Mr. Dave

[bubat48433]

Hey guys and gals,

This is my first post as I am brand new to this forum. I have been in the lawn care business since 1973 and it is still one of my passions of life. I have worke for large corp. and small landscapers and have taken every opportunity to learn as much as I can. Some of my employers have been Chemlawn, Lesco, and numerous lawn care companies in the Flint, Mi. area. I hope to continue learning from you folks and have no problems at all with sharing my experiences and knowledge with any of you. I currently operate in the Flushing and Flint area but am going to rid myself of the Flint area to concentrate in Flushing. I have great customers and am looking to expand on services I offer and neighborhoods in this area. I'm going to do this little profile of mine in different steps so as not to scare people off. Again, I say, I'm new and want to make some new friends.


Dave

[mhoward92]

Welcome to the forum

[Little's]

Welcome Dave.
Hard to scare the people around here!
Bye

[lawnindustryconsultants.com]

Well hello Dave.

We are a firm here in southern Michigan and are strictly for the landscaper, lawnscaper. So if there is anything ask. Also see if you can get in one of our round tables and talk. PM me at anytime

[ritchiem]

welcome Dave

[Steve]

Hi Dave,

Welcome to our forum! You have been in the business for quite some time!

What do you feel about the differences between working for all those companies and running your own business? Any thoughts as to why you decided to make the jump and how you did it? A lot of readers could use advice on that.

I am also looking forwards to hearing about what you learned from these different experiences that you were able to apply to your business!

[bubat48433]

I Can Help

Thanks to everyone who welcomed me to the fold. I am eager to answer questions within my ability. I would suggest to all that I have NEVER been afraid to tell a customer or potential customer that I don't know the answer, but have never failed to get back to them with an honest, sensible solution to problems they present to me. It took me a long time to accept that some people can have differing views of things that will not agree with what you are presenting. I was scared to death to hear "NO". I suffered economically, physically, and psychologically to keep from hearing that dreaded two-lettered word. I guess I would suggest that we have to accept some failures in order to appreciate our successes. None of us want to lose money in our daily endeavors, nor should we. I decided to go out on my own because I figured out that I can take my knowledge to the public and not be stuck or limited by my "boss's" imagination. The freedom to be my own representative out there in the world is too strong to ignore. I've gone back to work for other people from time to time but have finally settled on my independence and am truly enjoying myself. Yeh, I think I'll do this until I'm forced to retire.

[ritchiem]

I was scared to death to hear "NO". I suffered economically, physically, and psychologically to keep from hearing that dreaded two-lettered word. I guess I would suggest that we have to accept some failures in order to appreciate our successes.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I found myself in that boat as well, but once I realized that part of growing is facing challenges that prepare your future in the business.

[Steve]

Dave,

With all of your experiences, what advice do you have for the new lawn care business owner who is trying to attract customers? What have you found that works and what doesn't?

[bubat48433]

Starting from scratch

My advice to everyone would be to make up some fliers or have them made up for you. You can be as fancy as you can afford but be careful not to make it a manual. Keep it short and sweet. Identify your services offered and maybe your service call policies, along with guarantees and licenses. We all have differing ideas about details but getting to the point is more a plus than a minus. You can always expand on what you are offering once you get into the door. Eyeball to eyeball is still the best way to sell yourself to anyone. I speak from experience, folks.

[Steve]

Hi Dave,

Did you ever have any marketing idea that really worked well or is it all usually base hits where you get a few customers here and there but in the long run they add up?

Do you suggest any seasonal specials in your marketing?