question for you old guys

[Keith]

Lawn care isn't the right place for the "10th time is free" marketing. There are a few reasons for this.

For one, lawn care is not like other types of discretionary services. When they hire you, you are pretty much locked into a regular schedule. They don't hire you this week, Bob next week, and Steve the week after that. Businesses that would use the "free service after X number of purchases" are businesses that would be in direct regular competition for the job or sale week after week. Restaurants, car washes, things like that. A local sub shop used to give you a free 6" after you bought six subs. It works for businesses like that for the reason that it encourages faster and more frequent visits to earn the free sub. There is no faster and frequent option for you. They'll be back anyway. They're not going to be back more often than needed.

Second. People will get the idea that you are either desperate or worse, overcharging them by 10% to make up for the lost week. If they don't think this, they believe in things like free lunch. Not the customers you want.

Third. Rest assured there will be confusion. Little old Mrs. Smith will insist she has paid you nine times already after she has only paid you five times. It's hard enough to keep people straight with paying without this added piece of confusion. Imagine trying to keep track when you don't mow it at all for a few months.

And finally. What about Mrs Jones? The customer you already have. The one that gets wind of Mrs. Smith getting every tenth cut for free? You can explain why you are charging someone less. It's hard to explain why you are giving away free cuts to other customers.

[joshua]

All of my routes are super condense and i have almost no drive between lawns. Also most of my lawns are your typical 10,000 sq. ft. which only takes 28 minutes ( what i shoot for on ave. ) to get in and out. Almost half of my stuff is cut 2 houses in a row. Keep in mind that ave. time also includes some lawns that take up to 3 hours for one lawn. I have accounts lots of accounts that i'm in and out in 20mins or less. Then its drive down the street or the very next street over and cut another or several.

Hi_speed i work 12 days most of the time. 10 hours for cutting then i clean the equipment and have to dump my truck daily. I am also lucky in the sense that at most i am in my truck driving for 30 minutes a day driving between lawns. Also to give you a idea of how much i produce i have 2 streets on the same route that i park the truck 3 times and cut 12 in 6 hours and these are some of the bigger lawns i have almost 13,000 sq. ft. each. All the other lawns on that route are 8,000 sq. ft. or less and take only 20 minutes to cut. Yes i do work everyday, yes even on sunday, and have never gotten a complaint. When i do the first sales call for a new customer i take about 30 minutes explaining out what it is i do and everything that goes along with it and answer every question they have so that i don't run into problems like why are you here on sunday. I don't even get to price until the end of the conversation when i do a sale.I hate when it rains 3 days a week unless its dry then i'm routing for rain.

[pseudosun]

10th cut free just doesn't sound attractive. They probably think "i have to pay this kid nine times, before i get a free cut? Nah." If someone is serious about paying you 9X, they shouldn't have a problem paying you 10X. You don't want that big sticker on your forehead that says "FREE". When i started, i thought i'd be clever with some discounts, and it was a horrible experience. One lady would zero in on it, and tell me to not try to fool her. You've read the replies here; it's not a good move. You want respect. Keep the upper hand - no discounts. I can actually remember the sickening feeling of finishing a job and realizing that i wasn't going to get paid.

[Darryl G]

I thought I'd get clever one spring and ran an ad in a local newspaper for a $100/month budget special applicable to most lawns that would have included weekly mowing and spring & fall cleanups. It was based on 12 montly payments and up to 25 cuts. I got a lot of calls but when I explained to them that it was a 12 month payment plan they all got p'd off....some of them got downright nasty. They perceived it as deceptive advertising, although in my mind there was nothing deceptive about it. I was trying to even out my cash flow and at the same time make it more affordable to them by spreading out the payments. I didn't get a single account out of it. In fact I didn't even get past their initial phone call...didn't go an look at a single property.

[205mx]

Originally Posted by Darryl G

I hinted at this earlier, but let me elaborate a bit. There's probably nothing you can do to maximize landing the leads that you do get than being responsive when a customer calls. By the time they call someone, it's usually something they want to take care of right away. They don't want it to be a long drawn-out process of waiting for days for people to get back to them. If you're directing calls to your home phone and nobody will be there, forward it to your cell. If you're having them call your cell, try to answer it whenever you can and if not check it often and call back immediately. Make an appointment the same day or the next day to go look at it. Jump on every opportunity you get without seeming desperate....it's called being responsive.

The biggest complaint I hear from customers is that nobody answers their phone or bothers to call back. And this is both when they're looking for a contractor and once they already have one. Most people just want it taken care of and crossed off their to-do list.

It's Funny, my client wanted a fence built, and i have a good friend who is a GC, I gave her his number. She called him right there as I was leaving... she said it took him 4 days to get back to her. by that time she had already had 3 estimates.

[Darryl G]

Yes, 4 days seems like an eternity to someone who has made up their mind to get something done. And if it takes that long to get back to them to hire them, they can't help but wonder how long it will be in the future. I try to return all calls within 24 hours, sooner if possible. I will admit that I don't exactly jump on return calls if their intial message is enough for me to know that I don't want to work for them.

[hi_speedreed]

Originally Posted by Darryl G

Yes, 4 days seems like an eternity to someone who has made up their mind to get something done. And if it takes that long to get back to them to hire them, they can't help but wonder how long it will be in the future. I try to return all calls within 24 hours, sooner if possible. I will admit that I don't exactly jump on return calls if their intial message is enough for me to know that I don't want to work for them.

I know what you mean. I remember this one message in particular from last season. This guy who probably treats everyone in the service industry like garbage leaves a message acting like a bully right from the start.

I need you to call me back right now. I need my grass cut and I don't have time for you to f*** around. My number is 555-5555, I'm waiting.

I called him back and found he was outside the area I service and when I told him that he blew up. I don't know how I did it but I held my tongue and as politely as I could told him I was not interested in doing work for him and hung up.

I doubt I will return a message like that if I get one this year.

[Ridin' Green]

I think I would have told him that the reason he was talking to me right now, was because he must have talked like that to everyone else and they wanted nothing to do with him. Then I'd have said, "oh, one more thing. Neither do I. Cya".

[Darryl G]

Originally Posted by hi_speedreed

I know what you mean. I remember this one message in particular from last season. This guy who probably treats everyone in the service industry like garbage leaves a message acting like a bully right from the start.

I need you to call me back right now. I need my grass cut and I don't have time for you to f*** around. My number is 555-5555, I'm waiting.
I called him back and found he was outside the area I service and when I told him that he blew up. I don't know how I did it but I held my tongue and as politely as I could told him I was not interested in doing work for him and hung up.

I doubt I will return a message like that if I get one this year.

Those are the types of calls that I delegate to my wife to call back on.

[hi_speedreed]

Originally Posted by Darryl G

Those are the types of calls that I delegate to my wife to call back on.

Haha, maybe I should do that.

Seriously though, if people get that bent out of shape over nothing, how do they handle real problems?

I have never understood the people who feel everyone is beneath them. I may not make as much as them but I bet I have less debt and live a less stressful, happier life.