taking over for my cousin and wanting to grow business now

[plaster10]

I am going to take over my cousin's lawn care business. He has 15 yards now and I am wondering what I can do in mid summer to grow the business now. I am already thinking about guarantees to these 15 yards that I will keep there prices the same for next year as I am taking over in the middle of the mowing season. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance plaster10

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Welcome to our forum! Have you been looking over the books and figured out if you are making enough per property? Sometimes in such situations, a new business owners comes into a business where the previous owner had underbid the jobs and there is not enough profit per property. I would check that first before I offered any price guarantees. Also, have you thought about talking to your existing client base and asking them for referrals? They may know a bunch of people who could use your services. What other things has your cousin done to gain his customers?

__________________
- Subscribe to my Lawn Care Marketing Blog Feed and get daily tips sent to you. Free!
Download your Free trial of Gopher Lawn Care Software.

[plaster10]

working on the referrals, would you recommend any type of discount for the number of referrals a person gives or if so many of them agree to a yearly contract? thanks Steve and love the site

[Liberty Landscaping LLC]

I have a referal system that the get one free cut a month per a customer. So if in one month they get me 3 customers I will cut their lawn once a month free for the next three months. That way I am still making money on their property and not cutting it for free for a month or what have you. It seems to work for me. I trimmed the fat so to speak this year tho and got rid of 4 customers that were always late or always complained about the pettiest of things. Good luck let us know what works for you.

[Johnny_boy02]

Where are you located?

[plaster10]

Tennessee halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga

[Rodriguez11]

craigslist is a good FREE way to get a couple jobs. It is really where I got my start and got my name out there. Will you be taking over your cousins equipment and paying for it?

[plaster10]

no going to be using mine. fixing to purchase a Snapper Pro S150, have echo trimmer and hand held blower and Redmax pole saw so now just have to get brushcutter and hedge trimmer. Anything else I might need? thanks in advance

[Rodriguez11]

Sounds like a good start with equipment. Maybe a stick edger later on after some business picks up. When trying to get new tools and equipment I like to wait for a big job or something related to the equipment I want then I buy it. For example I bought the stihl hedgeclippers with the tilt head only because I had a huge bush job, paid it off within two weeks of buying them. Just helps to do it that way so you dont go out buying equipment and having no money and not using them.

[Steve]

working on the referrals, would you recommend any type of discount for the number of referrals a person gives or if so many of them agree to a yearly contract?

You might at first want to try just asking your current customers/friends/family if they could help you out and either hand out a few of your business cards to their friends or simply tell you a few people you could contact that may need your services.