Whens the best time to start your spring marketing?

[psparaco]

ok for obvious reasons i am anxious on this upcoming season starting. So i decided to do some studying. Here is what i have found and decided to share it with the rest of you all. This will benefit those who are either starting out this year for the first time or those with under 5 years running. First i wanted to figure out when grass in my area grows.... What exact temperature that is. First i found this. Cool-season grasses grasses grow most rapidly in spring, followed by another growth flush in fall. Temperatures of 60 to 75 degrees F promote the greatest development, while above 85 degrees F, growth drops off. An exception is tall fescue, which tolerates heat better than the other cool-season turfgrasses. As long as temperatures are above 40 degrees F, it is possible for cool-season grasses to produce some growth. Warm-season grasses turfgrasses begin growth at 65 degrees F, thriving best in the 85 to 95-degree F range. Some species can continue to grow at temperatures as high as 110 degrees F. Below 55 degrees F, warm-season grasses generally cease active growth and may go into dormancy. To figure out which type of grass your state has go here ****->http://www.lawngrass.com/ Scroll down, select your state. Lets use mine for example: Maryland Tall fescues, Zosia, Perennial ryegrass to name the majority kinds. Also check out this page****>http://www.lawngrasses.com/info/climate-map.html Find your state and figure out which zone you are in. Warm season grasses are as follows: - Bahiagrass:Pensacola - Bahiagrass:Argentine - Bermuda - Carpetgrass - Centipede - St. Augustine - Zoysia Cool season grasses are as follows: - Bentgrass - Bluegrass - Fescue:Tall & KY-31 - Fescue:Creeping Red - Native-Buffalo - Ryegrass: Annual - Ryegrass:Perennial Maryland is Zone 8. So I concluded we are primarily a cool season grass state. So remember what i mentioned above about cool season grasses. I will summarize it. Rapid growth in spring and another growth flush in the fall. Temps 60-75 degrees F for best conditions for the grass to grow. Temps above 85 degrees F growth tends to drop off and sorta goes dormant to protect itself from dieing from excessive heat and possible drought. OK so now I know Maryland needs DAYTIME temps of 60-75 for optimal growth. Now go here ****->http://www.accuweather.com enter your city,state or your zipcode. then click on forecast, then month link. Check out the forecasted DAYTIME temps for the next 15 days. Also pay close attention to the historic average for days not forecasted yet. So I could conclude that grass in maryland could start growing march 24th and on. You can also predict which months will be good money making months. Daytime temps above 85 degrees F you can almost garuntee bi-weekly mowings unless its a waterfront property which recieves an endless supply of water which will cause the grass to grow throughout heat and drought conditions. Now on a lighter note Grass is a plant and plants do not grow at night. Plants need sunlight in order to grow properly. They use light energy to change the materials - carbon dioxide and water into food substances (sugars). This process of food productions is called photosynthesis. Only in light can a green plant make food. So nighttime temps between 60-75 is irrevelant. Back to the topic on hand. When is the best time to start your Spring Marketing?????? I've read on here and various other sources and here are several methods to determine when. 1. When lowe's, home depot, (bigbox store) distributes their spring gardening section of their advertisements. You had better get your butt in gear and start passing out flyers. 2. Refer back to what i mentioned above. When outside daytime temps are forecasted to be above the needed temp for your type of grass to grow. Pass out your flyers/business cards 1 week prior to this time and as often as you would like after that time. For me this would be 03/20/11-04/02/11. For existing clients from last year. Take a drive and check out those lawns when the temps are in your desired range for a week straight. My drive will occure most likely on the last week of March. 3. The first day of spring. Now i am referring to astronomical first day of spring. Solar first day of spring is February 1, 2011. Meteorological first day of Spring is March 1, 2011 I know whats the difference??? According to a news post on accuweather... Solar Spring is based on the amount of hours in a day with sunlight. Meteorological Spring is based on Daytime temperatures traditionally. Astronomical Spring is based on the position of the earth in relation to the sun. And this concludes what i learned tonight. Hope I taught someone on here something new too. I welcome any comments or questions. Regards, Paul p.s. answer to 1 question. lmao 1. Am I obsessed with the weather? YESSSSSS. Weather in the winter makes me money. Snow falls, i clear it. you pay me. Spring/Summer/Fall... Not enough rain storms and grass doesnt grow enough. I dont care how much fertilizer one applies to the lawn. Every living plant organisms require water for life.

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

That is great insight! Ok when the perfect week hits and the grass starts to grow, you mentioned you drive around and check your customer's properties. Do you find that if one customer needs to be mowed, you tend to just jump into it and start to mow them all or to you scale it up as needed? Also, what is your suggestion for getting last year's customers to go with you again in the new year?

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[psparaco]

Originally Posted by Steve

Do you find that if one customer needs to be mowed, you tend to just jump into it and start to mow them all or to you scale it up as needed?

I've always been taught never to assume. I 'll just run the routes in my truck and take a brief 30 second look at the properties from the truck. Shouldnt take me more than 4 hours. However. When i goto do the marketing for spring. most of the lawns i will be walking by while i pass out flyers to all of their neighbors anyway. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone kinda deal.

Originally Posted by Steve

Also, what is your suggestion for getting last year's customers to go with you again in the new year?

Nothing that big a deal. If you 've given the customer your best work and they have never complained about anything. Why would they feel the need to go with someone else? Reasons why they would discontinue service for some of my previous customers have been they moved or they decided to buy a mower

During my first year in operation over 75% of my clients were renters of townhomes and 25% home owner.

Second year 65% was renters, 35% home owner.

At the pre-start of the 3rd year, i currently have 20% renters, 80% home owner ratio. Now this is clients who renewed from last year but i am starting to get more and more home owners i think. This year i expect between 20-50% being renters. We'll shall see when i start the spring markerting the next 3 weeks.

[Steve]

That is very interesting!

What is your view on why you are seeing the % of owners who are customers, increase?