i would rather not sign a contract?

[bobbygedd]

ok, i had most of my customers on a "verbal " agreement type policy. there were some, however that ive had for a long time, and felt awkward presenting them with a written agreement. last year all new clients had to sign an agreement, this year i want all clients, new and repeats, to sign an agreement, it is business afterall, isnt it? well, one actually said they would rather not have a written agreement, and im afraid some of the others may react the same. im very good at explaining myself, that this agreement is just an understanding of what they will recieve, when they will get it, who will provide it, and how much it costs, and that it is our companies policy that all customers have a written agreement. anyone else have a similar problem? any advice?

[Lawn-Scapes]

I have a couple that only want a verbal 'pay as you go' type agreement..

If they pay on time and do not call me every other week I see no problems..

If they become a hassle.. I will boot them when I can afford to do so.

[thelawnguy]

You have a choice; stick fast to your rule, or be a bit flexible for a long term customer who wants things the way it is.

Only you know that customer the best...

[ohiolawnguy]

All of our customers are equired to sign and return a written agreement. BUt, only our largest customers have an actual
contact, so to speak. is that similar to how you are doing it?

IF this is the case here is my suggestion: This is our basic method of handling written agreements.
explain to people who do not wish to sign that this is just an agreement for us to maintain their services at the price stated. It is a legal contract if they don't pay,and a court remedy is deemed necessary, but is by no means a full season contract. Also, tell those who have written agreement instead of contract, that if they are unhappy they can cancel at any time. All we want is paid for work already done, and a reason for the cancellation.

If they are still unwilling to sign, politely tell them that we will be unable to do work on their property. Best of luck to you, and feel free to call back if you change your mind.


Hopefully that may help.

Good luck, Kevin

[KirbysLawn]

Tell them the reason is to establish contracts for documentation for banking reasons to establish what you business has in current contracts. Heck, do 6 month contracts if they are afraid.

[David Haggerty]

You could have a detailed "Company policy" for a lot of the items.
This could lessen the number of items appearing on the contract.
It may make a contract more appealing to sign for some people.



Dave

[tlcservices]

who said you could be on their property? prove it. when the old lady next door comes bitching and says bla blah you say your supposed to mow here because its on the CONTRACT..........

[Bob Minney]

You hate to chase away a good customer, but if they give you a referal and they let that person know that they did not have to sign an agreement it could come back to bite you. Just something to consider before you decide.

I think if you present it as for their benefit as well as yours, it may be more accepable.

[PAPS]

Tell your new clients that they have to sign a contract to "protect" themsleves and yourself. Tell them is nothing personal (which it always is when you've been burned as many times as we have) but its a protections policy for both parties.

As for the older established clients, you now better than i do, if they pay there bills etc. I would just let them continue there same policy as before, unless your unsure they might not burn you.

Also, VERY IMPORTANT, always make your clients sign a
"additional work order sheet" Meaning this: Your doing a planting job and the client says, "oh can you add (2) more white pines to the job" make them sign off on that request always. I know its a pain in the ass to stop working, but trust me, you dont know how many clients we've had turn around and say "oh.. i didnt realize that the additional tree was going to cost that much... i am not paying."

[landscaper3]

All very good repies! We dont do ANY! work without contracts. We are mostly commercial and must have contracts but we do maintain over 50 residential customers and there contract is real simple! We put cost of mowing or plowing cost, below we say, any service outside of described will be $25.00 per hr per man excluding machinery. Its been my finding anyone not willing to sign a contract (could) be a problem down the road.

[bobbygedd]

well, its a bit hard to judge whos gonna stick u next. just this past fall, i had a customer beat me out of a couple hundred. this particular customer was with me 4 seasons. when they inquired about the service 4 yrs ago, they said, oh, u r not gonna ask me to sign a contract and all that, r u? i said well, if that makes u uncomfortable, then no, but just make sure u pay me on time. i got paid every month, then i got burned. his last words were," well, i wont have yur money till monday, but thanksgiving is in 2 days, would u please clean the leaves, u know ill pay u, u know i would never screw u".....

[JimLewis]

Well, you've come along a fairly regular problem, at least in my experience. Which is why I've never made any of our clients sign a contract.

I don't see a need for one. In fact our company is proof that you don't need one. As long as we do what we say we'll do and do a good job at it, they have no reason to leave. It's worked out very well for us.

I still have a lot of clients ask me, "Now if I choose to sign up with you guys, am I going to have to sign a contract?" And they are always relieved to hear that they are not. There's a reason why. Many people don't want to feel trapped. I don't blame them. I wouldn't sign a contract with a company I didn't know either. I think the fact that we don't do contracts is a big part of why I land a very high percentage of the bids we give.

There are trade-offs in everything. If you are going to have a firm policy, that's fine. It's your choice. Just accept that it will alienate certain people from using your company and quit compaining about it.

I make the same choice with year-round accounts. All we take are year-round maintenance accounts. I realize up front that I will lose a certain percentage of clients because I have such a firm policy. That's fine with me. I've made up my mind that's all I want to work with. And if someone says, "What if I don't want year-round service." I just politely explain that's all we offer. But I don't go complaining about it. I made my decision. I am willing to accept that I won't land every bid I make because of it. I just move on.

You just gotta decide if you are willing to stick to your policy and give up a few potential clients or not.

p.s. this is just for residential maintenance accounts. We always sign contracts for major installations, etc. It's the law and it's good business.

[Bob Minney]

I guess too it depends on what you cover in a contract. We call ours an agreement. It does not obligate anyone to continue purchasing our services that does not want to, all we ask is 24hrs notice for cancelation. (24hrs before the next scheduled service) Our agreement details the scope of what is being provided, at what price, and states that any additional work is done only on request, and only after an estimate is approved by the customer. I feel having everything in writing serves everybodys interests. Because I am providing credit,(monthly billing) this agreement serves the same purpose as a signed work order reqesting the work be done. It also details how and when payment is due and our recourse if we are not paid. I do not offer yearly payments but accept credit cards if the customer needs to stretch their budget.

I do believe that 90% of people probably wouldn't need a written agreement, but that other 10% can really be a drain on your time. Instead of taking on everybody and weeding out problems later, I consider willingness to sign a good indicator of the person. My perception is that people think we are dealing with them in a business like manner by having written communications.

Look at your contracts-if you were the customer would YOU sign it with someone you don't know?

[BigJim]

No lawn contracts down here,its all done on a handshake,one franchise tries to get contracts but they meet a lot of resistance to it.For residential lawns they wouldn't be worth the trouble even if they were signed in blood,the cost of recovery would far exceed the worth of a contract.Good credit control stops any problems and 95% of my customers pay on the day.If someones gonna stiff you their gonna do it regardless whether they have signed something or not.As a contract is a 2 way thing I also like the fact I'm not tied to providing service for someone I'm not happy with and can quickly terminate any unprofitable or unpleasnt jobs and move on to the better ones.Also several of my customers I've never seen or met,other than initial phone coversation,I mow,they pay it works well,everyones happy.Thats how it works here,obviously contract law varies in evey country.