Are pre-payments bad?

[dpld]

Originally Posted by willshome

So sounds like it does not add to many problems for you. The other thing is some customers act like spending $40 on mowing is a big deal, I would hate to think about what they would do if the bill was $800+. Some customers would have no problem with this and may like saving some money and only writing one check. So do you tell all customers about perpay or just the ones you think would like it?

unfortunately a sad truth is that as a business owner you don't want someone that has trouble or makes a big deal about 40 dollars as a customer.

i know that may sound harsh especially when so many younger dudes are out there struggleing to build a business.
i also realize from a new business owner perspective that it also goes against the grain of not wanting to turn down work.

in the beginning you got to do what you got to do but as a business grows you want to weed out the people who struggle to hire a service.

its nothing personal towards them but being in a service business you need people to hire you to make money supplying that service and customers like that tend to forget that what may be a big concern for them might not be a concern with the majority of your clients as well as nothing you want to hear about.

we are not in the home heating oil business or the power company that has to deal with people with hard times on a daily basis that have to make decisions on wheteher to cut off a family in the middle of winter because of late payment.

our business is a luxury and even if you are old, with the equipment we have today anyone can buy a machine and take care of it themselves if need be.
and if you even got to think twice for one second about how you are going to pay your landscaper, then you got no business hireing a landscaper.

i know there are old people and others that trully need the help but the way people are today no one has any shame in what they say anymore and there are so many people who cry the blues today and they will say whatever they got to in order to get a deal. you can not tell who is telling the truth and who is lying, and believe me i have had people tell me they were struggleing, and more often then not they are full of crap. and if you got that many people singing the blues then you might want to relocate.

i had a old guy trying to talk me down for half of what we originally agreed on for a mulch job after it was done. he was singing the blues about how tight money was being on a fixed budget and then after he roped me in and i further cut my price he gave me a check. we were just blowing off the drive and loading up the equipment and in comes his wife pulling in the driveway in a brand new 65,000 dollar lexus with a temp tag in the rear window.
she was also yelling at him to hurry up because they had to leave and be on the parkway before rush hour to get down to atlantic city for the weekend to gamble at the casino's.

after that i said enough with this crap i aint nobody's coupon no more and i am certainly not a social worker offering free counseling, i am in business to make money and if i am gonna spend my time working for chump change or nothing, i might as well sit on my a z z at home and do nothing at no cost to me.

[willshome]

I don't push work (will point it out) or wheel and deal. I give very fair pricing upfront knowing my costs and what i need to make. But not everyone likes to think about total costs may open a can of worms. thats all. Some of my best customers have the least money they are easy going, pay cash and tell friends.

Originally Posted by willshome

so would you drive by other customers house to do this list first that would cost alot in fuel. Maybe they get the 2nd push for free?

I would let everyone know how long you have been in business put it on everything

Good points on the snow removal...

That's the thing, I'm relatively new, I have done snow removal the past 3 winters, did a couple lawns at the end of the summer, leaf removals, but this coming summer is my first whole hog summer. I'm honest, just don't have the stabilized name yet.

[willshome]

SaberLawnCare I would start flyering now so your not the new guy come spring. People will know your name if they see it a few times in the next 6 weeks

Thanks, been handing out fliers for a couple weeks now. Making new fliers now to hit the next go around.

I'm doing all the foot work and i have clients, and looking forward to getting more. I see topics like this and like to relate it to my company and if it's something i would like to integrate into the whole mix.

Everything can always be better.

[USA Lawn Care]

well....was just cruising local CList cities near me and found this.......(midwest US)
Wow.

"Our prepay specials (up to 1 acre) are as follows and must be received no later than Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
$399.99 for 28 mowings

If you do not with to prepay then you can pay everytime we come out for only $25 for 1 acre, $55 for 2 acres, $80 for 3 acres, $110 for 4 acres, and $140 for 5 acres. If you have more than 1 acre and would like to prepay, call for discounted rates!!!"


get the calculator out for this one.......I about choked when I keyed in $400/28 cuts and saw it was $14.28 per cut. Didn't sound like a solo / non-insured operation. Gave a home # and # at the shop. At that rate, he would have to mow 100 accounts just to gross $40,000 / yr. where he should be at $100,000+ gross. I'm not bashing his business.......just trying to understand the lack of reasoning and wondering how it is even sustainable.

[willshome]

"Our prepay specials (up to 1 acre) are as follows and must be received no later than Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
$399.99 for 28 mowings

If you do not with to prepay then you can pay everytime we come out for only $25 for 1 acre, $55 for 2 acres, $80 for 3 acres, $110 for 4 acres, and $140 for 5 acres. If you have more than 1 acre and would like to prepay, call for discounted rates!!!"

WOW It costs me $8+ to mow yard and thats me doing it my self. why is the first acre $25 and the second $30 I would think it would be the other way around.

[dpld]

Originally Posted by USA Lawn Care

well....was just cruising local CList cities near me and found this.......(midwest US)
Wow.

"Our prepay specials (up to 1 acre) are as follows and must be received no later than Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
$399.99 for 28 mowings

If you do not with to prepay then you can pay everytime we come out for only $25 for 1 acre, $55 for 2 acres, $80 for 3 acres, $110 for 4 acres, and $140 for 5 acres. If you have more than 1 acre and would like to prepay, call for discounted rates!!!"


get the calculator out for this one.......I about choked when I keyed in $400/28 cuts and saw it was $14.28 per cut. Didn't sound like a solo / non-insured operation. Gave a home # and # at the shop. At that rate, he would have to mow 100 accounts just to gross $40,000 / yr. where he should be at $100,000+ gross. I'm not bashing his business.......just trying to understand the lack of reasoning and wondering how it is even sustainable.

at those prices he not only does not have insurance or anything else to make him legit he also will not have a business for much longer either.

the guy is not only screwing all his competitors he is actually screwing himself more.
i hope he borrowed money to buy his lawn mower and gambled his whole life on the business because he deserves to lose everything he owns for being that stupid.
another classic modern day american dream, start a business then figure out how to do it and then scratch your head in disbelief when it fails.

this country really needs to start looking into licenseing and verifiable trade experience before people are allowed to start a business.

and young guys starting out today wonder why it is so hard to get a business going, because you have to compete with asshats like these.

[TiedemanLLC]

I am not one to normally jump on someone's case about pricing, but he definitely has the pricing structure wrong. When the acres increase he should actually give a discount, instead he is doing the opposite.

This is his acre break down.

1 acre ($25) breaks down to $25 per acre
2 acres ($55) breaks down to $27.5 per acre
3 acres ($80) breaks down to $26.6 per acre
4 acres ($110) breaks down to $27.5 per acre
5 acres ($140) breaks down to $28 per acre

[USA Lawn Care]

I was actually just looking through the 'services' section and the rest of the guy's post made it sound like he was running a full business, shop, etc. I didn't copy the entire thing out of respect I guess but it took me a second when I saw $399 and then 28 cuts and there's just no way. And it wasn't postage stamp yards. Now, I've heard things are terrible in Florida but this isn't the Florida market. He's in lower Ohio with great pricing. The bad part is, if he's willing to hustle a bit and advertise, advertise, advertise and network, network, network he can get the 100 accounts and gross himself 100k. He's obviously got the gear to mow acres of grass, he's just working for nothing.