Has anyone advertised free mulch?

[MOWEMJEFF]

I've been trying to come up with a good advertisement to put on my spring fliers going out with invoices on monday. I just got an idea to offer a free yard of mulch when buying 4 or more. I sell mulch for 40$/yd and charge them hourly for installing and I get the mulch for around $25/yd. So if they bought 4 just the mark-up alone would cover the $25 and people love it when they think they're getting something free. Plus this might attract more high end customers who need in the 6-10 yard range and its just going to require labor. Think this is a good idea? And if you don't state your logic and be polite about it.

[dwlah]

Id make sure they understood it was for the mulch not the labor and its just one yard not 20% off the total bill

Around here all the guys I know just give the customer an installed per yard price

[MOWEMJEFF]

Well I was thinking of headling it "FREE MULCH WITH SPRING CLEANUP*
then
*one free yard with the purchase of 4 yards of mulch

and I've always billed my customers with 2 charges, materials and labor. Man hours counts the time on the site including drive time to get to the job. I've found when I say $75/yard and they need 6 yards they think wow $450 is steep. But if I say well the cost off the mulch is $40 per yard delivered plus my hourly rate they're just thinking hmm $240 ok sounds good and they get billed for 4 man hours at $45/hr I still get $420 and I didn't lose the job because they thought I was ripping them off. I'd rather lose $30 billing that way then not get the job.

[LB1234]

Many moons ago we changed over to a per yard install price. Has worked really well for us. Our flyers offer a discount off of mulch installation. We do set a minimum of 5 cu.yds for a job. We also offer additional $ off if they sign up or are already signed up for lawn maintenance. We call it a package deal. Basically, the more work you give me, the more I'm going to discount my services. And customers LOVE discounts.

And don't forget about upselling. Do you need weeding? Leaf cleanup? Bed Edging? Pruning? Etc.

[bigw]

I am not offering anything but my service and i have mulch jobs out my butt. I am going tomorrow to do a 16 yd mulch job and then still have a 20,14,10,6,and two 4 yd jobs to do yet. I am hoping to get all these done along with the 13 spring cleanups i still have to do before i start mowing. I actually rented a Brown bed edger today and want around and edged all the beds.

[MOWEMJEFF]

Many moons ago we changed over to a per yard install price. Has worked really well for us. Our flyers offer a discount off of mulch installation. We do set a minimum of 5 cu.yds for a job. We also offer additional $ off if they sign up or are already signed up for lawn maintenance. We call it a package deal. Basically, the more work you give me, the more I'm going to discount my services. And customers LOVE discounts.

And don't forget about upselling. Do you need weeding? Leaf cleanup? Bed Edging? Pruning? Etc.

I second that people love discounts and I am going to offer something. Sooo many of my customers are 1/4 acre or less though and 2 yards is typically enough for 75% of my jobs, my goal is to get some higher end clients this year who will need at least 5 yards.

I'm also gonna charge a one time spring fee of $60 to remove any dog waste before I even start working. I've read many threads on this and I think it is bad business to tack on a charge for it if you happen to get it on the equipment, either pick it up and include it in the weekly cost or deal with it, don't just throw $20 on there when they're not expecting it I don't care what the contract says. Half the time I grab a spade and pile it up for free anyways. I've always said a little brown on the nose is better then on the clothes(I suppose its not really the same if its on your nose and clothes, but the customers love it)

[LB1234]

Between thursday and friday we did 64 cubic yards of mulch (23 man-hours). 4 Jobs. All 4 were from the flyer advertisement of 10% off and the package deal for lawn care. After running the numbers last night we made out very well after expenses. More to do this week coming up.

[Atlantic Lawn]

Finished 35 yard last week and have 45 more to go, I'm really starting to dislike much, though it does smell a lot like money. Luckily I just run the tractor these days, but after a day of breathin' it it still really sucks.

[ponyboy]

we offerd buy 5 of anything mulch,soil,trees,stones etc. get one free does a home owner know the difference between 5 yards or 6 espically when most of my houses are 25-30 yard of mulch,or just mark mark up all your products %20 then give them the discount. the discount is just to get them to call you after that it is all about you and the way you sell your company.

[MOWEMJEFF]

Ya I know it sounds shady or bad business but I know the people who own my local nursery fairly well and when they give me 2 yards they give me huge bucket fulls and never shake the extra off the top so its really like 3 anyways, so if someone got that deal I'd probly only pay for 4 anyways in 2 seperate trips, in reality it really is probably 5 yards or darn close.

[LB1234]

I've built my business on being honest with my customers and they appreciate it. My customers trust me to do a good job at a reasonable price and I trust them to pay me when due. When I offer them something that's free, its free. If I offer a discount I don't mark it up in the estimate to cover the discount. I find it to be just wrong and bad business. But again thats just my opinion.

[MOWEMJEFF]

I've built my business on being honest with my customers and they appreciate it. My customers trust me to do a good job at a reasonable price and I trust them to pay me when due. When I offer them something that's free, its free. If I offer a discount I don't mark it up in the estimate to cover the discount. I find it to be just wrong and bad business. But again thats just my opinion.

Trust me I'm all about being honest, but if I make 2 trips for 2 yards of mulch and really the guy loading gives me 5-5 1/2 yards is it really being dishonest to bill them for 5 if thats how much they got. Depending on how far away from the job I go to different nurseries, at most they shake the bucket off of any extra but at my regular nursery they treat me REALLY well and I get more mulch when I buy 2 yards then when I buy 3 at other nurseries.

[supercuts]

dont you know you never get anythign for free. if your customers have more than a 7th grade education, they will know that. they will also know that the money has to come from somewhere and that it is not out of your pocket, by keeping things honest you tell them how much it is upfront. if you want to LOOK honest quote a 7 yard job as 8, and only bill them for the 7 and tell them you didnt need the last yard. you will look honest from their on out and if you messed up you have an extra yard to use that you already quoted for

[MOWEMJEFF]

dont you know you never get anythign for free. if your customers have more than a 7th grade education, they will know that. they will also know that the money has to come from somewhere and that it is not out of your pocket, by keeping things honest you tell them how much it is upfront. if you want to LOOK honest quote a 7 yard job as 8, and only bill them for the 7 and tell them you didnt need the last yard. you will look honest from their on out and if you messed up you have an extra yard to use that you already quoted for

I'm friends with the people at the dump too cause I worked for the city, I bring couches, tvs, basement trash and never get charged a penny...should I not charge them a dump fee for this stuff either when it would cost them 20-30$?

[supercuts]

I'm friends with the people at the dump too cause I worked for the city, I bring couches, tvs, basement trash and never get charged a penny...should I not charge them a dump fee for this stuff either when it would cost them 20-30$?

you have got to be kidding me. the reason they are not charging you is because they could care less if you pay, the money is not coming out of their pockets (or going into), its coming out of taxpayers pockets who then ultimately pay for it. this means if your not charging your customers and paying the fees, you are stealing services from your city. that is a crime.

if i have a friend who works at a dealer, would it be ok if they give me free equipment since they dont pay for them?? was maine left out of the "No child left behind" act????

by not charging them the dumping fees you are not representing yourself as honest but as a thief stealing from the city only to benefit your customers. your not even good at being a theif

[MOWEMJEFF]

They tell me what dumpster to put it in and thats what I do, if they say $5 instead of $50 I'm not gonna stop and say "no break that down individually and charge me as much as possible" thatd just be stupid. And at the nursery I go to, its the owners son who is now the manager who is always helping me out and he does it so I,ME,MYSELF can make some extra money not my customer and he does it because i'm an honest hard worker. So say what you will maybe you don't get deals like that because people don't like you.

[supercuts]

They tell me what dumpster to put it in and thats what I do, if they say $5 instead of $50 I'm not gonna stop and say "no break that down individually and charge me as much as possible" thatd just be stupid. And at the nursery I go to, its the owners son who is now the manager who is always helping me out and he does it so I,ME,MYSELF can make some extra money not my customer and he does it because i'm an honest hard worker. So say what you will maybe you don't get deals like that because people don't like you.

and if you have a friend working at a bank who is giving you extra money when cashing checks simply because your an honest hard worker doesnt make it right.

and by saying so "I,ME, MYSELF can make some extra money is different then what you said before, if i dont have to pay for it i pass that money on to my customers because im so honest.

learn to lie properly or you wont come across as honest! you said you werent getting charged at the dump because your friends work there. so your stealing from the city by not paying proper fees at the dump. your the worst honest thief ive read on here.

i dont really care what you do but dont preach about how honest you are

[MOWEMJEFF]

I dont lie to my customers, many of them know i get preferential treatment at the dump, just like every other city worker and all the cops and all the people down at town hall...just one of the perks for working for the city im sorry i misworded my original comment 200 other city workers all get the same treatment, i just dont work there anymore and they still like me.

[bohiaa]

Most people " I have ever met anyway" know that All City's Give a way Free mulch...

however most people also know that mulch from the City's land fill is full of termites.

advertiseing like this would not make me walk away from you..... It would make me RUN.

[MOWEMJEFF]

Most people " I have ever met anyway" know that All City's Give a way Free mulch...

however most people also know that mulch from the City's land fill is full of termites.

advertiseing like this would not make me walk away from you..... It would make me RUN.

LOL:laugh:The day you catch me using mulch from the city I will sign my business over to you. The free mulch would be 24$/yard black mulch from the local nursery....the free stuff at the city being discussed is whats disposed of.