Each time you put out a new piece of lawn care marketing material, you get a chance to experiment with your variables to see which ones bring you more callers. Over time, you can figure out which variables are more important and deserve more attention. If you don’t have the time to experiment at the moment and would like to see what another entrepreneur has found success with, here is a quick short cut from the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum that should help you bring in more customers, faster than if you started from scratch.
One lawn care business owner wrote “everyone wants more customers. I have been posting ads on craigslist for a while and experimenting all the time. Before I took over my current business, I was promoting the previous owner’s (my boss at the time) business and learned quite a bit from it all.
Anyways, initially I wasn’t having much luck with craigslist until I changed one element of my ad that really opened my eyes and led me to a new highly profitable path. What I had been doing was posting as a big lawn ‘Corporation,’ even though the business was really a sole proprietorship. I felt bigger was better in my ad. The bigger the company looked, the more customers I would attract. But I was wrong about this.
Not liking the results, I changed my tactics. I slowed the ad down and pointed out that as an INDEPENDENT, small business, I could TAKE THE TIME TO DETAIL their yard, instead of RUSH to get to the next one. I promoted that I would dedicate a full hour to ANY yard I approached. I included anything up to 1/3 acre, with basic services that included cut/mow, edge, weed eat, clean beds (with a weed eater), trim hedges, and cut out anything in my way to make my JOB easier for the next time. Customers really liked the edging service. It really sharpened the yard up.
You can present yourself in your ad anyway you want but, here are some key points I include with my ad postings and am finding success with.
Business Name
Location
Insured - Licensed (IF YOU ARE)
Residential and Commercial
Opening - Introduce yourself and your business.
Body - Point out something you do that someone DOESNT do (I point out detail, my hurricane prep kits, and my ‘light it up’ program). I also point out I use a SMOKE FREE oil and CORN FREE fuel. Each is more ‘Earth friendly.’
Closing - Usually has one last CATCHY service to it. THROW something in that you DON’T usually do on yards… I do organic spraying and added it in here.
Closing 2 - Short and sweet, thank them for looking at your ad and ask them to give you a try over their CURRENT guy to get the better service they deserve. This challenges them to ponder maybe this company will give me the better detailed service that I deserve.
Your business name again.
Contact number - ‘CONTACT US ANY TIME FOR QUICK SERVICE!’ People like everything done, RIGHT WHEN THEY WANT IT.
If you want to see an actual example of what I do, here is an ad I use.
TITLE: ‘I pay attention to DETAIL on Your Lawn.’
Joe Landscaping
Fully Insured and Licensed
Serving This and That area
Residential and Commercial
Joe Landscaping is dedicated to the highest quality in Lawn Care, Landscaping and Customer Service!
We take the time and effort to cut, edge, weed eat, hedge trim, and clean up on every piece of property we take care of. We take pride in knowing your home looks good from the street and from the view out your sliding door to your back yard. We have many references and local connections to nurseries in order to bring you the best affordable lawn care and maintenance available!
Joe Landscaping purchases the highest quality blades and trimmer lines to bring the best lift to your lawn. We use a smokeless oil to prevent additional dispense into the atmosphere that is unneeded. All of our commercial equipment lawn care equipment is kept up to par to make sure it performs at it’s peak for you every week!
We are looking for new customers in This Place and all of These Counties. We are fully licensed and insured.
Covering - Town #1 - Town #2 - Town #3 - Town #4 - Etc..
Basic Lawn Service starts at $X for up to 1/3 acre (average single family home).
*** $X lawn service includes - Cut/Mow, Edge, Weed Eat, Hedge Trimming, Bed Cleaning, and Final Clean Up.
We offer:
Fully organic, pet and children safe spraying of weeds, tic and flea eliminators (chemical FREE)
Hurricane Prep Kits and 24 Services (only company in This Area with hurricane assistance) June 1st - Nov 30th
Mulching and Rock Bed instillation
Sod and Seeding
Design and Instillation
Retaining Walls
You deserve the best lawn care at the best prices. We challenge you to compare our services to your current lawn care company’s. We are locally owned and managed. Raised in This Town.
Your Leading Your Town Lawn Care Company!
Call *** **** - Direct contact for instant service.”
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