GopherHaul 25 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Show

[Steve]

Title: GopherHaul 25 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Show Show description: Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 25 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Show In this episode we will be talking about GopherHaul breaks the 900,000 view mark! Thank you everyone for watching us! Lawn Care Business Question: “I need help selling my accounts.” Greenmind wrote us “I am selling my accounts this week to a local landscaper. He wants to pay me in 3 payments. Over a 3 month period or 90 days as people stay with the new company. Also he does not want to pay the initial payment until all customers are contacted. Is he buying my business or my customers? Also is the 90 day period normal or am I being to generous, I have talked with several people and they seem to think that he is taking some risk by buying my accounts and thats part of the business and some suggest that I charge more for letting him pay over 90 days. What do you guys think? Any help with someone with experience in this area would be very helpful. I don't want to get taking on this transaction. I worked very hard to get and keep these customers.” A bunch of the Gopher Lawn Care Forum members responded in this post http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum....t=7823; Lawn Care Business Podcast Discussion: I had a great podcast interview with Author Ken Lavoie. Of lawnguru.net 1. We talked about the pitfalls of buying too much new too soon, Ken calls this 'Iron Addiction.' 2. How ego effects business decisions and how to control it. 3. Then we talked about what marketing ideas worked and what didn't. 4. When and how you should integrate your first employee into your business. 5. And this was a fantastic topic Finance, Debt and Growth - "The 50/50 Rule and stay in the black with the 20% Rule!" If you find yourself making a lot of money but at the end of the year wondering where it all went, it's very possible you are growing too fast. In Ken's 50/50 rule, he suggests not financing any more than 50% of the equipment price. If you need to finance more than that, you shouldn't be purchasing the equipment. Listen to this podcast in it's entirety at our podcast directory http://odeo.com/channel/412313/view Join our discussion on this podcast here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum....;t=7744 Lawn Care Marketing Material Review: Chuck posted a post card design he was considering sending out and said “Here's what I've been contemplating sending out. I know I have no fancy logo or nice looking lawn photos on it but I can't fit them with all the text I'd like on it.” He asked everyone to give him a review of his lawn care marketing material and we got a lot of great responses. If you would like us to review your marketing material, please feel free to make a post and include it. Our friend Chestin from lawncaremarketingmagic.com offered this review “1. Replace the name of your company with an attention grabbing headline. When you use your company name as the headline, it becomes a 'deadline'. You have 2 seconds to convince your prospect to read the rest of your postcard and you won't do that with your name. Try something like, 'Save 50% On Your Year Round Lawn Care' or something else that immediately conveys the main benefits of your offer. 2. Translate your various services into benefits. What benefits will they get as a result of these services? 3. You've already presented a good offer, but consider rewording it to make it a little less confusing. 4. As you already mentioned, included a deadline to create some urgency. This will help motivate your prospects to pick up the phone RIGHT NOW instead of sticking it up on the fridge or in a drawer, only to be forgotten. 5. If you can, include a testimonial from one of your satisfied clients. This helps reinforce your message and offer.” You can read more about this and join in on this discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum....;t=7623 and http://lawnchat.com/?p=134 Tips on Buying Used Lawn Care Equipment. Chuck, a member of the Gopher Lawn Care Forum asked a great question today I wanted to pass on to everyone. He asked: “I came across this in my local area on craigslist….is 3000 hrs alot for a diesel mower? I know it is for a gas machine but I don’t know..”? Tim then gave us a great insightful response by saying: “I would have to say it is very close to rebuild time. As you know gas will last about 2100 before you replace or rebuild and that depends on how it is taken care of, proper maintenance is the key, A diesel will last about 2 times what gas will if it is taken care of, and serviced properly, so if it has 3000 hrs and life expectancy is only 4000 then it is close, if the price is right and the deck is still in good shape, no welds and good pulleys and bearings and not much work is needed then its up to you at that point. If it is a Kabota engine then you may depends again on care of the machine get about 5000 hrs and then you’re still over half way to rebuild time. I’m not big on grasshoppers but to each their own. Remember that diesel machines take more maintenance all the way around.” http://lawnchat.com/?p=130 Join this discussion further here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum....;t=7791 Free Lawn Care Marketing Flyer Chestin gave us a lot of great lawn care marketing tips this episode and to further illustrate how important it is to create a great flyer, he even posted a flyer you can download and edit to use with your own lawn care business. Thanks Chestin! Visit this post to join the discussion and download the Free lawn care flyer template. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum....w;st=40 Book of the Month: Think Big and Kick ### by Donald Trump Conclusion If our show or forum has helped you, or if you have any business questions, please let us know and send an email or make a post about your experience! I hope all these ideas have helped you expand and grow your business and mind. So until the next time, always remember to Dream it, Build it, Gopher it! If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher.

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[justin_time]

Lawn care business tips

Congrats on the 900,000 views... can't wait for 1 mil.

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Justin Pitre
Just in Time Yard Services