Converting customers to yearly...

I must have come on too strong for a couple of customers who had called for weekly maintenance. I took extra time and got their property looking great. I then proceeded to pitch them on the advantages of the " yearly budget plan" for lawn care. Made up a proposal just for them and dropped it off. Followed up with a call couple days later. Not only havn't I heard from them regarding the year round service, I havn't heard from them about another cut period. Maybe these people just wanted the grass cut without the follow up pitch on annual agreement. How does other posters go about converting regular seasonal accounts into annual accounts without coming across too heavy handed or over anxious to convert them? Do you just mention it in passing one time and leave it alone? Appreciate any info on this subject. Thanks. Bassman

 

Bassman, Not knowing your market and the types of service and where your at, I can only offer what we do. we do not do sesonal accounts. We only take full service year around accounts. Here in the great Pacific Northwest, rain and inclment weather basically shut down landscape maintenance from Dec 1 until Feb 20. We do go out and provide twice monthly service to our accounts on reduced hours in those months, but we still get paid. If we had only seasonal's, we would not be in business. We have too many scrubs running around doing the seasonal thing, and then I guess they sell crack or something in the winter, and then swarm like flies on s--- again in the spring.

 

Maybe try this: During your pricing for full service lawn care (mowing and chemical)explain you will charge $xxx.xx per month for mowing, the payments made in the off season pay for the treatments. When they see what the payments are for they are more receptive.

 

If you are going to make $1600 a year, or $4200 a year, or $82 a year from a property, what is the difference if you bill monthly or itemized in months of service? It is still the same annual gross.<br>Our main service is 9 months of maintenance, with 3 months of some maint and snow removal. We bill monthly itemized, 8 month flat rate, 12 month flat rate, quarterly itemized, and one is just one annual itemized bill - basically what the client likes. If you treat the customer the way he wants, you're always going to have the income, and to me one $1200 check = 12 $100 checks = 4 $300 checks.<p>----------<br>Jim<br>North central Indiana