The most challenging part of starting a business is finding customers.
The key is to find your first neighborhood, and then be sure to do an
outstanding job, be on time, do what you say you are going to do, and set
yourself apart from other companies and you will succeed. Customers make
purchasing decisions based on referrals and perceived professionalism and
quality.
Here are some ways you get customers for your lawn care and landscaping
business:
1. Advertise in local ad magazines
and coupon services such as ValPak. Study their ads particularly their
offers and come-ons for first time customers. Offer free services that would
help you land their account such as free lawn analysis, or free tree and
shrub analysis. Others offer discounted first lawn applications. The key is
to entice the customers to use your service.
Advertise around late February to mid-March when customers are starting
to think of the spring season.
2. Always ask for referrals. Your existing clients can be your
biggest help in spreading the word about your business. This business thrives on referrals, so make
sure that you talk to your existing customers and ask them if there's anyone
that may benefit your service.
However, give them a little encouragement and make the act of referring
your services to others worthwhile for them. Consider offering your existing
customers a discount off their monthly service fee for every account that
they refer to you.
3. Send or drop off promotional door hangers (or even postcards)
outlining your services to homes with lawns in your area. With printed door
hangers, your advertising message reaches your audience instantly. Potential
clients are more likely to see your doorknob promotional material, as the
doorknob is the first place they reach as they enter or leave their home or
business. Unlike mailers which may never be opened, or flyers which may get
wet, blown off a windshield, or be discarded on the seats or floor boards of
the family auto, door hangers are likely to be brought into the home or
business and more carefully reviewed.
4. Network with contractors, realtors, management of commercial
properties, and other key decision makers in your target market. Also
network with other lawn care services in your area. Yes they are your
competitors, but sometimes they will have requests for their services that
they can no longer do - and they may instead give those accounts to you.
5. Consider direct marketing, which is a very effective way of reaching potential
customers for your lawn care business. You can either create brochures that
provide details about your company or a postcard that highlights what your
business is all about. Whatever format you decide in your direct mail
campaign, it is important that your ads must be written in a way that speak
directly to your potential clients. Emphasize the reasons why you are better
than other lawn-care companies. List down the benefits the customers will
get when they hire you. Carefully think what your headline will be:
remember, your headline can make or break your direct mail campaign and it
will spell the difference between sending brochures that are kept or
postcards that are thrown immediately to the trash without being read.
Better yet, hire a copywriter (a professional ad writer) to create direct
marketing materials for your company such as brochures, flyers and postcards
for your company. Then rent a list (ask the copywriter for reputable sources
of lists) that meets the specifications of your ideal client. List brokers
can also assist in providing label-printing ready list of names and
addresses. For example, all the people living in houses within a certain zip
code; or all the people that commute to work who own houses that have a yard
over 1/4 acre, etc.
6. Put on a professional image. Your appearance is important!! As much as
possible, present yourself in a clean and tidy manner -- even wearing a
collared shirt or better yet, your company's uniform -- when talking to your
potential clients. Professionalism also means doing an outstanding job,
arriving on time, and keeping your word to your clients, and doing what you
say you are going to do. These are the qualities that will set yourself
apart from other lawn care companies. One of my pet peeves is having a
lawn care company telling me that they will come tomorrow but only to show up
2 days later after you've made 10 follow-up calls to them.
7. Maximize the advertising opportunity of your vehicle. Your truck is
one of your most effective -- and cheapest -- advertising tools you can ever
have. It's your walking billboard. However, avoid the common mistake of
putting all your business information in the ad. Doing so clutters the whole
ad and makes it very hard to read. Remember, the ad in your car -- which can
either be stickers or magnet -- will be read by people on the street as you
drive by, other cars driving alongside your truck or behind you -- and that
means that people will only have a few seconds to get your information.
Focus on a single information that you think people will find easy to
remember -- either your business name or website -- and use the biggest font
for that information.
8. Use the Web to market your business. A website is one of the most
important marketing tools you can have. Your site will serve as your online
brochure, allowing you to sell your services 24x7 and giving your customers
24-hour access to you via email. Your website should contain information
about your services, testimonials about your work, pictures showing the lawn
care or landscaping work you’ve done for clients.
Visual testimonials and portfolio of your work are an important element
of your website as it will allow prospective customers to see the quality
and style of your work. Photographs of previous work are a must, though some
businesses even offer videos and multimedia capability that allows website
visitors to see a 360 degrees view of the work done for other customers. In
selecting the work to showcase, make sure you offer different price points
depending on your service packages (for a landscaping company, put pictures
of what they can expect with $3,000 budget, and then put $10,000 and put
those $30,000 and above).
9. Use the Web to advertise your business. With or without a website,
use the Web to get the word out about your business. You can advertise in
classified ad sites such as Craigslist, Kijiji.com or Google Base. Ensure
that your business is listed in Online Yellow pages such as Whitepages.com
and YellowPages.com. If there are directories or websites about local
businesses, make sure that your site is listed in there.
