Local Competition Is Low Balling, Help

[Tony317]

So this lawn care service is out posting flyers with 2 free lawn cuts and 50% off anything over 250$ how in the hell do i compete with that??

[The Cleaning Doctor]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by Tony317 So this lawn care service is out posting flyers with 2 free lawn cuts and 50% off anything over 250$ how in the hell do i compete with that?? You don't. Once you begin to compete on price, you lose. Show your customers how many of these low priced companies do not make it through one season. Tell them about reliability and quality of work. Tell them about having insurance incase a window gets broken. In other words sell your service and not your price.

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[grass guru]

You might be able to directly compete with offering a prepay discount, or a free cut. However, let the customer know that when companies like this offer such a drastic savings, they forfeit reliability, insurability, and quality. Let them know that by saving 50% on that price, they are also losing 50% on quality, and by saving that $125 now, it will be lost when this company bailes on them, and they have to hire a reliable company at a more reasonable cost.

[dougcaskey]

You will see these lowballers every spring...They usually don't last a season because they lose their asses and end up selling all the equipment they have and they simply stop showing up to service the poor saps that hired them...There is absolutely no way to eliminate them from what they do every year ...

Take good care of your customers and they will help you to get more business...

[stevef1201]

Originally Posted by dougcaskey

You will see these lowballers every spring...They usually don't last a season because they lose their asses and end up selling all the equipment they have and they simply stop showing up to service the poor saps that hired them...There is absolutely no way to eliminate them from what they do every year ...

Take good care of your customers and they will help you to get more business...

I have to agree with this, I see this crap every year, and usually get thier customers in a month or two when they quit showing up.

[stevef1201]

Also I put 'serving the **area since 2005' in my ads. along with Licensed, insured.

[yourscape]

Originally Posted by Tony317

So this lawn care service is out posting flyers with 2 free lawn cuts and 50% off anything over 250$

how in the hell do i compete with that??

This year I am going through it already. I have done 3 quotes and 2 of them already told me that the previous guy has quoted them 1/2 of what I did. ($20 for 2/3 of an acre). I am in no way wanting to compete with the low baller. I give them my card and tell them to feel free to give me a call if it doesn't work out.

Last year was the same once it gets hot out the phone starts ringing and then again once school starts. The customers I picked up ware very appreciative of my service and reliability.

Hang in there if you want to stay around for years to come. It always starts out bumpy but you will win in the long run. Spend wisely and bid correctly.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

flyer the same houses with a ad that says "When the other guy stops showing up" or "After your free mows, try a service that doesnt blow''.

I do a raffle once a year and Ill call every single person that puts a entry in for a free mow. I mightve signed up 2 people out of 100. Then 1 of them stop paying after the 4th visit.

[dpld]

Originally Posted by grass guru

You might be able to directly compete with offering a prepay discount, or a free cut. However, let the customer know that when companies like this offer such a drastic savings, they forfeit reliability, insurability, and quality. Let them know that by saving 50% on that price, they are also losing 50% on quality, and by saving that $125 now, it will be lost when this company bailes on them, and they have to hire a reliable company at a more reasonable cost.

people that hire these clowns don't care.
all they are looking to do is save money and not cut the lawn themselves and they could care less if the guy bails and they go a couple weeks without a mow until they find the next sucker.

any good quality customer who wants their lawn taking care of properly and wants to make sure they are hiring the right guy will not even bother with these people.

there is no need in losing sleep over these people because the people who fall for their gimmick are not the type of customers you want to begin with.

most consumers are oblivious to not only how competitive this business is but also how low the profit margin is.
they think we all price jobs based on how much money we want to make that day and every penny of it is profit.
any good quality outfit that is legal and insured that wants the work is gonna be priced pretty tight with the next company and knows full well that if he does not price it right he is not gonna get a job.

when the average guy is pricing a lawn in the 30 to 35 dollar range and some lowballer comes along and says he will do it for 15 to 20 dollars these customers don't look at it as too good to be true and something must be wrong.
they look at it as proof that the guys asking 30 to 35 are ripping them off.

they do not understand that you don't make money cutting their lawn for 30 dollars every week, you make money because you have 100 people that pay you 30 dollars every week.

all you can do is do good work and focus on getting your piece of the pie and these lowballers will come and go.
you will eventually give up completely even bothering to waste a brain cell on these clowns because after a few years you will lose count to how many have come and gone.

[cutnuplawnservice]

Originally Posted by The Cleaning Doctor

You don't. Once you begin to compete on price, you lose. Show your customers how many of these low priced companies do not make it through one season. Tell them about reliability and quality of work. Tell them about having insurance incase a window gets broken. In other words sell your service and not your price.

Heck yeah!
I dont know how many clients I get because the "company" they hired just quit showing up! Here's my latest craigslist ad along that line:

Does your Lawn Service Suck? (Tulsa and surrounding)

>Did the "company" you hired for your lawn care last year stop coming, right in the middle of the season? WE WONT
>Does your lawn service take care of your property better than if it were their own? WE DO!
>Do they beat up the siding on your home, break your wooden fence, tear up your down spouts with the weed eater? WE DON"T
>Do they leave grass clippings hanging from your chain link fence? WE DON"T
>Do they leave your gate open? WE DON'T!
>Do they show up when they say and do quality work with attention to detail? WE DO!
>Are they a family owned business serving residential and commercial clients in and around the Tulsa area since 2008? WE ARE!

**Why not contact us today for a quote?**
918-729-4305
www.cutnuplawnservice.yolasite.com