How to go door to door, to market your lawn care business.
We had a great discussion in the Gopher Lawn Care Forum about how best to market your lawn care business when you are first getting started. One of the ways you can market yourself, which is cheap to do but time intensive is going door to door.
One of our friends on the forum, Brandon, shared with us some of his tips on how he has become so successful with it to build his lawn care business.
Brandon: “I did a lot of door knocking and it did work well for me. Here is a couple tips that worked.
1. Go to neighborhoods that are mostly owner occupied. The majority of renters will mow their own lawns, and the people they are renting from wont pay for lawn service.
2. If no one answers, leave a business card at the door. If someone does answer, hand them a card before (or while) you are introducing yourself so they dont have a chance to say “no thanks” and shut the door.
3. I never used flyers, only business cards. Just never had the extra money to print them.
4. Never drop flyers in driveways. This just upsets people because then they feel like they are having to clean up garbage in their driveway. As a note, there is a landscape supply company in my area that puts a small flyer and some gravel in a sandwich bag and tosses them on everyones driveways and the people I talk to get upset over this because they always have to pick it up and dispose of it. Very tacky.
5. Keep it simple. I used to say (and it varied just a bit depending on my mood), “Hi, my name is Brandon (while handing them a card), and I own a landscaping business locally. Do you have any questions or concerns with your yard you would like me to answer for you today? Please call me if you do. Thank you for your time.”
6. And last. When you give someone an estimate. Wait 2 days, then call back and let them know you havent forgot about them, then ask if they have any more questions about your service, etc. it gives them the impression that you wont skip their service or flake every now and then like some people do.
One more thing. If you have insurance and a business lic. you can go to the property management companies, and get tons of work. It may be hard getting your foot in the door, but once they see you are doing a good job, the work will be endless. 75% OF MY WORK COMES BY WAY OF FAX MACHINE. several jobs every day!”
You can join this discussion at the Gopher Lawn Care Forum.
