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grassmonkey
27-09-2011, 10:35 PM
:laughing: G'day everyone. One stressed out newb here. I'm in my fourth week of advertising, so I haven't been running very long, but I've been cutting lawns, etc. commercially for others for many years. I'm based in Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula and have had pretty mixed results so far. In 3 weeks my add in the local paper has attracted 7 phone calls, 3 of which have landed me a job. Two of them will be ongoing once a month. I don't feel that I'm doing very well, but my newspaper ad sticks out more than any others there, so much so that in the 3rd week another mowing bussiness did a very close copy of it, just with a slightly higher price listed than mine. This has made my ad look boring in comparison to how it looked previously and makes me wonder if it has affected interest from potential clients.
I'm really hoping things pick up over the next week or two. Kinda wondering if anyone else has had similar slow starts to mine or if I'm doing something wrong maybe?

Got a lot of big names down here(Jims, etc.), they all seem to want to constantly expand no matter how many clients and rounds they develop. They just keep adding more and more clients and buying more trucks/utes, trailers and equipment."How much is enough for some?"

I guess i'll probably stop whining when things pick up. Think I've lost a few quotes from being realistic on price and one from being too honest about how long i've been established. How long do people normally give it before they decide its not worth the time? Should I give it at least 6 months? Any ideas or opinions are much appreciated.:wave-hi:

geoff
27-09-2011, 10:41 PM
mate hang in there and welcome by the way.....spring is starting to spring and if it was anything like last year with the good rains you will be run off your feet ..get your self some free listings online as you will see in older post post on the forum as online seems to work now days.......give it time and dont undersell yor self with your experience....

ian
27-09-2011, 11:04 PM
mate hang in there and welcome by the way.....spring is starting to spring and if it was anything like last year with the good rains you will be run off your feet ..get your self some free listings online as you will see in older post post on the forum as online seems to work now days.......give it time and dont undersell yor self with your experience....
welcome and also don't take on monthly mows as at this time of the year the grass will be to long and to hard to mow

Scooby Steve
28-09-2011, 03:13 PM
Welcome you will find spring hasn't fully come on yet give it time. Its very competitive out there at the minute too so the jobs have to be shared around so hang tight, maybe try your local real estate agents (if your quality is decent) and body corps. Park your rig outside Bunnings or your local nursery and you will be surprised how many enquiries you will get. You'd have to give it a couple of years (if you can afford it) before deciding if its for you or not.

PhilG
28-09-2011, 04:14 PM
We have advertised in local paper in the past and not had very good results. We would NEVER use them again. Yellow Pages is closing very shortly and every business is entitled to a free listing. Give them a call. Yellow Pages online is ok but expensive. Fliers have proven to be very good for us. Get a website and use the many free listings to promote your site.

Andy B
28-09-2011, 04:32 PM
Keep yourself busy, don't wait for it, if you're not working, you're already in the paper, so letter box drops, free listings on web sites and anything that you can think of. And don't be afraid of talking to people, I have had days when it seemed one job lead to another and so on, and it's not a case of getting as much work out of a client as you can, it's about saying hello to the neighbour while they are watching you work or the person walking past.

And maybe when someone asks how long, tell them how long you've been doing it for and how long you've been doing it for yourself, they'll appreciate the honesty and you'll be at an advantage over someone like many of us who stepped out of an office and into people's back yards.

Good luck, not that you'll need it. ;)

grassmonkey
28-09-2011, 05:25 PM
Thanks enormously for the prompt responses and kind advice. It's stopping me from getting down on myself on this lovely raining day. I definately could do with dropping more flyers, etc. in letter boxes. As soon as I get out to the shed and fix the spring on my whippy throttle (that mysteriously stopped working today for no apparent reason), I'll be printing out an updated flyer and gettin on to some of the free online advertising. I actually still managed (with whippy on full throttle constantly due to the spring issue) to spend a couple of hours before lunch, tidying my mates front yard/nature strip(which was massively overgrown) and took home $70. I hate to charge him like that, but it's completely littered with sharp rocks everywhere, that are covered in a metre or more of weeds and grass and additionally has more areas to edge than any front yard i've ever seen for its size. I also took some green waste away for him.
The bunnings idea is a great idea i hadn't thought of. I still have to put some graphics on my trailer. Currently i just have ILMCOA stickers which probably looks a little odd, but slightly better than nothing.

Scooby Steve
28-09-2011, 08:22 PM
Also inside Bunnings can be a good idea as well not just the carpark quite often when i'm shopping there (in my work clothes) i get approached for questions and advice they see the clothes and ask r u a gardener you hand over your card and bang your onto another job. Happens at nurseries too.

Parties are another good source for work bring a card or two along because when meeting new people one of the first questions you will be asked is what do you do for a living and when you say gardener quite often the response is well my garden needs some help bang another potential job.

Stump
28-09-2011, 09:17 PM
Flyers are the go. People winge saying they "only give you a 1-3 percent call rate". So worst case senario if you put out 10,000 you will "only" have a hundred potential customers?

geoff
28-09-2011, 09:34 PM
Flyers are the go. People winge saying they "only give you a 1-3 percent call rate". So worst case senario if you put out 10,000 you will "only" have a hundred potential customers?
good advice any new customer be it one or more is a bonus..flyersare just another method of getting the name out there........later in your business its nice to hear other people say yeah i seen you around or i know that name ......get a sign and be out there

ian
29-09-2011, 09:21 AM
and don't forget the lawns will really take off next week in all the eastern states with daylight savings starting on this sunday the extra hour of sun always makes the grass grow faster :)

Kathryn
29-09-2011, 09:41 AM
didnt realise grass could tell the time. does it have set growing hours? if it grows after knock off does the grass get over time? if the lawn isnt in the grass union do the other lawns on the street call it a scab?

apologies for the sense of humour. its raining and i'm bored

ian
29-09-2011, 10:01 AM
grass telling time now that's just silly :) it's daylight savings we get an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day that extra hour of sun makes the grass grow faster on the down side it apparently also makes the curtains fade and some people have said it also increases the incidents of melanomas and the severity of droughts but on the upside it should also make solar power that much more efficient


it's also raining here :laughing:

courty
29-09-2011, 11:52 AM
grass telling time now that's just silly :) it's daylight savings we get an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day that extra hour of sun makes the grass grow faster on the down side it apparently also makes the curtains fade and some people have said it also increases the incidents of melanomas and the severity of droughts but on the upside it should also make solar power that much more efficient


it's also raining here :laughing:

You forgot that it upsets livestock

Yep,raining here too.

Kathryn
29-09-2011, 12:31 PM
ok, so the cow thing i get and seen. poor things. but im still convinced about the grass or curtains.