getting started

[justmike]

i stumbled along this when browsing posts in ********....thanks Team Green. http://www.teamgreenll.com/instantestimates.php

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Great find!

__________________
- Subscribe to my Lawn Care Marketing Blog Feed and get daily tips sent to you. Free!
Download your Free trial of Gopher Lawn Care Software.

Am Stuck! For 7 years now I have been growing my business really slow. Now I want to go ahead full steam and I have tried many things and didn't work for me. In my area their has to be 50 to 75 lawn care business under cutting each other.

How do I get my foot in the door?
How can I compete price wise?
How do I stand out above the big guys?

Thanks
Icon

[StartALawnCareBusiness]

Really quick answers because I have to be somewhere in a few minutes.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]How do I get my foot in the door?

Early to bed
Early to rise
Work like h3ll
and ADVERTISE!!!

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]How can I compete price wise?

Don't compete on price.
Find what you're good at, get better at it, make it your specialty, and compete on that aspect of your business. *Sell your quality work not your low price.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]How do I stand out above the big guys?

Maybe you shouldn't try. *Lots of customers like to deal with an individual guy who is working for himself and not a big company.

I hope this is helpful. *It's sincere advice and it has worked for countless LCO's.

Good luck:

Keith

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Am Stuck! For 7 years now I have been growing my business really slow. Now I want to go ahead full steam and I have tried many things and didn't work for me.

Hi Icon,

Welcome to our forum!

Can you tell us a little about your previous 7 years in the business and what you tried that didn't really work for you?

Phone books, local newspapers, radio, and cold calls. No matter what I tried to do, I was not even getting to bid on a job. I realize that people are happy with who they might have, but if not, how can I get them to call?

Again their are 50 to 70 lawn care people in the area, it's insane!

What should I charge? What would be a great way to get more customers?

Thanks,
Icon

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Phone books, local newspapers, radio, and cold calls.

Have you gotten on craigslist.org? It's free to post and it seems to work for many lawn care operators.

Have you asked your current customers if they have anyone local they can refer you to so you could then follow up and contact them.

I would say build from the current human bonds you have now. Build outwardly from them. Extend out from your current client base and meet their local friends and family even if it means having some kind of gift card you give to them to hand out.

Are you working on any community projects that can help shine a light on your business?

Are there certain people in your area that could use a yard clean up that are elderly?

Could you help them out and then get some pictures and send the story out to the local paper.

Do you like any of these ideas ?