This will be a multi-post all about Social Media and how it can help you improve your business. I would also like to hear your responses to this post. Have you used social media to your advantage? Has it worked? Has it failed? Enjoy!

So you decided to take the technological leap into social media, but are you doing it effectively? This article will be a great primer for anyone that has not taken their company to the next level online, as well as people who do leave an online footprint but just want a bigger one… Size matter for this one folks.

I know some of you reading this are skeptical on how social media can help your green industry business. Hopefully after you read this you’ll have a good idea on how to use it to your full advantage.

So let’s start with the basics.

What is Social Media?

Simply stated social media is any kind of online platform that interacts with its audience with the benefit of sharing information.

A two way street if you will. Magazines are a great way to get information but you cannot interact with it. Well, I guess you could but then you’ll be a crazy as my uncle Bob. Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone.

Now there are many different types of social media;

Social Networking – facebook.com, myspace.com, hi5.com, twitter.com

Social Bookmarking – delicious.com, propeller.com, stumbleupon.com, digg.com

Blogging and forums – thelawnblog.com, thelawnblog.com/forum

So now you should have a good example of what social media is. Let’s move on.

I am going to touch on the most popular programs and sites as you should already know what they are.

Facebook.com

Facebook is a massive social networking website. I am sure most of you have an account already and waste the majority of your time on there playing those highly addictive games… Guilty! But there are more than games and keeping in touch with grandma facebook has to offer. You can (and I recommend) you create a facebook page for your business. I have made one for our landscape maintenance company. You can visit it here,

Murphy Property Maintenance Fan Page

If you like you can become a fan. Your support is appreciated.

A quick rundown shows that you can share photos, updates, hours of operation, articles and discussions. Fans can even chime in and comment on your work. If you already have a website you can add your link back to your website. Doing this adds to your online footprint making you a stronger competitor.

For more detailed instructions on how to create a facebook page visit their FAQ page here.

Twitter.com

to be continued…

I’m sure this comes as no surprise, but if you want to grow your lawn care or landscaping business you’ve got take steps to make it happen.  You can’t simply sit back, put in minimal effort and expect your business to grow.  And in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace it’s even more true.

Achieving above average results definitely requires above average action. But what kind of action?

So many business owners are frustrated and stressed out because they say things like “marketing doesn’t work” or “people just aren’t buying anymore.”

And while it can definitely be said the green industry marketplace is very different than it was just a short time ago, to discount it completely and say nothing works or that nobody’s spending money just isn’t true.  One simply needs to take a drive to their local shopping mall to see the close to capacity parking lots. Or drive past their favorite restaurant and see the line out the door waiting for a table.

Again, it’s not nearly what it was a short time ago, but people are definitely ready, willing, and able to spend money for those things they truly want.

You see, that’s the key.  Your customers have to WANT what it is you’re offering.

The problem is, most lawn care or landscaping businesses do very little to help their prospects or customers see the value in the products or services they offer. As a result, they’re left scratching their head trying to figure out how to get people to spend money on what they’re offering.

To help overcome this challenge, here are 5 steps you can take right now to grow your green industry business in spite of all the challenges our current economy presents:

1.    Provide products or green industry services that are worth talking about.

Today’s consumers are extremely jaded and skeptical when it comes to buying things. As a result, you’ve got to figure out a way to get people to voluntarily talk about what you have to offer and the way you do this is by providing a product or service that gets people talking.

It could be the actual product or service itself, it could be the way you deliver it, or could even be in the dramatic changes it makes for your customers.  Whatever the case, you MUST figure out a way to offer something that is worthy of having your customers talk about it to their friends.

Remember, if you’re only slightly better than the next guy then you only deserve slightly better results!

2.    Make your lawn care or landscaping customer’s lives easier.

This is one way you can become worthy of being talking about.  Everyone is looking for ways to simply their life and if you can help them remove a burden, whether it be actual or perceived, you’ll position yourself to be talked about, to be referred by customers, and to win a lion’s share of the available business.

3.    Talk about all the BENEFITS your products and services offer your customers.

In order to help people know about your green industry business you MUST get the word out.  It could be through direct mail, Internet marketing, networking, good old fashioned door-to-door sales, or even a combination of multiple methods.  But no matter which methods you choose, it’s absolutely critical that you sell the benefits you offer and NOT just the actual products or services you sell.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “sell the sizzle and not the steak.” What this means is you’ve got to help your prospects and customers see exactly how you’ll make their life easier, how they’ll save time and money, and how you can help remove a major point of stress for them.

4.    Take massive action to get massive results.

This is a principle followed by many successful businesses.  You see, if you want to achieve mediocre growth then you can get away with doing just a few things.  However, if you want to see amazing growth in a very short period of time than you can’t be content with doing just a few things.  You got to take something called massive action.

Massive action is the principle of doing many things simultaneously. Instead of slowly taking action on a few things, you take action on many things at the same time.  This way you can have multiple marketing campaigns generating multiple streams of new prospects which in turn translate into more new customers.

Admittedly it’s not easy to take massive action because things can get pretty confusing, but if you’ll spend some time mapping out your strategy before you get started you’ll soon find that by taking massive action you not only get more new business but you accomplish more as well simply because of the momentum you’ve generated.

5.    Focus on creating valuable relationships.

Again, consumers are extremely skeptical today.  It doesn’t matter what business or industry you’re in.  As a result, it’s absolutely critical that you do more than simply sell to your customers.  You’ve got to figure out a way to develop a real and meaningful relationship with both prospects and customers.

Developing a relationship with your prospects makes the sales process easier because instead of taking a huge leap of faith to purchase your products or services, they trust what you say making it much easier to commit to doing business with you.

With your existing lawn care or landscaping customers, because they’ve already demonstrated some level of trust in you, by strengthening that relationship and furthering the trust you have the opportunity to sell more and sell it more often.  This gives you an opportunity to build your business much faster because as every savvy business owner knows, it’s much easier to sell to existing customers than it is to sell to prospects.

As you work to build your green industry business in today’s super-competitive marketplace implement these 5 principles of growth and watch as your bottom line grows, your customers remain loyal longer, and your competitors become frustrated because you’re stealing all of the available customers!

* * * * * * * * * *

Read more Lawn Care Business articles at www.LawnCareMarketingMagic.com.

This message goes out to all potential sponsors.  We are currently looking for manufacturers, retailers, creators, inventors, innovators…if you have a product or services related to the ‘green’ industry and you want to share it with the world then we want you.  Check out the Forums and send me an email using our contact us form to tell me about your product or service.  Then register on the forums.  We will then create a Forum for you under the Sponsors category where you can post all the new and exciting information about your product or service.  Interested?  I think so.

Hello all,

Well this has been long awaited.  We have finally launched our forums for easier communication with our readers.  Please visit them register and post away.  Also, if you would like a forum that is not included comment to this post and we will add it. For companies that wish to share their products services and ideas please let us know and we will be glad to share it with the public.

www.thelawnblog.com/forum

Any feedback would be great.

Cheers,

Richard Murphy
The Lawn Blog

I often get asked “what is the best special offer to put on an advertising piece?” That is a VERY difficult question to answer, since nobody knows your business and profit margins as well as you, the owner himself.  However, here are some things to think about. Some people don’t want to put special offers in the advertisement at all, because they feel they are giving some of their revenue away. That may be true, but when your competitors are offering a discount, YOU will not get the sale over them.

Don’t get me wrong there is some customer loyalty in our business, however most homeowners go through the ads they receive and get the best deal. So what to offer and how much… In my opinion you should offer the biggest discount you can afford. Personally I feel 10% OFF means nothing in this day and age, especially with the economy the way it is. FREE is the way to go. People like free stuff regardless of what it is. So possibly a free mowing with mulch installation or spring/fall clean up. If you only do mowing, why not give them a free mowing? But why only one??? Why not 2 or 3 mowings? Do you know anyone else giving away 2 or 3 mowings per year? If you offered that why wouldn’t a homeowner call you instead of someone else? Remember this is an offer for NEW customers only. OK, you may lose some revenue the first year but chances are you will retain that customer for years to come.

Along with plan-it graphics, I also own a lawn care company. I don’t mow, I only fertilize, but I will now tell you my special offer for new customers. Keep in mind most of my clients only get 6 applications per year… I offer all new customers 2 FREE applications! Yes, they only get 6 per year and 2 are FREE!! Why and how do I do it. One of the free applications is lime, my most inexpensive product. The second application is insect control, and is applied the same time as the summer application. So technically this is a 7th application for them and my books, but I’m only on the lawn six times… They got 2 for free, but I was only wasting time once. I understand that if you mow 3 times for free, you are “wasting time” more often, but keep in mind your are mowing much more than 6 times a year!!

It’s no fun giving stuff away but when you think of the life of the customer it will pay for itself multiple times over the next few years. With more people entering our industry everyday, and the shape of our economy (they say it’s getting better, but we certainly haven’t fully recovered), you should do whatever you can to get customers before your competition does. Getting customers is the single hardest thing to do in our industry. Just about anyone can cut grass, spread fertilizer, plant a bush, or lay mulch. In fact homeowners do it routinely. You need to sway a customer to YOUR company and not someone elses, or even better make your offer and prices so the “do it yourself-er” sees it’s not worth his time and should hire you. Keep in mind… You don’t really own a lawn care company… You own a marketing company that happens to cut grass.

Bob Daniels

Plan-It Graphics
www.plan-itgraphics.com

Increase your sales with this addition to your marketing campaign

I have found a fantastic new product that I have to share with the green industry.  Pictured to above is a clear plastic business card holder that affixes to your vehicle, store front, signs…you name it.

I received mine a week ago and installed it right away.  It went on very easy using adhesive strips.  I would recommend that you measure and level where you want it on your vehicle to avoid crooked placement.  It also comes with a handy “Take A Card” vinyl graphic to go above or below your holder…I put mine above the holder.

The holders are made from durable plastic and are virtually water proof.  They have a strong spring snap down lid that won’t let water in.  Trust me we have had sever thunderstorms here in Central Ontario for the past week and my business cards are still bone dry.  I would recommend that you take out the cards if you pressure wash your vehicle as the extreme water pressure will cause the flap to lift if you are not careful.

I’ll post a photo to show it on my work truck.  I placed the holder on my rear door window for maximum visibility.

The card holder works for you when you are not around.  At the jobsite, hardware store, buying groceries, the mall…it will hand out your business card for you 24/7, just as long as you keep it stocked up.  I put 10 business cards in mine eight days ago now and refilled it up today…seven were missing, I am very pleased.

These card holders also come in different styles.  One with different color lids to stand out.  And if you really want an impact the round holder jumps off the page making sure potential clients take your card.

To learn more about these great products and to see what else they offer visit www.mytakeacard.com

Just to let everyone know that this is not a sales pitch and I am not collecting any profits from sales here.  This is just my honest opinion about a great product.  It still amazes me that the simplest of products are usually the best ideas.

EDIT:  About 15 minutes after I posted this I received my first phone call from a woman that took my card while I was shopping yesterday evening.  I now think I need another one for the passenger side.  Everyone that owns a business needs one of these.  If you have any direct questions or comments please post them here or email us at office@thelawnblog.com

The Lawn Blog rates this product a 5 out of 5.

Looking to bump up your closing ratio when doing sales presentations for your lawn care or landscaping business?

Give these 10 suggestions a try and see if they don’t help increase your closing rate:

1. Be enthusiastic. Nothing has more power to sell than enthusiasm, especially if you’re enthusiastic because you truly believe your products and services are THE BEST.

2. Set goals, make a plan, make it happen. Start by defining EXACTLY what you want to achieve, both short and long term, create a road map for making it happen, and then get to work.

3. Sell to help your customer first. Yes, you got into sales so you could make a living for you and your family, but if that’s your primary concern you’ll never achieve the results you could IF you focused first on solving your customers problems or satisfying their needs. Remember, you’ll get everything you’ve ever wanted if you first help others get what they want!

4. Believe in your company and its services. If you don’t believe that you and your company can indeed provide THE BEST products and/or lawn care and landscaping services available it’ll be hard to be truly enthusiastic. If needed, spend some time figuring out what needs to change so you CAN believe in your company.

5. Establish long term relationships. Remember, your customers are your MOST valuable asset. Focus the necessary time, money, and energy required to establish long term relationship and your business will flourish for years to come.

6. Qualify the buyer. Never waste time with someone that really isn’t qualified or interested in what you’re offering. If you do your marketing correctly, it should do most of this qualification for you so you can spend your time CLOSING these qualified prospects.

7. Be on time and look professional. People want to work with the best and if you can’t be on time or look professional it screams of a lack of professionalism. Lateness says, “I don’t respect your time” and looking unprofessional says, “I don’t truly believe in the value of my company or the services we offer.”

8. Sell benefits, not features. The customer doesn’t care about how you do what you do, all they care about is how what you do will make their life easier.

9. Anticipate and overcome objections. You know there will be questions or concerns about the service proposal you’re presenting so be prepared for them. Understand your products and services well enough and have the answers prepared so when your prospects voice their objections you know how to handle them effortlessly.

10. Have fun! Going back to rule #1, enthusiasm can overcome a lot, but you’ve got to have fun if you want to be enthusiastic. You’ll have a great deal more success if you enjoy what you’re doing because you’ll work harder and you’ll convey your enjoyment of your work to others.

So, as you’re looking for ways to grow your lawn care business, keep these 10 principles in mind the next time you do a sales presentation and watch your closing ratio improve dramatically.

For more information about how to effectively market your lawn care business, visit www.FREELawnCareMarketingSecrets.com.

I recently came across some great Christmas Cards for the landscaping / lawn care industry. Have a look.