Marketing

[All Aspects Landscaping]

Anybody out there using the sales genie system?? If so, what were your results... We've subscribed for 13 months now and its been awesome... Just wanna get some thoughts.

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Lawn care business tips

Nope tell me more about it

[All Aspects Landscaping]

Its actually pretty cool... an investment... but worth it... we decided this year that we were gonna put another truck on the road...06 we were running "a truck and a half" I had about 40 with 3 guys of maintenance, and on the other days we did landscape work... knowing that adding another full time truck would be difficult for a 4 full time employee company... We committed to the truck... then my guys start complaining about walking neighborhoods...(which I dont get cause thats the easiest money theyll make all year!!) I looking into buying mailing lists... it was 140.00 for 1200 names and addresses... got turned on to sales genie which gave me 100 free leads. then they hit me with a $400.00 contract for unlimited names and addresses... That was outrageous... I called the guy... told him I was interested and he cut the price to $150.00 a month... still a little high... but I could swing it... Best money I spent this year...we gained over 75 accounts and approximately an extra $40,000 in landscape work... thats right....$45,000.00 . I created a postcard mailer...which cost .26 cents to mail.... and we mailed 3000 postcards. The website spells everything out a little better and more detailed... Salesgenie.com. I dont know if there is a referral code or anything, but If there is please mention our name (hey, maybe I can save a few dollars!) At least go and get the 100 free names!!!

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]then my guys start complaining about walking neighborhoods...(which I dont get cause thats the easiest money theyll make all year!!)

When you say walking neighborhoods, do you mean handing our door hangers?

Also is this site, sales genie a site that sells mailing lists? Or is it also a referral site as well?

[All Aspects Landscaping]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]When you say walking neighborhoods, do you mean handing our door hangers?

Also is this site, sales genie a site that sells mailing lists? Or is it also a referral site as well?

Yeah... doing door hangers... direct mailers are a little more expensive, but instead of paying the to walk and hand out flyers or door hangers, I can bill out my $36.00 per man hour rate while the little white truck delivers my flyers to potential customer.

Yes, sales genie is a mailing list site... actually good for any business... gives house value, household income, spending habits... nothing to do with referals though...

But speaking of that, my buddy and I are in the process of creating a referral site... Ill keep you posted..

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Yeah... doing door hangers... direct mailers are a little more expensive, but instead of paying the to walk and hand out flyers or door hangers, I can bill out my $36.00 per man hour rate while the little white truck delivers my flyers to potential customer.

LOL I am guessing you mean the post office?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Yes, sales genie is a mailing list site... actually good for any business... gives house value, household income, spending habits... nothing to do with referals though...

Do they actually handle your mailing too or do they simply email you a mailing list? Have you ever tried any other mailing list websites?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]But speaking of that, my buddy and I are in the process of creating a referral site... Ill keep you posted..

Keep us posted, we can help promote it on here!

[All Aspects Landscaping]

yeah... the usps delivers them now...

Ive tried a few site for a mailing list... but for 2000 names they want close to 200 bucks... so i figure i might as well bite the bullet and commit to a monthly payment...

As far as the site were building... i dont wanna disclose too much cause i has a chance to be genius... and theres nothing I know of like it... we'll see huh... but I will take you up on the offer...
Just a little taste...first a website then a school...lol... use your imagination

I've been playing around with that Sales Genie, and they basically let you look at your search results for free, but not like I'd want to copy and paste 3,000 names onto labels in word. LOL

I'd kinda like to know how accurate thier results are, and what ROI you actually get from this.

Have you really had people say they got your postcard or door hanger and they want you to come out and give them an estimate?

I also know from a realtor friend of mine, you can call your local title company and they will give you farm reports for free for any neighboorhood or subdivision you want, but this list isn't as refined as the sales genie, but free.

[All Aspects Landscaping]

There is a feature where you can bulk download names... they also have a feature where you can save to contacts on their site.... Ive never used that feature... I invested in a label (i guess) making program... for instance, you type in avery 3350 and It will know the size... then it automatically plugs in the fields where they need to be... Its basically a mail merge. As far as the farm reports... Im too lazy for that plus im not familiar with what type of format you get with those. Ie - cdrom, dvd, paper? One of the big features for me is you can narrow down to the street... Say we pick up a $10,000.00 job. After signing the contract, we immediately put our sign up.. people see the name... The day we start that job, we litter the street with mailers... every house gets one. So after driving up the street, and seeing our signs for a week, then seeing our trucks for a day in the morning and afternoon, after work on the second day, they get our mailer. We picked up alot of work this way... just putting a spotlight on ourselves. Also with our maintenance side, we keep our routes tight... real tight.. at this point we will not travel more than 2 miles from site to site... if it doesnt fit in our route, we refer them elsewhere...(unless its a homerun)... There again, it helps in that regard. We track where we send our ads too, so there again we know if were seeing results from Sales Genie... Also, my secretary (ehhhmmm, my wife) asks upon initial contact... Two springs ago (lol) we averaged about 2 new calls a day 6 days a week... so about 48 new estimates a week from trucks and referrals and stuff... Last March my wife (who is #### and records every phone call and ever bit of detailed info) returned over 320 calls... just in march... no, we didnt get everything, but we did start a mailing list of our own so we can send those "no's" our quarterly ad... Ie - thatch and overseed... mums...cleanups.. Its definately work, assembling flyers, searching certain neighorhoods... blah blah blah... but it forces you to come up with a marketing plan, and also forces you to make decisions on where your company is going... I really learned how to make money this year with the help of this program. In fact, we have our hands in about three different ventures now, and we will take advantage of Sales Genie for all of them... Hope this helps in your decision and hope it answered your questions... Im tired now...lol

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Say we pick up a $10,000.00 job. After signing the contract, we immediately put our sign up.. people see the name... The day we start that job, we litter the street with mailers... every house gets one.

James that is fascinating! So if you get a job, then you use sales genie to get you the addresses of houses in the immediate area and then you send them a post card? or a letter?

How far away will you send such material when you land a job? Just a few houses away or a few blocks away?