Sponsership?

Has anyone who just started their lawn care and landscaping business used sponsers before? Is this a good idea to purchase equipment without taking business loans out? Please share ideas and experiences. Thank you.

[picframer]

Lawn care business tips

I don't personally think a company would be interested, what is in it for them? i.e. if you are providing lawn mowing and using ABC products, the last thing you want is for the customer to go buy an ABC Mower. I do however try and get lock up or distributorship agreements on products I use to protect my area and company. I promote the products and equipment we use but I never ask for anything from the manufacturer and never would, I think its a conflict of interest, for example I have close to 30 clients running Gator high lift mulching blades, but I never ask the company for anything. As for borrowing money or financing equipment, that is a very in depth question that has a lot of variables including your track record and business plan. A few weeks back I financed an expansion which cost close to $102,000 for truck, trailer and tractor setup, it will pay for itself in six months +/-, I could use another setup now but I think we will hang tight and have grown enough for one year, I want to manage what we have and if we loose a few deals so be it, there is a limit we all must set and when we get to it, we have to stay and live within the means of what we have. Andy

[Steve]

Has anyone who just started their lawn care and landscaping business used sponsers before? Is this a good idea to purchase equipment without taking business loans out? Please share ideas and experiences. Thank you.

Very interesting question. So are you basically asking would a mower manufacturer give you a discount if you promoted their product? Well I guess it is possible, but I haven't seen that done yet.

However what I have seen done is getting local business to co-market with you. So in a sense they are sponsoring you in a way. For instance, you get a garden center willing to pay for your flyer / door hanger printing if you put their ad on one side and your ad is on the other and you distribute the marketing material.

Does this help? What other ideas are you thinking?