review my post card

[Steve]

They need me to submit a bid. I have never had to submit a bid. I am pretty sure there is a bid form on this site though. Have you talked to them yet to see what services they want provided? They should give you all the necessary information so you can bid on the job. You may also want to ask them why they are looking for a new company and what the last one did wrong, so you can learn from their mistakes. Keep us posted on how this goes and your radio advertising experimentation. I will start off sending 500-1000 out per time. I read about sending all 5000 out, not a great idea,but if you can do then go for it. What is your strategy with this. Do you ultimately send out the 5000 pieces to 5000 different homes or do you send them to the same 500-1000 homes? How often will you send them out?

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[zippy-phil]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by Steve Have you talked to them yet to see what services they want provided? They should give you all the necessary information so you can bid on the job. You may also want to ask them why they are looking for a new company and what the last one did wrong, so you can learn from their mistakes. Keep us posted on how this goes and your radio advertising experimentation. What is your strategy with this. Do you ultimately send out the 5000 pieces to 5000 different homes or do you send them to the same 500-1000 homes? How often will you send them out? I have the inside track on this property because of a friend. The property manager needs the bid because of corporate offices. I just have never submitter a bid. I don't even know what a bid looks like. I am going to spread the flyers out to the area I want work in. I may send another batch to the same people after that. I went to the Town office yesterday and got my business licence, cost me a whole $50/yr. I found out my car insurance offers business liability insurance. I will need this if I want that big job.

[Steve]

This is all good news! Keep us posted on how it all goes.

[zippy-phil]

I was thinking of changing the design now. I want to make sure I have added the service of pressure washing too. I only have a 2700 psi washer right now, but there always seems to be a decent deal on craigslist to upgrade to a bigger model. I would ultimately like to clean drive thru and gas stations. I am now also seeing advertising leaf clean up. I want to save as much as I can on printing. maybe I should only buy 1000 at a time and have 2-3 different main topics? (pressure washing and lawn care on one and another advertising pressure washing alone (this one more towards commercial proprieties) Maybe I could get away with 2 designs. Thoughts?

[Steve]

maybe I should only buy 1000 at a time and have 2-3 different main topics?

I would think this might be a better option. It would allow you to experiment a bit with your marketing and see which services give you a better return on your marketing dollar. You just never know which it will be in your area until you try.

Then once you find something that works the way you want it to, you can scale it up.

Keep us posted on what you decide to go with.

[zippy-phil]

So instead of spending money with mailing post cards I have been using the "grass seed campaign".

Cost without fuel

$3.50 multicolored paper (red, bright green, blue, orange)@Walmart
Laser printer
20 LB bag of Rye grass seed $18.79
5 boxes of 50 count $1 zip lock baggies $5
1/3 (or less) of a cup of seeds
I fit 8 "Sprinkle these seeds where your lawn...." on each sheet of paper then use a paper cutter.

each bag of seed has yielded around 300-310 bags of seed to pass out.




My phone has started ringing, only a few more using this method, however the season is upon us.

Zippy-Phil

[Grass Doctor]

Originally Posted by zippy-phil

So instead of spending money with mailing post cards I have been using the "grass seed campaign".

Cost without fuel

$3.50 multicolored paper (red, bright green, blue, orange)@Walmart
Laser printer
20 LB bag of Rye grass seed $18.79
5 boxes of 50 count $1 zip lock baggies $5
1/3 (or less) of a cup of seeds
I fit 8 "Sprinkle these seeds where your lawn...." on each sheet of paper then use a paper cutter.

each bag of seed has yielded around 300-310 bags of seed to pass out.




My phone has started ringing, only a few more using this method, however the season is upon us.

Zippy-Phil

kool zippy glad to hear your hard work its starting to pan out, your flyer its very friendly too

[aduttonater]

I've seen the bag approach but the people don't give the potential customers seeds (Which is a great idea).

The bags I see have a rock in them along with a flier of the services. The rock keeps the bag from flying away and also allows the person handing them out to throw them from their vehicle.

I haven't done this though because I see it as littering the peoples' yards.

[Steve]

Very very creative! How are you passing them out? Are you going door to door and knocking? Or do you leave them on the step?

Also, do you give the customer instructions on how to use the seed in your marketing material?

[brian'slawncare]

i found one of these on my driveway last week, only it had a few pebbles in to weigh it down. I like the idea of seed.