[JohnnyBudZ]

Hello eveyone... im brand new to this site. I thought it would be a great way to find business advice from people just like myself.

Ok so i live in a somewhat upscale neighborhood.. Ive been told I could charge 25$ per house EASY. Im a VERY HARd worker so thats not where i need the advice. What i'm asking is how to properly market myself in my neighborhood. I was thinking to start this as a summer "gig" then if im popular enough just run through the spring next year.


1. How can I market myself?
2. What else will I need other then a weed whacker and lawn mower?
3. Any other advice on how to do a great job, on the actual landscape, AND on the business end.


Thanks!

[Gaulkin]

Go Clubflyers.com, get free flyers and pass them out in your neighborhood.

[BluesSwade]

You may want to make a standardized form, or survey like paper that you can print out multiple copies and give them to you customers. You could give it to them every week and tell them if they should fill it out if they feel like it. Include things such as what needs improvement, and if they know anyone eles that needs their lawn cut. It's good to have a hard copy of these things so you can keep track of them and make sure that your making your customers happy. If your not positioning your company on cheap price, then try to position it as quality and the fact that you belong to the neighborhood... I have a marketing final tomorrow and I got board and wanted to look around this site. At least I feel like my studying may have been helpful for someone.

[PhilFreecash]

Good advice blueswade. Passing out flyers should be the first thing you do. $25 seems low for an upscale neighborhood. If you're sitting on 1 acre lots I would say $35 at least. Some grass types are different meaning that they grow thicker causing you to have to go over the lawn twice; my half acre lot at the lake costs $55 to cut for that reason. Other things you might need would be a trailer and a blower to clean off driveways and patios. You could even offer fertilizing as well. Once you gain clients you are going to need to be reliable, customers will be relying on you to get their service when promised. Especially with nice homes, nobody wants an unmanicured lawn.

[rejoice]

it's a referal based business... my mate did this and then started upkeeping gardens and all that... all he did was distribute some flyers... do a good job and get referrals... it worked a treat and the fact his clinets liked him helped

[Mega B]

Yes i would say that Word of Mouth is the best way,but remember it can work both ways ie if you do a great job people will say so but also if you do a terrible job people will say so.If you live in a upmarket area as you say be very polite and just go the extra mile in providing the customer with that slightly higher quality service and ask if they have any extra jobs that the customer does not really want to do like painting a fence or something.It is little things like this that start out as a say $20 job and you could come away with double that amount or more but dont scam a customer in a well off area thinking it is easy money as you will get a bad name and will not get much work but if you keep a couple of customers happy to start with trust me you will start to take off.

All the best and keep us updated on how you get on.

[JohnnyBudZ]

First of all, I just wanna say thank you for everyone who has answered me, regarless of how long your post was.

I think the flyer idea is great... BUT.. im looking to stay within a certain area of my town... beucase i dont have a car yet im forced to walk with a lawnmower and wheed whacker... the houses here are VERY close together so even in 2 square miles I could get 30-50 clients.


Also, on the "comment card" kinda thing... should I have that printed on just a piece of printer paper? or should i have special ones made?

[JohnnyBudZ]

weed whacker*

[TravelGuy]

Upscale neighborhoods are good, but here is where I found myself more effective. Try to find the small yard neighborhoods, twins, half-a-doubles, etc...Find a few older ladies/men in the neighborhood. If you do well and they like you, you get there neighbor. Next thing you know you are driving to one location, cutting half the block. Time saver and $$ saver on gas.

Also, as someone mentioned, offer to weed gardens, plant Spring flowers, clean up leaves, etc...Another good idea, if you have a free weekend, advertise by flyers for power washing. A buddy and I used to do this a few times a Summer. You can clean up on decks. Stay away from doing homes though, some risk involved.

Just be friendly and do good work, go the extra mile. People appreciate that and alot of times it leads to more work.

[drthunder7]

Man I was in your same shoes last year, the best thing to do pass out flyers but instead of putting them in mailboxes go door to door and inform the people of your services and how they can benefit from you, what you need to do is try to make the relation personal becasue the overall best way to get business is through word of mouth and when your coustomer can look at you almost as a friend they will be more motivated to get your name out. Last year I took a loan out for 1200 dollars bought 2 really nice Honda Self propelled push mowers and an edger (important makes the lawn look 10 times better) and from handing out flyers in two weeks I had the mowers payed off and was making about $1040 a week split with my parnter. By the end of the summer I had a total of 27 lawns. Make sure when you set up a date, dont just say Wednesday say you'll be there every 7-8 days becasue if it rains and I'm sure you'll run into this you will be backed up really bad and have some pissed off coustomers, (thats where the personal relationship comes in also). Also if they already have a mowing service ask them if they mind telling you how much the other service cost and if your like me you love stealing other peoples business so if it looks appropriate underbid the other fella and take his lawn, some other good tips are take your blades somewhere once a month and get them sharpened, becasue the lawn will stand out alot more and get people asking about you, another thing if you have enough money make a logo on paintshop pro and get it printed on a magnet along with your number that you can stick on the side of your truck, i have found this to also be another good way to get your name out there. But good luck and let us know how it goes for you.