What type of advertising?!

[o it grew landscaping]

I was just wondering what type of advertising you guys do and which method is the most effective. i recently thought of going to 5-10 doors a week and offering them a free lawn mowing on the terms that i can give them a free monthly estimate. I was wondering if maybe its a good idea or a bad idea, will it make people weirded out or what, i would appreciate any feedback.

[out4now]

This has to be a troll. I'll bite anyway. OK sooooo....you'r ebasically going to PAY them to give them an estimate? Uh..k..sounds generous. Tell ya what come on over an give me an estimate every week for the next oh say 10 months.

[PLS-Tx]

I was just wondering what type of advertising you guys do and which method is the most effective. i recently thought of going to 5-10 doors a week and offering them a free lawn mowing on the terms that i can give them a free monthly estimate. I was wondering if maybe its a good idea or a bad idea, will it make people weirded out or what, i would appreciate any feedback.


Bad Idea!

Yellow Pages and Newspaper ads have worked very well for us.

Thinking of putting out yard signs this year, and lettering on an enclosed trailer if I get the enclosed trailer this year. These would be more for name recognition.

Good luck!

[justanotherlawnguy]

I wouldnt do anything for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have to figure out what works in your area. For me Yellow Pages is the money maker. I dont have lettering on my truck and I didnt pass out 1 flyer last year, and was booked solid by April.

Ive worked 2 days this month cause all my customers pay monthly.

2004 was my first "professional" year and advertised in all the little B.S. flyers and newspapers and stayed busy, but it was crap work. 2005 I decided to take a chance on the Verizon Superpages. I admit I was nervous at first, cause you commit to it for a year and if it does not work you cannot back out. All I can say is I never regretted it for one second. The customers that use the yellow pages are all good solid customers, the ones that use anything else are just looking for the lowballer........period....

in fact, just today I signed up with the Yellow Book, for the same price I pay in the superpages, I got 2 ads under 2 different headings. 1 for Lawn Maint and the other for sod....Business is going to blow up this year:drinkup:

[o it grew landscaping]

the way i figure it, it will take maybe 30 minutes of my day to make their lawn look good, because first impressions are important. gas for the equiptment, maybe 50 cents at the most, and that half hour of labor. im looking around $13.50 each time. if i do that for 10 people, that would be roughly 130.00(not accurate) for the 10 places gas and my time. ok so maybe say just one of those people sign onto a service agreement for lets say 120.00 a month, well i just got a great customer for the year, and it will pay for itself the following month, its a risk, but so is any kind of advertising. it seems to me around here the only best type of advertising is getting your name to the people.

[drsogr]

Well, you can start by mowing my yard for free.

[PLS-Tx]

the way i figure it, it will take maybe 30 minutes of my day to make their lawn look good, because first impressions are important. gas for the equiptment, maybe 50 cents at the most, and that half hour of labor. im looking around $13.50 each time. if i do that for 10 people, that would be roughly 130.00(not accurate) for the 10 places gas and my time. ok so maybe say just one of those people sign onto a service agreement for lets say 120.00 a month, well i just got a great customer for the year, and it will pay for itself the following month, its a risk, but so is any kind of advertising. it seems to me around here the only best type of advertising is getting your name to the people.

You can't be serious. :dizzy:

[justinslawncare]

i agree. bad idea. if u want to give them something free try prices discounted if they sign a contract by a certain date, or after so many of whatever services u offer the next one for them would be free but only if the signed a contract.

[PMLAWN]

1 for free and 120 a month after.

O it Grew----look hard at that
Ask yourself---Self, did I do a business plan? Should I???

[rfed32]

triger a few hoods and pass out flyers....thats what i do and seems to work b.c 99.9% of the time the people at least look at it b4 the throw it away....

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Hi o it grew landscaping,

offering them a free lawn mowing on the terms that i can give them a free monthly estimate.

Can you explain this a little more? Couldn't you just give them a free estimate without mowing?

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[justinslawncare]

triger a few hoods and pass out flyers....thats what i do and seems to work b.c 99.9% of the time the people at least look at it b4 the throw it away....

so what kind of letters or flyers or just what do u put on the hoods that sounds like a great idea.

[irishgoldcleanups]

be careful with flyers if you put them in mail boxes you will get fined by the post office. learn from experiance

[MMLawn]

Heres how that will work out for ya.....


<b>o it grew landscaping</b> Hi, I am Johnny with XYZ Lawn Mowing. I tell you what mister. If you will let me cut your grass today for free. I'll also give you a free estimate on cutting your grass every week.

<b>homeowner</b> Sure, Johnny go ahead and cut it now for free and then when you finish give me that free estimate.

<b>o it grew landscaping</b> (Sweating, profusely says: ) Okay, mister I finished with your grass and ready to give you a free estimate.

<b>homeowner</b> Well, let me look at your work first Johnny. Looks like you missed a little 1" spot in the back right corner how about getting that. Also make sure you edge too now cause all of the big boys do that when they cut the neighbors.

<b>o it grew landscaping</b> (sweating more profusely and now panting) okay mister I'm finished and your free estimate is $20 a week to cut your grass.

<b>homeowner</b> okay I'll get back with you

Then:









































Thats the next thing you'll hear back from <b>homeowner</b> , NOTHING :eek:

[mrbray101]

I've had pretty good luck with passing out door hangers. Order some doorhangers from a website like iprint.com or vistaprint.com, something like that. Do a little research around your area and decide which neighborhoods you think will be best for business. Ive had the best luck with middle-upper class hoods. Go out on the weekend when people are home, putting the hangers on the door, dress respectively, maybe some khakis and a polo, nothing too much and carry some biz cards in your pocket. post the hangers on all the homes in the targetted area and if you see anyone that looks friendly chat with them. Maybe they need the yard mowed, maybe they know bill down the street that is looking for a reliable lawn service, or maybe they will just remember your name for next time. This is what I first did starting out and i think it worked pretty well and is rather inexpensive. Usually 1000 flyers runs around 120 or a little less. ive had about a 2 % response from these, a lot are one time cleanups or odd jobs like that but usually out of a 1000 flyers i may get 5-6 weekly accounts. Hope this helps a little, good luck.

[kalyeah]

Never do anything for free. If I was going to offer a free cut(I wouldn't). It would be the last one. Not the first one. Once you do something for free they'll be asking you to do other things for free. Do you mind hauling these limbs away for me. Can you cut it shorter. ANd on and on and on.

[RandyAndSons]

Tell you what you take that 13.50 and put it to some good use like getting the word out about you and what you do, do not give labor away for free!
hell what if you break down in the middle of that free cutting ( now you just spent a shi* load on that free cutting ) ( Just Dont Do It !!! ) Put and ad in the paper.

[cuttingmaniac22]

Man, are you saying you are thinking of mowing grass for $13 a cut???? Man, I would raise it if that is all you are mowin it for! NO>payup <NO

[Andersonlawnscape]

Probably not the best Idea IMO, but least you are trying to think of somthing outside the box. Maybe you could give a big discount the first month or somthing, as long as you have a contract. Or Choose a month and say If you sign up with me by March 1, 2006 You can have 35% off your Mowing Bill of October. Or if you would just like to give them a free estimate to get your foot in the door to talk to them, you could tell them if you let me give you an estimate on your lawn, I'll give you 10% off mulch installed. Just some other Ideas to think about, that will not allow a customer to burn you quite so easy.

[Wells]

I have to agree on this one that giving away a FREE mowing just to gain the opportunity to provide a quote is not going to be a very successful approach. You are banking on one-in-ten people buying into your service where the actual numbers are probably closer to one-in-fifty. That's alot of yards to cut just to gain one client......not to mention the time required to cut those 50 yards.

I like your enthusiasm and the fact your thinking about new marketing approaches but I feel that this one is really going to back fire on you. If you do a bit of research you'll find that almost everyone has been successful with fliers and newspaper ads more so than other types of marketing. With that in mind spend your time developing a flier and/or newspaper ad that potential clients won't be able to pass up.

[Wayne's Lawn Service]

I think you would be making a huge mistake for not only your self, but also prostituting your market for everyone in your area. If you cost your service out on a per hour basis, (truck, mower, weed eater, blower, etc) I guarantee that you can not do it for $13.50 cost.

I am not criticizing you, only letting you know that you will be hurting your company and your competition in the long run. You may wonder why you should care about your competition, but you should be thinking about PERCEIVED VALUE of your service. If the customer is paying nothing, what is the value of the service you are offering in their mind? We are all trying to be more professional and build a solid image for the industry. Giving away your service only degrades the integrity of the industry. Please reconsider this form of advertising for all of us.

Too many times, we don't know what we don't know! I was in that situation from 1979 to 1987. I was 98K in debt and thought I needed more work. Implement a cost recovery system for your company like we did in 1987 and I guarantee you will not continue with that form of advertising.

Good luck!