Thinking Again

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Just curious and will throw this out, do you maintain an email list for your clients? Something I started doing from day one, the girl who works from home for us and takes calls, sends an email thanking the customer for........she asks them if we can use them for a referral and asks if they would like to be added to our email list for a monthly newsletter. I am quite impressed with how people react saying they really appreciate being appreciated, anyhow it's that personal touch that may help you out.

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I love the concept. I think if someone had a different newsletter for each month, they could sell them to other lawn care business owners. It's really tough to come up with content for them!

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[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

I love the concept.

I think if someone had a different newsletter for each month, they could sell them to other lawn care business owners.

It's really tough to come up with content for them!

How true, I am going to keep it short and sweet as I will run out of ideas.

I'm also going to use it to cross sell our woodworking products, it has four sections, I have four months done, a one page PDF. One section is lawncare, Deck & Fence Construction and pictures of what we have done, mini excavation I have three jobs before and after that turned out excellent along with customer feedback that we have been authorizeed to publish.....I always like to ask the client if I can use their feedback, and finally what's going on in the shop.

Just an interesting quick read, the goal however is relationship building, if you cement it, they will not leave even if your pricing is higher, or at least the majority will not.

[Steve]

Do you suggest any articles that a homeowner could use? Or maybe even recipes that could be cut out?

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Originally Posted by Steve

Do you suggest any articles that a homeowner could use? Or maybe even recipes that could be cut out?

Suggestions for the home owner as it relates to lawn care, I only have four done and one just went out, Sara keeps track and will send this to new clients that come on.

Spring Clean Up - Why bother? Deals with leaves, twigs, dethatching
DeThaching - What is this and why should it be done?
Doggie Doo - Why should it be cleaned up right away from your lawn?
The Heat - My lawn is dying, what do we suggest?

I want to stay from Recipe type things as that is not my area, we have a free community newspaper as does every community in the Halifax area that already covers this so, I went at those small papers by contacting the editor and doing an interview, one area I did drainage and what we were doing to help the homeowner, that one hasn't come out yet, One area I did Organic Lawn Spraying not out yet, Deck construction for one area which must have come out as I have four inquiries this morning.

We can get free marketing and advertising by simply calling our local newspaper, they are always looking for fresh material for the Home Section, I simply call and say, May I speak to the editor of your Homeowner Section, My name is Andrew London, I Own Oakridge Yard Care, I recently wrote a Blog on drainage as we are overwhelmed in the xxxxxx subdivision, I would be happy to speak to you about it as i believe it would be interesting reading for your readership. It works every time.

Andy

[Steve]

Oh that is great!

What about an article on why you need to keep your gutters clean?
Or
How to deal with flooding in your basement?
(Maybe that is something that can be dealt with some kind of drainage you could install outside?)

Do you have a scan of the article? I'd love to see it!

I recently wrote a Blog on drainage

From my previous experience, the media has seemed to want fresh content unpublished elsewhere. How does mentioning the blog help? Do you want them to read it first to see if you have enough content for an article?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

Oh that is great!

What about an article on why you need to keep your gutters clean?
Or
How to deal with flooding in your basement?
(Maybe that is something that can be dealt with some kind of drainage you could install outside?)

Do you have a scan of the article? I'd love to see it!


From my previous experience, the media has seemed to want fresh content unpublished elsewhere. How does mentioning the blog help? Do you want them to read it first to see if you have enough content for an article?

Yes, those are all great ideas, Sarah has the articles, I did a cut and paste instead of a copy and paste, I will get them next week and email them to you.

[Steve]

I look forwards to seeing them.

How does mentioning the blog help when you call the local newspaper?

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Originally Posted by Steve

I look forwards to seeing them.

How does mentioning the blog help when you call the local newspaper?

I haven't mentioned the Blog to the papers, the interviews are around something new to the client in lawn care and dealing with drainage issues etc. A little did you know type of article but my company name gets free advertisement. I have 9 appointments for tomorrow and three more employees starting Monday including my son so that will take some heat off on the construction side as he does amazing woodworking and carpentry, he should, I started teaching him as soon as he could walk so it's all second nature to him.

[Steve]

When dealing with the press like this, do you find it is better to be interviewed by them or is it better to put together a pre-written article to send to them?