Twenty years ago, I was introduced to a Lawn Service Company in Conway by the font of all knowledge – my wife’s hairdresser. They took care of our yard as if it were their own. If there was a weed problem or water problem, they let me know. We talked about options and the best way to proceed. For years, other than persistent Nutgrass (the bane of all southern yards), our yard was pretty well free of weeds. And then two years ago we got “the letter.” The owner had gotten older and had sold the company to a large outfit in Little Rock. Ironically, it was the same company that we had left twenty years earlier. 

The new (a.k.a. former) lawn service hasn’t improved over twenty years. Oh, they have great systems and processes. They show up, spray the yard or put pellets on the yard, like clockwork. But over the past two years our yard has been overrun by Sedge Grass, Purslane and, of course, Nutgrass. I’ve called; I’ve sent emails; I’ve sent pictures – all to no avail. I received a survey call this week to assess my satisfaction with their services. I explained that I wouldn’t be renewing because of the issues. He seemed surprised. After all, they had a CRM, processes established, and systems in place to “service” the yard! Unfortunately, systems and processes that don’t include a feedback loop, outcome assessment and plain old common sense are worthless.

Because we are fiduciaries, I am flawed in that I expect those I deal with to treat me as a client, not a customer. The smaller company in Conway had treated us as clients. They used a collaborative process that was intended to keep our yard looking great!

The new, larger company just followed a process that seemed to emphasize selling us more services at every opportunity while our yard went to pot. We were simply a customer.

This made me think about our firm. There was a time that I ran the investment processes for all our clients. As we grew, that wasn’t feasible. Yet, we developed processes so that there was consistency between how the four of us served clients. Over the years, we have refined our processes to try to keep our services at a high level, even as our firm has grown dramatically.

Yet it dawned on me when I was faced with my yard care issues: We could become like the Large Corporate Yard Care Service if we ever thought our job was simply to follow a process. Our job will always be to tend to our client’s business as if it were our own. Our job will always be to help make our client’s financial lives work. Our job will always be to coach, to counsel and to assist our clients to simplify and clarify decision-making. While we can’t guarantee the future, we had darn sure better be creating and paying attention to feedback loops, outcome assessment and exercising plain old common sense to accompany our professional expertise – and processes. If you ever get a whiff of a hint that we aren’t, please let us know. Waiting until the horse is out of the barn to do a satisfaction survey is not a good business model! So truly, your feedback is appreciated.

Maybe our tagline needs to change to: We Care; We Pay Attention; We Want You to Succeed!

Rick Adkins, CFP®, ChFC, MBA

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