Met a guy at a coffee shop in Austin who turned my whole business around in 20 minutes

Last Tuesday I was grabbing a coffee at Figure 8 in Austin, just complaining to myself about how slow my sales were. This older dude overheard me talking to the barista and asked what I did. I told him I run a small landscaping company and he just said "you need to partner with real estate agents, not homeowners." I wrote down his idea for a referral deal with a local agent who handles new builds. Three days later I landed a contract for 12 houses, which is more than I made all last month. Has anyone else tried this kind of cross-referral with a totally different industry?

3 comments

3 Comments

oliver_fisher10d ago

That's awesome man, I love hearing stuff like that lol

emmam6710d ago

Landscaping and roofing are pretty different though. That kind of referral deal with real estate agents is hit or miss depending on the agent and the builder. I've seen guys go all in on a partnership like that and get stuck doing crappy work for low pay because the agent is taking a cut or the builder is cheap. Plus, you gotta be careful the agent doesn't just use you for a few jobs and then move on to someone else who offers a lower price. Idk, a one-off win is nice but I wouldn't build a whole business model around one coffee shop conversation.

patking10d ago

Yeah, that's a solid point. I've seen the same thing happen where a good partnership goes south after the first couple jobs once the agent figures out they can squeeze you.