Marketing

[cklandscapingorlando]

Well I now focus on either hi end resi or zero lot line homes. The hi end just pay more per visit. But the zero lots you make money on time. A fence is like doing to houses with a line trimmer, so no fence saves alot of time. I also do the lower pay ones but as I grow in more desired areas I slowly let them go.

In hi end there is less comp. Simpl because these folks dont worry about your price. If your quality is top notch then your rate probly is as well. Plus many have a gate. You dont get in without someone asking you in

[Steve]

zero lot line homes

What are these?

[cklandscapingorlando]

Well we call houses that are'nt allowed a fence zero lot. Really it's when the property line on one side of the house touches the house next door, then on the other side it's the oposite. So basicly the client only owns the grass on one side.

If you get 10 zero lots in a row you can knock them out in no time at all. You mow in long strips from the first house all the way to the last on the outside curb blowing in, Then come all the way back down to the first starting against the house, and blowing away from the beds. You do this till it's done. Then you start line trimming on the right side of the house and go all the way around to the corner of the other. Then jump to the right corner of the next and repeat till you reach the last house. Then you come straight down the front of each till you get back to the truck.

As far as the being shy goes, I was VERY shy when I started out in my job. I recall while in training going to the first house where I was going to do the talking and I completely froze up and didn't know what to say. Now, I am completely the opposite. I am the first to talk and I can carry on a conversation with anyone with just about anything. The only cure is practice. Lots of practice. I talk all day. It's my job.

Ck, I have a question for you. What % return do you get with your flyers? If i recall correctly, you said in another thread that you get about 1-2% (which I think is the general consensus amongst LCOs). So I wonder what % return do you get when talking to the people in person? It seems to me that if you take 1-2 minutes to give a flyer and get a low return rate but a higher rate of return on the ones where you talk, wouldn't it behoove you to take the time to talk to them?

My thinking is, if you want to gain 10 houses, wouldn't it be better to take the time to talk to the residents in a 100 house subdivision and hope to get the 10 conversions (all in a relatively small area) rather than having to leave flyers on 500-1000 houses and still have to go back and talk to each one of those 10 potential clients to get them to sign up? If they sign up without any convincing or "selling", are they less likely to stay with you since they are not "totally convinced" that you are the best LCO and are simply going with te first LCO that blows through the neighborhood? I tend to think that option 2 would likely leave your clients scattered over a MUCH BIGGER area and would mean considerably more driving. Would it be a good idea to drop fliers and then go back in a few days to make in person contact with them and perhaps get the best of both worlds?

Am I wrong in this?

Something else that I think I would try to keep in mind is not being too negative toward your competitors. Its like being a politician and running a "negative" campaign. That turns me off and does the same to many other people. I like to hear a positive campaign. With a positive campaign you hear what the candidate can do for you. With a negative campaign you hear what the opponent is doing wrong with few or no solutions. Maybe its just me.....

[cklandscapingorlando]

Your whole post is on point. If I only need a hand full of clients in an area then knocking is hands down the best. There are a few things your not factoring in there though. First we are a very populated area. Millions of clients with in a short drive in any direction. It's not uncommon to be in the middle of a 10,000 house devolopment. You could litraly put out 20,000 hangers and never drive more than 20min from tha shop. Then almost all houses you come to, no one will be home. Those that are, likely wont answer the door. Thats the down side to home invasions and robbery. If you want to knock on 100 doors you might get 3 folks to answer during the week. Besides the fliers or hangers are about branding your self. You can knock on 10 houses, get lucky and pick them all up. Then thats that. But if all 3000 folks in there have seen your logo more than once, then see your truck doing top quality work, the recognize and trust the brand. Now you have a very large pool of walk up clients through out the year.

As far as talking about the other comp, well they dont need mentioned. What needs mentioned is what a quality contractor would be doing. If an azeala is in bloom and only has 5 flowers, you would not be doing your job if you did'nt mention the problem. This plant is over trimmed and with our program we utalize proper practice for each species. This means incressed blooms, healthier growth, and less best problems.

[Steve]

Something I wonder when trying to reach out to neighbors of your customers, how many times do you feel it is necessary to knock and talk to neighbors before they may finally decide to sign up with you?

If you only knock once and after that quit, wouldn't you be missing out?

Could you use other tools to help try and win them over?

Like for instance if you can get some bulk flowers every once in a while that are in pots, could you take them over to the neighbors as an ice breaker?

[cklandscapingorlando]

You could. But that could get expensive after a while. See the confusion here is with a comp wanting 10 new houses and one wanting 100. If your targeting houses right next to houses you have then knocking or flowers would probly work well. But to target 5000-20,000 people you dont have time nor money for those. If you just spend 20min at one house talking thats 60 fliers.