4am Request For Lawn Service!?!?!?!

[lawnsalonforyou]

Hi guys! Had an interesting phone call last night at about 4 a.m. I'm layin in bed and I hear the phone ringing...I half way wake up...sit up and look at the clock its 4 am..so I'm figuring its one of my friends...they're either drunk and need a ride OR they were drunk and needed a ride but now they are arrested. haha

I answer the phone and its a woman asking about lawn care services! I'm like WTF?!?! She apologized deeply and said she was hoping to catch the answering machine...she is a deployed solider in Iraq and even though its noon there she's sorry for calling me at 4am...but this may be the only time she got to use the phone in the next week. She said her yard looks horrible and would like us to cut back her azaleas...she also asked if we could pressure wash her fence in the back. She was also sooo impressed that I was nice to her at 4am she offered to write a testimonial for our website, and she said she would recommend us to all her fellow soldiers coming home in a few weeks.

We have never pressure washed as a business before....but we own one and have done our home and driveway...ect How would you bid something like that...do you just charge for the time it would take...like lawn care...or is there another formula?? Any suggestions would be great!

[picframer]

That is awsome and that referral will go a long way especially since you took the call and were nice to her at such an early hour!

I have pressure washed clients decks in the past, I simply charge $45.00 an hour plus product, there are quite a few different products available, some of the organic ones can be pretty $$$.

Good luck and this will probably be a client you will have for a very long time.

andy

[lawnsalonforyou]

That sounds good to me Andy! Thanks a million!!

[Steve]

Let us know how that all works out and what your thoughts are of power washing after you do it.

It will be neat to see if you feel you charged enough or if you estimated enough time.

[jimlewis]

Yah, I used to have that happen back in the old days of my business. I got sick of people calling super early, on weekends, late at night, etc. So the solution is;

1) You have a separate business line installed in your house. Separate from your cell phone and home phone.

2) The business line is in the office only, not in the bedroom or any other room in the house.

3) After regular business hours, the ringer gets turned down or off.

If you're concerned about missing calls, you can always CHOSE to forward the business line to your cell phone. But at least then it's your choice. If it starts bugging you, you un-forward the phone.

This makes you look more professional (like you have an actual office somewhere) and it also allows customers to leave messages discreetly without feeling like they are bothering you.