feedback for my 2011 Flyer

[jgontarek]

Guys/Girls: I am looking for some feedback for my 2011 flyer, I do a lot of commercial work at some high end banks, and Medical buildings. I am building a Property Management Services company from ground up. I have been in Real Estate management for 7+ years, i was a SVP for a vendor management company. all of my marketing in the past was very high end and i am wondering how everyone is doing marketing for landscaping. I have a background in graphic design so i create all my own work. I can also help people out if they want me to design anything, we can work something out cheaply. Thanks for the feedback *note the quality isn't the highest b/c it has to be JPG to upload,the true images are clean and crisp.

Attached Images

	LANDSCAPING.jpg (70.6 KB, 29 views)
	snow-cre-logo.jpg (394.9 KB, 23 views)
	landscaping-flyer1.jpg (57.4 KB, 49 views)

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I think you are doing great! Can you tell us your marketing plan with your new material? Also what is an SVP? I am building a Property Management Services company from ground up. I have been in Real Estate management for 7+ years, i was a SVP for a vendor management company. all of my marketing in the past was very high end and i am wondering how everyone is doing marketing for landscaping. This is very interesting! How do you feel your background will help in the building of your property management company? What's your view on what a property management company should offer it's clients?

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[jgontarek]

Steve,

Thanks for the feedback. I was a Senior Vice President of Operations for a Real Estate Management Company that specialized in Property Preservation and Appraisal Management.

my plan is as follows:

Big Commercial accounts:
Currently i have 8 commercial accounts that all have the possibility of expanding into much more than landscaping and snow removal, more property management and facilities maintenance.

With these large accounts I sent out today what i call a "sales kit" which consisted of a nicely drafted up letter talking about the upcoming spring, and then listed some of our services.

These letter where printed on high quality thick cotton paper, followed by the flyer printed on high end glossy paper under the letter. In the right folder pocket I put a custom made mouse pad with our name,logo etc.

The Folder is a very high end thick gloss folder with a business card slot and logo printed on the front. they are then packaged in a cotton big 12x10 envelope with our company logo and address watermarked on to them. branding is very important, keeping everything uniform and professional is "KEY" with large clients.

These kits typically run 5.00-6.00(each) to print and send but are well worth it when the client has the potential to generate 15-20k a year in revenue.

For Smaller Residential clients:

I plan on mailing out the flyers along with a letter similar to the corporate letter. these i will print on high end paper and envelopes as well. I will also send these letters to vendor management companies that service foreclosures in my area.

It is my goal to give all of my clients big and small the same respect, at the end of the day revenue is revenue and its safe to have a good mix of small, medium and large client, so if one falls off you can also pick up some smaller clients to replace the revenue until the biggies pop again.

I know some people might think I'm crazy with spending 5.00- 6.00 per mailer but the end result is what matters, I have been in business for myself for less than a year and I have already generated 45k in revenue. I'm not saying Im an expert or doing it the right now, I just followed a model that is different and that luckily worked.

There our lots of ways for the little guy to survive in this down market, you just have to get creative and think outside the box. Sign up with Management companies, realtors offices, property management companies,etc. I know the billing usually takes 45-60 days to get paid but you can generate alot of "easy" steady business.

FORGOT TO ADD THIS:
As far as my background, Property management is a different animal than i am used to however it falls under the same "vendor management' model, the key is to get Good, reliable vendors for everything you can't do in~house. You need to QC your vendors, ask for samples, references,insurance docs, etc. At the end of the day you want the vendor to go "Above and Beyond" for you b/c in todays market that is the only thing that sets you apart from the other guys. You also need to have a little cash saved up to float pay-roll to your vendors, a paid vendor is a happy vendor, no one wants to chase money. I think my background will help a lot in the sense of running a business, I have a lot to learn about landscaping and snow removal, I have been plowing for years on the side and landscaping is a hobby of mine some combining them all to a successful business will be tough.

It's easy to get clients it's hard to maintain and keep them happy, they want what they want and thats it, you have to shake your head and just go with the flow.



thoughts??

[Growing Green]

Originally Posted by jgontarek

Sign up with Management companies, realtors offices, property management companies,etc. I know the billing usually takes 45-60 days to get paid but you can generate alot of "easy" steady business.

This is GREAT stuff! Thanks for taking the time to teach us noobies. How do you "sign up" with the management companies, realrots offices, property management companies, etc...?

Plus, if you don't have great equipment yet how are you keeping up with all these jobs? Did you start off with just a push mower or did you already have some good equipment? I just have my truck, two push mowers, and trimmer. Don't even have a trailer yet. hehe

Thanks again!

Matt

[jgontarek]

Originally Posted by Growing Green

This is GREAT stuff! Thanks for taking the time to teach us noobies. How do you "sign up" with the management companies, realrots offices, property management companies, etc...?

Plus, if you don't have great equipment yet how are you keeping up with all these jobs? Did you start off with just a push mower or did you already have some good equipment? I just have my truck, two push mowers, and trimmer. Don't even have a trailer yet. hehe

Thanks again!

Matt

matt,

you hit the nail on the head lol, unfortunetly for me keeping up will come with time, like i said i have been open less than a year and haven't started spring/summer services, so far I have only completed fall clean ups and snow services and that seems to be going well.

As far as equipment goes, I get a little lucky my fiance's parents own a rental company that rents commercial grade equipment like mowers,bobcats, stump grinders etc etc. So for now I will be "borrowing" most of the equipment until i can buy them on my own piece by piece (which i have been doing 1 piece each month.)

So far I have purchased a 36 inch Honda commercial walk behind for $2,500.00, an echo backpack blower on Craigslist for $100.00, and i have 2 smaller push mowers a 46 inch deck riding mower, echo chain saws,echo weed wackers and some other various pieces.

I have an 18ft landscape trailer that i also purchased on CL for 500.00 not the nicest thing I've ever seen but it will do the trick until some additional money comes in and i can afford an 18-20 ft enclosed trailer.

All the snow plow equipment I own, I have 2 plow trucks,2 snow blowers and my tractor has a plow for sidewalks. My future brother in-law and father in-law also plow so we have all helped each other out.

signing up with companies:

try googling Property management companies,property preservation companies,REO (real estate owned) companies foreclosure companies etc. most of the time if you go to the website, you can click on "vendors" and input all your info, I will tell you a lot of them want "liability insurance" but that is only like 50 bucks a month and if your doing it commercially you'd want to have it. I will go through my list tomorrow/monday and post up some names of companies.

As far as being a Noobie, I'm right there with you Im just trying to take what i know and be creative and think outside the box. We all have the potential for it, it's just a matter of strong will and determination.

[Steve]

I know some people might think I'm crazy with spending 5.00- 6.00 per mailer but the end result is what matters

When you are spending that amount per mailer, I would figure you really need to make sure you are sending it to a potential customer and not just mass mailing them out into the void.

How do you suggest really fine tuning who you will be sending these to in order to maximize your returns?