? for Tiedeman

[kc2006]

Hey Tiedeman, I was wondering if you offer free soil ph tests for new application clients? I recall hearing a few companies do this and they had alot of good feedback from the customers about it. I know Trugreen and some other companies around here do "free evaluations" which they just come out and tell you what you have going on and how much to do the applications, but I know no one around here does ph testing. Possibly a good selling point? Not positive on the price (just found a place down the road that does them here) but I think they're fairly cheap. Even if they were $20 to do, I would think it would be worth it. People would be shocked to find out exactly what their soil is like for free and would make you look very professional in what you do I think.

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When I do an estimate I give a Free 15 Point Analysis of the lawn. That included such things as what weeds are present, the thatch level, type of soil, moisture level, disease and culutral damage, lawn establishment, type of grass present, etc. In the past I used to offer soil testing that I personally did for current customers at $17 a pop. That was like 4 years. I just bought the kits myself, around $200, and did them. I wasn't totally happy with the results from the kits though. I have personally never sent a sample into an actual lab though. I could perhaps offer a FREE soil testing with the analysis as well. That might be a good selling point

[Steve]

Do you think the testing kits would be a good sales tool?

Does it look scientific? With test tubes and different color changes and stuff like that?

So much of sales is in the presentation and I think I would be impressed to see such a service.

I think that perhaps it might be a good sales tool. *It may make the company look more "smart" I guess you could say.

[Steve]

Yes totally! I agree.

Can you imagine you taking pictures of yourself doing this? Maybe even wearing a white lab coat?

What other company will do this on the spot for a customer, potentially as part of the free lawn evaluation!

This could be another over the top idea!

Only Tiedeman Lawns utilizes a portable lab to analyze your lawn on the spot.

That is a possibilty. The only problem is that the soil tests usually take approx 30 mins for each test.

But I do like that idea

[Steve]

Is there some kind of test you can do that is faster and then maybe test the other stuff off site and get back to the home owner with a response?

perhaps, I would have to look into it