First job!

[ToastedToad]

Landed my first job today under the new company. Feels good to get one under my belt. Not a big job, just 3000 sq ft de-thatching. Hoping to land the mowing for the season, but not very likely. Good people though and will help get my name circulating. Thanks to you all!

[Simpkins]

Lawn care business tips

Hey, great news! What makes you think you won't land the mowing for the summer? Just curious.

[Steve]

That is fantastic!

How did you land that one? Were you marketing de-thatching services specifically?

[ToastedToad]

@Simpkins

The owner of the property is retired and likes to mow his lawn. He just didn't want to de-thatch. I will of course give him a bid on the mowing, don't expect him to accept it this year, but hopefully will set me up for the future. It's in a great neighborhood so I expect a referral or two.

@Steve

In our local newspaper they have a thing like Groupon, called Daily Deals. I did one of those for a $30 gift certificate for $15. Only sold 3, but one was the de-thatch job, so it was awesome free marketing. Haven't heard from the other two buyer yet, could be good. Or could just be someone looking for a cheap mow. The deal gets sent out to like 5,000 subscribers so it's a great way to market for no cost to me. You can only do it once every two months, but free is free right.

Scored 3 more accounts today!! One weekly and two bi weekly. The weekly was from just plain old door to door sales, the customer is a local bank manager. And the two bi weeklies were from door hangers. The customer was calling his doog so it wouldn't eat me and I stopped to talk to him. Sold him on his yard plus a small rental that he owns. Got two more estimates to do this week so it could be a good week for this new biz owner!

[ToastedToad]

And yes Steve I have de-thatchin in my list of services.

[bruces]

take care of the bank manager,he might have some bank repo work for you down the line ,and of course,the bank as well .

[ToastedToad]

Originally Posted by bruces

take care of the bank manager,he might have some bank repo work for you down the line ,and of course,the bank as well .

That's what I'm hoping for. Thanks for the tip.

[Steve]

I did one of those for a $30 gift certificate for $15.

How does that work? Does the paper say contact this lawn care company to get a $30 gift certificate for $15 and then you take the orders on your phone for it?

Are there any conditions to the gift certificate purchase?

[ToastedToad]

Originally Posted by Steve

How does that work? Does the paper say contact this lawn care company to get a $30 gift certificate for $15 and then you take the orders on your phone for it?

Are there any conditions to the gift certificate purchase?

The paper takes care of all of it. On the site they have a nice page with a picture and write up about your company. You have to offer a deal that is at least 50% off. The customer has an account on the site and can purchase the item directly from there. The business owner does nothing yet. Once the deal is done (24 hrs), they send you the list of people that bought the deal. It is then up to the customer to get in touch with you, or come to your store or whatever thew case may be. The only thing I have to do is go out and give an estimate on work to which they can apply the gift certificate. You set the restrictions and conditions on what they can use it for so hopefully you don't get screwed. It's good for attracting new customers and showing what you can do.

[Steve]

That's great! Keep us posted on how all this goes after you do the jobs to tell us what you thought of the experience of using that type of marketing. It sounds very exciting.