Door Hanger Distribution Times

[Jlaugh]

I'm getting my door hanger business plan ready for this spring and I'm trying to decide when the best time to distibute the door hangers is. I live in Arkansas. Last year we took some around in early March but we had some unexcepted cold weather that extended winter and I think it cut back on our response rate. But I don't want to take them out so late that the other lawn care company's beat me to the punch. Does anybody have any suggestions for when they have received the best response rate? Also, how many door hangers can you usually get out in one hour. I am going to hire a crew this year and I am trying to figure out how much to pay them per house and how many I can expect them to get out in one hour. Thank you for the suggestions.

Lawn care business tips

From reading other post in the past on this Its best to hit areas multiple times. Sometimes the post card gets in the wrong hands and ends up end the trash. like the wife getting it and thinking the husband usually does and trashes it not knowing he has plans not to do it this. If you only plan to do it once wait until the stores begin advertising spring products. like lowes and menards. By then people are thinking about spring. I myself plan on starting the first week or two of march and go on through the first half of April. I think one person can hand out about 150 to 180 in an hour with 50ft or so drives. about 3 houses a min.

[Steve]

Welcome to our forum!

Last year we took some around in early March but we had some unexcepted cold weather that extended winter and I think it cut back on our response rate.

How did you distribute them last year? Did you knock on doors? Did you give estimates on the spot? How many did you get out?

What do you felt you learned from that process last year?

[Jlaugh]

Thanks for the avice rawssrob! I think I will try taking them out at 2 different times this year.

Do you feel it is better to take them out the first time as soon as the grass is starting to turn green or a couple weeks before? I can't remember from the past years when exactly the stores start advertising spring products but I will defntly pay attention to that this year.


Steve,
Last year a payed a few of my friends $10/hr to distribute the hangers. We took out 2500 the first week in March, but the cold weather continued for another month so I felt like we did it too early. Then we took out another batch in June but I feel like that was too late. We still had some success, but I'm really looking to maximize our advertising success this year. We didn't knock on any doors, but we talked to people if they were outside.

What do you think is a good amount to pay our workers per house that they deliver a hanger?

We didnt leave estimates unless we had a chance to talk to them in person.

I am really thinking about putting estimates on our door hangers this year, but I'm not sure if that would hurt us since another lawn care may just come after us and right on there hanger that they will do it for 5-10 bucks cheaper. Since we are in college and not doing this to provide for our family or to make a living we are able to do our lawns for cheaper than other people that are in it for a living, but I'm still debating leaving the estimate on the hanger.

What do you think? Do most people get a better response if they put an estimate on the hanger instead of saying call for free estimates?

My brother and I have been in the lawn care business for about 5 yrs. I am in college and he is about to graduate from high school. We have 4 employees that work part time for us. We are an LLC now and have 110 lawns and are really looking to take our business to the next step this spring! Our goal is to take out 20K hangers this year and get 200 more lawns!

Your forum has been a ton of help!

Thanks for any advice!

I cut grass last year on april 1st. so i will begin handing out fliers the first week of march and go back to the same houses a couple of weeks later. I may or may not go around a third time the first week or two of april. Im just trying to get my flier in their hands when its on their mind.

I paid a friend to help me last fall and I paid 5 cents a flier. If they hand out 100/hr = $5Hr 150/hr = $7.50Hr

[Steve]

We took out 2500 the first week in March, but the cold weather continued for another month so I felt like we did it too early. Then we took out another batch in June but I feel like that was too late. We still had some success, but I'm really looking to maximize our advertising success this year.

When you look back at last year, what do you think your response rate was?

What %?

Out of 2500 door hangers, it resulted in X calls

((X calls) / # of door hangers) X 100 = your response rate %

Do you feel the one distribution did better than the other?

Also, think about how much it cost to get them printed and put them out.

When you know that, you can figure out your customer acquisition cost.

That will tell you how much you paid to get each customer.

When you know that, you can compare and contrast it to other marketing strategies.