How do you position yourself as a worthwhile business when many people want to look it up and do it themselves?

If they are bent on doing it themselves, the only way you are going to talk them out of it is by explaining just how much work is involved, and the shortcomings of not having the proper refrigeration for the event. I will sell loose stems to them. Usually they find out just how difficult it is and ask us to do it. If you market your talents to them as an expert in your field, and create your own niche, I guarantee that they will be coming to you. The reason for doing it themselves, is to save money. I tell them not to skimp on the brides flowers, even if they do the rest of the wedding themselves.

As a home improvement contractor, we see time and time again, homeowners letting unlicensed contractors in to do the work to only suffer from nightmares in the long run, make sure that your contractor can do all of your home improvements at once and specializes in home improvements like us.
For more information, check us out at - QHIINC.COM

That is hard now a days. I found by doing floral classes it teaches them a couple of things. I been a florist for close to 30 years and I’m very good and fast at what I do ,I make it look easy. People who take a class learn a few tips and have fun. You can’t learn floral design in a hour. When they start to do their project they realize it’s not that easy and theirs doesn’t look like mine. Bottom line is education and they come to you for your expertise in your field.

I do not market through the internet. We work for architects, developers, public agencies and healthcare service providers. The projects need plans for design review and approval. They can not do it themselves the projects are too big. The best way to position your services would be to be a value added service...or your design fees would be the difference between the low bid and high bid for construction and the Client will know what they are getting for the money they will be investing in their landscaping.

Best,

Laurel Macdonald Bonnell

Principal Landscape Architect

Macdonald Environmental Planning, P.C.

As a florist, I see this all the time. I have known many other florists who would get very upset with brides who want to do some of the flowers themselves. They often would turn their noses up and refuse to deal with the DIY bride at all which I feel is just cutting their noses off to spite their face. We have some brides who come in looking only for loose flowers so they can make their own. We don't try to compete on price with the big box stores, so they pay more per stem when they come to us. They also know though, that we 100% stand behind our product. The flowers will be fresh and lovely. If something happens along the supply line and we can't get the requested flower we work with the bride to make sure she gets something she'll be happy with. Many brides will have do some part of the wedding themselves, such as reception centerpieces, but have us do all the bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres for the bridal party. Sometimes it's about the money - and filling canning jars with babysbreath themselves instead of having us design 25 centerpieces can definitely save them a lot of money. There's another component though that I think a lot of people overlook. The majority of the brides we are seeing now want to be invested in the entire wedding experience. They want to get together with their best friends and create something unique for their special day. They may spend hours and hours making special containers and place markers. They drink wine and have a wonderful bonding experience with the people they love most. It's not about time vs money; It's a completely different outlook to life. Who am I to interfere with that? it's not that they don't respect our skills as floral designers and wedding coordinators, they absolutely do. We give tons of free advise and they appreciate it all. Done well, we can still make a profit on every wedding, but best of all, by supporting brides in this experience, we are creating wonderful bonds with young women who value those bonds more than money. They come back over and over for other floral needs and they send their friends here too. It's all about your outlook and the way you present yourself, so anything you perceive as negative, find a way to make it a positive and you will be just fine.

I really do not have any problems with do it yourself customers. As Mosquito and Tick Control has State Pesticide license requirements. Education in pest control along with the correct pesticides is needed. Not to mention we’re how and when to do treatments.The best products are only available to licensed pest control Supervisors.

Give and it shall be given unto you. I help the do it yourselfers by posting information on my website for them, setting myself up as an authority on the lawn issues. But they are not good prospects as clients. There are plenty of people who either can't or don't want to do it themselves. They are the ones you want. And they are willing to pay for quality work done right. My best prospects are the upper middle class with the bigger properties.

How do you position yourself as a worthwhile business in a world where many people want to look it up on the internet and try to do it themselves?

We like those type of customers also. We charge by the hour. If you help the technician then he's done faster saving you time. If you need lessons then the technician takes longer to do the work and train you but you gain the experience to avoid calling us in the future for something within your new and expanded skill set.

Many of our customers cannot tell the difference between good/excellent and average work. Ten percent or so don't see the difference between bad and average. A homeowner that knows skilled work is my best customer.

Youtube does make it look easy. In my experience a lot of steps are skipped or the preparation work has already been done and not mentioned. It's like watching a cooking show for me. Of course I could cook that meal in 20 minutes if all the ingredients were pre-measured and sitting in pretty bowls.

In the moving industry, it is a good idea for folks to look up different companies. Check out their reviews and to get different quotes. However, there are a lot of movers out there that just do it part time. They aren't licensed or insured so if something goes wrong, they are on the hook for it. Some movers try and do "labor only" which is fine, but you will incur the time and cost of renting the truck and still have to assume all liability. I tell people to do their homework for anyone they need to hire.

I think you are concerned about a small percentage.

I find there are a lot of people that don't have the

Time, tools or physical ability to do the job.

If you provided a quality service at a fair price, word of mouth will get you all the business you need.

It just takes time to build up your client base