Fall leaf removal

[bulldogg]

Any one have any recommendations on how to obtain customers on fall leaf removal? I have used the flyer templet. should i go door to door or maybe an ad in the paper?

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I'd say first target your current customer base. Then hand out flyers in your area. A small ad in the paper might work out well too. Many on here have found the paper to be very helpful. Next year, you might want to possibly try to get your customers to sign up on an annual contract that includes fall cleanups. Keep us posted on what you experiment with.

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[picframer]

We just added tow leaf collector's which mulches for this fall, I am doing a few things to get clients, we have around 200 clients in the database most of which were one time deals, excavation, around 40 are mow jobs or places we cleaned up, I am sending them all an email explaining the service including images, I am using mailmerge in Microsoft to make it look very personal, next is a large ad will run in two small papers in communities we have done work in during September and October, I am having post cards printed as we speak, we will drive by and simply drop the cards off or if we see someone out raking we will stop.

My target for this service is the city core where leaves are an issue, I am going to start this area by doing leaf collection on a weekend, reason being is I know from experience when the neighbours see the set up we have they will want to be done, we also get a lot of business from drive by traffic.

Speaking of driveby traffic and walk by, a business card and flyer holder on your vehicle in my experience is critical, I do one off jobs on Saturday & Sunday afternoons, yesterday I spread gravel on two new driveways using a tractor and box blade then rolled, the results are amazing, one place was in a perfect spot for major traffic, people were stopping to see/watch, I have 7 inquiries this morning and I was only at this spot 2 1/2 hours, the customers comments were " You are a Picasso with that unit" the results are truly amazing, anyhow he wants us to now come back and re-do his lawn, it's about an acre, his attitude is if you do that kind of work on my driveway, I want a lawn to match, due to the location we will pick up a lot more business.

Pictures speak a million words and people will remember pictures a lot longer than words, I learned this long ago and it has proven with our logo as people tell me on a regular basis they saw a vehicle, remember a cowboy on a tractor but could not remember the name of the company(Our Logo), for this reason I am having two large images printed that will be attached to our leaf collector, this will do a number of things including letting someone looking know what the heck it is.

I have no competition on power leaf collection and mulching, I know this as I had our office girl call every landscaping company in our area she could find, every one, even the real big companies (20 ++ trucks) do this with a blower and manual workers, our advantage will be the mulching, time and price, we will kill them on price and still make a very big profit, the advantage for me is it's a one person task, less labour's and what would take days to do manually will take us an hour or two, I figure we can do 12+ locations a day in the city, outside the city will be less as the lot's can be very large, for example I am 15 min outside the city core and have 5 acres, this is not uncommon if you bought and built 15+ years ago, lots today are 1/2 acre due to land cost but this is a very large market for us.

[Steve]

next is a large ad will run in two small papers in communities we have done work in during September and October,

Will this be a classified or a full color ad? How long do you run it for?

when the neighbours see the set up we have they will want to be done, we also get a lot of business from drive by traffic.

You got me thinking, you can get these warning signs for the street where you can change the message with velcro strips. Can you imagine if you had a sign like this with your phone number on it? How would something like this work?

for this reason I am having two large images printed that will be attached to our leaf collector, this will do a number of things including letting someone looking know what the heck it is.

Will these be images of your logo? Or what?

[bulldogg]

I will be taking flyers to a couple of hundred houses. maybe more. I have also been working on a roadside sign since this morning after seeing your idea. thanks steve. I hope that this works. i want a system like the one shown but lack of cash will hold me back on that. I will be using a good ol backpack blower and the usual rack and tarp. what about using my riding mower and the bagger. does that pick up leaves good?

thanks again for all the great advise on this forum

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

Will this be a classified or a full color ad? How long do you run it for?


You got me thinking, you can get these warning signs for the street where you can change the message with velcro strips. Can you imagine if you had a sign like this with your phone number on it? How would something like this work?



Will these be images of your logo? Or what?

Steve,

The image for the collectors will be the picture in my last post in this thread.

It will be a B & W ad with a full color photo, I will run it 6 weeks, size is 1/3 page and I am allowed 100 words....since I love to talk and write, no problem coming up with the words

Clients keep telling me I need to get yard signs, I would bet in the last month 10 or more have asked.....another thing for next year.

The Velcro would work and work well....I will ask my printer what they have.

[justin_time]

Originally Posted by picframer

We just added tow leaf collector's which mulches for this fall, I am doing a few things to get clients, we have around 200 clients in the database most of which were one time deals, excavation, around 40 are mow jobs or places we cleaned up, I am sending them all an email explaining the service including images, I am using mailmerge in Microsoft to make it look very personal, next is a large ad will run in two small papers in communities we have done work in during September and October, I am having post cards printed as we speak, we will drive by and simply drop the cards off or if we see someone out raking we will stop.

What kind of unit are they ? Where are you getting them ?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by justin_time

What kind of unit are they ? Where are you getting them ?

Dr. Power, they make very, very good quality equipment, landed in Halifax out of their plant in the states is $3,550.00 each, I bought the commercial units.

http://www.drpower.com/Leaf-Lawn-Vacuum.aspx

[Steve]

I look forwards to hearing a review on the product when you start using it.

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

I look forwards to hearing a review on the product when you start using it.

Sure thing, it will be late September, the first unit arrived yesterday, we have to pick it up at the trucking warehouse, I opted for this as no one is home during the day and we save about a hundred bucks on delivery. I sent out an email to clients and the first unit has booked more than enough to pay for itself so I ordered a second unit. For staff most of the guys are in their 2 or 3rd year and have at least one day off a week and all of them want to work weekends so I should be good to go as long as we get the weather, September and October can be tough months on the weather side as a large number of the tropical storms and hurricans that hit the states come up the Atlantic and hit us also, could be a killer time for tree work though, I know the last few years people were screaming to get people to cut trees after these storms, and some providers were being investigated for changing their rates, I spoke to many clients who received wuotes ranging from $700. to $1,200 a day, one man and a chainsaw.....that is robbery.