Buying Accounts is it worth it?

[hawthornelawncare]

Hi there everyone ive been pondering buying accounts from people but i wanted to get some opinions on if you think its worth it. I see on craigslist and couple other sites people selling accounts and i am woundering is it worth it. I know theres some risk and all but if you was to go this route what all would you do to make sure things are on the up and up

[mark123]

Lawn care business tips

I don't see how someone can sell accounts. They aren't their property. They don't own the people they service. Who's to say after you buy these accounts the people fire you just because they don't like change. Get a guarantee of having the jobs for 2 years from the seller and price your offer accordingly. He won't be able to do that, I bet.

__________________
Boughter's Lawn Care Services Mowing and Fertilizing in New Castle, PA

[Sprinkler Buddy]

I too would stay away from buying accounts, risk much too high. Even if it were legitimate, I would suspect it would be mostly accounts you wouldn't want for the same reasons they are trying to get rid of them.

[cruzgardening]

I am in the same boat right now about to buy "accounts" though this is more like buying prospects then real accounts. Where are you located? i live in California and there is a marketing company who i've known about for years and friends have done business with them, they basically get you a # of prospects at a nominal price, the downside of this is that they price their properties at about $10 for front yard and $25 for front and back the good side is that you can get this prospects to upgrade since this accounts are basically mow and blow.

so i am going to buy some this week i will let you know how it turns out but from what i hear its a good bet

[shadrach]

Questions to ask:
1) Do these accounts have contracts? - spelled out expectations would be helpful - so there is no " The old guy used to do 'x' too & didn't charge for it"
2) How involved is the seller going to be in the transition? - some sort of overlap where you both do the accounts a couple times before you do them on your own or at least introductions to the clients from seller before you start working on the accounts
3)How are you paying for the accounts? best scenario is "X" dollars up front, "X" per account that stays until end of year,"X" dollars for each account that stays 3 mos into new season - or however you want to set it up - then you are only paying for what you keep ( maybe offer a premium to do this).


Try & figure ho much it costs you in advertising for each new account you get on your own - that will give you a better idea of how to value buying accounts.