Taking customers from other lawn care providers

[bulldogg]

I am wanting advise on how I can take customers from other lawncare providers in my area. There are a few profesional looking companies and then an abudance of jackleg guys wit beat up trucks and I have even seen one guy witha broke down looking pushmower, the 99 dollar type from wal-mart, in the trunk of a cadillac. but the locals seem to be loyal to these guys. some do good some dont. I need advise on how to make my customer list grow. thanks

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Welcome to our forum! Did you happen to see the 'Make the switch' flyer in the free flyer template section? Would something like that help to use to try and get customers to make the switch to your lawn care business?

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[CHEESE2009]

Sounds like you could be starting a war.

The company who I used to work for, we're still alright friends.

My friend who was the co-owner was really upset when I left his company, & quiet about his thoughts on my lawn service, though he said there are plenty of lawns for everyone.

He's right.

His workers told me that he is worried of me stealing his customers.

It's sad when we used to work together every day 7-3, you build a good friendship.

The fact is, I wish his business no harm & I'd rather promote his services to customers I don't need or want, or to customers who need services he offers.

Now if he wasn't my friend, I still wouldn't go about taking his customers. For some reason I feel that it would haunt me.

Get what YOU can, then customers will make the switch in time, no wars.

[Steve]

Is it one thing to target a former employers customers and another to target customers in general that are looking to make a switch? Or is it all the same?

[CHEESE2009]

that's a great question!

I believe it all comes down to who the company is.

Customers will often run their mouths saying things that can start a fight.

You don't want a customer of another company saying to them, "This guy from XXX said he'd charge me less than you do, & even add in a free mowing bla bla, anything"

Personally, that's the last thing I'd want to hear from my customers. I would hold a grudge & basically make it my mission to get all their customers if I needed some.

It happened to me once this year, with another new company. I was right behind them handing out flyers while they handed out theirs. I took one to see what they offered & thought we were quite similar.

The problem is, we both work in the same perimeter. Next year I will make sure they don't get in my area.

One of my customers said, "well I'm being offered lawn service for $200.00/month"

I said, "let me guess, it's XXXXXX" and she said, "exactly!"

I told her there is no way they are charging you right. Her yard is over 2000sqft.

I would have charged $460.00!

Anyway, I was pretty ticked off.... it seemed they would take on anyone without thinking about their cost to run the business.

[mark123]

I'd only take customers from other companies if I didn't mind them taking them from me. I'm friends with ALL of the relevant lawn care companies in town. I do things for the other companies and they do things for me. Some of them give me jobs that they can't accept.

I think Breeze got it right. You don't take food out of a families mouth, that's what starts the war. Steve got it right also though, if someone is already wanting to drop their service then it is fine to make a bid on the job. I just have a problem with the undercutting and the back stabbing. When someone calls me I always ask who their current service is, if it's one of my friends I call the friend and ask why the customer is calling.

If someone came around trying to undercut me or one of my friends then they've got a whole lot of folks to contend with because we do stick together.

Originally Posted by BREEZE2009

... it seemed they would take on anyone without thinking about their cost to run the business.

Don't worry, they won't be in business long.

[Steve]

It is a fascinating topic because all too often someone will hire a lawn care business based on price only. A short time later the customer will find they business owner is no longer showing up. It happens ALL THE TIME. Or they do a terrible job for the price or are unprofessional etc.

I had a friend who had their sliding glass door broken when a lawn care business owner was cutting the grass and it shot a rock through it.

All the guy had to say was sorry but he wasn't paying for it cause he was broke.

When you have these types of situations that go on, as a customer you could see why they would welcome a flyer that says 'unhappy with your current lawn care provider, make a switch to a competent and reliable lawn care business.'

If a customer is happy, they won't switch but I bet there are a lot of unhappy customers out there who just don't know who to call next or just haven't put enough energy into finding someone new.

[bulldogg]

I am not really want to take customer away but it seems as if almost all of the people that use lawn care services have a provider. I think that some of them are probably unhappy. i have watched the area and i have noticed that the jack leg type guys do not service them on a reguloar schedule and the quality of service is not all that good, in my opinion. i have been putting out some o fhte "switch" fliers and i have also done some direct mailing to several hundered people and i have yet to receive a response. i was thinking that it was because it is so late in the season and they did not want to go thorough the hassel of swithching.

[jasonw]

I have a different outlook on this. It dose not take a rocket scientists to do a good job in our industry. When you start getting into more intricate landscape contracting its not as easy but a 12yo can mow and edge a lawn so there is no reason not to do it properly and make it look good. I have no problem taking a customer from a LCL aca lawn care looser. I don't actively go out looking to take business from others but when a new customer complains about bad service and missed service dates I don't loose any sleep at night. Our business is full of unreliable, fly by night people that have no business doing this work and making the rest of us look bad. It should be our duty to our fellow lawn care providers to give our industry a better name by weeding out the aforementioned LCL's. A good example is one of my customers had an accident and lost there sight for a period of about 2 years. all the while having a lawn care business take care of there property. They came to realize rather than trim the roses every week they ripped them out of the ground while still charging for the weekly trimming. They would mow half the large lawn one week and the other half the next week so it was always uncompleted all the while charging for the full mow. Some weeks the person would not even show up and still charge for that week. This lawn care company was clearly taking advantage of a disabled person and they knew it. I sleep very well at night knowing this company lost this client to me who will now provide them with good honest service.

[mark123]

Originally Posted by jasonw

I have a different outlook on this. ...

How is what you said different?