Free Advertising for your Lawn Care Business
Far too often new lawn care business owners are lulled into a false sense of imminent success. Afterall, how hard can it be to start a lawn care business? Tack up a few flyers on telephone poles and hang a few door hangers. Put an advertisement in the news paper and distribute 1000 business cards you designed yourself at Office Depot. Develop a website and pay someone to make a really cool logo.
Before getting started in the lawn care business, you have to ask yourself: How much do you really know about your customers, their needs, and their willingness to pay?
Before you go to all the expense of starting your business and before you pay one penny toward marketing, take $50 of your start-up capital and buy yourself a new pair of shoes. With those shoes, start walking. Pound the pavement of your local neighborhoods and knock on doors.
Forget the sales pitch. Forget the flyers. Forget the door hangers and business cards. Forget trying to gain even a single customer. You are on a learning mission. Don’t try to make any sales at all at this point. Let them talk while you listen.
Some people won’t talk to you but many WILL. They will tell you about weeds in their flower beds and mulch that has been bleached by the sun which needs to be replaced. A young couple will be working overtime and not have the energy to mow their grass and an elderly gentleman won’t be able to clean his gutters like he once did.
When potential clients see you are trying to learn and not pressuring them into a mowing contract they will be more willing to talk with you.
Be tenacious. Set your goal at 100 doors and don’t stop until you have knocked on all 100 (not 70 or 80…..100). If rude customers close doors in your face just smile and walk to the next door. If you knock on 30 doors and everybody refuses to speak with you just smile and start knocking on #31.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t gain a single customer. By the end of the day you will know infinitely more than when you started. You will have a “feel” for your potential clients and you won’t have to guess what lawn care and landscaping services to offer.
At the end of your day compile your notes. Group similar comments and requested services. What are most people looking for in a lawn care company? What did they dislike about their last company? How much are they willing to pay? How often are they willing to have their work performed?
Grouping your comments will help you define a core set of services to offer potential customers. Drawing a graph of prices customers are willing to pay will help you maximize your profit potential.
When you have finished your research, visit those same 100 doors, knock on them, and thank the people for helping you decide to start your own business. Then, ask if you can give them an estimate.
This type of marketing is free and potential clients respond to it much more readily than flyers or door hangers especially from a new company like yours. For a new lawn care company, face-to-face advertising is the best marketing tool available…and it’s free.
If you decide to use this free marketing strategy, let us know results from your “100 Door Knocks” campaign.
For much more information on starting your own lawn care business, visit our website by clicking on “HOME” at the top of this page.
