block rates

[ronslawncare]

im gona be getting all new equiptment and i want to get the extra money and extra acounts.ive been thinking about block rates what would you put in the flyer i thought something like this.


ronslawncare

i offer a block rate program witch consist of mowing,triming,edgeing,blowing all surfaces n walks off. and bagging it all up .this program is very affordable each house will be cut for 20.oo a house .blockrate offer is a minium of 10 homes per block.you will be getting a notification if 10 homes respond in xx amount of time.so get together with your neighbors take advantage of this affordable price.

call today xxxxxx

quality work for affordable prices



ok tell me what you think if im crazy or what .or how to make the flyer better.....thanks

[chrisbolte]

If you can get the lawn mowers lined up it is great. Two problems 1)ten is alot of customers right next to each other.2) If one customer gets real mad you could lose 10! I woul look for more like 5 in a row.

[ronslawncare]

your right my girlfriend said im nuts theres only 20 houses on a block i guess thats wishful thinking so five houses minium requirement do u suggest i even do this or is it a waste of money n time..

[Richard Martin]

I never give discounts for multiple properties. The reason... if one or two of these properties decides that they no long want you then you are stuck cutting the other properties for a discounted price.

Also no two properties are the same and to give a blanket price of xx dollars to maintain them does not make good business practice.

Seek the properties out individually and you can pick and choose which ones you want and price them accordingly.

[awm]

My brother in law comments to me about
this being the way the service works
there.20 00 per yd .They are at his house
20 min max.He said they had 29 right
right in his area. Deerfield plantations
at Surfside SC.
I believe i would include claus
to allow extra charges for certain conditions
though.Also create potential future
landscaping jobs as added services available
on request.This let them know up front
there will be extra charges for extra work.
Asyou probably already know some will expec t
This little thing an thatfor no extra mon.
also consider 25 as times is a changing.
One last thing. they may not know each
other( better for you)Id sell concept
but put it togather myself.That waythey
still don t know each otherand they are
working directly with you. It may avoid
a big loss of accts if one is disatisfied.
Sorry so long but my thiughts. country TM

[geogunn]

ron--come down ot my area for a test run.

I have a residential lot and I'll pay you $20 for the service you offer. you could see if you think the deal that you are offering is going to work out for you.

personally, no way would I cut my next five neighbors properties, providing the service you offer, for a hundred bucks. in otherwords, even with no travel time the numbers don't look good.

don't get me wrong, I'm not above filling in a schedule with a twenty dollar cut from time to time, but a steady diet...no way!

good luck.

GEO

[ronslawncare]

see i understand what you are saying im not looking to get 5 houses only and definately they would have to sign a agrement saying oneyear services i will never cut a house for 20.oo for the fun of it.in long island most houses are 100 by 100 and i only charge 30.00 most of the time but if it is bigger i go up which in my neighborhood theres mostly that size.by myself it takes me 40 mins a house which includes loading and unloading my equiptment .next season my father is going to be working with me.ill be able to bang each house out in a half hour with the bigger equiptment definately..more info is needed did any1 do this b4 i still think in the long run it will make money.

[tpirobert]

Ron...Just say NO!

I have 3 properties in a row that I "discount". Bad business decision on my part. I also have 3 other properties next to each other that I don't discount, very good decision. I hate "wasting time" on the discount properties. The other 3 I look forward to.

Here's another way to generate Spring start-up money and get new customers(residential): Offer a "pre-pay special" of pay for 10 mowings and the 11th mowing is free. This has worked for me and I usually offer this every other year to a select few...we don't want to give too much for free.

[Scape Sculptor]

Ron, sounds like a good idea in theory...credit is do for creativity. Which would you prefer? A business built on quantity or quality. I personally choose quality because it pays more. I understand, just starting out you want to get big as fast as you can. You need {want} all this cool bigger new equipment, a nice new shining truck and trailer, and enough money to live comfortably. Hey, I am with you... every time I start thinking hasty about lowering my prices to get the extra work I want. I have to step back and think where I really want to be. If you discount yourself, your going to hate and regret every lawn you do and eventually so will your clients. I hope my impute helps you , just my opinion.

Every lawn has a different set of obstacles. Did you say their all about 10,000 sq.ft.? What kind of equipment are you using now? What are you planning on getting in the spring? How many accounts did you end up with your first season?

[CCLC]

I used to do the "discount" thing. I found that I spent much of my time trying to hurry to make a buck or two. Quality is where the money is. You have to spend time and do the little things that impress the customer. People are willing to pay a little bit more to get a higher standard of service.

[Lazer Man]

Couldn't have said that better myself, but I'll add my 2 cents anyway. You said you charge $30 normally, but you would do block rate for $20 too much reduction you could try $27 which is 10% savings to them. Look at it this way;
$30 @ 28 cuts per yr = 840.00
$27 @ 28 '' '' '' = 756.00
84.00 savings per yr for customer

Not bad deal for them and you. Now buy the right equip. and you'll be making money.

[Scape Sculptor]

I have used the pre-pay discounts; they are great. I always offer that to a customer that barkes at my price. First thing I tell them that I only do quality work. If their not looking for quality and just want a cheap price; call the next guy.

[Scape Sculptor]

I have used the pre-pay discounts; they are great. I always offer that to a customer that barkes at my price. First thing I tell them that I only do quality work. If they're not looking for quality and just want a cheap price; call the next guy.

[CCLC]

Here we usually average 25 to 30 mowings per season. We offer pre payment discounts to some of our customers. Usually they are residential lawns in the $50-$90 range. If we have a bad winter and we are short of cash in the spring this gives us a little boost to get us going.

[ronslawncare]

yea you guys are right i would be short changeing my self .i would be eating up alot of gas too in all the machines and be rushing and not giving a perfect cut that they paid for.thats ok ive got plenty of new customers that im doing there leaf cleanups that want me to do the lawns next season .for some reason i thought more is better i didnt look at all the exspenses.thanx fellas

[cantoo]

Another thought for the block thing is what happens if one guy is a wise guy and gets all the rest to say make it $18 and you have a deal. Next year when you want to do an increase you have to get them all to agree or you might lose them all, for instance you convince 5 of them that the increase is okay and the remaining 5 say say no we are going to look else where, what do you think the first five will do then. I agree with you it would be nice to have a bunch in a row, I am also having trouble getting side by side lots but I refuse to discount new customers if I think old ones would be mad.

[Edited by cantoo on 11-22-2000 at 03:18 AM]

[ronslawncare]

im just gona offer neighbor refaral discounts to all my customers.that should be profitable.

[tpirobert]

Referral discounts....GREAT idea. If you sell this idea to your customers, they can become your "sales team". I'm glad you brought this up because I have'nt been reminding my own customers of this discount. One of my residential customers has referred several accounts to me. He likes our work, but the "thank you" free mowing I'm sure helped him sell our service. Good luck with your sales.

[Scape Sculptor]

I think the referral dicounts are a great idea. I'll have to use it more often this next season. Have done it a couple times this last season.

[bob]

Unless their side by side townhouses, most properties are totally different. Therefore a block rate wouldn't be the way to go.

[Premo Services]

Originally posted by Richard Martin
I never give discounts for multiple properties. The reason... if one or two of these properties decides that they no long want you then you are stuck cutting the other properties for a discounted price.

Also no two properties are the same and to give a blanket price of xx dollars to maintain them does not make good business practice.




I was considering doing this but have to agree with Richard
I would be having trouble with price increases and if they started to talk to each other to try to get discounted prices would wind up loosing all of them.Not a good idea in my books! :(