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advertising method?

4825 Views 33 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  ted putnam, 
J
Ok so TG was going around putting lawn posting signs in every yard stating what that price was to service that yard. Has anyone done this? doesnt seem to bad of an idea, but still kinda putting trash in someones yard. they put one in my fiances parents yard for 29.95 an app and they have 14,000sf?
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rcreech
Think Green said:
In debate of the ink pen idea.........while sitting at gymnastics class with my youngest daughter, I talk to other mothers and fathers while sitting on those uncomfortable bleacher chairs. Often, I will notice a pen of a unspecific company being used or in someone's pocket. I would ask about that company or ask of whom they would suggest doing the work of............lets say home health care. The pen they are holding says the name--number,etc. and the people can only say--Well, the phone book is full of providers.
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I agree with you totally!

If I pass out 1000 pens...about 600+ are to customers...and probably another 200 for passing out to others.

It is all about branding and name recognition.

I totally agree with you that many are not used or whatever...but out of 1000 pens if I can get 2-3+ new customers or upsells, not only am I in the BLACK but I also got some advertising and hopefully had some people appreciate the pen.

I would have to say it works better then postcards as they are in the mail today and in the trash can tomorrow.

Pens are something that is used everyday and get passed around continually!

Bullet proof...NO
Do they work well....YES
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Ric
rcreech said:
I agree with you totally!

If I pass out 1000 pens...about 600+ are to customers...and probably another 200 for passing out to others.

It is all about branding and name recognition.

I totally agree with you that many are not used or whatever...but out of 1000 pens if I can get 2-3+ new customers or upsells, not only am I in the BLACK but I also got some advertising and hopefully had some people appreciate the pen.

I would have to say it works better then postcards as they are in the mail today and in the trash can tomorrow.

Pens are something that is used everyday and get passed around continually!

Bullet proof...NO
Do they work well....YES
Click to expand...
RC

So you are saying 2 or 3 new customers per thousand pens or a 0.2 % to 0.3 % sucess factor. I am thinking Direct mail done at bulk postage rates might be a better investment to a more targeted customer base?????????? We have Direct mail providers with Bulk Postage rates who actually have mailing lists and can Direct mail by Bulk rate cheaper than the 1st class postage would cost on a post card.
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ted putnam
I have a few hundred customers. I started at zero and it has been slow but steady growth ever since. I have to admit that I have done this without sending a single post card. It has been done through word of mouth/referral. This past year I had a very nice, large yellow pages ad done that I pay $193/ month for. No matter what the salesperson says, my return on investment has been marginal at best. I was considering purchasing a mailing list that I filtered/edited so I could pay for only the choice neighborhoods/prospects and send them a professionally produced postcard. I'm thinking that by the time I pay for the list, the postcard artwork and the postage, I'll have at least what I've paid for the yellow pages ad and I'll probably get less of a return on my investment for the reasons Creech voiced as far as all that work and money going straight from the mailbox to the trash can. To say the least, I'm having doubts whether this is a strategy I should pursue. The more I listen to Rodney, the less I think I will. Instead, I'm thinking I'll push the referral bonuses harder.
Creech, I wrote a check this morning where I purchase fuel and had to borrow a pen from them. The pen style was exactly like the one you have pictured. Very comfortable to the hand, easy to use, black ink(pet peeve of mine) I even read the name of the business to myself. I couldn't tell you the name of that business to save my life right now.:laugh: I gave them the pen back when I was finished using it. The quality and feel of the pen stuck with me but the name didn't. I'm terrible with names so that could be it.
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MacLawnCo
ted putnam said:
I have a few hundred customers. I started at zero and it has been slow but steady growth ever since. I have to admit that I have done this without sending a single post card. It has been done through word of mouth/referral. This past year I had a very nice, large yellow pages ad done that I pay $193/ month for. No matter what the salesperson says, my return on investment has been marginal at best. I was considering purchasing a mailing list that I filtered/edited so I could pay for only the choice neighborhoods/prospects and send them a professionally produced postcard. I'm thinking that by the time I pay for the list, the postcard artwork and the postage, I'll have at least what I've paid for the yellow pages ad and I'll probably get less of a return on my investment for the reasons Creech voiced as far as all that work and money going straight from the mailbox to the trash can. To say the least, I'm having doubts whether this is a strategy I should pursue. The more I listen to Rodney, the less I think I will. Instead, I'm thinking I'll push the referral bonuses harder.
Creech, I wrote a check this morning where I purchase fuel and had to borrow a pen from them. The pen style was exactly like the one you have pictured. Very comfortable to the hand, easy to use, black ink(pet peeve of mine) I even read the name of the business to myself. I couldn't tell you the name of that business to save my life right now.:laugh: I gave them the pen back when I was finished using it. The quality and feel of the pen stuck with me but the name didn't. I'm terrible with names so that could be it.
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wait, you run real green but are having doubts about doing direct mail?? :confused:
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G
i've done postcards, fridge magnets, i wear a shirt with logo, truck logo, and have small pesticide lawn signs i use....although not required here in NC
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G
my direct mailers were sorted by zip code and combined income.. ok results and better than my phone book add. what kind of income would you target? 75k and up would hit the higher end clients, but might miss the single/retired/elderly. working on my website and will do another huge mailer in January. would love to know what your search peramiters would be on a town of about 50-70k.
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ted putnam
MacLawnCo said:
wait, you run real green but are having doubts about doing direct mail?? :confused:
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No, I use Billmaster Software. It doesn't matter what software you use IMO. Mailers are a "shotgun blast" at best.Rodney uses Real Green and it sounds like he has his doubts about direct mailing.
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F
Without a doubt the best advertising I have done is direct mail postcard cards. I have done it three years and have received about a 1 to 2% close rate. After three years of doing this I am at my target number of customers that I am comfortable with can handle a much slower and more manageable growth pattern now with referrals only. Rodney is correct, those are great and reliable customers. I have done the yellow pages thing but will only maintain a small presence in them now. Small local shopping papers are almost worthless in my experience unless you have really large ads in them. One thing that I have used that is informational and helps me are little scales that show the correct height to mow your grass at. I got mine from RND signs. I just tell customers mow your grass at the height shown on the gauge and you will have a much nicer lawn. I am going to try the pen idea. It is relatively inexpensive and it does get you name out there a little bit. If I could find something that I could use to stick my leave behind paperwork in the plastic on the garage door I would use that in a minute.
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rcreech
Ric said:
RC

So you are saying 2 or 3 new customers per thousand pens or a 0.2 % to 0.3 % sucess factor. I am thinking Direct mail done at bulk postage rates might be a better investment to a more targeted customer base?????????? We have Direct mail providers with Bulk Postage rates who actually have mailing lists and can Direct mail by Bulk rate cheaper than the 1st class postage would cost on a post card.
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Ric,

Look back at my post above.

Out of 1000 pens...I give most of them to my current clients for the most part and hand out a lot just for advertising and when I give estimates etc.

I should have stated that if I can gain 2-3 customers out of the 200-300 pens I am good. At $.51 a piece that is cheap.

So if I hand out 200-300 pens to the post office, banks etc...what I was saying is if I pick up a couple customers, that pays for ALL 1000 of my pens plus some, plus I pick up a new customer.

How I was comparing direct mail vs pens is...pens last for months if not longer and a direct mail probably has less then 5 hours of viability.
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rcreech
ted putnam said:
less I think I will. Instead, I'm thinking I'll push the referral bonuses harder.
Creech, I wrote a check this morning where I purchase fuel and had to borrow a pen from them. The pen style was exactly like the one you have pictured. Very comfortable to the hand, easy to use, black ink(pet peeve of mine) I even read the name of the business to myself. I couldn't tell you the name of that business to save my life right now.:laugh: I gave them the pen back when I was finished using it. The quality and feel of the pen stuck with me but the name didn't. I'm terrible with names so that could be it.
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Referrals are the best!

I know what you mean about the pen and not remembering the name.
That is what I stated earlier as far as everyone not paying attention.

BUT....if for some odd reason you were in the market for a lawncare company and you seen a nice pen with a lawncare companies name on it, you may call.

What I like to see happen is people TAKE the pens not just use them at the bank.

If it is in a womans purse (that she took from the bank) she may not need me today but she may need me in a month or 2 months.
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rcreech
FdLLawnMan said:
Without a doubt the best advertising I have done is direct mail postcard cards. I have done it three years and have received about a 1 to 2% close rate. After three years of doing this I am at my target number of customers that I am comfortable with can handle a much slower and more manageable growth pattern now with referrals only. Rodney is correct, those are great and reliable customers. I have done the yellow pages thing but will only maintain a small presence in them now. Small local shopping papers are almost worthless in my experience unless you have really large ads in them. One thing that I have used that is informational and helps me are little scales that show the correct height to mow your grass at. I got mine from RND signs. I just tell customers mow your grass at the height shown on the gauge and you will have a much nicer lawn. I am going to try the pen idea. It is relatively inexpensive and it does get you name out there a little bit. If I could find something that I could use to stick my leave behind paperwork in the plastic on the garage door I would use that in a minute.
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Fdlawn,

I leave a pen behind every other app to my customers also. I don't just use them when looking for customers.

When you give a customer something for FREE it makes them feel good. Something like that goes a long way!
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G
what kind of discount do you give for referalls?

i have done direct mail in the past. it is my most successful way to pick up business, but don't get near the 1-2% close that people hear talk about. maybe people in my area don't want the extra services or maybe the fact that there is a lot of competition in a smaller town. i don't know. it kills me because there are only 1 or 2 guys here that do apps on a regular basis!!
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rcreech
grassmasterswilson said:
what kind of discount do you give for referalls?

i have done direct mail in the past. it is my most successful way to pick up business, but don't get near the 1-2% close that people hear talk about. maybe people in my area don't want the extra services or maybe the fact that there is a lot of competition in a smaller town. i don't know. it kills me because there are only 1 or 2 guys here that do apps on a regular basis!!
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I give the person referring and the new customer $15 each off an application.
Works really well!

I had great luck with post cards in the past...but I don't like all the work for the closings. I know we were better then the norm as far as closings...but a lot of phone calls and work in a 2-3 week period!

We are growing just as fast now with referrals and getting a much better and more sound customer.

If a person is calling you on a post card...they probably don't know anything about ya.
If a person is calling you on a referral they already know about you and your work and probably even pricing!
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ted putnam
rcreech said:
I give the person referring and the new customer $15 each off an application.
Works really well!

I had great luck with post cards in the past...but I don't like all the work for the closings. I know we were better then the norm as far as closings...but a lot of phone calls and work in a 2-3 week period!

We are growing just as fast now with referrals and getting a much better and more sound customer.

If a person is calling you on a post card...they probably don't know anything about ya.
If a person is calling you on a referral they already know about you and your work and probably even pricing!
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I offer $20 for every one they send me.
Rod, you are "dead on" in those last 2 sentences of your last post here.
Also, giving the customer a pen is also a great idea as well. Your pen may very well be sitting on the counter or in the car when the customer is talking to friends, neighbors or relatives in person or on the phone and with any luck, the Mrs. will stick it in her purse to use. Giving one every other visit from you is a great idea too.
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