anthony....my lawn does not look like next doors

[ant]

and she has a fertilization company that does her lawn also...

well mrs. smith ...all i do is keep your lawn fed and weed free...that's all i been doing the last 4 years....as i explained to you in the past your lawn needs more then feeding and weed control....in the past i left you literature on core aeration and seeding but you never inquired about it .

ok ant what will it cost to aerate it...
well your lawn is 10,000 sq. and the cost is $150.00


o my gosh thats a lot of money....i will have to think about it.


few months latter



phone rings....anthony is that you....? this is mrs. smith ,i would like to cancel the service because my lawn in not looking that well.

:help:
you guys been through this?
ant

[Green Dreams]

absolutely...you just be as nice as you can and wait for the other team to fumble. Thank her for her business and let her know you stand ready to serve her again when the need arises. Thats all you can do. You can give her the prescription, but you can't make her go to the pharmacy.

Remember...."it's seldom wrong to take the high road."

[Enviro Green]

LOL

Yep, gottem all the time. Got a new one last year, and her lawn is gorgeous, no weeds, dark green, almost perfect and she came out and told me how disappointed she was in her lawn, the best one on the street.

Go figure, I told her I guess we couldn't please her and if we can ever be of service, give me a call.

LOL EG

[NattyLawn]

I like the "my neighbor across the street doesn't do anything and his lawn looks better than mine" excuse. I started walking over with the homeowner and looking up close at the neighbors lawn, and then looking back at his. It works to a degree, but a lot of times, these people are looking for an excuse to cancel, or some sort of free service.

[Runner]

I don't know. If I would've gotten a complaint like this, I would have focused more on putting more or better product (more to her needs) on her lawn. I get told that all the time, also, that my customers lawns don't look like their neighbors, but it is because my lawns make the neighbors look sick. I do around services of all types (I don't even count big green, because they are not even in the running), and I have yet to see a service (besides my friend's service) that does to a lawn what we do.
I had to laugh, one time. I get a call from a customer one day. He says. "Joe, you are probably going to get a call from my neighbor. I was out at the mailbox after work, and he met me out there. The customer told me the neighbor asked "What in he hell are you doing to your lawn?"
The customer replied. "What do you mean?"
The neighbor said. "What are you putting on your lawn to make it look like THAT?"
The customer replied and said. "Well, I have this guy named Joe coming over and fertilizing and treating it. Why?"
The neighbor says. Because Ive had the same lawn service for 6 years, and my lawn has NEVER looked like that! I always had the nicest lawn around, and your lawn was always on a decline."
My customer said he just replied back to the guy. "Well, I gues you have the wrong person doing it, then, don't you?"
"So," my customer told me. "You will probably be recieving a call from this guy."
Sure enough, about an hour later, this guy calls me up and wants to meet with me. I've been doing his lawn, ever since.

[Williams Services]

Joe, do you use a primarily quick release product, or a 50/50 blend?

[General Grounds]

gotta love it i have some guy who calls almost the same day every april asking why his lawn isnt growing. i try to explain to him that he has a bluegrass lawn and that it will not be till approx, may 1 for the greening to come about. i didnt know a lawn had to be a certain height to be healthy.

[philk17088]

gotta love it i have some guy who calls almost the same day every april asking why his lawn isnt growing. i try to explain to him that he has a bluegrass lawn and that it will not be till approx, may 1 for the greening to come about. i didnt know a lawn had to be a certain height to be healthy.
Yeah I have the same thing.He paid big bucks for bluegrass sod and every year he whines that his lawn isn't green when he comes back from FLA. THis year he called my house at 6:00 am. I told him again about blue grass and he said I told him that before. I told him maybe running his irrigation would help :p So I went past and the ol sprinklers were going!

[SodKing]

I have a lady who calls up every year and asks for a free lawn analysis and estimate. Last year when she called for I told her, "ma'am you do your lawn yourself every year, you have never used my service, you only want to use me as a free reference to find out what your lawn needs, and right now I have paying clients that need my help..." and she said but your ads say free estimate and analyis,"thats right" I replied, " $35 to treat your lawn you have the same issues as last year..." and she says "but you didn't come out and look at it this year... " I replied "and I am not going to " so what should I put on it...." she replies...

[olderthandirt]

I have a lady who calls up every year and asks for a free lawn analysis and estimate. Last year when she called for I told her, "ma'am you do your lawn yourself every year, you have never used my service, you only want to use me as a free reference to find out what your lawn needs, and right now I have paying clients that need my help..." and she said but your ads say free estimate and analyis,"thats right" I replied, " $35 to treat your lawn you have the same issues as last year..." and she says "but you didn't come out and look at it this year... " I replied "and I am not going to " so what should I put on it...." she replies...
You sure this was a woman? sounds like she has quite a set on her :dizzy:

[TLS]

I've never seen where aeration and seeding drastically IMPROVES the "look" of a lawn. To me, they're un-needed "extra's" for us to sell. Now, if the lawn is in bad shape, thin, etc......then yes, but a nice healthy lawn doesn't NEED aeration, dethatching, seeding etc. at least not in my area.

[Runner]

Joe, do you use a primarily quick release product, or a 50/50 blend?


It is usually a 30 to 50% scu.

[ant]

I've never seen where aeration and seeding drastically IMPROVES the "look" of a lawn. To me, they're un-needed "extra's" for us to sell.

TLS, are you joking? :)

[TLS]

No.

They are good add-ons for us $$$ wise.

But to me they're drastically over-rated on established healthy lawns.

HER lawn may need it, but most healthy lawns do not NEED it.

[Green Pastures]

I don't get customers like that anymore.

I used to take mow only customers, but now if they do not want the full package they have to look elsewhere.

GPL only offers full service lawn care on an annual contract with monthly payments.

Now I'll do fert and weed control only contracts, but not mow only.

[SodKing]

I've never seen where aeration and seeding drastically IMPROVES the "look" of a lawn. To me, they're un-needed "extra's" for us to sell. Now, if the lawn is in bad shape, thin, etc......then yes, but a nice healthy lawn doesn't NEED aeration, dethatching, seeding etc. at least not in my area.


Well you are catagorically wrong. Healthy lawns, in order to stay healthy, need aeration, dethatching, and an occaisional overseeding. A golf green, arguably the most healthy lawn and most highly maintained lawn there is, is aerated twice per year generally, verticut almost monthly, and overseeded regularly.

[stumper1620]

No.

They are good add-ons for us $$$ wise.

But to me they're drastically over-rated on established healthy lawns.

HER lawn may need it, but most healthy lawns do not NEED it.
Take a trip out to penn state and state that opinion to a prof in their turf school, I'm sure they would have plenty of different test plots to show you that You are so very wrong.

[TLS]

Hey, lighten up guys. This is my opinion gathered from 25 years of personal observation.

Sure, doing all these "extras" can help the lawn. Are they beneficial....yes. Are they necessary....likely not.

The lady next door to Ant's customer obviously has a better looking lawn (thicker, greener, less weeds, whatever) so something needs to be done to Ant's customers lawn to bring it to the neighbors level. Wether that be another application, more N, more Fe, a lime treatment, whatever. If it's thin, then it may just need an aeration and overseeding.

I've seen lawns 75-100 years old that have never been touched by an aerator or overseeded. And are lush,healthy, green and weed free on just 3 apps/year.

Remember,.....Books aren't always right.

[LonniesLawns]

Its also called perspective. When you are standing n your own lawn looking straight down at it -- you see every hole, every bare spot -- in essence you ar elooking at the grass blades. But when you look at the lawn across the street your perspective changes and all you see is a nice lush lawn because of your angle. I have more than once asked a customer who siad this that I wanted to show them something and we both walk across the street adn look at their lawn from their -- problem solved. It allows you to see the lawn through the grass -- to bastardize a popular saying.

A couple other points. Agrenn is in no way the healthhies lawn. A green is always about 20 mins away from death -- its just left on icu at all times and kept alive. Give it a week with no amointenence and you would soon see a sandbox.

and aeration and seeding are "uneeded" once you establisha lawn -- especially overseeding. A residential lawn once established should not need overseeding unless it has a problem that has not been corrected.

[LonniesLawns]

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