I’m not a marathon runner, but I’ve run plenty of races. I know the feeling of having nothing left in the gas tank, while still having a ways to go, and with the knowledge that everyone around me will turn on the jets during the final stretch. Running a business is more like a marathon than a sprint. But in both types of races, it’s important to finish strong.

For landscape contractors, finishing strong means to make sure that each and every detail is attended to on customers’ properties. Once the season ends, any loose ends or oversights will be a daily reminder to your customer that you didn’t finish strong.

I recall one year in particular when we failed to finish strong. It was miserable. Our entire winter was spent with a cloud hanging over our heads and resulted in several lost customers. Looking back on this unfortunate season, I believe we didn’t finish strong because we didn’t make a commitment to do so. We blamed the weather and all sorts of other things, but really, we had no one to blame but ourselves.

Not only do landscape contractors need to focus on customer properties, they also need to focus on finishing strong with customer relationships. The property may look great but that doesn’t mean the relationship is secure.

To finish strong with the relationship, best practice is to meet with your customers in person to review the details of the season as it winds down, to obtain feedback, and to discuss the future. Many contractors claim they don’t have time for these meetings. That may be true, depending on the business model. A contractor with thousands of small customers would be smart to utilize another method. But, at the end of the day, nothing is more meaningful than a face-to-face meeting.

How about you and your team? What does finishing strong mean to you? What do you need to do in order to get your team on board?

Now go forth.