Turtle II
08-22-2002, 10:26 PM
kitzy
Member
Registered: Feb 2002
Location: pa
Posts: 195
well you've probably heard this so many times you are sick of it...but I can tell you as a new guy in this biz it does work...every single mow customer I have is on a contract. Its all in how you sell the contract...you have to make the point that often you'll be mowing more than every 7 days....right now maybe every 14...but the bottom line is they have a landscape that is going to cost 'x' dollars to maintain for 9 months....sell it like insurance..."peace of mind". And you also need to make the point that profesional service providers cannot maintain a professional business by waiting on the lawnwoner to call...if they dont understand that, you may not really want them as a customer..Now we are in some very dry times...so on those accounts where I am mowing less, I go in and trim, cleanup, fill holes,deadhead flowers, whatever...there is ALWAYS work to do in a landscape. In this way I am maintaining my revenue stream, the ccontract is being fulfilled as agreed to, and the client is getting 'his moneys worth". I know alot of guys dont do contracts, but frankly, I cant see how you can survive in this biz without them...I have not had ONE customer have a problem with this.....because I sell the concept right up front before a blade ever turns....give it some thought..good luck
Kitzy,
What you have said about a contracts makes perfect sense to me.
If you have some time do you think you could send me a copy of your contract? And maybe some more info on how you approach your customer about the contract, etc. ???
I appreciate any info or details you can give.
There is only one thing I don't understand with your theory.. How do you distungish between the times when you only mow, trim, blow & go and then other times when you trim hedges, do flower beds, fill holes, etc. How do you separate that when selling the contract? What if it rains every week and you are always busy mowing with little time for flower beds and extras?
Do you specify you'll trim hedges X amount of times per season? Or that you will aerate/fertilize once spring and once fall etc...
Again,
Thanks for any help and info / insight anyone can pass along on this....
Turtle:cool:
Member
Registered: Feb 2002
Location: pa
Posts: 195
well you've probably heard this so many times you are sick of it...but I can tell you as a new guy in this biz it does work...every single mow customer I have is on a contract. Its all in how you sell the contract...you have to make the point that often you'll be mowing more than every 7 days....right now maybe every 14...but the bottom line is they have a landscape that is going to cost 'x' dollars to maintain for 9 months....sell it like insurance..."peace of mind". And you also need to make the point that profesional service providers cannot maintain a professional business by waiting on the lawnwoner to call...if they dont understand that, you may not really want them as a customer..Now we are in some very dry times...so on those accounts where I am mowing less, I go in and trim, cleanup, fill holes,deadhead flowers, whatever...there is ALWAYS work to do in a landscape. In this way I am maintaining my revenue stream, the ccontract is being fulfilled as agreed to, and the client is getting 'his moneys worth". I know alot of guys dont do contracts, but frankly, I cant see how you can survive in this biz without them...I have not had ONE customer have a problem with this.....because I sell the concept right up front before a blade ever turns....give it some thought..good luck
Kitzy,
What you have said about a contracts makes perfect sense to me.
If you have some time do you think you could send me a copy of your contract? And maybe some more info on how you approach your customer about the contract, etc. ???
I appreciate any info or details you can give.
There is only one thing I don't understand with your theory.. How do you distungish between the times when you only mow, trim, blow & go and then other times when you trim hedges, do flower beds, fill holes, etc. How do you separate that when selling the contract? What if it rains every week and you are always busy mowing with little time for flower beds and extras?
Do you specify you'll trim hedges X amount of times per season? Or that you will aerate/fertilize once spring and once fall etc...
Again,
Thanks for any help and info / insight anyone can pass along on this....
Turtle:cool: