Awesome Customer! Kinda long story..

[LawnMoore]

Recently - a week ago, i recieved a tip from a prospect customer, she says "I do my own lawn and i love it!" i asked is there anyone you could recomend me talking to that may need my services? She says, yea talk to the lady 3 houses down, my son used to help her but hes on the wrong road.. i didnt get to make it there as i had already passed and was on my way around the block, needless to say i asked another homeowner about his lawncare knowing fully that i wasnt even interested in the yard, if i got it fine but he does his own yard, and i was really getting my foot in the door to take down a massive dead tree over his back entrance way! Well im getting off topic, but i got that tree for 300 dollars and it took me 30 minutes to limb it, throw the pole and load it up in the trialer! I got the neibors yard account and the guy 2 houses down! So back to topic! I got back to the ladys house that was recomended to me yesterday, i talked to her she was a very upbeat woman but of older age, finally i got a chance to talk to her after she was badgering me about if im cheaper than her other helper i would get the lawn, i simply said, What would you feel comfortable paying me, i will tell you after that if i can do it or not. She said, pick up the limbs in the front and mow it, ill give you 30 dollars, i said ok i can do that! she wanted me to do it today so i showed up at 9 like she asked, and let her know i was there. I started on the place, i pulled out my bedliner drug it around with the rope attached to it, got all the limbs up, filled it up full! moved to her drive, and mowed. Weedeated after that and was coming around the back with my bedliner to unload it on her burn pile. she stopped me and said, you done a way better job than my other helper, im going to give you 35 dollars and i want you to come tomorrow and mow/weedeat the back yard and ill give you another 35 dollars plus pay you for your gas, how much did u use? I said i dont know because i wasnt full when i got here, and i couldnt tell you, she said ok im giving you 10 bucks for gas then. then she says if you can rake these leaves out of the flower bed at the end of my place ill give you 20 bucks! i am thinking 20 feet x 2 feet of 1-2 inches of leaves, sweet! So all in all this is a lot less than 1 acre.. i get 80 bucks for mowing it, it took me about 20 minutes to grab the limbs and about 10 minutes to mow it, thats on the front yard, its treed, the back is clean and treeless! I think i done great because i would have only told her 50 dollars to mow it all! Strange but awesome so here now i have a 80 dollar bi weekly mowing account, plus oh i forgot she said if i could fix the leg on her table she will give me 10 more! ( will take me about 3 minutes with my a/c and finish nailer..) some glue as well she said she will pay me back for when i bring the reciept. Im stoked and i might go try to catch some <"(((*>< later tomorrow! Edit - I was there about an hour inclusing the client conversations.

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Last edited by LawnMoore; 07-30-2010 at 10:20 PM.

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

That is a great story! What do you think are some of the business lessons you learned from all this? How do you feel you will be able to apply these lessons now into the future?

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[Hedgemaster]

It's nice when people take note and appreciate the extra work you do.

[LawnMoore]

Im not sure if i learned anything yet,.. except for the coarse that letting the customer tell me there price could work maybe.. However that is my first experience like that. I usually just give a price.

But when they are already playing the broke card or the if your cheap enough card, i will definetly ask them what they are comfortable with paying.

Ill update my next experience like this as soon as it plays out.

[Steve]

I think it was also a great lesson on asking for referrals. If you didn't ask, you wouldn't have heard anything about them!

[LawnMoore]

Oh yes, that totally slipped my mind, i would say that was an instinct.

When i do door to door, if there not interested but there interested in talking!, i do ask if they know the neighbors, or if they know who owns such and such overgrown lots if there are any around the vicinity.

I also ask questions such as, if they own any rentals, most times they dont, but it helps to get to know potential customers and gives me the chance to feel them out a little bit, also gives me a moment to look and think about anything else i might be able to offer them.

When i turned 16 i got threw right into service calls and door to door marketing for my familys cable tv business, I didnt like it much, but my father was the type of good ol boy to bust my *** when i looked like i didnt like it.., so i learned to suck it up after a couple of meetings and its really paying off now. (like he said it would!)

p.s. - yea i dont get the chance to ask all door to doors as many of you know some ppl are just strange and avoid ppl they dont know like the plague! No thanks, SLAM! lol

[Steve]

I also ask questions such as, if they own any rentals, most times they dont, but it helps to get to know potential customers and gives me the chance to feel them out a little bit,

How does knowing if they have rental properties help?

Also, what other kinds of questions do you suggest asking when going door to door?