V & C Lawn Service ( New Business )

[winkie61]

Hi Everyone, My name is Vincent Jones, I'm retired military US Army. I retired in Sept of 2002. I delivered Pizzas for Dominoes for about three months after retirement in Colorado. I moved to North Carolina to be closer to home but not to close. I'm from Savannah, Ga about three and a half hours from Fayetteville, North Carolina which is where I'm currently residing. I was hired by Terminix pest control in Feb of 2003 as a sales person and moved up to manager within about eighteen months. I started my lawn business part time on weekends in 2007 and I went full time this year in April. In April my client base was at seventeen, I now have a client base of about Forty and one commercial client that owns six group homes. I started this business part time as a means for extra income, but Terminix new upper management made changes that I didn't agree with so I left to venture out on my own. I must say that its great being your own boss. Not to mention the level of stress from my previous job was lifted off my shoulders. I look forward to sharing and learning new ideas about the business with other entrepreneurs. My email address is jaydog610@embarqmail.com if anyone ever wants to correspond one on one.

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Last edited by winkie61; 11-10-2009 at 05:21 AM. Reason: add a word

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Hi Vincent, That is a fascinating story! Welcome to our forum! With all of your experience with Terminix, did you consider starting your own pest control company instead of lawn care? What is your view on that? How do are the businesses similar or differ? Also, what kinds of marketing and sales training do you feel you learned that will apply to your lawn care business?

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Welcome Vincent!

Thank you for your service! And congrats on your retirement!

If you have any power equipment questions I will do my best to answer them. You can post them on this forum, pm the question to me, or post it in my forum (link on he bottom).

Good luck and stay safe!

Eli

[winkie61]

Originally Posted by Steve

Hi Vincent,

That is a fascinating story! Welcome to our forum!

With all of your experience with Terminix, did you consider starting your own pest control company instead of lawn care? What is your view on that? How do are the businesses similar or differ?

Also, what kinds of marketing and sales training do you feel you learned that will apply to your lawn care business?

Well Steve, I have about six years of sales experience that I will use to help my business such as door knocking, leaving flyers and door hangers. The pest business is correlated with the lawn business in away. My job as a sales person was to sell the customer on prevention and current problems. I was not on the side of the house of applying chemicals just selling the product and the service.

[Steve]

Were there some marketing strategies you thought that worked better than others or some that didn't work well at all?

How creative did they get with their marketing?

[winkie61]

Some of the marketing strategies they used weren't all that elaborate. The Terminix International used televison and radio, while our franchise used billboards, doorhangers, telemarketers, promotional letters, referral programs i.e technicians, customers and good old fashion door knocking. I found that door knocking and leaving flyers were more successful. They also participated in the home shows that start every spring. They would set up a booth to introduce their products and services.

[Steve]

referral programs i.e technicians

Did they have some sort of bonus structure for technicians who were able to land more clients than other technicians that weren't too motivated?

[arthur712]

Welcome to the forum Vincent!! Great to have here!