I'm starting my own lawn service but there's alot of competition. What should I do?

Question

There were 5 other ads in the paper besides mine. My ad has been in the paper for 5 days and I have not had any calls yet. Should I run some kind of "special" or soemthing?

Answer 1

Well It is alot of competition out there. So you have to get you some flyers made and business cards. Maybe you could do have a special by appointment only where on a certain day of the week you do lawns for a small donation only. So If you did my lawn you would say Hello mam I am starting my own business and I want to know if I could cut your lawn in the back/ front (what ever is the smallest) at No Charge. If you like my work I will take a donation for my time of whatever you want to give me. At that time you can hire me. You may need to offer things like putting fertilizer down once every three months for free, or pulling up weeds, watering the lawn ect. You would want to ask me what am i paying now for my lawn work? If I say $40 a month you might want to say OK I will do it for $38 or even $35. Do little things extra like find out when your customers birthdays are and maybe give them half off for that month and get them a little plant for there bday. Little things like that will make the customers say wow! then they will refer you to the next person and the next. Just always remember to remain professional. GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 2

Since your competition is advertising in the paper, maybe you should spend your money elsewhere.

You could:
- Post flyers on the bulletin boards in the grocery store.
- Do a direct mailing to the specific neighborhoods you want to target. (OR, print flyers and hand-deliver them in the neighborhood -- do NOT bother people, just leave it tucked into their door.)
- Offer a discounted rate (for the first month, quarter, annual service?) on any "conversion" clients (clients who can show they've been a competitor's client in the past six months.) Maybe a 5-10% discount?
- Offer a set schedule (like twice a month service) and discounted annual rate for those willing to pay for a year up front. (Most people won't take you up on it because you're
new in the business, but it will likely generate some calls. And for those that do take you up on it, you'll generate some much-needed income up front.) Be SURE you can handle the long-term committment of that kind of offer, though.

Be sure that you differentiate yourself in some way from the competition. If they're focusing on price, you can either try to beat their prices (usually a losing battle), or focus on service.

Answer 3

Start in your own neighborhood, and make cold calls on your neighbors. Introduce yourself if they don't know you, and if they do, that gives you a little more of an "in". Take flyers around to all of them, be pleasant, and try to engage them in conversation.
Then if you can pick up a customer or two this way, they would be good for references for picking up future sales. Put things like your business name, rates, contact info, services available. You may want to offer a buy one get one special just to get started, it would give someone a couple chances to see what kind of job you can do. The personal touch counts for alot, if you can talk to people in person, even if they don't take you up on it today, they will remember you better than a newspaper ad. Word of mouth advertising is *very* important to any business, it's a personal referall. You could offer additional discounts to customers that send you referrals if they become customers too. After you have picked up a couple jobs in your own neighborhood and have a couple happy customers, start widening your circle from there. Good luck.

Answer 4

Green,

I would talk with some family and friends that have their lawn mowed and find out what is important to them in a lawn mowing service. Perhaps it is: No illegal workers, prompt service, good value etc. Then advertise with those points to your target market.

Then IMO you should network with all your friends and family/church etc. Target neighborhoods with older people or wealthy people. Those imo are your two target markets.

I would start by taking less than then competition. One because once you get a customer, you can get referrals for other business. Two once you get a decent amount of business, you can raise your prices and weed out the customers you don't want anymore. Plus you can bring new customers in at a higher price point.

Another way would be to drive through neighborhoods and look for houses that have long grass. Perhaps they need your service.

VaL

Answer 5

Alot of neighborhoods have a union with each other with their neighbors try putting up flyers that if you can do so many # of lawns then the rates would be even cheaper.

Answer 6

YOU SHOULD BUY A COPY OF JACK TROUT'S "DIFFERENTIATE OR DIE".

You don't need to lower your price of give stuff away. Just be 1% better than your competition.

You can buy the audiobook on itunes.

Believe it... worked for me. I grossed 475,000 dollars last year, up 25% from the previous year.

Answer 7

Try going door to door to ask people if they pay for lawn service what someone would have to do differently to get their business.

Answer 8

buy some good books on business basics. There are many books on running a small -business. Remember, most gardeners, landscapers, or interiorscapers that fail do so, not because they did not know their trade, but because they did not understand how to manage their business.

Answer 9

You may not like this idea, but why not offer a one-time freebie -- you could offer to just mow a lawn of up to some square feet.