Business is Good…..Sort of

Grade Checker Marco in Iowa.

This has been a tough year for any business in the world, dirt moving is no exception. With over half the year in the bag, it is time for some reflection.

Our business is slightly below last year. It seems like good news to hear we are off by a little, when some contractors are down over 50%. We are doing less work for our long time clients, as well as picking up a lot of new customers. The reason for the new clients is something I find interesting, we are getting them from 2 major sources. The first is the fact that smaller 1 and 2 man data operations are shutting down, and we are getting a share of their old clients. The second and favorite of mine usually starts with a phone call. The caller said they checked around and found that TOPS does good work, but they are expensive. Then they say they will use us because there is not enough money in the job for any re-work. It’s a left handed compliment, but I’ll take it. When things were rolling, bad data and rework was no problem. In lean times every bit counts, users found out that good information may cost more, but saves a lot of money in the long run.

The increase in the number of customers should make us ahead of last year, but here is the rub. We are pricing our work lower because of the economy. Customers want special pricing because times are hard. We know how it is out there so our work is going out at lower prices than last year.

The biggest problem I see is how to get prices back up when the economy recovers.