This is why the legit companies go out of business

[grassmedics]

this is what we deal with here in florida all the time:realmad:


http://orlando.craigslist.org/bfs/402958491.html

[topsites]

Oh man come on now, you know this start up is fixing to get a tail whooping so bad it ain't even funny ...

He said $15 "no matter what..." :cry:
In a classified section, on craigslist ...
Man I tell you, I had a decently worded ad on that thing once and I got some pretty rough calls out of it, and nothing but.
The one job that could've turned into a regular customer I just got paid for, over a year later.
Made me swear off classifieds for good, at least for my business. :laugh:

No serious customer of mine is too likely to bolt over this, but he will most likely get calls from folks with stuff 3 feet tall, BIG lots, and stuff that's all threwn with garbage and crap, poor guy I about feel sorry for him, at least he's trying.

It'll be alright, it's not the end of the world, I am sure of it.

[BQLC]

They will not be around long at those prices

[All_Toro_4ME]

this is what we deal with here in florida all the time:realmad:


http://orlando.craigslist.org/bfs/402958491.html

Yea thats bad. Heres a few what's going on here in OKC.

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/lbs/393470786.html

This one brags about the fact that he "is cheaper then the competition."

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/lbs/385498953.html

These are just two, but all the ones I looked at are unlicensed.:nono:

[cgaengineer]

Heres another http://atlanta.craigslist.org/bar/388289378.html

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/bar/394028578.html

[DoetschOutdoor]

I have really never targeted customers that these craiglist guys do so I'm not the least bit worried about their "competition". I have a few customers that have lost their mind or are losing their minds and even they would know that something is wrong with a $10-15 cut...

[sweatyclippingcoveredguy]

lol the grass in the picture isn't even cut! I bet it's his backyard!

[sweatyclippingcoveredguy]

"hey what are you doing with that camera in my backyard" yells the homeowner to the illegal alien trying to get in the biz.

[justanotherlawnguy]

Is that the level that you compete on?

Yes those guys suck, but they are everywhere.

I guarantee these guys aren't the ones putting legit companies out of business!!!! Your doing something else wrong if your worried about those types of lco's.......

[grassmedics]

never said i was worried about them, and yes i do post my service on craigslist, actually have a few very good clients that came from there. Im sorry that im not the huge company that you are yet, but i will be there. sometimes i wonder how the guys who think they are too good for themselves keep their customers. i thought this was a helpful site, not one to put other LCO's down.:nono:

Side note to All Toro4me, i saw that post about the competition, and it makes me laugh, because i would never put down the competition, i feel its just bad for business to bad mouth someone else. thanks for the post thats not trying to put another company down

[All_Toro_4ME]

never said i was worried about them, and yes i do post my service on craigslist, actually have a few very good clients that came from there. Im sorry that im not the huge company that you are yet, but i will be there. sometimes i wonder how the guys who think they are too good for themselves keep their customers. i thought this was a helpful site, not one to put other LCO's down.:nono:

Side note to All Toro4me, i saw that post about the competition, and it makes me laugh, because i would never put down the competition, i feel its just bad for business to bad mouth someone else. thanks for the post thats not trying to put another company down


I'm with ya grassmedics. Still small business, but growing every year. Yea I agree with you on the competition, should never put them down, or call them out. The lowballers are everywhere and it makes it challenging at times to re-train the customer that their yard is actually a $35 yard per cut(or whatever going price is) and not the 7.50/per cut they've been use to from the guy before that couldn't make it in the business.

[txgrassguy]

Your marketing is off target, that's your problem.
In order to effectively grow a business one needs to target to a specific socioeconomic group. And the level/type of marketing confirms your target - in this case a lower socioeconomic group that uses low cost print media like craigs list.
A successful business operation is one whose competition serves to promote growth and professionalism, yet at the same time effectively stabilizing a price in your area of operations.
I have yet to encounter a reliable revenue generating business that effectively operates with a media audience like that which is found at craigs list hence the odd advertisements and difficulty in educating a client about fees for work performed. Why?
Because people who routinely utilize media like craigs list are there as cost is the over riding concern. With profit margins in a LCO type business being as low as they are in order to effectively capitalize on a lower scale means you have to have more equipment/labor/costs to operate in a economy of scale much like WalMart.

[weeble67]

I hear you on not putting down the competition. Here where I'm at, I bet 80-85 percent of the LCO's know each other. I talk to most of the other guys on a daily basis. It's good buisness. Like I say I'm not out to steal anyones customers. Cause let's face it, if they are stolen they will stray elsewhere later.

[razor1]

this is what we deal with here in florida all the time:realmad:


http://orlando.craigslist.org/bfs/402958491.html

You guys are just to close to me~hee~co. :laugh:

[Stillwater]

this is what we deal with here in florida all the time:realmad:


http://orlando.craigslist.org/bfs/402958491.html

Bull Crap, if you cant compete with a 10 dollar guy you might as well pack it up yourself. I wish some of you guys would stop crying about lowballers. I do not want the people who would hire these 10 dollar guys for customers anyway so I could give a crap if they charge a dollar for a blow and go. rise above these guys with YOUR quality honest service and get over it stop crying and move on. You guys better get a thicker skin and start paying more attention to your business and not the dam lowballers business.

[Grass Happens]

Heres another http://atlanta.craigslist.org/bar/388289378.html

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/bar/394028578.html

Heres another http://atlanta.craigslist.org/bar/388289378.html

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/bar/394028578.html

I could go for a massage :)
Honestly, i was a lowballer, although my cheapest lawn was 15/cut and that was for my best friend's brother. I didn't have insurance and my stuff was, um ratty. But I also wanted to become better, and to get there, I had to start somewhere. I have my doubts that i could nail down a "good" client for 50/cut with a rusted out 1986 Toyota with snapper push hanging out the asz-end. But every year, i save my money, and manage to get a wee bit bigger. I knowe have insurence, pay taxes and go to school for landscape design. Everything I have is mine, Nobody in my family had the ability to lend me anything, I had no savings and no credit. I still have a long way to go, but i don't knock on anyone else whose trying to make it. The guys that do piss me off are those that have 3 crews and 6 Zts's who pay cash to there employee's, hire undocumented workers and chimp on taxes. Those are the guys who can, and do steal your customers.