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Secret To Success - Customer Referrals
As I was writing this part of the article, the phone rang. It was a couple, building a new home in the next community up US Hwy 14, calling to learn about our flooring. They had been referred to Timbergreen Farm by a past customer, in a village 60 miles down Hwy 14. They had a very positive testimonial with photos from their friend, and were currently viewing my website. Mark and Gina made an appointment in 3 hours to come visit our business and see the different types of flooring. They will use the map on the website to find our remote dead end road location.
When they arrived, I gave them a tour of the operation, showed them a variety of installed floors in my home, and gave them a handful of flooring samples. They are just starting the foundation of their new home, and we will keep in touch until they are ready for flooring.
This combination of past customer referrals, an informational introduction through our website, then a personal tour of the business is totally successful.
Katie Green - A Customer's Comments
I grew up in timbering country in the Sierra Nevada and have been around wood, lumbering, and woodworking all my life, yet this is the first time I have seen a truly wholistic, responsible approach to utilizing trees while enhancing the ecosystem of which they (and we) are a part. This has been a revelation.
We have previously installed flooring ourselves in a farmhouse in California. I was bothered by how uniform it looked and how shiny the boards were. It also bothered me not to know where the lumber came from, how the woods were managed, where they were cut, and how the workers were treated. Honest! These are issues that preoccupy me more and more as I grow older and can't help but notice how our environment is degrading at an accelerated pace... and how many American workers are rendered jobless by industry moving overseas. When I fully grasped how revolutionary Jim's approach is to timbering, how beautiful the wood is and how reasonable his prices are, all things considered, I felt great relief and jubilation. At last, a product I could purchase with a clear conscience that would also please my artistic soul.
I buy from a local business every time I can. From my research as a community activist, I know that big box stores decimate the economies of towns. For every job they add, one and a half jobs are lost as small businesses fold. The money then leaves town to go to wherever the corporate headquarters are. Big Box stores make very bad community partners.
I am truly grateful to Jim for the good work he does, his persistence in following a path he knows to be true and consistent with how we humans should live on this planet. I hope and pray that his example will spread far and wide, inspiring others who have woods at their disposal to manage them to better health and productivity in the interests of the long term.
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