Why your business needs a copy editor: The case of the quiet mower

The nicer weather has resulted in an often-ringing phone for me for two reasons. The first reason: Quite a few people are requesting my help copy editing resumes. It seems spring brings about that need for shiny, sparkling newness: new flowers in the yard; a clean sweep of the house; a new workplace.  

The second reason my phone’s been busy? Well, it really has nothing to do with me. It has to do with a man I’ll call John and a nationally known lawn care organization. I think John just started a franchise business with this group. 

I have had the same phone number for more than a decade. But it seems John put my number on his business marketing materials. I’ve gotten many, MANY calls from people interested in hiring him on for lawn care, sprucing up their yards, lining him up for the busy season and otherwise throwing business his way. Business for which they want to pay him money. Money which will support his business, him and possibly his family. (Where I feel like I know a lot about John now, I don’t know his personal or marital status, surprisingly.) 

The callers are often irritated with me. I don’t know how they can find John. They ask. I’m unable to tell them. And they read back my number to me like there must be some mistake on my part. There isn’t. John gave out my number on his brochure, direct mail and God-knows-what else. One very upset older woman had her daughter call back to speak with me. That’s right, I said, he gave her the wrong number. Those are the digits you called but it’s my number. I understand she is 93 and can’t cut her own lawn. I get that.  

“When they call, you should refer these people to another landscape company,” someone said to me recently.

That would certainly help me to manage John’s collateral damage; the trail of knee-high grass, crabgrass infestations and big, bare brown spots he’s leaving in his wake. It would make a competing lawn care company very happy to get those spillover referrals. But what I’ll never be able to fix are these customers’ impressions of this company and its owner. They are incredulous about this wrong-number situation. And maybe it was the printer’s mistake, I don’t know. 

What I do know is that someone approved this marketing literature. Or didn’t approve it. Or was supposed to be approving it, but wasn’t paying attention. 

If this lawn care business isn’t careful with this, will they be careful enough to be sure they keep appointments for estimates? Or careful enough to use a safe pesticide? Or careful enough with invoicing and payment tracking? It opens up a whole new train of thought and concern. A train of thought that shouldn’t be there. At all. It never should have been allowed to leave the station. 

Professional editors are the ones to call to review your marketing materials. We fact check. We make sure “your” is “your” and not “you’re,” when it shouldn’t be. We save you from adding apostrophe “s” to make something plural. When you have that urge to spell “their” like “there,” we rein that right in so you can save face. 

In short, the grass is always greener when you hire a professional to help with marketing materials, web content and the like. When it comes to your business and its image, nothing less will do.  

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