21 new accounts, from anothe lco

i have the chance to pick up 21 new accounts from another lco,thats giving up the biz. how should i handle it? how do i know theses new account are going to stay with me and are'nt just going to find someone else once they find out he quit. has anybody done this befor? how did you handle it?

Lawn care business tips

that is just it, you don't know. The only way that you could possibly know, is if the owner of the accounts personally goes around to each customer and introduces you to them. And the customers already know ahead of time that the guy is giving them up or retiring from the industry. But then again, that is not 100% certain because these customers might not want to go with you for a couple reasons 1)they might be mad that they are being sold off, 2) they might not like the fact that they are being passed on to someone else, and 3) they might not have really liked the previous guy so any recommendation from him they might not like.

so the best thing for me to do is just give all the customers heads up on whats hapening.
what are accounts worth?
this guy originaly told me that he wants one months pay from each account.
but he is very flexible,when i talk to him today i am only going to offer 50% for one month. that way the customers get a chance to see my work and make a dissision, and i realy dont spend to much money and time .
my thing is is it worth it. i can really use the work and would hate to pass up the opprotunity

I would ask him if he would guarantee the accounts. Ask him, "So if the account owners decide not to go with me are you going to offer me a refund on those particular accounts?" See what he says to that. If he agrees, then put it down in writing. Also put down in writing that if you do buy the accounts, that he can not try to take back the accounts. Basically a competition clause.

I still am not a big fan of buying accounts though. There are too many things that can happen of where you can get screwed

thanks for the advice.
i'll play it by ear and keep you updated.

[JimAdams]

I saw this thread yesterday, but did not respond immediately because, somewhere in my mountain of junk, I've got two letters written by (different) people to whom we sold accounts. (We never bought any.) Can't find the letters, but basically the new guy just introduced himself, told folks how wonderful he was, etc. Seemed to work okay.

Anyhow, I agree with Tiedeman on the need for a non-competition clause. Also, I advise extreme caution. People (us included) sell accounts, like they sell used cars, for reasons.

Jim

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]People (us included) sell accounts, like they sell used cars, for reasons.

Very good point.

Jim, do you have any specific points an lco should be wary of? Any warning signs they should look out for?