Start A Lawn Care Business

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How much money can I make with a lawn care business?

Jan 2

Posted by Lawn Care Business in estimate, lawn care business, money, start a lawn care business | No Comments

We are often asked by new lawn care business owners to give them an idea how much money they can make by mowing lawns.  There are many variables to this answer and our standard disclaimer mentions such things as size of equipment, work ethic,  physical abilities,  know-how and many other factors.

Though everybody’s ability to make money with a lawn care business is different, we have put together an entertaining “earnings potential” calculator to help guesstimate how much money a lawn care business owner might be able to earn doing residential mowing jobs in a perfect world.

This lawn care estimating calculator is just for fun but it calculates that if a lawn care operator can do eight $40 lawns each day and can do this 5 days per week, the earnings could amount to $1600 per week.  That’s alot of cake just for mowing lawns.

Of course, expenses such as supplies, taxes, overhead, etc. and downtime must be accounted for.

Have some fun and check out the “lawn care earnings potential” calculator.

Lawn Care Earnings Potential Calculator

POTENTIAL EARNINGS DISCLAIMER

This calculator is for entertainment purposes only.  There is no promise or representation that you will make a certain amount of money, or any money, or not lose money, as a result of starting a lawn care business and/or using our products and services.

Any earnings, revenue, or income statements are strictly estimates. There is no guarantee that you will make these levels for yourself. As with any business, your results will vary and will be based on your personal abilities, experience, knowledge, capabilities, level of desire, and an infinite number of variables beyond our control, including variables we or you have not anticipated. There are no guarantees concerning the level of success you may experience. Each person’s results will vary. 

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Lawn Care and Halloween Promotions

Oct 18

Posted by Lawn Care Business in estimate, holidays, lawn business strategies | No Comments

Hi Everyone:

I just want to let you know that you have 10 days before Halloween.

Many communities around the country are offering Halloween block parties.  This is where an entire block of houses or an entire neighborhood decorate their homes in a Halloween theme and invite each other to view their decorations.  Communities, as a whole, are often invited to join the festivities in a combination of Halloween/Fall Festival.  Bands play for entertainment, cotton candy is served, and bobbing for apples is a game everyone can play.

As a lawn care business owner, these activities present special opportunities.   Offer decoration services to your customers.  You are in a special position to deliver bales of hay or straw and arrange them as a holiday decoration.  If you have an open trailer, you can fill it with straw and offer hay rides.  After the parties are over, use your leaf blowers and rakes to clean the mess.  Offer these services to individual home owners within the block parties or hire out your services to block party organizers.

There are lots of unique jobs you can offer with your lawn care business.

If you are interested in learning how to price jobs more effectively and run your lawn care business through the winter months, check out our lawn care business guidebook available at:  Start A Lawn Care Business

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How to Proceed? Take the Lead!

Aug 2

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, customers, estimate, lawn business strategies | No Comments

I’ve said many times; the estimating process is one of the more tricky aspects of runing your own lawn care business.  This article helps you put your customers at ease when they request free lawn care estimates.

Unsure Customers

Customers who have never hired a lawn care company before may find it a bit frighening to call a stranger on the phone and request that person come to their homes and look at their lawns.

Likewise, new lawn care business owners may find it intimidating to mosey around a strangers lawn looking for imperfections.  As a business owner, you must realize customers look for you to be the professional and take the lead in the estimating process. 

I have done thousands of estimates.  Most customers have a general idea what needs to be done in their lawn and how much money they are willing to pay within $5 to $10 for weekly service.  But, they are unsure of how to go about getting everything set up to their satisfaction.  It is up to you, as a business owner, to lead the sales call.

Here are a few methods to help you take the lead during your sales calls:

1)  Practice your script.

You do not want to be fumbling for words or wondering what to say to a new or prospective customer.  Using our lawn care business material develop a script of what to say.  You want to be friendly with your customer but you don’t want to be best friend.  Keep chit chat to no more than a few minutes and get to the reasons why you’re there.  Your script needs to, at least, cover the basics: What work do they need performed? How often do they want the  work performed. How much are they willing to pay?  It’s good to listen to your customers but you must direct the conversation.

Once you develop your script, practice it.  I remember giving my first customer estimate when I started my lawn care business.  I didn’t want to make a fool of myself so I developed a script.  I would even close the door to my room and practice in front of a mirror.  Silly, right?  Maybe but it helped me build confidence and gave me the ability to speak with customers and get the jobs.

2)  Know your line of work.

Most  prospects know a few things.
A) The grass looks bad. 
B) I want the grass to not look this bad.
C) I don’t want to pay much to have it not look this bad. 

Ha Ha. Yep, that will sum up about 80% of all your free estimates.  If you know your subject (grass for this purpose) you can lead the discussion to explain why they should hire you.

3) Remove their guess work.

Until you show for the estimate, new customers have little idea what your proceedures are.  Once they are comfortable with the services you offer and accept your price.  They may not know what comes next.  If you’ve already read our lawn care guidebook you know to bring your equipment to every estimate.  Take your customers guess work away. 
Recommend a mowing schedule (example: Wednesday about 10:00).  Recommend a payment plan (example: Leave check under the welcome mat).
Recommend additional work (example: Flower beds need more mulch)

By taking the lead you will instill confidence in your customers making they feel good about having you as their lawn care person.

If you are thinking about starting a lawn care business or if you want to make an existing business even more successful, get a copy of our Lawn Care Business guidebook.  It’s on sale right now!  Visit our main site:  www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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The Law of Scarcity

Jul 23

Posted by Lawn Care Business in estimate, lawn business strategies, lawn care business | 2 Comments

Lawn Care Business operators face an ongoing struggle with customers to help them understand the time value of their business.

Value Your Time So Others Will Value It Too

New lawn care business owners often have a difficult time conveying to their customers that their time is valuable.  New lawn care owners need customers more than customers need them.  Therefore they are often willing to give their customers extra time on each mowing job.

Give It Away and It Becomes Worthless

I remember my first year in the lawn mowing business.  Customers often asked me to do addtional jobs for them but did not offer additional money.  Since I was new, I did not want to lose their business and thought if I performed additional jobs they would be loyal to me.

Instead of being loyal, customers often lost respect for me and valued my time less as I gave them more of my time.  I quickly learned to let customers know that I had other work to do and could not hang around their property longer than it took to take care of their lawn.  If they needed other work performed I would be happy to give them estimates.

Once customers realized that I valued my own time, they began to value my time too.  They stopped bothering me to chit chat about unrelated discussions.  Instead, they would speak with me about needed work for their lawns.  They realized that once I was finished with their lawns I expected to get paid (customers who paid weekly) and they had payment ready for me when I was finished.

Demand Begets Demand

More importantly, customers realized my services were in demand from other lawn care customers.  They knew I did good work and when they recommended me they told their friends how busy I was.  The apparent scarcity of my time worked in my favor as I quickly built my client base.

If you are just starting out with your lawn care business.  Let your customers know you work as efficiently as possible since you have many other customers to service.  Don’t be short or rude with them but be professional and to-the-point.  Do your work quickly and don’t dilly dally.

Learn how to use the law of scarcity in your favor and you will become even more valuable in the eyes of your lawn care customers.

Start A Lawn Care Business Program Available Now

Need help with your lawn care business?  The professional lawn care business program is available right now through our website.  We have it on sale but we will probably have to raise our price in the coming weeks.  Order today for the best price currently available.

Order today:  www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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