GopherHaul is a show for lawn care operators, small business owners and entrepreneurs. In this episode we are going to be talking about: In this episode we are going to be talking about: Talk about how to stop customer churn and improve your customer retention. How to assist a member of the military and get some free goodies from us. How can you use high fuel prices as an advantage to gain new customers? Check out the GopherHaul toy of the month to help you enjoy yourself more this is the Dixie Chopper monster truck. We are going to see a new invention that has come in from a lawn care operator and GopherHaul viewer. And talk about our new free lawn care business book – Be a Lawn Care Business Rebel. Check out www.gophersoftware.com for more information and download the free trial of our lawn care business software. Also check out our FREE lawn care landscaping / landscaper business contracts, door hanger, flyer and web templates available for free download at www.gophergraphics.com
Posts Tagged ‘GopherHaul’
GopherHaul 10 – Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Show
GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Show. How to charge bi-weekly lawn care customers.
www.gopherforum.com – When a lawn care customer decides mid-season they want to save money and only have you mow their property every other week, how should you handle this or even bill this? This was a dilemma that was presented to the members of the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. The member wrote Ive had this weekly mowed lawn care customer since I started my business and now they want me to cut the grass every 2 weeks because they are seniors and they are getting low on money (thats an excuse I think) This yard I do, takes me 2 hrs with my tractor and another 15 to 20 minutes to trim all his stuff all over the yard. I dont want to lose this customer. I was talking to him about my possibly getting a ZTR and he was like, oh yeah that means you can lower your price. Why do old folks think this way ??? That when its mowed faster, you can charge less ??? He complains all the time my bill is too high and stuff.. and things like that Not sure what to do One lawn care business owner wrote my bi-weekly lawn care customers get charged a premium. I usually charge them 1 1 times the price of a weekly mowing. So if a lawn costs $40.00 per cut weekly, Ill charge them$60.00 per cut bi-weekly. That way it allows me to clean up any extra mess or bag the lawn. People need to understand that it is not a cost saving alternative. Weekly lawn mowing is best. Bi-weekly cuts usually take too much off the blade and can be detrimental for the turf. If you are going past the customers home …
GopherHaul 14 – Lawn Care Business Entrepreneur Show part 1.
Hello everyone and welcome to Gopherhaul! If you don’t start your business this year, you’ll be at least 1 year older when you do so get started today! GopherHaul is a show for entrepreneurs and new business owners. In it we discuss business tips and tricks we have learned over the years and share with you some real world experiences on how to help your lawn care business or any other business grow. Thanks for watching. Our lawn care entrepreneur business forum has just been jam packed with amazing business and marketing ideas since our last show and I am in no way going to be able to cover it all now but I do hope to cover a bunch of it. If you want to read more get on the forum at www.getgopher.com In this episode we will be talking about: * How you can make money in the fall with Halloween decorations. * How to use myspace to market your lawn care business and your holiday decoration service. * I put up a couple new free lawn care business door hanger templates you can download and edit to fit your needs. * Advice on estimating leaf cleanups from our friend Keith of startalawncarebusiness.com We will announce the winner of our previous shows Door Hanger and Postcard giveaway thanks to plan-itgraphics.com * We will also be letting you know of a new free giveaway of vinyl signs from Tony of amw-graphics.com If you are in need of free marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo …
How to win commercial lawn care jobs – GopherHaul 47 Lawn Care Business Tips Show
www.gopherforum.com – This is a very interesting topic. Lawn care business owners are always looking for ways to land commercial lawn care bids. But whats the best way to do it? There are many ways to go about getting close with property managers to win bids but there is nothing like hearing the inside scoop straight from a property manager himself. That is what we were lucky enough to hear in this discussion. A lawn care business owner had asked on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum this, my question is how to get commercial properties? Everyone tells me I have to go to them, they wont come to me. Before we get into this I would like to tell you about my business. I started my lawn care business four or five years ago with about four accounts my first season and second season I got up to about ten. Thats all I had for the next two seasons. So for this season I advertised with signs and that got me up to about twenty five accounts give or take. I now moved up from a 21 in push mower to a 36 in commercial walk behind. What my question is, is that I would like to expand into commercial businesses in my area because all Ive been doing is residential yards. Im wondering when to start looking for these commercial properties for next season and how to land them? Great question and here is some insight shared with us from a property manager. He responded Hello, I am a property manager of 2 million sq ft. I was reading this and thought I would throw in a few thoughts. Ifyou are …
GopherHaul 28 – Landscaping and Lawn Care Marketing Business Forum Show.
GopherHaul 28 – Landscaping and Lawn Care Marketing Business Forum Show. My latest book The landscaping and lawn care business plan startup guide is now available. You can order it along with my other lawn care business books here. gopherforum.com Lawn care business owners are always looking for a way to keep their name and phone number in front of potential customers. Here is an idea to make sure you stick around. Why not get some magnets. But not just any old magnet, how about one that pays for itself and could even make you a profit. Here is what you can do. Get a list of local important numbers in the area. Town numbers like the mayor, police, library, water and sewer dept. You can find most of these on your towns websites. Then list other numbers like local pizzerias, sub shops, and others. Maybe get a local electrician, plumber, carpenter, roofer etc. They could potentially help you buy some of these magnets and hand them out themselves as well, to help offset the costs. Then have a section for lawn care and list only your phone number. Stick these on doors in your area and be sure that your number will stick around for quite some time. You could also have different discounts for services through out the year. One of our forum members’ Rob had such an easy time selling them. Why? Because he knew most of the people he was presenting the idea too and they trusted him. gopherforum.com lawnchat.com This is a great lesson in how the more people you know, the more you can …
GopherHaul 19 – Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Forum Show
Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 19 — Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Show. In this episode we will be talking about Please continue to submit your pictures for our outdoor holiday lighting contest. www.gophergraphics.com Our lawn care business forum member of the month is Tim. Tim has shared with us three new contracts including a lawn cutting contract, a full service lawn care maintenance and a snow plow contract. You can download them here www.gophergraphics.com I added a new link on the left side of the forum for our lawn care business forum member to submit books they have read. I also added a new business book of the month to our list. The book is Guerrilla Marketing Success Secrets by Jay Levinson. Our friend Tony submitted this great marketing idea to the forum. He prints out stickers that include your business logo and then puts them on buckets of ice melt. He suggests handing these buckets out to your current customer base to help promote your snow removal services or you could use them as a marketing tool to hand out to homeowners in your area who you would like to service with snow removal and lawn care services next spring. If you live in a warmer climate you could also offer potted plants instead of ice melt. Review the post here www.gophergraphics.com Our lawn care forum member Tim suggested buying poinsettia plants in bulk and handing them out to your current customers along with a holiday card. You could also give these out to potential clients you would …
Lawn care customer sales funnel – GopherHaul 39 Lawn Care Business Marketing Show
www.gopherforum.com – Have you spent much time thinking about your lawn care customer sales funnel? Many newer lawn care businesses dont think about this so I thought it would be a good idea to bring it to their attention. What is a sales funnel? Well think of it as a big scoop. You want to go out there and scoop up as many potential customers as you can when you broadcast your marketing message. Then you want to reel them in step by step. You want to offer something and then get something from the potential customer. Then offer a little something more and then get something more from them. You keep this process going in your sales funnel until you have the customer signed up for services. Ultimately you want to take the customer from step A to step Z, one step at a time. A lot of newer lawn care businesses dont understand this and they tend to rush the sale with the end result of losing it. They want to take the potential customer from step A to step Z all in one step. So how do you take the potential customer in step by step. Say for instance first off in your advertising, you say call my phone number 24 hours a day and listen to my voice recorded message on the 7 secret steps every homeowner needs to know to obtain a full and lush green lawn. What this then allows the potential customer to do is call your number knowing full well you wont pick up the phone. They can call and listen to your 7 secret steps and not have to be on the defensive from an sales pitch. The …
Lawn Care Marketing Return On Investment Calculator – GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Show
www.gopherforum.com Before you spend a dime on any landscaping or lawn care marketing make sure you play with the figures before you enact your plan. Use this new Lawn Care Marketing Return On Investment calculator to see how much money your marketing campaign will bring you, before you go…
Lawn care business sales lesson. GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Marketing Show
www.gopherforum.com – We can always learn more about sales. Without sales we would have no income and without an income we would have no business. So to boost your lawn care business sales lets have a talk with Nick, a fellow Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum member. Nick used to be a car salesman before he moved on and decided to stop making others rich and start making himself rich. I got a chance to ask him to share with us some of his insight into how a lawn care business owner can improve their sales and here is what he had to say. Most any business revolves around sales, and in most cases you will sell something at least once in your life. A simple sale can be broken down into steps. There are many different forms of the steps to the sale but here are the ones I use 1. Meet and Greet The meet and greet is the first and most important part of a sale. A lawn care customer is going to decide if they are going to buy something from you within the first 15 seconds of meeting you. During the meet and greet you should shake your prospective customers hand, look at them in the eyes and state your name and why you are on there door step(or where ever). Remember this customer could lead you to more sales so take them as they are your monthly salary, your childs next meal, the new zero turn mower, etc. 2. Fact Find When you fact find all you are basically doing is finding out the needs of your lawn care customer. Ask your questions and when they answer just sit back and listen …
Compare your lawn care prices, Rate your lawn care equipment – GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Podcast
www.gopherforum.com If you haven’t started your business yet, what are you waiting for? If you don’t start your business this year, you’ll be at least one year older when you do so get started today. In today’s episode of GOpherHaul I will be talking about, How much do you charge to perform…
