My Phone Doesnt Ring Anymore !!!

[tony beale]

Hey guys gee im going to try to make this short as i can . my name is tony im new here , and i been landscaping for myself for 15 years i have seen the highs and now the lows . i was always a one time landscaper specializing in residential work with no contract obligation , i found out early keeping up with scheadules was hard for me and seemed more like a 9-5 which is cool but i found my nitch in doing what other landscapers wouldnt do in my area , matter of fact some of my customers already had regular landscape matinance service who only wanted to cut the grass . so i would do things like grading , topsoil , leaf removal ,hauling , tear down old sheds anything and get a lump some compared to 25-35 dollars , well here is the low , the economy is bad and no one is calling. no one is even getting up there leaves anymore ! they saying to themselves i bet , why should i pay get my leaves up only to have my triffling neighbors leavs blow right back in my yard ? now i also know my advertising was way behind time , yea i had a website but i realized though your book whats the point if you have no search engine optimization adwords or anything ? i was passing out fliers and doing some mailouts , i had cards , even had signs on my truck before , but i guess over the years i fell off i got lazy where i would just run an ad in the paper for a month and wait for the phone to ring . but who reads the paper anymore ? so i decided to change the name to more of a home improvement type name and website and then list all kinds of stuff under it that i know how to do along with lanscaping. you know its dead when you see a 90 year old woman and her grandkids getting up the work i was doing before the economy got bad . so hey any advice you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated.

[willshome]

Lawn care business tips

What about talking to some of the maintenance lawn guys and see if they would send you the work they don't want. I farm out gutter cleaning to a friend and he knows not to try stealing them for other jobs. I want my customers calling me for everything and I will find someone to do the work

__________________
Brockton Lawn Care
Easton Lawn Care
Fall Cleanup Brockton

[Steve]

Tony,

Have you considered offering lawn care?

and get a lump some compared to 25-35 dollars

It's those weekly jobs that can keep the bills paid and also bring you additional landscape or property maintenance work.

It's a lot easier to service one customer over and over again with lawn care than it is to find new customers for one time jobs.

[upward lawn]

I'm with Steve. For me its all about reoccurring revenue. Hardest part of my job is finding/connecting with new customers. So when I get a "one time" job I try to find out what else they might need. Sometimes nothing but often times it leads to more work or a full season of work. My lawn care contracts are the back-bone of my business - I use landscaping, clean-ups, leaf removal etc to fill in the work week.

I also try to never let a current customer go elsewhere for landscaping or lawn service (with the exception of chemicals which I currently don't offer). If I can't or don't want to do it myself or with my helpers, I find somebody and sub it out to them even if I don't make as much or anything on that work. The idea being that once I have a customer I'll do whatever it takes to keep them (unless they are deadbeats in which case I cut them loose).

[krzys666]

Originally Posted by tony beale

Hey guys gee im going to try to make this short as i can . my name is tony im new here , and i been landscaping for myself for 15 years i have seen the highs and now the lows . i was always a one time landscaper specializing in residential work with no contract obligation , i found out early keeping up with scheadules was hard for me and seemed more like a 9-5 which is cool but i found my nitch in doing what other landscapers wouldnt do in my area , matter of fact some of my customers already had regular landscape matinance service who only wanted to cut the grass . so i would do things like grading , topsoil , leaf removal ,hauling , tear down old sheds anything and get a lump some compared to 25-35 dollars , well here is the low , the economy is bad and no one is calling. no one is even getting up there leaves anymore ! they saying to themselves i bet , why should i pay get my leaves up only to have my triffling neighbors leavs blow right back in my yard ?
now i also know my advertising was way behind time , yea i had a website but i realized though your book whats the point if you have no search engine optimization adwords or anything ? i was passing out fliers and doing some mailouts , i had cards , even had signs on my truck before , but i guess over the years i fell off i got lazy where i would just run an ad in the paper for a month and wait for the phone to ring . but who reads the paper anymore ? so i decided to change the name to more of a home improvement type name and website and then list all kinds of stuff under it that i know how to do along with lanscaping. you know its dead when you see a 90 year old woman and her grandkids getting up the work i was doing before the economy got bad . so hey any advice you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated.

grading for the most part is done only once for a house. at least around here. otherwise then that only small patches will need regrading in a few years from rain water erosion.

How often are you going to apply topsoil. once every year max per house.

how many old sheds do you have laying around, your back yard.

When the economy is booming you can make money on anything. the problem is when the economy does not move. people stop buying houses, they also don't need there yard perfectly level anymore.

Don't try do do everything because you will look unprofessional.

Try maintenance again. yes i know it might seem like a job, but it is work and steady income

[spud]

G'day,
Spud here from Australia How in the **** do you post a new ****ed up thread?

[ringahding1]

Sounds like you need to get back to the fundamentals that got the phone ringing.

What made the phone ring in the first place?

Now that you have picked up some customers, UPSELL your other services, etc.