nasty reactions to an advertisement

[hardcharger]

hello to all. ive been busy in a small town nearby doing leaf removal last 3 months. i can blow to the curb fo 65.00 or total vacum removal 75 to 100.00 this is a 1 man show,with the ocasional helper,mostly 1 man. 90% of the lawns are 2000 sq ft so not to big , i figure those prices are good pay for small town small lawns .they have municipal vacum service. 3 days ago i put up a 30x30 sign in a customers lawn slap on the corner of downtown mainstreet it says boldly leaf cleanup special 55.00 the town also advetised in the local news they stop the curbside pickup march 1st now i know 3 local lawn men who are now outraged at this sign and ive recived several calls demanding i remove the 55.00 special sign i dont want to make enemies around here or with my fellow lawn men. but i need some advice.. i may remove the 55.00 sign march 1st but undecided hardcharger.

[YardPro]

why would you want to leave that much money on the table???????

charge as much as you can and still get work.. that is rule #1 of running a business... you should at least be close to what others are charging.

[hardcharger]

i put the 55.00 sign up in hope to make some quick cash before they stop the curb pickup, im still charging 100.00 to total vacum, 55.00 blow to the curb im also not really that busy anyway, and ive alrady made 2000 bucks piddlin at the leaf removal gig . im more worried about my rep with these folks.

[TurfProSTL]

"ive recived several calls demanding i remove the 55.00 special sign"

What were their reasons for making such demands?

[hardcharger]

the demands to remove the sign came from 2 personal so so lawn men i know who sugessted i not advertise a price , my take on this is that they feel maybye im hurting the market or something, i had 1 other phone call quote im a nasty undercutting blank hole, these lawns are small 2000 sqare foot town house deals were talkin 30 minutes of work here with mr pb 650 ha,ha, i dont know what to think, i thought i was a fair priced good service guy, hardcharger

[DUSTYCEDAR]

get caller id and report them to the cops they r threats on u

[hardcharger]

ha ha, i just finished reading how to win friends and influence people yesterday, by dale carnegie, but ill keep it in mind this week thanks im hoping for the super answer to all i suppose, hardcharger.

[TurfProSTL]

hardcharger, if you're making the money you need to on these small lawns, I wouldn't worry one bit about your "rep" with these guys. They have no right to demand anything.

Sounds like you got some attention with your sign. Hopefully from some customers as well.....

[HOOLIE]

I think you're right on with the jobs taking about a half hour for a 2k lawn. In which case you'd be grossing $110 an hour, not bad at all. And it's a limited time offer til the town leaf pickup stops, so I'd stick with it.

[MMLawn]

I got news for you hardcharger, if they "really" want to get you they have a very "costly" way to do it. They will just report you to the town you are doing the leaf work in there around Monroe. You see nearly every single town in NC, (as I matter of fact I know of none in your area at all that don't have this) and my company does work all over NC, has an obscure written ordinance that states that if a "contractor" or "lawn service" is getting the leaves up then that same company is responsible for removal and the curb side pickup by the town will not be honored. Now I know most times the town will not know who actually put the leaves there. But if you have pizzed these other LCO's off they very well may now "alert" the town to who is putting them there and then the town will fine you for each violation you have/do commit.

[hardcharger]

so far no problem with the local town government, its real laid back town, only 20% of customers want the 100.00 vacum deal i guess they think a big pile on the curb looks bad, im all for that, im wonderimg what the best response to the pisees who are angry ,i know these folks and they can really damage a good rep i have already, thats wats eatin me, but money is nice too. i wanna continue to be a nice guy, but i dont know,

[MMLawn]

I guess it also depends on if you want to do future work there and how bad they can "really" hurt your rep....or not. I am far from one that buckles under to anyone, but you also need to look at the whole picture. What that answer is, only you really can determine.

[gammon landscaping]

i would drop my price 10 bucks and tell them to go f*ck themselves if they want the work they need to get off there phones and get to work. you are showing good busness tactics. good servce good rate. no need for you to feel bad. and anytime you can bait new clients in at this time of year and make a little bill money, you are ahead of the game. in the middle of winter if you can work enough to pay the bills and get good leads for the next year you are gold. and the guy that called you are probably mad because some of there customers used you or there costomers fussed about there price after seeing you sign. keep the industry honest. we are here to make a good living not get rich quick. the ones here that want to get rich now so they can be lazy later are the ones that make people afraid of professinal services. and get alot of our work taken over by the neibors kids

[HOOLIE]

Well they're already pissed off, so why back down now? All you did was think of a better idea and market it in a way that bucks the trend for the area. If you do good work for a fair price they can't really hurt you. And nobody really has the time to promote someone else's bad rep. In a few weeks everyone will be busy and this will be forgotten.

[two_planks]

It they spend all their time trying damage your rep, they will do more damage to their own. A year from now most of the people they bad mouthed you to won't remember your name, but they will remember the bad attitude contractor that did nothing but talk down the competition.

[topsites]

If I put up a sign of mine, then the only person I want to call me concerning the removal of said sign would be the owner of the property on which the sign has been placed. Anyone else calls, I would ask them their name and then remember it so if something happens to the sign, I would know whom to suspect.

As for what I think of those guys calling you, I'll keep a tight lip on it because I'm about to have an attack of tourettes syndrome lol !
But definitely write down the phone number from where they called you someplace, might need the info later.

[J&R Landscaping]

The other lawn people that called you are probably just mad because their customers came to you because you can offer them a better deal! What ever works for you, do it! If a contractor badmouths all of his competition, He is selling a bad image to himself and his own business which may bite him in the future! If you are getting customers and making money to pay the bills, stick with it!

[TLS]

Somehow, I think your lowballing. Sure, your making money, but obviously, your price is low enough to really piss off your competition.

I would ask them when they call why they're pissed off. I'd bet you all of them say your low price.

Sure, you say your making money. But, say the going rate is $100, and your charging almost half of that, you bet you'd piss other LCO's off. Plus, your leaving money on the table.

Figure out the going rate, and stick near that.