
Spring is almost here and many of our regular lawn service customers are getting ready to distribute door hangers in their local neighborhoods. Door Hanger Advertising is a great method to use for growing your lawn care business.If y 00004000 ou are considering door hanger distribution, here are a few things you should consider.
1- Divide Your Market Into Groups
Group A: Homes in the neighborhood that already have a lawn service. Within this group are:
- Customers that are happy with their lawn service
- Customers that are unhappy with their lawn service
- Customers that consider their lawn service "just ok", or nothing special
Group B: Homes that do not have a lawn service. Within this group are:
- Potential customers that think they can't afford a lawn service
- Potential customers that no longer want to mow their own lawn due to age or health
- Potential customers that might need work done occasionally
2 - Create A Special Offer For Each Group
When creating a special offer, be aggressive. It's hard to get potential customers to change their habits. Whether you are trying to get them to fire their current lawn company and hire yours, or to stop doing the work themselves, you've got to give them a strong enough incentive to get them out of their "comfort zone".
Here is an example of a strong offer that has been used successfully by lawn services. Headline - "NEW CUSTOMER INVITATION: FREE LAWN SERVICE! Details in smaller type - Pay For 2 Cuts At Our Regular Low Price and Your 3rd Cut Is FREE!"
That works out to be a 33% discount on the first three cuts. After 3 cuts, if they like your work, you've probably got a regular customer.
Don't make the mistake of evaluating the success of your door hanger advertising campaign by considering only the first purchase a customer makes. Look at the lifetime value of a customer. Here is a link to an easy to usecalculatorthat can help you determine the lifetime value of a customer.
Remember that the purpose of your door hanger is to generate a lead. You've still got to make the sale. So be prepared. Answer the phone live if you can and if you must use a recorded message, let the caller know that you will return the call quickly (the quicker the better).
Don't worry about having the lowest prices and don't get annoyedif the prospect seems to focus on price. The reason most callers start off with price questions is because they don't know enough about the lawn service business to ask other questions. So, be prepared to defend your prices by describing the differences between you and your competitors.
When you give a price, look for a reaction from the prospect. Some potential clients may beembarrassed to question your prices. This is a "hidden objection" that you can dispose of by addressing it head on. For example you might say, "if you are shopping for price, you will find that the rates of most of the qualified lawn service companies in town are within a few dollars of each other. We not the highest or the lowest, however our service is way above average. Here's whya.."
Keep close track of which offers are working best and then fine tune your door hanger before mailing again. Door Hanger Advertising is an on-going process. You've got to distribute, track response, fine tune and then distibute again. After awhile your response rates will become predictable and your business will be growing along the way.
Frequently Asked Questions
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QUESTION:
How should I make my lawn care Business?
Me, and 2 other guys have begun planning a lawn care/landscaping business. We've discussed what we thought was needed to make this project successful. We discussed prices, tools and everything required? But can i get some opinions on successful ways to do this project?-
ANSWER:
I think you should check this out! I have a successful Landscape/Construction company. This will help.
http://bit.ly/cbxI8m
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QUESTION:
How do I start a lawn care business from scratch?
I am 18 and I'm getting into lawn care with two other guys. None of us have much money and between us we have a couple of mowers, a couple of blowers, and a few weedeaters. We don't even have a trailer to haul all of this around so to start out we will have to stay local. We do have 600 business cards that we will be passing out soon though and ten clients all within our local residential area.Help me out. What kind of things should I do?
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ANSWER:
do a good job and start with a low rate, you will soon have all the work you need ,
after you establish plenty of work than you can start slowly raising your rate to be more inline with your competition.
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QUESTION:
How do I start a lawn care business?
I would like to start a lawn care business from the bottom. What equipment will I need? What will startup costs be? What are some unique options for advertising? Any advice is welcome.-
ANSWER:
Get a lawnmower, knock on the door, negotiate a price, and start cutting.If you do a great job, she will tell her neighbor.
Keep a record of your a. new customers
b. expenses
c. incomeStart out simple and work your way up. You will know what to do as you go along.
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QUESTION:
How to make money in the lawn care business?
Me and some guys are starting our own lawn care business this summer out of high school. I need to know how i can maximize profits and make the money i keep hearing people can make. Also I need ways to attract customers cause right now i dont have any. Thanks!-
ANSWER:
i started my business about 6 six months ago with a help from this book http://bit.ly/bflToE
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QUESTION:
Registering a lawn care business in the great state of New Jersey?
I am looking to register a lawn care company I started as a business so I can do things by the books etc. Well first, I am not sure what type of business I have a LLC,LLP,proprietorship.... Basically what I am looking to do is register this business so I can pay taxes on the income recieve and how would you set the taxes up as in once a week,month,year or quarterly?-
ANSWER:
You will want to start an LLC most likely. Im not sure about in New Jersey, but in New Mexico and LLC is a separate entity so if someone sues my business they cannot get my personal assets. Then, google "New Jersey Articles of Organization. That is what you will need to start your LLC. Then, get your EIN from the federal Gov, its free and only takes a minute online, and you need to get a business license from your local government, i.e. your county.There is a lot of information you need to learn but just remember to keep it organized. Get a large binder and any information you get keep it in there and organized. That is what I did and it has become a great reference because I know what I need, where to find it, and its accurate. I takes a bit to learn how things work, but in the end, knowing and having the binder is a major time saver.
Also, you will need to learn about merchant accounts to accept credit cards.
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