy people that do not mind paying for someone else to do their lawn work.  Their hobbies would be book club and golfing.  The wife will be watching Dr. Oz and the husband will be watching Sports Center.  I would say that the wife drives a white Mercedes SUV and the husband drives a silver Tesla sedan.  They absolutely have children and the wife takes them to school and their after school activities.  The husband works long hours and gets home late at night and leaves early in the morning.  These customers only have time on the weekend to do their lawn work...but they have everything else to do too.  They have to do other chores like laundry and grocery shopping.  If they can pay somebody to take care of the yard work they will.  I do not have anything in common with this avatar because I am willing to just do the yard work myself because I have the time to take care of it myself. 

 

15A- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

After interviewing these three people I have realized a few things about potential clients in this business.  I have concluded a few things based on these interviews.  People will take quality over a cheaper price.  People would rather pay top dollar for quality tree trimming.  They like to have their yard look perfect and they will pay for it. People will also usually always shop online when looking for tree trimming services.  It is currently the easiest way to look for new lawn services.  Two said they rather pay with credit card and the other said she would rather use cash.  They said personal pride in how their lawn looked was the biggest factor in getting their trees trimmed.  They said that when someone compliments their trees that is what makes them feel good about their purchase.  Sometimes they think that they should be spending money on other things.  I would say that it really makes me happy that people will pay for quality over quantity. 

13A-Reading Reflection No. 1

1.  It surprised me that they had no schooling and that they were just bike mechanics.  I would have to say that the answer is the same to previous question.  I admire that someone without schooling can do something so great.  They attempted several times to fly the plane and failed many times.  They kept trying and changing things until they got it right. 

2.  One thing I noticed is they were obviously good at being mechanics and working on things with their hands. 

3.  The one thing I would say is I always see it as confusing when people from such humble backgrounds are able to overcome and achieve goals when they come from nothing. 

4.  I would ask them how did they deal with failure? I just want to know if it bothered them or just made them work harder.   How amazing did it feel when you had the first success?  I want to know how great it must have felt to finally get it right. 

5.  I believe their opinion of hard work is to wake up and give it your all when working on your goal.  It is to give up some personal life to achieve your goal.  I completely agree with them on what is hard work. 

12A-Figuring Out Buyer Behaivor No. 1

The segment that I chose for the interviews is tree trimming.  This is just a small segment of the landscaping business that I have chose to do.  I asked five people if I could interview them until I found three that said they had this need.  They said it is pretty clear cut that once a month or every few weeks they like to have their trees trimmed to keep them properly groomed.  The general consensus was that they used the internet to find someone to trim their trees.  One used craigslist and the other two just used google.  They said that they just type in "tree trimming Tampa" to find someone locally to service their tree trimming needs.  I learned that when people need their trees trimmed, or probably any landscaping for that matter, they will probably go to the internet to find someone to do the job.  I ask them if they would ask friends and family.  Two said they did not think of that and that they would ask friends or family next time they need it done.  The other one said she would rather seek reviews on the internet for a reputable company in Tampa.  I realized that they already knew they had this need.  I imagine most people are pretty aware if they need their trees trimmed.  I was surprised that the one person did not trust the advice of friends and family and would rather go on the internet and listen to strangers. 

11A-Idea Napkin No. 1

1.  I am Peter Murray and I am best at landscaping and making people's yard look great.  My aspirations are to start a lawn company and grow it to be the most successful lawn company in Tampa.  I am sure that starting the company and growing it to be the biggest will take a huge toll on my personal life.  I would be willing to sacrifice that to make it successful.

2.  I will offer my services to make their lawn perfect and up to their standards.  I will cut lawns, blow off decks and driveways, clean gutters, and trim trees.  I will do anything at their house involving landscaping that they need.

3.  I would love to service wealthy clients in the South Tampa area.  They are always on the run and do not have the time to take care of their own lawn.  They also have the money to pay someone else to do their yard.

4.  My customers all have the same thing in common.  Time is the most valuable asset.  They do not have time to do their own yard.  They have the disposable income and they are willing to pay someone else to do it so they can spend time on other things they find more important.

5.  Honestly there is not much that separates one landscaping service from another.  The only things I can think of is exceptional customer service, incentives for discounted or free service, and hard work.

I originally was under the impression that I had thought of every aspect of this business.  It is obvious that I have not.  Before this exercise I did not think of what would separate me from other landscaping businesses.  I will think long and hard and try to think of every aspect of this business.