Opinions Requested

[JimLewis]

Hey all,

Been reading more about flyers in "Guerilla Marketing" and decided I needed to change my flyer a little. So My wife and I spent a lot of time this evening brain storming and re-designing the flyer we use. I'd like some input on the finished product.

I should mention that the things I was trying to add to the flyer the old one didn't have was;

1) An attention getting headline
2) Something that makes an offer - a coupon, etc.
3) Mentioning "free" more often
4) A deadline or expiration that induces them to call sooner
5) This wasn't in the book but my wife said the bullets were a better idea than the paragraphs we used in the old ones.

So you be the judge of the before and after. I'd appreciate any and all critiques.

The new flyer is here;
http://www.teleport.com/~jimlewis/flyer8.jpg

The old one is here;
http://www.teleport.com/~jimlewis/flyer9.jpg

[Green Finger]

Jim,

Great flyer. Only one thing.

Take off the amount of homes you service. (140) Some people will get the impression that you are too big and they wouldn't get the personal attention.

When it comes to lawn maintenance, sometimes customers can be "flakey". They kinda want to be thought of as the only one. (an illusion)

You can include something like " we regularly service an number of homes in the Tigard and Beaverton area".

Other than that great flyer.

[awm]

First let me qualify my self.I have about
35 lawns and cant offer close to the full
service you do.So its awkward giving you
advice.If you can do all that you must
have a big outfit.
Now to your question.
The first lays on the eyes a little better to me.
FIRSTBEING THE OLDER ONE
I cant put my finger on why but mabe choices
complicated it a bit.
Also they tell me that colors have proven
in test to have very suprising results in
advertisement effectiveness.An expert could
tell you more about this.
Last the word chemical is a bad word around here.
Having said that let me say Ive copied both
for ideas on one Im making.Dont think ill put
on the site tho cause It probably wont look
as good as either of yours. GOOD LUCK YOUR BUISINESS

[MOW ED]

Jim, The new flyer looks good and I'll just pass an idea by you that has worked for me in the past.

The coupon at the bottom is good, I've done that also but I turned the coupon upside down so the customer has to turn it over and look at it. Its one of those things that make them read it because it looks wrong and you have their attention because they will turn it over to read it.

Just an idea to try on a few if you want. Good Luck.

[Island Lawn]

I like the improvements!
I find the second one much easier to read.
The bullits make a big difference as oppossed to the long sentences in the first one.

one question:
"chem maint" is listed after fert and weed control. What is chem maint if not these things?

Also, what about lawn/bed bug control?

The $50.00 off really gets my attention!

Just noticed the last sentence in the first paragraph.
"...feel free to call us if we can..."

Why not:
"...feel free to call us SO we can..."

[1MajorTom]

Jim,

Took a look at both of them, and your new one looks better.
Not saying the old one didn't look good, but I like how the new one has the bullets. It lists the services you provide without being so wordy like the first one.

And I agree with Island Lawn. Change that IF, to SO.


Good job.

[GrassMaster]

Hello Everybody:

I couldn't probably make a flier that nice, so take what I say with a grain of Salt.

Change it to a easier to read Font, Arial is a lot easier. Also more words in less space, might could even increase the size of the Font so us Old Folks can read it easier. Anything to increase the font size, reducing words & more white space helps a lot.

Change (Most Homes) to (Average Home), again just my thoughts! Don't volunteer yourself if you do not have to?

Some folks do think backwards & the number of accounts might make them skiddish. Maybe put something like, "We are looking for more Accounts in your area." Leaving out the 140, I actually had customers that would not recommend me, in fear I would drop them or get to big for them?

BTW, one day I hope to get that Book "Guerilla Marketing" I've heard a lot about it. I think there is a E-book on it too?

What do I know, about anything? :-)

[Eric Green]

Hey Jim,
The new flyer looks great!!! Like the other guy said earlier,I have nowhere near the quantity of customers you have... yet... so I can't really give you advice. My wife and I are working on one similar to it with a little color added, I'll send it your way when it's finished!
Keep up the good work!!!



Eric

[thelawnguy]

I prefer the new (8jpg) flyer but agree with the suggestion to go with a more readable font.

[JimLewis]

Thanks guys. I have reworded the first paragraph based on your comments. I have also changed "Chemical Maintenance" to "Insect and Disease cControl" which is what I intended it to mean anyway. I agree, chemical sounds negative to some people. Thanks for all of your tips! Keep them coming.

By the way, awm, I sort of agree with you. I liked the paragraph layout that the older flyer had more than the bullet format of the new one too. But it seems we are the exception. I think it has to do with the fact that I am more of a detail oriented person. I like to get as much info as possible. But I've found most people prefer the simple, short, to-the-point bullets. So I have finally given in.

[65hoss]

Take the prices off! That seems like a lot for your prices. I would think they should be higher. Most of my average lawns I would get $105 per month just cutting. But with the price there, it will be hard to sell someone the idea that their lawn should be higher amount. Then take $50 off and your in trouble.

When you put a price down on paper, people expect that to be what they get. You shouldn't limit yourself. You really should be getting more when applying chemicals and fertilizer. Not to mention trimming shrubs. Do you have a contract that states payment 12 months?

[JimLewis]

I appreciate the suggestion but we've had a lot of people tell us to include prices and a lot of people say they appreciated the fact that we listed prices on them. And that is not too cheap of a price for this area. 80-90% of the homes here are 2000 sq. ft. lawns or maybe a little more. They take a two man crew 15 minutes a week to do all of that stuff. It's hard to ask someone to pay more than $25 a week when we are only there for 15 or 20 minutes.

Another reason I can do it for that rate is because we have a most of clients in the same neighborhoods, so drive time is very minimal. We'll spend all day in the same neighborhood and have only half a block to drive in between each visit.

That's a good rate for this area. Not many companies would charge more than that. And a lot of them would do it for less. We are pretty fairly priced for the neighborhoods we work in. Big houses, small yards. I know it seems cheap to some of you guys out there but it really is a pretty good deal. We can do 20-25 houses a day. Do the math on that. It's a good deal.

[65hoss]

Since your only talking 2000 sq ft then ok. I still don't think you should put the price on the flyer. Just my 3 cents.

P.S. I do like the flyer. Layout is good.

[syzer]

Nice flyer, I def. like the second better the bullets do bring everything out much nicer then the previous sentences. Nice touch with the coupon also.


Chris Pasko
Precision Landscaping.

[VLM]

I like the new one alot! You should get better results.

[Vibe Ray]

I would add some color to it!!!! It really needs it! And make up a logo if you don't have one and put it up top in the center.

[cantoo]

Jim, this new one looks really good. I agree with some of the other guys and girls, the 140 has to go unless you are willng to put down something like the number of people you have so they don't think they are just one of the crowd. "Join the growing number of people who enjoy our services and the peace of mind that comes with having a professionally maintained lawn" or something to that effect.
Under the bullet trees and plants, should read "P" Plant to keep everything the same.
See our Web site for more details, pictures, and letters of recommendation from some of our customers.
I would also add your name onto the coupon beside your phone number in case they cut it off and can't remember your name. The coupon should resemble your business card in layout I think.
Now I have to get busy and make my own up. It sure is easier to critize someone else's.

[parkwest]

Jim

I don't think I would give $50 off on the first month. I think I would change it to $50 rebate on fall cleanup or something. Just so you don't get a bunch of people having you cut their grass for one month at half price.

[KindGardener]

Jim - Looks better than the other one... here's my $.02

Take off the prices - if they a re looking they will call- - if they are just price shoppers - do you want them?

The little pictures are too busy - maybe there are too many of them.

in your header box - kill the 2nd & 4th lines. Add the words "satisfied customers" in the 3rd line.

Use a .375 outside margin (outside the page border) - you can use more of that good white space inside the page border

I like the coupon ( I assume that's if they sign a year contract)

Put "see our web site down by the web address - say somnething like: Visit our web site to read letters from our satisfied clients,, and look at pictures of oru beautiful landscapes (or something to that effect)

Remember - people respond to "WIFM" Whats In It For Me -

Looking forward to seeing more drafts!!

[moonarrow]

Jim I like the new one, and I agree with some of the others on color. A friend of mine that lives down the road says that contrasting colors catches the eye a lot quicker than anything else. Good luck with your new flyer, it looks like with what you haave already done, and with the changes you will make with the suggestions from the guys on the forum it is going to be a humdinger.

P.S. When you finish it repost it so we can view the final results

[kutnkru]

I like the bulleted format. It makes the information much easier to read.

I think that bullets also give the customer an indication that you are an organized operation. This should set you apart from the others out there you are competing against.

Critque: capitalize the lower case p in "Trees and plants" to keep the format more uniform.

Suggestion: I offer coupons as well. What I do is to put the phone numbers before the free estimate line so that it relieves the congestion in such a small area. Makes them easier to read.

Nice work to you both :-)
Kris

[tazman]

Jim, the new outlay looks good. Couple of suggestions:

The pictures should be evened out on the paper. Half on one side, half on the other. When you look at the flyer the pictures make the page heavy to one side. Even it out, more pleasing to the eyes. Also, maybe instead of 6 pictures, cut it down to 4.

I agree about the pricing. Take it off. Why price yourself out of a job if you can get more for it once you see the property. Plus, it is just ammo for the competition to under cut you when you have your pricing advertized.

On the coupon, make the $50 discount for the 2nd or 3rd month of contract service. That way no one stiffs you after the first month. Contract or not, they all can be broken.

Good luck and curious to see the final product.

[JimLewis]

Thanks again for all of the input. I have put together a final draft. Link below.

I made most of the suggested changes; changed the font to arial (thanks GrassMaster - that really did make it more readable), made the proposed changes to the coupon, corrected the grammar errors, reworded the top paragraph, reworded the sentence at the bottom of the page, and some other minor changes.

I didn't decide to take a few suggestions. I don't want to add color print because we are already going to add color paper. That alone is increasing our flyer costs from .02 a piece to .05 a piece ($100 for 5000 vs. $250) and if I added color print, the cost would be probably .20 a piece. I just don't want to spend that much.

I know most of you wouldn't list the prices but it works really well for us. As I already explained, I can do it for these prices and still make great money. Furthermore, what the flyer DOESN'T say is that price is subject to them signing up for our Automatic Payment plan. I always give two prices per estimate. For instance, standard lawn care would be $105 with autopay or $120 if they prefer to be invoiced. 95% of new clients choose autopay and I am guaranteed on time payments every month, all year. That is worth it to me and allows me to give them a better price.

I also chose to keep the "140 clients" thing. I understand the logic behind taking it out but around here there are a lot of fly-by-nighters or start-ups. And I want to distinguish ourselves as as service that is established. And although some may feel they are not going to get the personal attention that they'd get from a smaller company, it's been my experience that in this area people are just happy to have a service that's reliable, professional, and does good work, no matter how large they are. Anyway, I've decided to keep it for now.

Keep the comments coming. I did encorporate most of the suggestions that were given.

THANKS!!

http://www.teleport.com/~jimlewis/flyer8.jpg

[TLS]

Jim,

5000 !!!! Flyers!!!??? Isn't that a bit extreme? Why not just buy some colored paper and print them on your printer at home? Save you LOTS of money and the look will be the same or better. What if (big IF, I guess) you get over a 2% return on them. Can you handle DOUBLING your current work load? Flyers do work, however you have to draw a line where you can continue to personally service your clients. Do you want this much work?

Good Luck.

[JimLewis]

5000 was just a reference. We'll probably do 2000 over the next month and a half. Then spread the other 3000 out over the course of the year. We typically do about 5000 every 9-12 months, depending on how ambitious I am feeling.

But yes, I would like to get a lot of new lawn care clients. The goal is to get up to 200 so we can hire another lawn care crew and our current 2nd crew (who now does 40 lawns and spends the rest of the week on installs, clean-ups,etc.) can focus all of their efforts on installs, clean-ups, etc.

[awm]

What i wouldnt give to have a community with similar
enough yds to give a blanket price like that.I bet you
sighn up a high percentage of folks that call.

[JimLewis]

We do. I land probably 75% or more of the bids we get for lawn care. Which is great because it just means more people in that neighborhood and even less drivetime.

[Currier]

Jim, I think the second flyer is excellent. I printed off copies of each flyer and probably will try to design one similar to your second. I appreciate your giving help even as you are asking for advice!

[JimK]

Hi, Jim from TURF Magazine here.

Great flier ... and very thoughtful replies from your friends at lawnsite.

Price? I agree with what folks have told you they appreciate: include pricing. But perhaps consider "average weekly" rates instead of monthly. It's a smaller bite of money to look at AND it gives you more flexibility (some months have five weeks, some four, etc.

I would also suggest INCREASING the size of type for "licensed, insured, etc." and decreasing the size of your bio material (perhaps even put that at the bottom -- it's important, but only to those who get that far through the flyer.

Excellent work, though. Your yar 2001 is lookin' good already.