Free Cut???

[KDJ]

I have a small ad in the city paper, and it has performed well for me. But for the last one and a half weeks I have received no calls.
I looked in the paper to make sure my ad was in there and this is what I saw.

Lawn Maintenance
Reliable, 13 yrs experience.
First cut FREE. 3 J'S Lawn Service
407-464-7057

Well anywho, If you live in Central Florida and need your lawn cut

[MikeLT1Z28]

i can't stand lowballers... first cut free? if his first cuts are anything like mine he must eat in the shelters each nite.

don't think anyone hear will be needing the services though. :p

[The Lawn Choupique]

Where some might only see "so called " low ballers, the enlighten see a time proven marketing plan. Anyone with any experience in sales and marketing knows the HOOK behind an ad like that. I have run that very same ad, and without exeception, have allways come away with a high precentage of signed yearly contracts. New Accouts.

[gogetter]

Who said he' a lowballer? His prices may be the highest in town. He's just getting his foot on thier lawn and then perhaps he upsells like crazy!
If he's really been doing it for 13 years, he's probably doing something right.

Last year in my area, I saw "first cut free" in many ads and coupons. I put it on my fliers too. However, this year I didn't seem to see it as much (or maybe I wasn't looking as much), so I won't be using it.
But I wouldn't knock anyone using that method. I have more of a problem with the guys putting "all lawns $15" in a $25 neighborhood.

[KDJ]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gogetter

[If he's really been doing it for 13 years, he's probably doing something right.

13 years my a$$. For anyone in the state of Florida that would like to verify the integrity of a business you can go to www.sunbiz.org and find out for your self. Go to Fictitious Name Inquiry and type in the name (3'Js) He started his business 5/7/2002 the ad started 5/8/2002 It also lists address of business (home) I will take a look for myself. However I will state that he is listed , and I will repect that. Just can't see cutting for free. It looks as his business plan is based on deceit.

End of story

[wmsland]

The ad says that he has 13 years of experience. It doesn't say that he has been in business for 13 years.

[J.Henderson]

It might also be first cut free WHEN you sign monthly contract. He may just charge for 3 weeks instead of 4, and demand payment up front.

[FrankenScagMachines]

I've often thought about doing a first cut free with contract but I'm "underage" so I can't hold anyone under contract. So, I've thought about doing the second cut free, that way they know they will get something out of it but I'll get a payment from them anyway. I think that would filter out some of the azzholes who go get a different company once a month to cut their field they call a lawn, for free then drop them. Think that would help serve as a filter?
Eric

[darryl gesner]

I agree with some of the other guys; nothing wrong with the first cut free. I sometimes do this (although I don't advertise it) if the customer's lawn is long and they have a long bidders list. Offer to cut it free right away and chances are you have a new contract. I will also offter the first cut free if I'm not sure how long the lawn would take. Say I figure I can do it in an hour and it takes 1.5 hours (many of my lawns are 1+ acre), I'm loosing on every cut for the contract period. However, if I cut it free the first time, my bid will be right on. I'd rather eat one mow than under bid (or over bid for that matter) a contract for 28 mows.

I remember that one member here always does the first cut free and reported a ninety something percent hit rate for contracts.

[SLS]

When the dentists in my area start offering "first tooth free" or the hamburger joints start offering "first burger free" or the gas station starts offering "first gallon of gas free"....

...ony then would I consider it.

No offence to the "marketing strategists" in the crowd but...

I cannot see where it enhances our "professional image" to be offering to "work for free". Even the panhandlers downtown hold cardboard signs that say "Will Work For Food".....not free.

I do give 1 "complimentary" mowing to established clients who provide me with an 'accepted' referral to show my appreciation.

[gogetter]

KDJ, I'll take back my statement "If he's been doing it for 13 years, he must be doing something right". I read the post wrong.

My guess is he worked for someone else for 13 years.

However, I still don't see anything wrong with his methods. Where is he being deceitful in anyway?

Like I said, the first free cut gets him the phone call. I'm sure this freebie is only for a seasonal agreement. Then he upsells them on other goodies and makes up that 'free cut' in no time.

Look at how many other service type industries give freebies to get more from you. Car washes around here give you punch cards and the 5th wash is free.
Carpet cleaners will clean one room free if you pay to have 3 others cleaned.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Now if you're talking about 2 and 3 acre lawns, that's a little bit different maybe.
The areas I work the average lawn is around $25. What's a $25 cut if I can get them for the rest of the season and get hedge trimming, mulch install, etc., etc.?? Not to mention thier neighbors
;)

[MikeLT1Z28]

what i mean is he is giving a free cut, sure maybe there is a catch. but IF he is giving a free cut, then everyone else wants something like this, then they start haggling about prices and next thing you know the national avg goes from $38.50 (as someone here stated not long ago) to about $10.

[George777]

My partner and I gave a free cut last week. Sometimes you got to give something to get something. I will let you know that this free cut was given at the vp's home, but the intent was to show our quality to pick up a major commerical account. If we get this account we will cut his turf for nothing. What ya think of that?

[AielLandscaping]

i've run ads in the phone book that said first week free when you mention this ad, i've had a lot of calls (i know they are from my ads) and they never mention the free week, oh well too bad for them... then i've also put out fliers with first week free when you sign up for regular weekly service, my trick here is *regular* because i won't take a hit on some big clean up just to have them quit after that... anyhow this is a marketing tool and you can keep track of the value of each free mow, and then use that as a tax write off. so in a way you still get paid for it...

[lawnkid]

I do first cuts free and a lot of people admire that soo they know what kind of quality work I do. I get a lot of people off of this. Hey, if I'm gonna get they're service for sure, y not give a first time free cut? :cool:

[ADMowing]

Just a note on the Sunbiz.org site. We have been registered for 5 years and before that were DBA under our own name. Our business name is still not showing up on the site. But, we ARE definitely registered. Have the cancelled checks and paperwork from the county to prove it. So, maybe the online records are not up to date. We don't do free cuts for anyone except for customers who have referred us out and we've gotten lots of business from them. Down here in our area of Florida, we'd do the free cut and then never see the person again. They'd just want a free cut. If we were at the start of our business again, we might consider this, but we have enough business now. And, in my opinion, I think that all people see when they read that advertisement is "free" and not "quality." We sell our business on quality and stand firm in our belief that our work is worth being paid for -- just our opinion about the freebe stuff.

[The Lawn Choupique]

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