By: Bob Daniels
www.plan-itgraphics.com

I often get asked if it’s a good idea to create a marketing piece with an area to write in a price/estimate for the customer. I’ve seen many posts on web forums about the topic. The following is just my opinion and should be taken as only that.

I feel leaving a price for services is a good thing. If you know that you would mow, fertilize, etc. that lawn for $50 than why not tell the potential customer. I noticed that one of the major concerns is another lawn care company seeing your door hanger, flyer etc. and making their price lower. But take a second to think about that… You now are assuming that other lawn care companies are out doing “estimates” the same day as you, and are assuming that their marketing piece has a place to write in a price…unlikely for the most part.

Second thing to think about is your price. I know that we all have a margin of error and can raise or lower our prices if needed. But the price should be the price. If you figured out that you need to make X/amount of $, for X/amount of turf, then you should be confident in your price. There will always be someone priced higher and lower than you. It’s the nature of business.

Third, and in my opinion the most important reason for leaving a price. As a whole we live in a society where people like “easy.” Call it laziness, call it hectic lifestyles, whatever… but if someone needs their lawn cut, and sees a reasonable price, they would rather call you and schedule it right then. If no price, they need to call you, and other companies, request estimates, wait for the estimate to arrive…call you back, or wait for you to call. By then it’s a week long process. Think of a conversation like this, between a husband and wife, and tell me if this is not how the conversation would go…

Husband: “Honey did you schedule the lawn cutting?”
Wife: “NO, but I got a door hanger the other day and this company can do it for $49, I was going to all around for other estimates”
Husband: “It’s not worth the hassle, what are we gonna save a couple of dollars, just call them so we know were on schedule, and it’s over and done with”
Wife: “OK, sounds good.”

Now again, I’m not saying this is a perfect method, but I have tried both, leaving prices and not leaving prices. The response might be the same, but the cost per sale with leaving the price is much lower. You are wasting less time not having to go back, and do a follow up estimate when you were just there the other day.

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Ely Fall of BizCard.com and their ‘green’ efforts within the printing industry. Bizcard.com offers full design and print services, from business cards to websites.

Since its inception, the Bizcard team has been working on developing environmentally friendly printing solutions. This effort includes using primarily post-consumer paper, eliminating damaging photo chemicals from the printing process and purchasing materials from GreenSeal certified companies.

Here are some ways Bizcard is keeping green:

A green production:

* Since we own all of our presses and do all of our printing on site, we maintain consistency and quality by keeping all of our operations under our control. This also allows us to closely monitor and regulate our environmental impact.
* Bizcard uses digital presses for all of its printing, which eliminate the photochemical-dependent process of making plates, thus reducing the chemical usage in the process.
* As part of its mission statement, Bizcard seeks out partnerships with nonprofit organizations that are committed to social responsibility.
* To create its products Bizcard uses recycled paper or purchase its resources from responsibly managed forests lands.
* Bizcard encourages its customers to purchase products that use 30 to 40% less paper than the industry standard.

A green workplace:

We use a special film on all the windows to reduce the heat within the buidling. This allows us to save on our energy consumption. All the lights in our building were changed from Standard with normal transformers to Fluorescent Electronic bulbs. Our bathroom sinks are automated reducing the amount of water being used unecessarely.
Bizcard encourages team members to carpool and to bring their own food to reduce the carbon footprint produced when driving to restaurants at lunch time.

A green message to consumers:

Bizcard has made a strong commitment to eco-friendliness and corporate social responsibility. We understand that historically, the printing industry has been
no friend to the natural earth. Although we go to great lengths to minimize this impact, we realize that we must use our share of resources just like everyone else.
However, as we grow, our positive impact grows as well. By building partnerships with reliable non-profit organizations, we are striving for nothing less than a complete reversal of our environmental impact.Through our online, grass roots effort, we hope to gain the attention of more like minded consumers, companies and organizations.

Bizcard is also offering all of The Lawn Blog readers a 25% off discount code for its products. I encourage you to visit Bizcard.com and have a look at their fantastic website. To claim your 25% discount please enter code ‘bizemg8‘ (without quotes) during the ordering process.

Here is an article from our friend Bob at Plan-It Graphics. What types of marketing materials does your company use? What works for you and what doesn’t? Let us know your thoughts and leave a comment at the end of this article.

Some Thoughts and Ideas on Advertising Your Lawn/Landscape Business.

I had a customer ask me the other day if marketing with postcards is effective. I explained to him that they are actually one of the most efficient ways to get customers. I personally acquire 90% of my new “lawn care” customers from direct mail/postcard mailings. I do find, however, that the one thing people [fail to do when sending their postcards is this… they only mail to potential customers once!! It is IMPORTANT to mail to the same list numerous times throughout the year. If you have a list of 600 names and addresses, split it up into 3 groups and send 200 per month and alternate. This helps to build name recognition, and most importantly, it helps you build denser routes.

Here is a Plan-It Graphics direct mail example using 5000 postcards for $365 (design fee, and printing):
If you mailed out 200 cards per month, they would last 2 years.

Each month would cost you $54 in postage and $14 for the cards; TOTAL PER MONTH IS $68.
Looking at the cost, if you only get 12 sales per year, you sill had a HUGE return on your investment. I dare anyone to find a cheaper, more efficient “cost per sale”!

This brings me to my next topic…DOOR HANGERS. Think about when you sort through your mail. Many people are usually in their kitchen, near the trash can, throwing the junk mail immediately into the trash. When using a door hanger/flyer, it has to be removed from the door and walked to the trash can. Now, your advertising piece is the only thing in the customers hand; more importantly, they have now looked at it for more than a millisecond. Although this method is quite effective, there is one thing to consider…The time it takes to distribute them. If you assume your time is worth only $10.00 per hour, you would have to distribute 200 door hangers in 5.4 hours ($54 postage divided by $10 per hour). Sometimes the marketing budget does not allow for the postage, and in those situations door hangers are a great option.

Another method of advertising that is often overlooked is the referral. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have heard the saying “word of mouth is the best method of advertising.” That may be true, but you need to get the customers first in order for that “word of mouth” to spread. Once you do get the customers, why not give them an incentive to spread the word? When you complete your service, you should leave something behind with the customer offering them incentives for referrals. Plan-It Graphics has a nice flyer with a tear off postcard that the customer can return with a referral’s name. Once the referral signs up, you send the customer whatever the incentive was. Some people offer $25 Visa gift cards or Home Dept/ Lowes gift cards. You can also offer the customer a percentage off their next bill, but I feel that the gift card in the mail makes more of an impact, and makes the customer feel like they really got something. This might make them more likely to refer more customers in the future.

These are a few advertising methods that should surely generate more customers for your business. There are many other good ways, but you can’t beat the tried and true methods. So think it over, and remember, even in the lawn care business… although there are peak times for advertising, you should be doing it YEAR ROUND!

Sincerely,
Bob
www.plan-itgraphics.com

Well just because it is winter doesn’t mean we cannot dream for the spring. Here is a great article from our friend Ken LaVoie (www.lawnguru.net). Post your comments folks I would love to hear them.

Organic Lawn Program
Ken LaVoie – LawnGuru.net

The easiest way to explain organic lawn care, as it differs from traditional “chemical” lawn care, is that organics addresses the SOIL, whereas chemical addresses the PLANT. Starting in 2008, I gave my clients a choice of our “outsourced” chemical lawn treatment OR our self applicated, organic program. Our organic program consisted of aeration and ph enhancement first, then and organic fertilizer if warranted.

My research leads me to believe that aeration and ph adjustment will give you the biggest “bang for the buck,” dollar for dollar. If the soil ph is too low or high, the grass will not be able to “unlock” certain nutrients from the soil anyway, so much of your fertilizer application will go unused. Secondly, aeration allows air and oxygen to get into the soil, which promotes bacteria and nematode growth, which is what organics is really all about. Several of my clients received nothing but aeration and lime this year, and their lawns improved remarkably.

Our next step is to begin offering a “one time” application of compost or compost tea, which will add actual organic matter to the soil. Once the soil health becomes optimal, the lawn should become nearly self-sustaining; in other words, NO applications will be needed other than the occasional corrective liming, aeration, or addition of organic matter. This is literally all a lawn EVER needs once it gets used to “non” chemical life.

There has been quite a bit of news about corn gluten meal, or CGM. It is purported to have weed suppression properties if you put enough down, and your timing is right. There’s also growing evidence that much of the weed-prevention benefit comes from the thickening of the grass, which comes from organic production of nitrogen. All in all, I’d say it’s a an expensive route, and if you use it, it’s probably a good idea to alert your clients that the weed preventative control will be an added “surprise.”

Regardless of your approach, communication is key. Alert your clients that if their lawns are “used” to chemical lawn treatment, it will take 2 seasons to adjust the kinder, gentler organic approach, but the wait will be worth it, for the lawn and the environment.

As for pricing, for dry chemical spreading (like weed n’ feed), I charge $60 per 10,000 square feet with a $35 minimum. For lime, I simply double my cost—if I pay $4.50 per bag for pelletized lime, I charge $9 per bag with the same $35 minimum. So far, I’m finding that I make great money with aeration by simply charging my dry chemical price. I earn $100 per man-hour and I have time to aerate twice over each lawn. I use a tow-behind model that I paid $650 for, and so far it’s holding up nicely.

Ken LaVoie has 20 years of lawn and landscape experience. He attended both the University of Maine as well as Rhode Island College and resides in Winslow, Maine where he is a freelance writer as well as owner of both LaVoie’s Landscape Mgmt. Inc. and Central Maine Web. Please see www.LawnGuru.net and www.CentralMaineWeb.com for more information.