Getting your first customers

[ar_blazeman]

How do you suggest getting your business rolling and getting hooked up with your initial customer base?

[Matts lawn care]

buy lots of door hangers and postcards when you are putting out the door hangers talk to the person at the door. thats what made the difference for me. www.doorhangers.com you get 5000 door hangers for $189.00

[lawnwizards]

How do you suggest getting your business rolling and getting hooked up with your initial customer base?
ad in the newspaper can get the ball rolling. only bad thing is that you will get customers that are spread out. if you want them concentrated then do what Matt says and get some flyers or door hangers.

[Prestige-Lawncare]

Though they are a little more expensive, you can get full color post cards at Vista Print (http://www.vistaprint.com) that will do a fantastic job as well. You can do your own layout. add as many photos or graphics as your design will allow ... and this is something that your customer can put on the front of the refrigerator.

You can get 2500 for $179.99, 5000 for $299.99, or 10,000 for $499.99 ... and the quality and colors are great!
:weightlifter:

[J&R Landscaping]

I would target a few nieghboorhoods you want to ork in and decorate it with your fliers. Maybe put an ad in your churches weekley newsletter if they have one. An ad in the paper is also a nice idea!

[jcb287]

Advertise,Advertise ,Advertise!!!!!!!!!!!

[Runner]

Newspaper ad is always a shoe-in. You get alot of ghetto calls that you don't want, but you can pick and choose. You ust have to sort through them. When you're first starting though, you take what you can get. You have to make some drives sometime, but as time goes on, you can get them in a tighter perimeter.

[NothingLess]

Anyone have any all ready pre done... Just tryin to get some ideas on what to put on them and a attention getter quote/phrase....

lookin to dso possible the door hangers but just tryin to get an idea on what all to put on it...

thanks

[Dogbonz]

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/kuraoka/flyer.htm

Heres link that may help you,,, I found out some interesting things on there myself.

[tjsquickcuts]

All of the above are great, but the best way is door to door. You gotta try and catch a few people at home during the day, and sell your self. This time of year, you will be able to catch a few lawns from those who have went under or decided that this line of work is just not for them. Once you have one customer in a area, its easy to add more, just stay on top of your lawn and keep it looking good, even if you have to do a few extras on the house. If you are looking to start next year, then fliers will be great, but door to door is still more powerful. But remember, its a numbers game. The more people you can see, the better chance you will have at picking up accounts. My goal during the winter is to knock on at least 75 to 100 doors, and and pass out about 500 fliers daily.

[CutsForLess]

Well I just use a ad in the newspaperand this is my first year and now have 28 accounts. But I get a lot of odd and end jobs off the ad also. I am now changing my ad to include fall cleanups. I do get a lot of gutter cleaning jobs with the paper ad. I am down here in northeast Texas and newspaper seems to be the way to go, but might not be for your area.

[apowell18]

Our city paper has free online ads. I posted several in August (we were in a drought). I haven't recieved one call from mowing since then, but I've recieved 8 calls for aerating and dethatching (snagged 4 or them). I'm starting up next year part-time and I don't have any regular customers. The 4 customers that I aerated for this Fall are getting a thank you letter, with a few business cards included later this week.

Check with your local metropolitan newspaper online and see if you can get an ad for free and treat your first dozen or so customers like royalty and remain loyal. (at least that's my plan for now).