Help, my business is failing.?

Question

I am president of a lawn service. Here in Tn, we are in the middle of a draught like set of circumstances. I have not had a customer since last Thursday. I have gone door to door trying to drum up business to no avail. I have also had an ad in the newspaper for 2 or 3 months. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Ah, the bummer side of self employment.

A lawn service does not necessarily have to do just
lawns, you could advertise yard clean-ups, swimming
pool services, gardening service, hauling, window cleaning,
delivery service (pick up medications for the elderly, or
groceries, just about anything)

Just about anything to keep a couple of coins in your
pocket, when you get those jobs, let your new customers
know that you also do a lawn service, that way when
the weather turns you will have a lot more people that
know you and the different things that you can do
and will recommend you if they are satisfied.

Customer recommendations are better than paid ads
and a whole lot cheaper.

Hope I have helped you to start thinking of a few extra
ways. Good Luck

Answer 2

First of all, I would consider branching out into other services until your main service (lawn care) makes a rebound. For example, why not try advertising painting services, landscaping, or household repairs, if you're good at any of those things. The home renovation trend is booming and there should be tons of work. And, finally, if that doesn't work, you need to consider other options, like finding a paying job until things pick up. Being president of a failing business does not mean you need to go down with the ship. You need to be proactive to protect yourself.

Answer 3

I have what I think is a great idea for you. DRIP IRRIGATION!

People must conserve water in times of drought, yet they also don't want to see perhaps tens of thousands of dollars in landscaping frying up in the sun. The only answer is to install drip irrigation. It's not hard to learn (quite easy really) but because it entails a lot of hard work in the hot sun (which you're already used to), they would much prefer to hire someone else to do it. Your state may have contractor laws that set a maximum limit on the work you can do without having a contractor's license. Here in California it is $200, I believe.

So . . . here's what you do. You sell small "drip" packages for $199 complete! The homeowners will want you to do more work when they see how nice everything looks and also see the savings on the old water bill. Keep your jobs small (under the limit) and you can survive this draught, too.

I would never recommend this for fear or legal reprisals, but I have heard of "lawn services" getting paid for things other than cutting lawns, if you catch my drift.

Answer 4

I would suggest you to shift the place.
A non- draughty area and a place which is comming up ( example, bubhaneshwar, where there is a boom in IT industry ) will help you. Make sure that you have a tie up with the construction companies over there. Give the construction company executive who is in charge of building new apartments or so, a share of your business.

Answer 5

I know of a man who owned his own lawn service and things went a bit "dry" when the competition was killing him. He increased his business by adding more services. Now he does carpet cleaning and basement drying. Now he's swamped with one business or another....looks like you need to expand.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

Maybe add a service that takes advantage of the drought. Here in Utah, people do a lot of "no lawn" stuff ... rock gardens, ponds, flower beds, etc.

Answer 7

Start a customer referral discount program. Your current customers can hand out referral coupons with their customer id numbers. Plus it is FREE advertising for you.

Answer 8

there is not much more you can do. maybe try offering other services, such as;
pulling weeds
landscaping
gardening
etc

good luck