We have the last 2 springs, and it does work pretty well. We have a company call to generate lawn estimates. They help qualify the leads to see how interested potential customers are in mowing or fertilizing. That saves a lot of time and money on our end for not doing a bunch of worthless estimates.
It does cost quite a bit. First you have to buy a name list, and that can be .05 per name, so 20,000 names would be $1000. Then the company charges so much per hour to call the names, like $20-$30 per hour.
It generates a lot of good estimates. Since all of these people were cold called, we offered special deals to help increase interest and sales. From what we have seen, you break even on the new customers in the first year. Meaning what we spent on the cold calling, we got back by the end of the season. So, the second year is your money maker on them. The key is keeping them around awhile to make it worth all your time and effort.