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More digital cameras for your lawn care company.

Jan 6

Posted by Lawn Care Business in landscaping photography, lawn business strategies, Lawn Care Advertising, money | 2 Comments

After yesterday’s blog posting extolling the virtues of having a high-quality digital SLR camera to take marketing pictures for your lawn care business, I received a number of emails asking if there are less expensive options available that give equivilant results to the Canon T1i.

At current writing, the T1i costs just over $700 through Amazon.com. $700 certainly is a lot of money right now but if you are looking for a dSLR that also takes HD video, the 15 megapixel Canon T1i is one of the best options under $1000.

If you are looking to spend under $500, I have a great option for you. The XS and the XSi are near equivilant models that offer similar professional results. Though the XS and the XSi offer lower resolutions and no video, their feature set includes liveview and full manual controls for $100’s less than the T1i.

Canon XSi

The Canon XSi features 12 megapixel, liveview, complete manual overrides, and an 18mm – 55mm. At its current pricing, it saves you about $160 from the T1i.

Canon XS

If you want to save even more money, take a hard look at the Canon XS. At its current price of $449 it saves you $270 from the T1i’s price. At 10.1 megapixels, this camera is no slouch. I’ve read that the higher megapixel cameras are limited by the lens that comes with the camera body. If you have no intention of buying additional lenses and if you don’t need HD video, I think this camera is the one to buy if you are on a budget.

Additionally, with the $270 you save buying the XS, you can easily buy a fairly decent video camera to make short presentations of your lawn care and landscaping work.

If you own any of these cameras, let us know your reviews. Or, if you have a different high quality camera you want to tell us about, please let us know.

As always, if you are looking to improve your lawn care business, check out our training materials located at our main website: StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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I Never Even Heard of It.

Jan 5

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn business strategies, Lawn Care Advertising, start a lawn care business | 1 Comment

I was reminded today how difficult it is to keep your business name in front of potential customers who may want to hire you for your lawn care services.

A friend and I decided we wanted to get some Jiffy-Pop after dinner. Jiffy-Pop has been around as long and I remember. When I was a kid I used to love listening to the popcorn kernals shaking around inside the foil pan and watching the aluminum top carefully unfold as the crazy explosion of popcorn inside caused the container to expand.

Walgreens did not have any Jiffy-Pop so my friend asked if she had missed it on the shelf. The clerk’s response was “I Never Even Heard of It.” It took me a couple seconds to realize the clerk was being sincere and had actually never heard of Jiffy-Pop.

Jiffy-Pop has likely spent 10’s of millions of dollars on advertising over the years. To me, it’s one of those products that has always been around and always will be around. It’s a staple to American society.

However, as ubiquitous as it is to our culture, there are still people who don’t know what Jiffy-Pop is. This makes me think about the difficulty of keeping our lawn care brand names in front of our prospective customers. If a multi-million dollar company has difficulty reaching a retail store’s stocking clerk, what hope do our puny lawn care companies have in making sure all the residents in our lawn care service area know our names.

If you are attempting to market your lawn care company and are finding it difficult to keep your name in front of your prospective customers, our lawn care business strategy guidebook and software package will help you with professional business marketing and advertising strategies.

You can read more about the business package by visiting our main website located at: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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A Lawn Care Owner's Epiphany

Jan 4

Posted by Lawn Care Business in customers, equipment, lawn business strategies, lawn care business, money | 1 Comment

As a new lawn care business owner back in 1992, I remember the day when things started to change for my lawn care business.

My partner and I had been mowing residential lawns for almost 6 months. We were continuously picking up customers and were beginning to make decent money. However, we just weren’t growing the business to the extent I knew we were capable.

An epiphany happened to me that first summer. As I mowed a customer’s lawn, I saw two Navy fighter jets fly overhead. They were practicing for an upcoming air show and were flying low and fast. Even through my hearing protection the noise of their engines made me jump. I stopped my work long enough to watch them make several passes overhead. It was an impressive sight.

For the rest of the day, two words kept going through my mind; performance and efficiency.

Jet fighters scream performance. It is thrilling to watch a jet blaze by at 600 mph 2,000 feet above the ground. This is performance at its utmost. Fighter pilots’ lives depend on their jets.

Fighter pilots also demonstrate the ultimate in efficiency. Every move must be accounted for and no move is wasted. If a pilot needs to steer 15 degrees to the right, he moves his controls only enough to make the turn…no more, no less.

I used these ideas to analyze my lawn care jobs. I quickly discovered that I was being tremendously inefficient in my business. My route planning was inefficient and my mowing patterns on customer’s lawns was inefficient. I was wasting effort at every level of my business and the reasons behind my inability to grow my business became clear to me.

Additionally, I took serious looks at my equipment. It did not scream performance the way a fighter jet screams performance. We started our lawn care business on a shoestring budget. Because of this budget, we purchased inexpensive, slow, non-powerful equipment because it was all we could afford. After taking hard looks at my budget and my equipment, I took swift action of a systematic upgrade of all equipment.

By the end of that first year, I was operating an efficient lawn care business. My routes were well planned. My mowing patterns were designed in such a way that no move was wasted. And, my lawn equipment? Yes, my lawn equipment was hard-core commercial equipment that screamed “PERFORMANCE.”

If you are struggling with your lawn care business because of similar issues that plagued my first year then you should take a look at our Lawn Care Business strategy guidebooks.

We developed this program after 17 years in the business to help newbies and those that need help getting more customers and making more money.

As indicated above, we spend considerable time in the program helping you learn how to be more efficient with your lawn care business. Route planning and mowing patterns are only two of the concepts we discuss.

We also show you which type of equipment to buy. Purchasing the wrong equipment can hobble your business and prevent you from growing as you should. With our guidance, you will be able to purchase mowers that will propel you in your business and scream performance.

The lawn care business strategy guidebook and software program is available from our main website. www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Start A Lawn Care Business in 2010

Jan 1

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

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

2010 promises to be a great year for anyone in the lawn care business.  The credit crises is beginning to thaw, houses are beginning to sell again, and homeowners are opening their wallets to, once again, pay for landscape maintenance.  We have faced 2 challenging years in the industry but if you have ever wanted to start your own lawn care business or if you want to really step up your game in 2010, right now is the time to go for it.

Our lawn care business strategy guidebooks will get you moving in the right direction:  www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

We have set a few goals for 2010 that we want to share with you:

1)  Video tutorials – We are in the process of purchasing a new HD video camera which will allow us to bring you even more great video content in 2010.

2)  New Technologies – The lawn care industry is undergoing rapid change toward new technologies.   If you’re not keeping up with current trends, you’re falling behind your competitors.   In 2010 we will continue our efforts to bring you information on the latest technology trends in the lawn care industry. 

3)  Product Reviews – We are already receiving some new and innovative products from leading lawn care equipment manufacturers.  Our reviews will help you decide if this equipment will be benificial and profitable for your lawn care business.

All-in-all, 2009 was a challenging year for the lawn care industry.  But, great challenges bring great opportunities and 2010 is shaping up to be one of the best years in lawn care in recent memory.

About us:  If you’re struggling with your lawn care business or if you just want to make more money by working smarter, take a look at our lawn care strategy guidebooks and software package.  The entire package is on sale right now through our main website:  StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Lawn Care Business in 2010

Dec 12

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn business strategies, lawn care business | 1 Comment

After a sluggish couple years due to the bad economy, many lawn care opertors (LCOs) are feeling the pinch and thinking about getting out of the business altogether. They might be giving up the fight just when the fight is getting good.

With foreclosures at an all-time high, consumer confidence at record lows, and homeowners reeling in their pocketbooks, lawn care and landscaping has been a tough industry lately. As with any industry the last two years, there have been pockets of strength. LCO’s approaching their businesses from a stance of strength have weathered this financial storm. The victims, though, are lawn care companies that burdened themselves with too much debt coupled with dependence on low paying, low yield clients.

We speak often in our Lawn Care Business strategy guidebook about the benefits of starting a business debt-free and approaching the business from a stance of strength. Starting intelligently helps keep you from backing yourself into a corner with unnecessarily expensive lawn care equipment forcing you to accept low paying customers.

As the economy begins to turn and consumer confidence begins to rise, now is a perfect time to start a lawn care business or expand an existing business. 2010 promises to be a banner year for any lawn care business still standing. With many lawn care companies going out of business in 2008 and 2009 there is prime opportunity to acquire the clients that now need a new LCO to take care of their grass.

If you have ever thought about making money with a lawn care business, there is no better a time than right now to get started.

For more information about how to start a lawn care business, visit our website: Start A Lawn Care Business (http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com)

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Merry Christmas from Start A Lawn Care Business

Dec 3

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

I’m writing today’s blog post from a coffeeshop overlooking the beautiful Tennessee River. December is here and the weather has turned nasty. December is an interesting time for lawn care business owners. There is still quite a bit of work to do with leaf raking jobs, gutter cleaning, shrub bed cleanouts, and general pre-winter cleanup work. Then again, on the occasional rainy day, it’s nice to kick back in a warm coffee shop and work on strategies for next year.

As I write this post, huddled up in the warmth, I see bunches of people out rushing around trying to get their Christmas shopping finished. They are going in and out of stores trying to find the latest and greatest toy or a shirt that will fit or a tie or underwear or ugh…socks.

I certainly don’t mean to be sardonic here. I mean, last year I was given a pair of hiking socks and they are the most comfortable sock I have ever owned. But, come on…socks?

Christmas giving is hard though. We all try to find the perfect balance between fun and functionality…between extravegance and frugality.

This Christmas, with so many millions of people unemployed and underemployed money is tight and the importance of a MEANINGFUL gift should be a top priority. I like to think the lawn care business guidebooks and estimating calculators from our website are the perfect gift for many Americans this year.

If you (or someone you know) is in need of a change in life…a change to have a better life and a life that is not dictated by someone else telling you how much money you are able to make or how many hours you have to work or if you might be fired from your job, then maybe it’s time you thought about starting a lawn care business in 2010.

Our lawn care business package will show you how to start and operate a successful lawn care business. From initial startup through getting the right equipment and estimating customers to growing your business and bidding larger clients like apartment complexes and large contracts, our business package tells you practically everything you need to know.

So, if you’re at a loss as to the perfect Christmas gift, consider a gift that can truly make a difference. Sure, socks are nice, I guess, but giving someone the ability to start their own business and finally take charge of their life…that’s TRULY a meaningful gift.

Our lawn care business guidebooks, estimating calculators, and video training guides are on sale right now for the Christmas season. To learn more, visit our main website:

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

John Deere, Fruit Snacks, and Your Lawn Care Business

Nov 25

Posted by Lawn Care Business in John Deere, lawn business strategies, Lawn Care Advertising, lawn care business | No Comments

I was in a convenience store the other day and I saw a John Deere item on the shelf. 

Now, I’ve long known about John Deere scale model tractors and John Deere keychains but this particular item took me by surprise.  It was a box of Kellogg’s Fruit Flavored Snacks featuring John Deere on the box and tractor shaped fruit blobs inside the box.
 
I have always admired John Deere’s marketing department for their efforts to make John Deere an American institution.  In our minds, John Deere built the American mid-west and currently cultivates the agricultural bread basket.  John Deere puts food on our tables and gives us the ability to sell wheat to the rest of the world.  John Deere has strength to both mow our home lawn and harvest a 640 acre central pivot cornfield.  We all know “nothing runs like a Deere.”
 
John Deere has cross promoted itself into many areas of American life and I think this cross promotion works well for them.  In an age where effects of advertising campaigns are measured in days or weeks, John Deere bucks the trend by using long term marketing efforts.  Who buys (or, at least, uses) fruit snacks?  Kids do.  The fruit snacks might be purchased by adults but it’s the kids who enjoy them.  I can’t believe John Deere is turning a profit selling fruit snacks.  However, that 10 year old kid who gobbles down a fruit snack today will remember the name John Deere 20 years from now.  When it’s time to buy a new tractor or lawn mower, John Deere will be forever entrenched in his mind and John Deere’s investment in fruit snack marketing will finally pay off.
 
I love to think about marketing strategies and I am as guilty as the next guy trying to developing advertising which has immediate dividends for my lawn care business just like John Deere does.  As we forge forward into a new year we should all attempt to develop marketing strategies which will have long term benefits and not just an immediate payoff of days or weeks.

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Be Assertive Not Aggressive

Nov 24

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

by: Start A Lawn Care Business

At one time or another, we have all experienced annoyingly pushy salesmen. Whether it’s at the mall, a used car lot, on the telephone, or even at my own front door, annoyingly pushy salesmen turn me off and rarely gain me as a customer.

I was thinking about forceful selling tactics and how they relate to the lawn care business this morning during a business seminar. The presenter was talking about the art of getting your foot in the door. He told us that getting your foot in the door is the first step to acquiring a new customer account. “Since a prospective customer’s first inclination is to shut you out, aggressiveness is needed to surmount that first obstacle.”

Being in the lawn care industry for 17 years, I have to completely disagree with the “agressive foot in the door” principle. Instead of winning customers, this tactic drives customers away.

I like to be assertive instead of aggressive.  Assertiveness is when you use intelligent pursuasion to show prospective customers how you can be of benefit to them.

I want to give an example of getting your foot in the door using an assertive sales technique.  When I was in the early days of my lawn care business, I used to walk neighborhoods and knock on doors.  Most people politely refused my offer for estimates.  Some people gladly accepted.  Still, others rudely shut their door in my face.  I did not want to turn into an aggressive salesman so I developed a strategy of assertive behavior when met with a rude prospect.  One day, a gentleman seemed very annoyed when he opened the door, I gave him my quick 30 Second Elevator Speech but by the time I was 10 seconds into the pitch he skreetched “NOT INTERESTED” and proceeded to slam the door.  Before his door closed I yelled:  “YOU’RE KILLING YOUR SHRUBS!”

The door slammed and I walked off the porch with my head hung low feeling dejected from yet another “No.”  Before I reached the last step off the porch, this man opened his door and asked “WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

I told him he was killing his shrubs because his air conditioner’s condensation overflow was leaking into his shrub bed.  Slight watering is okay but the last two shrubs in his bed were standing in water.  He said “SHOW ME.”

Now, I was only new to the business and was intimidated by his attitude.  Being a beginner landscaper, I showed him the problem and offered an easy solution of  fastening a drip tube to water the entire bed evenly instead of only one section.

He appreciated my advice and asked me to bid on his grass cutting contract for the summer.  I told him the price and got the job immediately.

Aggressive sales would have never worked with this customer.  However, an intelligently assertive response as his door closed worked wonders and got me a long-term customer.

If you are interested in more sales techniques used to get customers for your lawn care business, check out our business guidebook package at our website:  Start A Lawn Care Business

Even if your not in the lawn care business, this package will help teach you sales, estimating, and customer relations.

 

People who purchase our Lawn Care Business Package learn how to be assertive instead of aggressive.

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I just work here, sir.

Nov 13

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

How many times per day do you get questions from your lawn care customers that you can’t answer?

During my first year with my own lawn care business, there was barely a day that I wasn’t stumped by a question from one of my customers. 

“How much grass seed should I put on my lawn?”

“How do I get rid of weeds in my Bermuda Grass?”

“One of my apple trees died last year and the one remaining didn’t bear fruit this year.  Do I need a male and female apple tree to have fruit?”

These were some early questions I remember being asked during the first few days of my lawn care business back in 1992.  I remember being stumped.  The first two questions were pretty easy to answer and I got extra jobs doing seeding and weed eradication for two brand new customers.

The third question concerning the apple tree was more difficult to answer and I referred this customer to an aborculturalist.  The customer was happy and I still got to do her lawn all summer.

I realized early on that customers don’t expect you to be a lawn care expert when they ask you questions.  Being a lawn care business owner doesn’t mean you have all the answers but it does mean you should answer to the best of your ability and if you don’t know the answer, you should tell the customer that you will find out the best answer.

I recently had an experience with a company I wanted to do business with.  This was a technical company (nothing to do with lawn care) and I had a couple questions for them.  So, I called their toll-free number to speak with a representative.  I asked a few question which she was able to answer.  Then, I asked a question about a service they don’t offer and I also asked if they would offer it in the future.

“I JUST WORK HERE, SIR.”

“I just work here, sir” was the answer from this company’s sales representative.  That answer was rude customer service (BTW, the company was NOT Microsoft) and it cost them a customer.  Part of my questioning was designed to determine if I wanted to become a client of this company.  The sales representative was unable to answer my basic question and then put me off by telling me she just worked there and had no authority nor desire to find an answer for me. 

In effect, the question she answered was: “do I want to do business with your company?”  The answer she gave me was, “No, because we won’t be able to answer your most basic questions.” 

As developers of the Start A Lawn Care Business guidebook package, our job is to answer your questions about starting and operating a lawn care business.  If you are just getting started or if you’ve been in it a year or two you may have a lot of questions about how to get more customers and make more money.  The lawn care business guidebooks will answer most of your questions about advertising, pricing, estimating, doing the work, and which equipment to buy.  If you have other questions, let us know.  We are happy to help and you will NEVER get an answer of “I JUST WORK HERE, SIR.”

The lawn care business guidebooks and software package is available through our website:  www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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30 Second Elevator Speech

Nov 10

Posted by Lawn Care Business in customers, lawn business strategies, Lawn Care Advertising, lawn care business | 3 Comments

Have you practiced your 30 second elevator speech?

The concept of an elevator speech is that you happen to get on an elevator just as a potential client is also getting on the same elevator. You are riding up only one floor together. While the doors are closed, you have 30 seconds to make a convincing sales pitch.  Those 30 seconds are all you have to convince your potential client to consider your business for future work.

A 30 second elevator speech is not a sales call and is not designed to gain clients’ immediate business.  Instead, an elevator speech should be conversationally designed to help potential clients remember your name and call you back, with interest, at a later time.

Though you probably don’t often encounter your potential lawn care clients in an elevator, you may encounter them at coffee shops, post offices, and in line at the bank.

If you had only 30 seconds to convince a client to use your services, what would you tell them?

Introduction:

Introduce yourself and your company.  A firm handshake with your first name will suffice here.  A good looking shirt with your lawn care company’s name and logo will help you sidestep repeating your company name at this point.

Expertise – Special Equipment

What sets your company apart from the rest of the lawn care companies in your community?  Without making your sales pitch sound like a sales pitch, entice your client by relaying specialized knowledge about a particular lawn care problem you are currently researching or by bragging on a specialized piece of commercial lawn care equipment.  

When leaf raking season rolls around, I like to carry flyers and pictures of my leaf collection equipment.  Leaf blowers are cool and even people who are disinterested in lawn care like to look at commercial leaf blowers in action.

Everyone knows what a lawn mower looks like but not many people are familiar with commercial leaf blowers that can move 800 cubic feet of leaves per minute.  They are impressive and anyone with a yard full of leaves will be interested in the ability of such a machine.  Knowing my company has the equipment to handle such a job keeps my name in potential customers’ minds.

Quick Exit – Leave Them Wanting More

An elevator speech should be 30 seconds or less and 130 words or less.  Nothing is worse than a salesperson who kills a potential sale by rambling on and on.  If you are truly in the elevator, hand them your business card and exit as soon as you reach your floor.  Remember, you are not trying to close the sale here, you are only trying to pique their interest.  If they are interested in having you visit their residence for an estimate, get their name, address, and phone number.   

I would love to hear your elevator speech.  If you have never written a 30 second elevator speech, write one now and leave it in the comments section below.

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