# Hobby Haymaker stubs toes, I am HERO



## Lazy J (Jul 18, 2008)

I returned from a business trip on a Saturday and found that one of my customer's, Dave, hay had been cut that day. I was not surprised as the local hobby haymaking epert, let's call him "Hobby Hal" charges a lower rate than I do ($13 vs $14 mowing and $0.40 versus $0.75 baling). The following Monday I returned from some errands and the hay had not been raked, this was odd since the hay across the road that was cut the same day was being baled.

Well Tuesday morning a get three frantic voice mail messages from Dave asking for help making his hay. Apparently the "Hobby Hal" would not return phone calls, did not rake the has as agreed, and Dave had no idea of when his hay would be baled. The hay was ready for baling the previous evening and Dave really wanted it in the barn. I spoke with Dave and allowed him to use my rake with a borrowed team to rake his hay.

He calls me four times more between noon and two o'clock and I agree to bale his hay that evening when I returned from my sales calls. I changed my appointments in anticipation of this new work and had my father get the baler ready.

At 3:30 Dave calls and states that "Hobby Hal" finally returned his calls. Apparently he works second trick and sleeps until 2:30. He told Dave he planned to come rake the hay that night and bale on Wednesday. Well Dave informed him that he either baled it that night or I would, "Hobby Hal" gets out of bed then heads to Dave's to bale the hay. Dave called me to let me off the hook, which I really didn't mind.

Well, I get another call from Dave's wife at 5:30 asking if they could use two of my wagons. Apparently "Hobby Hal" only had one wagon. I let them use two of my wagons and that was the last I heard anything about this incident.

While at a wedding reception a week or so after the "Hobby Hal" incident I was asked "What have you done?". Apparently Dave is telling the World that Jim is the ONLY person that will be making hay for him in the future. He is saying "He's there when you need him and he knows how to make good hay. His higher price is worth the quality and service"

We will continue to offer the services we do and will get more work as a result.

Jim


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

As a hay producer and seller, I've always felt that I didn't want a guy to buy my hay because it was the cheapest, but because it was the best, with the best guarantee, and the best service. It takes awhile to get established, but once the word gets out, the business will grow. Remember that good word of mouth spreads much slower than bad word of mouth. We have horse customers that have been buying off of us for over 15 years now and we started 19 years ago. Keep up the good work and it will pay dividends.


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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)

Not the first post with lots of insuations about the poor quality of work due to somebody haying part-time.

Funny, I think my neighbors like to work with me because I'm their neighbor and will make sure the job is done right. Rather than having to go to "professional custom-guys that never show" (my neighbors quote).

My humble opinion is that the common thread is good customer service, not primary occupation.

Hobby Chet


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

Chet, I certainly didn't mean to offend you, as I think you have a nice operation. I was just trying to convey to Lazy J to keep providing good services and your business will grow. We could undercut everybodies hay price and sell much more hay, but it would be for a loss, and that would not be good for our business. I know many farms, both large and small, and full time and part time, that do this. I believe that by striving to make the best quality hay, with the best guarantee, and the best service has earned us many more customers and probably more loyal customers than being cheap would have.

I have nothing against part time farmers. You have to start somewhere and it takes alot of capital. I enjoy raising hay and respect anybody that feels the same.

One a different note, How is the weather in Texas? Are you getting enough moisture for the later cuttings? We went from rain practically everyday in May and June, to 5 weeks and counting without rain. It is taking a toll on our timothy and orchard grasses.


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## Guest (Aug 25, 2008)

Poor service can come from full time or part time. There is always someone cheaper.

We try everyday to build our business around a quality product, quality service and value add when ever possible. I will hold hay in my barn at no extra cost for good customers etc.

We try established a price that will bring a reasonable return on investment and be acceptable to our customers. It has to be enough to make this interesting for all stake holders.

Two ways you can handle cheaper competition. One is to hold to your price with the hope that the cheaper competition will lose interest once they realizes their ROI is not what it should be, second is to continually look for ways to get waste out of your processes to get your cost down to maintain or gain profit margin. Being profitable is being a good steward for your customers as well as your suppliers. When I look at equipment now I look for how can it get cost out baling a bale of hay.

I always want to be in the middle on price when compared to my competition, not the cheapest or highest, but I sure want to know who they are and are they for real. I owe it to my customers to always look for ways to get the waste out and help keep their cost down. Now having said that it is sure challenging now days. I think it has been easier for me to increase prices when I have needed too and my customers trust that we have looked at it very seriously before raising our price. It most cases I have been told they need me to be profitable and understand why we are raising.

There will always be cheaper in all businesses, but I believe they are necessary for us to keep improving.









HHH


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## erancher (Jul 29, 2008)

Chet,

As a "Hobby Haymaker", I was going to add a comment but decided not to since I did understand the true message from the story. I got into haymaking because the area "professional" was not dependable. He would just show up and cut without contacting the owners. He left all of one customer's crop on the ground when his rake broke and didn't tell the field owner there was an issue until weeks later. (That owner now has fun getting out with us in the field when we bale.)

From the information given in the story, I took Hobby Hal as a shift worker, probably 12 hour shifts given the time he was getting up (this is based on my own experience of working the 7pm - 7am shift). You have to give the guy some credit for filling his "off time" with work while others play videos and watch tv. Hobby Hal had the same issue as our area "Professional" and that is not acting professionally. Had Hobby Hal communicated with Dave and let him know what was going on, the outcome of the story could have been different. You usually don't find out about taking care of the customer when your on shift. You focus on taking care of the job.

Jim,

I do appreciate your story and I appreciate the experience you bring to the forum. Even when Hobby Hal was baling the field, you took care of the customer by providing the additional resources and that's what custom baling is all about. I do the same thing with my customers. My job is not to bale their property. I provide a service that the customer values beyond the time I am in the field.

Ohiohay,

I'm down in Galveston County, Texas and we've had about 6 inches of rain this month. I think the three months before this, we got 6 inches total. The fields are looking better but we're still behind on rain. All the hay from my field is "sold out" until after first cut next year. There's just too many animals on too few of acres to survive the dry spell.


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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)

Ohiohay,

Ahh, nobody offended me, I'm good. Looking back at my post I guess I was probably a little defensive. My point was (same as Lazy J) that good customer service is absolutely critical. Personally, for the places that I frequent to buy just about anything, it's #1. So I always aim for that for my customers. Sounds like Lazy J (and anybody that is successful) does the same.

As for the weather, we got a couple inches last week, which was desperately needed. The pasture has greened up nice, and it's looking like we'll get one more cutting this summer. I'm really pretty pleased, since just a few weeks ago it was looking like we were done for the year. Those extra bales in the barn to sell through the winter will go a long way toward generating a little bit of profit after those big ole fertilizer bills.









Take care all,

Chet.


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