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administrator
19-11-2008, 02:11 PM
Someone once said only 50% of marketing is effective u just have to work out which 50%?

With around 500 years plus in experience within this forum we should kick around what works when you need it the most NOW!

1. Newspapers, when, how much and how big?
2. Vehicle signage what sort of information?
3. Fridge Magnets?
4. Form letters to Businesses?
5. School newsletter advertising to target specific areas?
6. Letter Box drops? Car Park drops?
7. Parking your trailer in a busy car park on a Saturday Morning?
8. Having a Glossy printed?
9. Yellow Pages, White Pages or PDC directory?
10. Sports club sponsorship (expensive)
11. Trade shows?
12. Stubby holders, caps (they work.)
13. Join a "trade exchange" like Barter card for new business?
14. Credit card facilities to attract "frequent flyer junkies?"
15. Corflute signs on relatives/customers fences?
16. Cary dog biscuits and feed their dogs when they are watching?
17. See if the Local Chamber of comm will mail out for you free?
18. Leave cards magnets at Nurseries and Landscape suppliers?
19. Get email addresses and start a newsletter (spam careful?)
20. Leave your vehicle (all day) in the best street in town.
Money never falls into your wallet by mistake, sell, sell, sell!!!!

Stripes
19-11-2008, 04:41 PM
I have found that apart from word of mouth, the best advertising is letterbox drops. I have'nt really needed to advertise much, but with the small amount of flyers that I have had put out over the years, they seem to work really well. Even when only doing a few streets (maybe 400 houses), I would normally recieve at least 3 or 4 calls.

Local newspapers worked well for me when I was doing irrigation systems, but I didnt recieve a single job when I advertised for gardening a few years back. This was in 3 local papers for a month, and I got nothing!

Yellow pages was expensive and didnt really attract any quality jobs, mainly just time wasters looking for a cheap price.

geoff
19-11-2008, 05:23 PM
looking at resigning my yellow pages add , they have changed our area so i need to advertise in two different directories so more expense..i get mainly older customers ( they always pay ) but recently in the last 6 months the internet web page has dragged in heaps of quality jobs

geejay
19-11-2008, 05:26 PM
deans $4 adds worked in the target area which had the demographics to suit.plenty of work(some pitas some good) to get experiance and ones teeth into this business and cash going.referals followed.we use a advert(less pita calls) once in a while now in another target area for landscape/garden maintenace.we drop glossies around established regulars that have referal notes from clients in target area.these have pulled in good contracts,our best contract came from a glossie.had our first call today that was from our ad on trailer,lady was right behind,new one for us. :)

mowjoman
19-11-2008, 07:05 PM
I put an add in the local rag a while ago...ran for 4 weeks and was dear as poisen...not 1 call...
Have an ad in our local who what where mag delivered all over the region...$450, Full colour ad in the lawn mowing section, another bold listing in the gardening section and a bold listing in the white pages section, and it's around for 12 months. Have picked up 6 regulars in the 2 months its been out. Great value for me I've been thinking about delivering some flyers to local businesses to caretake gardens and nature strips too :i dunno:

m287j
19-11-2008, 07:23 PM
Internet - I have a decent sized website with plenty of info. I appear in a lot of local searches and i have paid advertising through homehelp4u and true local. The internet is by far my biggest source of new clients.

Newspapers - i used to advertise in 3 local papers when i first started in Sydney, it worked in spring and summer picking up regulars and one-off's. It used to cost around $300 a month but it was worth it.

Vehicle signage - my vehicle has the business name, mobile and website address on the back window in large print, not one call yet from this.

Letter Box drops - I have dropped brochures in to letterboxes of the same street as clients, only once did i get a phone call from this method, mind you the client is now worth around $5,000 a year to us so it was a good one.

Yellow Pages - i just have a free yellow pages listing and i have got probably 6 calls in 12 months from this. Hey its free so i am not complaining. I am not sure the paid advertising is worth it.

Caps - i am just getting some caps made for me and my guys now, will see if that helps. All our work shirts are sign written in big writing on the back with the business name and phone number, no calls using this yet.
I also have t-shirts that i wear on weekends when out shopping etc, got a few calls from this.

Credit card facilities - i refuse to offer this, paypal would be cheaper and only 1 customer has expressed an interest in it.

Leave cards magnets at Nurseries and Landscape suppliers - i have done this before and no luck.

glassngrass
19-11-2008, 07:42 PM
Yellow Pages - i just have a free yellow pages listing and i have got probably 6 calls in 12 months from this. Hey its free so i am not complaining. I am not sure the paid advertising is worth it.
in it.
FREE Yellow pages??? Do you mean White Pages?

Born To Mow
19-11-2008, 08:23 PM
We used the local rag all year around for about year and half. Got a few customers, this spring ran it again for 2 months, not one call so we pulled it. Too many advertising.

We have been advertising in the Yellow pages for 3 years. The first 2 years we had a very poor response and this was going to be our last year if it didn't pickup. We brought a new house 12 months ago and moved across town and had to change our land line number. Because we changed suburbs the advert had our new suburb listed (Y/P requirement). I'm not sure if a lot of people in this area tend to the Y/P more but this spring we have picked up 17 new regulars, plus on off jobs. A lot people like to use local contractors and match yr suburb or phone number.

Also use free internet listings such as Cracker - this spring have picked up three one off jobs and one regular.

Word of month - this has to be the best way to obtain new jobs and it's free. People talk, always do a top job hand out your business cards like crazy and your bound to pick up new work.

geoff
19-11-2008, 08:38 PM
david yellow pages always offer a one line free add , just the name and phone number...if u go online u can register your free add

Bluey
19-11-2008, 08:53 PM
Flyers have not returned a thing for me and have dropped of heaps of them. I don't think I will worry about them when I run out

I get 2 to 3 a week from my ad in the local paper so that works pretty good and I get that if not more from my web page. I have not even bothered with yellow pages due to the cost and the stories I have heard of it being a waste of money. I have signed up for most of the free on line directories but don't get a lot maybe one every couple of weeks.

Web page and local paper work best for me.

bks07
19-11-2008, 09:01 PM
Local Paper works well for me and if you want a lot of calls put your phone number first and you will be the first ad of the list.

Advertising after rain seems to work aswell but it is mostly one off work but it is all money in the long run

johnnie5
20-11-2008, 01:05 PM
something worth thinking about which doesnt take much time

drop flyers in letter boxs of a few houses either side of existing clients , takes a few minutes to do

if you pick any of these people up then its well worth it

Lee Fender
20-11-2008, 02:33 PM
Am looking at getting a website. What is the process and costs. Did you guys get someone to design it??

Sandgroper
20-11-2008, 04:11 PM
something worth thinking about which doesnt take much time

drop flyers in letter boxs of a few houses either side of existing clients , takes a few minutes to do

if you pick any of these people up then its well worth it

Yes this is the best use for flyers,put them in the same areas as your existing clients,,groupings the key to success in this business,better to do 6 next to each other than 6 all over town,,your hourly rate is a lot better.

Corflute lawn signs do the same thing, its the neighbours and people that drive in the street that ring generally after seeing those, i have 6 neighbours from one sign without flying the area.

Put the lawn signs on the best of the best lawns,,not your worst ;) Cost me around $12 and work 7 days a week in daylight hours.

But in my area its the local paper that gets the calls when number of advertisers are low,,at the moment theres 4 of us but has known to go to 12 just before Christmas, you only get crumbs then. :o

glassngrass
20-11-2008, 09:54 PM
Get the very best trailer signage you can afford - the best value and most effective advertising dollars you will ever spend.

bb1
22-11-2008, 08:03 AM
Am looking at getting a website. What is the process and costs. Did you guys get someone to design it??


I have done my own, it is only average quality, but at least I have a presence on the web. Cost was $25.90 for 2 year domain name registration, and $98.00 for 2 years web hosting.

I have some IT background so could do it. Currently have a friend building a better site, but this will do for the time being.

bb1
22-11-2008, 08:11 AM
Local rag cost about 300.00 for 12 weeks - got maybe 3 calls, total waste of money
Vehicle and trailer signage - have had some enquiry
tried letters to real estate's and body corporates - no luck
School newsletter - some enquiry
Letter box drop via Australia Post and/or my own drops - about 80% of my business comes via thois method. Very effective in this area, and if area is resonably small , auspost is no to expensive
Yellow pages free ad - a couple of calls, wouldnt pay for it though
sponsorship - done 3, no real return
A Frame at job - did this at first as most of my jobs I park way of the street, picked up a couple of close by jobs.
Free web sites (ie True Local, etc) - some response
Word of mouth - Do a good job for your clients, and they do pass your name on.
Signage on my front gate - a few calls

Stripes
22-11-2008, 10:01 AM
If you have any employees, get them to drop flyers whilst you are talking to a client after finishing the lawn or doing a quote. Just send them up the street and pick them up along the way when you drive off. I used to do this when I had an employee and picked up a couple of very good jobs in the process.

Premier
22-11-2008, 11:34 AM
Each and everyone of us have no doubt printed flyers and used them with varying degrees of success.

Personally I have only pumped out a few on my printer at home but this is a costly exercise if you want to run off a 1000 or so :(

I see that they still have a place so can any of you make a recommendation for an economical printing service in your region?

Cheers ;)

Premier

Countrymile
22-11-2008, 02:17 PM
Hi Guys,

I do some website design myself.

Here is a bit of a step by step to build a site.

There is a totally free program you can download called NAMU6 at www.namu6.com. I have used it for several sites and although it has limited abilities, it is free and you can build quite a good site with only basic computer skills.

Once you have built your site, you will need to register your domain. There are lots of companies around, and most can do this online. If you go for an Aussie company it is easier if you have a problem. I can recommend 2 if you want to message me. If your registered business name is Beautiful Mowing for example, you could register www.beautifulmowing.com or www.beautifulmowing.com.au or www.bm.com.au or even www.beautifulmowing.net.au. In any case, you have to have that name actually registered to have a .au site, and they will ask for your Business registration number or ACN. ABN is not sufficient. This should cost average $30- $40 dollars for 2 years.

Hosting is a different process, you can have your site hosted by the same company you bought the domain from, or use another company. You can pay for 1 or 2 years or pay by the month. I have 2 one is $10 per month and the other $13 month with more space. The hosting is the continual publishing of your site on the web via the hosting companies server. Once you have uploaded your site, you can just leave it there, or make changes and updates when you wish.

They will also usually give you a few email addresses, which is more professional eg. darren@beautifulmowing.com.au. You just then send this to your regular email like bigpond. When you reply it will also come from darren@beautifulmowing.com.au and looks great.

Once you have built your site, bought your domain and arranged your hosting, you will need an FTP (file transfer protocol) program. These are available free on the web to download. A safe and easy one is fillezilla. This is like a translater and alllows your computer to speak to another server without conflict. You install the FTP program and put in the FTP details from your website host and then upload and hopefully, you are up and running.

In theory with a few hours and about $50 you can have your site up and running and it is new skill also.
Shannon

bb1
22-11-2008, 04:10 PM
Each and everyone of us have no doubt printed flyers and used them with varying degrees of success.

Personally I have only pumped out a few on my printer at home but this is a costly exercise if you want to run off a 1000 or so :(

I see that they still have a place so can any of you make a recommendation for an economical printing service in your region?

Cheers ;)

Premier

I use Officeworks at 6 cents per A4 sheet if doing more than 500. But I do 2 flyers per A4 sheet (A5), so I end up paying 3 cents per flyer.

johnnie5
22-11-2008, 04:40 PM
I use Officeworks at 6 cents per A4 sheet if doing more than 500. But I do 2 flyers per A4 sheet (A5), so I end up paying 3 cents per flyer.

buy yourself a laser printer

the brother i have here was about $100

2500 pages per cartridge

ink jet printers are exxy per page

Lee Fender
23-11-2008, 01:15 AM
Each and everyone of us have no doubt printed flyers and used them with varying degrees of success.

Personally I have only pumped out a few on my printer at home but this is a costly exercise if you want to run off a 1000 or so :(

I see that they still have a place so can any of you make a recommendation for an economical printing service in your region?

Cheers ;)

Premier
Yos.com.au

$159 for 1000 glossys, Free design. Pulling in loads of trade

happyeds
24-11-2008, 12:50 PM
Im thinking about cutting my yp add. It does work but not all year round. My add is around $1600 mark so that means each year i need to get 4 new customers @ $40 each, lawns mowed every 4 weeks to pay for the add and start to make money from it.This year i was lucky I picked up a customer $170 every 2 weeks But other than that not that many more. Is it worth Keeping?
I also do flyers which i find is ok add on my trailer nothing from that and school news letter that works the best .

glassngrass
24-11-2008, 01:03 PM
What works for some of us in some locations doesn't seem to work so effectively in others. Individually we gotta find out what works in our area and then get value for our buck. The only real way to know what works is to ask each new customer - 'How did you hear about us?", then keep a log of responses.

Got enough work all year round? Don't really want more customers? I wish I were in that situation, but if you are, then consider maintaining your adverstising presence high. Why? 'Cos you continue to strengthen confidence in your brand name and image - people continue to shop where they are comfortable. Possibly you might shift a little from paid adverts to more sponsorship - have your logo on the local neighborhood watch newsletter, or perhaps on the backs of the local footy team jumpers. It's good to be seen to be community minded and willing to put back in to the community.

Sandgroper
24-11-2008, 04:16 PM
If you have any employees, get them to drop flyers whilst you are talking to a client after finishing the lawn or doing a quote. Just send them up the street and pick them up along the way when you drive off. I used to do this when I had an employee and picked up a couple of very good jobs in the process.

Thats a handy tip, with flyers you can leave a space blank Hello i mow Mr/Mrs,,,,, at number,,,,,,etc,etc,,that way if they are interested they can see examples of your work as well,,if they are neighbours they can talk to them and check if they are satisfied with you.

Paul
24-11-2008, 10:28 PM
other then word of mouth,I carry cards everywhere.I always somehow manage to steer conversation towards gardens somehow and bingo,palm off the cards.I recently met a building maintenance contractor at a party who didnt have a gardener on his list of subbies.
Ive spent a day walking Parramatta going to real estates introducing myself.Or stop at jobsites and introduce myself to Landscapers who may not be interested in maintenance at the completion of there job.
As for yellow pages..I had an online add and had nothing but Pita's.Faxed off the cancellation form and somehow it went to print cause they misplaced it..Now i smell legal issues as im NOT paying!!

gjs
03-12-2008, 10:47 PM
OK every one
I have read them all but here is the one that just keeps knocking my socks off and soooooocheap and only need doing once because it keeps working.

You will need a printer ( cheap as chips these days )$100
A scalple $3
Metal straight edge $6
Gulletine $50
OR Fridge magnets. Actually when I first started I got 2,000 business cards printed $ 100 ( special deal )
I purchased a sheet of magnet strip from memmory 1 mtr x 2 mtr $50
I stuck cards to magnet strip then using scalple cut them out to resemble fridge magnets. I needed to do something to get rid of so many business cards end result 250 magnets. I still have about 1,500 cards ( 4 yrs old )

Take an A4 sheet cut into quaters, or what suites your design.
( cut vertically )
( cut horizontally)

Type at the top of flyer

YOUR COMPLIMENTARY FRIDGE MAGNET

stick the magnet here

then under magnet put your contact details


Even if they have no junk mail on their letterbox put it at their front door. People love it because you are giving them something.
I delivered 200 and got 120 responses I still get calls today from people that put the magnet on their fridge and that was 4 yrs ago. I have not done any more advertising since then.
Give it a go you will be blown away. Do it cheap, make it look good no need to go overboard
Good luck
gjs

mowjoman
04-12-2008, 06:14 AM
G'Day gjs. What did you use to effectively stick the card to the magnetic strip?

gjs
04-12-2008, 08:24 AM
To stick magnet to flyer I used fast fixers. They are a multi purpose sticky dot come in a box of of 5,000. I used 2 dots per card. They easily peel of the card leaving no glue. I would still have 4,600 left in box, the wife also finds them handy to secure photos in frames leaves no mess.
Actually when I ordered mine for some reason they sent 2 boxes thats 10,000. ( 2 for the price of one )
gjs

administrator
04-12-2008, 08:45 AM
Well know we all know where to come to get some free fast fixers ;)

glassngrass
04-12-2008, 09:15 AM
I did something slightly different. I got fridge magnets already made up and made a heap of flyers (DL envelope size). I then used sticky dots to attach one magnet to each flyer.

I still got plenty left over. They cost me $10 for each box of 250 sticky dots.

PM me if anyboby wants some (at cost)

Fred's mowing
04-12-2008, 10:03 PM
Do not use cinema advertising, a complete waste of money :mad: .
Cheers Dean.

mowjoman
04-12-2008, 10:21 PM
I stuck cards to magnet strip then using scalple cut them out to resemble fridge magnets.


yep got that bit but my 1st thought was how do stick the card to the magnetic strip. I invision the card coming away from the mag strip :i dunno:

holdenhead
05-12-2008, 12:36 AM
All my work has come from flyers or word of mouth.

I had a full back window sticker on my wagon when I had it. I got a call one morning at around 8am. Asking when I finish what I'm doing could I quote this other lawn. When I asked where she got my number from she told me from my car window which was sitting out side her house. I looked out the front window to see my car was gone. Some one had stolen it and dumped ir outside her house. I still have this customer 3 years on.

Cheers rick

gjs
05-12-2008, 07:49 PM
Hi Mowjoman
No the magnetic strip comes with glued surface you need to peel the backing paper from the strip. BEWARE the fumes are TOXIC and makes you feeling not too good. I found the best way to go was to only peel back sufficient backing paper to allow comfortable working area do not over peel due to fumes and sticky stuff. when finished you should have a mural of appr. 50 cards. cut them off then continue. Then stick them individually onto flyer with sticky dots.
NO NEED TO ADVERTISE AGAIN. Cheap is it not.
I did run adds got idiots for about 2 months then came up with this idea. They will actually take it inside put it on the fridge and it will keep smacking them in the face. SO WHO THEY GONNA CALL
Due to the fact these flyers have some weight they are drawn to it . If you just drop a magnet or flyer in the letter box and nothing else they feel violated and just throw it in the bin. This method they are pleased because you have given them something for nothing and do not want enything from them. ( or so they beleive )
Its a gem
Regards
gjs

gjs
05-12-2008, 07:52 PM
As an add mowjoman
regarding magnetic strip
you only get one go at it as the glue is made to stick, so be sure you place the card right in the first place.
gjs

Mrs HMS
05-12-2008, 09:01 PM
When I asked where she got my number from she told me from my car window which was sitting out side her house. I looked out the front window to see my car was gone. Some one had stolen it and dumped ir outside her house. I still have this customer 3 years on.

OMG what a story! You got your car back AND a longstanding customer all in one go.

Amazing, a car thief that actually did someone a favour. ;)

mowjoman
06-12-2008, 05:50 AM
As an add mowjoman
regarding magnetic strip
you only get one go at it as the glue is made to stick, so be sure you place the card right in the first place.
gjs

Cheers, thanks gjs, I'm gonna look into that. I've got about 1000 cards that I dont want I got from vista print, the qualities ok but I've had some deadly ones made up to match my since aquired trailer signage so it'll be a good way to get rid of them ay. Thanks again :wave-hi:

rockleighlawn&gardencare
09-01-2009, 09:48 PM
Try printing a flyer off on your printer and trot down to office works 6 cents a copy , run them of and bingo instant cheap flyers .

rockleighlawn&gardencare
09-01-2009, 09:57 PM
Try printing a flyer off on your printer and trot down to office works 6 cents a copy , run them of and bingo instant cheap flyers .
I think I need some Sleep !!!! sorry about the missing letters guys

Bluey
02-02-2009, 04:01 PM
I picked up a customer at 0600hrs this morning walking my dog. Elderly lady was out and about bucketing water onto her plants. She has a really nice garden and I commented on this and struck up a convo with her. Told her what I do and gave her a card after she showed me around her garden. Her hubby is ill and cannot do the work she wants done. She has booked me in for a weekly visit to tend to her garden plus do her lawns. This is the second one I have found like this in a couple of months. It pays to walk the dog but the dog is none to impressed on all this hanging about talking caper :laughing:

bb1
02-02-2009, 04:18 PM
No matter what always pick up the small jobs which may not be even worth turning the mower on for. My 2 biggest body corporates came from mowing a single unit, one job was a 5 minute mow out of my way, I now have a full day for 2 people, and a great ongoing fortnightly job.

Bluey
02-02-2009, 04:28 PM
Absolutely correct bb1. I have a body corporate sniffing at the bait as we speak. I do one lawn in the block of 10 units and fair dinkum it takes all of 3 mins to do. There are a couple of other lawn grubs that come into do a couple of the other lawns. I was putting some weed and feed on my lawn a month or so ago when the woman next door asked me about the weeds in hers. I did hers for gratis on the spot and she was thoroughly impressed with that and has now gone to the body corp with the suggestion they all use me. Will be worth a little weed and feed it it comes to fruition

bb1
02-02-2009, 05:51 PM
In fact for the smaller body corporate, which has 11 units, I do the original clients garden, the whole body corpoarte and now on a regular basis do adhoc work for 7 out of the 11. And the larger 50 plus, i do about 10 of the private backyards but growing. So it is definitely worthwile.

If you show you do a good job, and are there on a regular basis they all talk, and you end up with more work.

Bluey
02-02-2009, 05:56 PM
Yep your right. I guess it comes down to them having trust in you and knowing what you can do. Then if they want something done they just ring you rather than ringing a bunch of blokes for quotes. I hope I can get this one.

Arfa Brayne
04-02-2009, 11:25 PM
OK every one
I have read them all but here is the one that just keeps knocking my socks off and soooooocheap and only need doing once because it keeps working.

You will need a printer ( cheap as chips these days )$100
A scalple $3
Metal straight edge $6
Gulletine $50
OR Fridge magnets. Actually when I first started I got 2,000 business cards printed $ 100 ( special deal )
I purchased a sheet of magnet strip from memmory 1 mtr x 2 mtr $50
I stuck cards to magnet strip then using scalple cut them out to resemble fridge magnets. I needed to do something to get rid of so many business cards end result 250 magnets. I still have about 1,500 cards ( 4 yrs old )

Take an A4 sheet cut into quaters, or what suites your design.
( cut vertically )
( cut horizontally)

Type at the top of flyer

YOUR COMPLIMENTARY FRIDGE MAGNET

stick the magnet here

then under magnet put your contact details


Even if they have no junk mail on their letterbox put it at their front door. People love it because you are giving them something.
I delivered 200 and got 120 responses I still get calls today from people that put the magnet on their fridge and that was 4 yrs ago. I have not done any more advertising since then.
Give it a go you will be blown away. Do it cheap, make it look good no need to go overboard
Good luck
gjs

DID SIMILAR BACK IN 1997, BUT DESIGNED THE BUSINESS CARD FOR IT AND STUCK A WAFER OF ASTROTURF ALONG THE BOTTOM.
Went from zero to hero in 6 months.

DavidS
22-03-2009, 03:43 PM
Anyone else tried Vistaprint.com.au, I got business cards, fridge magnets and vehicle magnets for next to nothing. I am about to get Lawn signs.

administrator
23-03-2009, 10:05 AM
Heres a good way to obtain more customers .

Alot of lawnmowing contractors purchase items like hedgetrimmers chainsaws slashers rideons sprayers etc just in case they get asked to do an extra job OR MAKE IT EASIER for themselves and naturally for their regular clients and all of that is a fair comment .
Some purchased for specific work that they have picked up along the way from word of mouth .

Now 98 percent of customers dont have these items in the shed fair enough .

So the advertising should gear up when you purchase one of these items so that its not just used in a just in case manner .

Those out of the norm tools should be pushed forward to the existing clients and also can be advertised to new clients .

Work out a stratagic advertisement for example the chainsaw

Trees up to 5 metres trimmed
Fully insured
Occupational Health and safety in place .
Trimming the cost of pruning.
FREE QUOTES .
Call your Independent Professonal today .
Member of I.L.C.O.A
PH 795 WE ARE THE BEST

Of course i am sure you have insurance and ohs in place allready or you wouldnt be cutting lawns .

A chainsaw course is availbale at your local Taif .

Maybe if you are so inclined do a business plan on each tool and keep an eye on the loss and gain on each tool these are just ideas maybe you have others i am sure everybody would like to hear them .
It all helps in the long run

lawngreen
14-06-2009, 03:06 PM
I would like to know what the strike rate is with Flyers, any one got statistics or numbers on this.

Gerry Faehrmann
www.LawnGreen.com.au
(...turning tired old grass into Lush Green Lawn...)

bb1
14-06-2009, 06:14 PM
I would like to know what the strike rate is with Flyers, any one got statistics or numbers on this.

My stats on my current clients. If you took out referls the flyers would be be around 60 to 70%


Flyer 45%
Community newsletter 11%
Referal 33%
Local paper 2%
Yellow Pages 5%
Other 3%

lawngreen
14-06-2009, 06:30 PM
My stats on my current clients. If you took out referls the flyers would be be around 60 to 70%


Flyer 45%
Community newsletter 11%
Referal 33%
Local paper 2%
Yellow Pages 5%
Other 3%

Thanks BBL, but specifically with flyers what response rate did you get, then what conversion after that. I'm not sure if I made that clear?

Gerry Faehrmann
http://www.lawngreen.com.au/
(...turning tired old grass into Lush Green Lawn...)

bb1
14-06-2009, 06:46 PM
Thanks BBL, but specifically with flyers what response rate did you get, then what conversion after that. I'm not sure if I made that clear?


I put out about 800 flyers via australia post to the local community, and get about a 5% response rate, and a 90% conversion rate. From what I gather from the Marketing guru's this is well above the average response and conversion rates, but I live and work in a very loyal community, where they will always give the local a go, but the opposite is true that if you upset them, the whole community knows.

I letter box drop flyers in a close by community when I am working in the street and my response rate there is closer to the 1 or 2 % that the guru's say is normal, but conversion rate is still around the 90% mark.

ian
14-06-2009, 08:20 PM
if people ring from the local paper or phone book it's just as easy to ring 2 or3 other people from the list of advertisers if they ring from a flyer it's most likely the only number they have in front of them when they ring so a higher conversion rate as there is less likely to be the competition

redbackmowing
19-06-2009, 09:48 PM
hi Ian,
i agree, but i guess the cost of delivering those flyers come into consideration unless you deliver them yourself. which is very time consuming especially when busy. up in brisbane i found i got more calls from a 2 liner ad than my previous business card size. at one time had both ads in - a 2 liner & business card size. (only for a short while), i used to get 2 calls from the same customer. some people thou will only phone the 2 liners ad thinking they will get a cheaper price. you have to expect to be up against the franchies & cowboys. to get the job it can came down to presentation & appearance. ie. no shirt, smoke hanging out of mouth, manners...
after you have finnished mowing a lawn, pop some flyers into nearby letterboxes.
cheers
RBM

simo
20-06-2009, 09:01 AM
As well as putting flyers into neighbouring properties, put flyers into houses for sale or sold as the new resident may need your services....Works well for me ..

glassngrass
20-06-2009, 09:21 AM
Flyers can be real hit and miss. I found best to deliver personally. Knock on door - if home, hand it to them and offer to quote whilst there. If not home then slip under door.
Too often 'junk' mail goes straight into bin.

The very best value advertising money you can ever spend is good vehicle and trailer presentation all signed up beautifully. This will continue to work wherever you go, year in and year out.

Cutting corners here will decrease effectiveness.

Just Love Gardening
12-07-2009, 04:54 PM
"Just Love Gardening" is now 6 years old . Which have about 80 regular customers. IF you want to drive all over the place, then advertise everywhere. If you don't want to leave the suburb you live in, advertise solely in that suburb. Trailer advertising, Work shirt advertising, Most local communities have a community newsletter, with a minimal cost to advertise, approx $20 per month for a distribution of approx 2,000 households. To deliver a local flier through your local community will cost approx $80 per 2,000 fliers. For referrals, have these same fliers in your car and give them to your regular customers and ask them to hand them to their own friends. To gain one customer is not just to get an extra $35.00 cut that week ,but to gain someone who will over 12 months return to you approx $350. So look after your customer base. We now have a website presence which regularly brings in new customers. At the moment I work 3 days a week locally (which is 5 minutes from home) and the remainder of the working week approx 15 minutes from home, a few suburbs away. :aus-flag:

lawngreen
15-07-2009, 09:13 PM
"Just Love Gardening" is now 6 years old . Which have about 80 regular customers. IF you want to drive all over the place, then advertise everywhere. If you don't want to leave the suburb you live in, advertise solely in that suburb. Trailer advertising, Work shirt advertising, Most local communities have a community newsletter, with a minimal cost to advertise, approx $20 per month for a distribution of approx 2,000 households. To deliver a local flier through your local community will cost approx $80 per 2,000 fliers. For referrals, have these same fliers in your car and give them to your regular customers and ask them to hand them to their own friends. To gain one customer is not just to get an extra $35.00 cut that week ,but to gain someone who will over 12 months return to you approx $350. So look after your customer base. We now have a website presence which regularly brings in new customers. At the moment I work 3 days a week locally (which is 5 minutes from home) and the remainder of the working week approx 15 minutes from home, a few suburbs away. :aus-flag:


Mate, you got to get that SOUND off your website - it scared the crap out of me!

ian
15-07-2009, 10:31 PM
hey gerry free fertilizer :laughing:

TOO EASY YARD CARE
15-07-2009, 11:14 PM
i find Trailer advertising very good always have people coming up when im on a job asking for quotes

lawngreen
17-07-2009, 08:15 AM
Did you know that the cheapest form of advertising is Word Of Mouth Referral by customers? True! The customer has already primed the prospect about your service, so no selling is required - all you have to do is front for the quote. Easy!

geoff1969
17-07-2009, 03:55 PM
word of mouth , and recommendations are good and cheap once you have a client base , untill then its just plain advertising newspapers - flyers - etc , trailer and vehical signs are all good also keep trailers equipment vehical clean and keep your self well presented also good stationary like business cards and qoute books
with proper details etc all helps

VJinTownsville
28-07-2009, 05:50 PM
I have a bunch of business cards which I will be sticking adhesive magnet strips to make them in fridge magnets.

Then I will canvass my whole suburb so I can compress my rounds and concentrate on a 'better' and profitable area.

Now the question is which is a better way of dropping it?

*Sticking the magnetic cards on their garage doors?
*Sticking it on their door?
*Inside or outside the mailbox?

Cheers

Wattle GC
29-07-2009, 10:20 AM
I have a bunch of business cards which I will be sticking adhesive magnet strips to make them in fridge magnets.

Then I will canvass my whole suburb so I can compress my rounds and concentrate on a 'better' and profitable area.

Now the question is which is a better way of dropping it?

*Sticking the magnetic cards on their garage doors?
*Sticking it on their door?
*Inside or outside the mailbox?

Cheers

Mail box. Inside.. Some people will take offence should you invade their space and courtesy is advisable when dropping mail..Make it presentable hand write a note (I found that goes a long way) remember its a numbers game..
I have used mail out companies etc and found it better to do it myself..Sure its time consuming hand writing notes etc but the penetration rate was 3-4 times better than just a letter box drop.So I didnt have to do as many.people tend to take notice of letters hand written in envolopes addressed by hand..

VJinTownsville
29-07-2009, 10:27 AM
Hey Wattle thanks for the input.

As for the hand written note what do you put in writing? Do you do it for each house? Now THAT would be time consuming hehe.

Wattle GC
29-07-2009, 10:45 AM
Hey Wattle thanks for the input.

As for the hand written note what do you put in writing? Do you do it for each house? Now THAT would be time consuming hehe.

What I did is i went around the neighbourhood and selected / made a note of a few homes with messy gardens/yards and some very neat as a pin also a couple inbetween.
The letter i used was firstly to introduce my business and myself and let them know of the service I can provide,qualifications etc..Attached was my card .Was quite a simple note..I also gave them addresses (with the permission of the owner) of homes and yards locally I have already done so they can see my work as they drive or walk past.
Anyway I had three types of yards Messy ,inbetween and neat..I made up three diffrent letters directly aimed at the yard condition and the results were amazing..
I got more response from my more technical letter to the owners of the very neat yards..I hardly got a response from the messy ones and very little from the inbetweeners.With the neat ones I talked about lawns and plants more and how you can improve soils etc etc etc..The messy ones I talked more about tidy up clean ups so farily basic for them..The in betweens a mixture of both letters.
I guess to be diffrent i made it more personal and the response was good.Not just another letter box drop..I addressed it to the "owner of the property" with their address on the envolope.

ian
29-07-2009, 04:04 PM
you could also try the trick of scanning the hand written letter with a bit of trial and error you can print of some that will look like they have been hand written

Wattle GC
29-07-2009, 04:14 PM
you could also try the trick of scanning the hand written letter with a bit of trial and error you can print of some that will look like they have been hand written

Yea real estate agents do that and it still looks dodgi..Invest the time and you will get results.. I got most of my commercial contracts purely from door knocking.. Cost nothing..

lawngreen
29-07-2009, 04:24 PM
you could also try the trick of scanning the hand written letter with a bit of trial and error you can print of some that will look like they have been hand written

This is not a bad point considering you can get good quality copy of original via a printing firm.

Wattle GC
29-07-2009, 04:30 PM
This is not a bad point considering you can get good quality copy of original via a printing firm.

True .. Cost again can be a consideration however..

lenny
29-07-2009, 05:30 PM
Guys I recieved a letter box drop from a person advertising a cleaning business. The leaflet was folded, but on the outside there was a post it note that appeared to be handwritten saying " I thought you might like to read this". When I first saw it I thought one of the neighbours had put it in my letterbox or a friend. But looking at it closer it was not handwritten but it appeared to be. I thought this was very clever as it got my attention and I continued to read the advert.

Wattle GC
29-07-2009, 05:43 PM
Guys I recieved a letter box drop from a person advertising a cleaning business. The leaflet was folded, but on the outside there was a post it note that appeared to be handwritten saying " I thought you might like to read this". When I first saw it I thought one of the neighbours had put it in my letterbox or a friend. But looking at it closer it was not handwritten but it appeared to be. I thought this was very clever as it got my attention and I continued to read the advert.

Thanks Lenny.. I rest my case.. Individualism can work .We pay attention to our work but tend to be sloppy in other areas..advertising is very important so put some thought into it and reap the rewards..

holdenhead
02-08-2009, 11:16 PM
Hi all, When I started it was just flyers, I attacked a few housing estates in my area and the response was awsome. One particular estate I delivered 500 flyers and got about 40 customers out of it. within 2-3 months I had one full days work in that estate every week. Fridays are still dedicated to that estate 4 years on.

So for me it's

Flyers
Word of mouth
Just recently got a web site up. Been up for a month and recieved 10-12 jobs off it. Only costs $9.90 per month to host and using a site called wix.com I built it myself. Signed up to all the free directories and off it goes working 24/7.

Cheers Rick

geoff1969
03-08-2009, 12:05 AM
Hi all, When I started it was just flyers, I attacked a few housing estates in my area and the response was awsome. One particular estate I delivered 500 flyers and got about 40 customers out of it. within 2-3 months I had one full days work in that estate every week. Fridays are still dedicated to that estate 4 years on.

So for me it's

Flyers
Word of mouth
Just recently got a web site up. Been up for a month and recieved 10-12 jobs off it. Only costs $9.90 per month to host and using a site called wix.com I built it myself. Signed up to all the free directories and off it goes working 24/7.

Cheers Rick


hi Rick
40 customers from 500 flyers = approx 1 customer for every 12.5 flyers that good going . if you dont mind me asking whats your web site .
cheers geoff1969

ian
04-08-2009, 12:16 AM
40 out off 500 is very good i was lucky to get 2% but still think it's worth it as you can target not only the area but if dropping them yourself you can target the house because face it there are some places you just don't want to touch

holdenhead
04-08-2009, 01:21 AM
Hi, my website is dirtcheapmowing.com.au

You must remember I have zero experience with web site building and I did this in 2 nights. It was up and running inside a week.

Cheers Rick

holdenhead
04-08-2009, 01:31 AM
I also find if you deliver them yourself you get to meet some of your potential customers. If someone is out front of there house I always go up to them and introduce myself. I also go against the grain of some people and drop fliers into "no junk mail" boxes. Some of my best customers have that written of there letter box. I did have one lady call me and have a go because I put a flyer in her box that had "no junk mail" on it.

Cheers Rick

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
04-08-2009, 01:35 AM
G'day holdenhead
Only just realized your just around the corner from me :wave-hi:

geoff1969
04-08-2009, 09:37 AM
Hi, my website is dirtcheapmowing.com.au

You must remember I have zero experience with web site building and I did this in 2 nights. It was up and running inside a week.

Cheers Rick


hey holden head
checked out your website looks good . dont sell your short you did a top good job on it .

think im going to have to start working on one soon
cheers geoff1969

lenny
04-08-2009, 11:09 AM
Yes I second that the website is great!!

ian
04-08-2009, 04:14 PM
site looks good but earlier this year with the drought did you consider changing it to mowing dirt cheap :)

holdenhead
04-08-2009, 11:51 PM
Hi, Thanks for the positive feedback on my website. I highly recomend wix.com for building a site. Very easy to use. You can have the site hosted free if you dont mind there ads. But it only costs $9.90 a month to get rid of them.

Glenno, what setup have you got, I've probly seen you around. If you see a yellow mid '80's rodeo with a cox balanced on the back then that's me.

Ian-"lol"

Cheers Rick

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
05-08-2009, 12:03 AM
G'day Holdenhead
Yep ,have seen you around a lot. Like your web site too.

Getting around in a blue vt station wagon with an indian red 7x4 trailer, makes me envious when I see you your always on a job or look like your coming or going from one. Hope I'm in the same situation in a couple of years time :)

redbackmowing
06-08-2009, 03:48 PM
hi holdenhead,

do you need to get approval 1st before using honda's, echo etc... logo? website looks good.

dirt cheap mowing - that business name should get a few calls. Hope you don't give too low a quote.

cheers

Bluey
06-08-2009, 05:17 PM
Hi Holden Head

Site looks good. The problem I find with these "websites in a can " is that you don't get all the functionality of your own web hosting plus you don't have full access back doors.

The real big trick with websites is optimisation. You need to get your web site showing on the first page of Google searches using the search terms your clients are likely to use. Once on the first page you need to be in the top 5 results or your fighting an uphill battle.

Most people don't go past the first 5 results and most don't go past the first page. Try a few terms in a Google search as you think your client would use if they were looking for you and see how you rank.

If you don't come up it the top 5 you have work to do on optimisation and this is were web pages like this let you down because you cannot normally tweak things behind the scenes.

Did you know that for less than what your paying a month to take away their advertising you can buy yourself your own hosting which will give you a whole lot more. Did you get any email address with wix. Can you add databases and unlimited pages or content.

Not knocking wix but they are ok to a degree but they host a hell of a lot of pages on each of their servers. Plus I think they rip people off with their fees. Another issue is their pages are full of java script. It is nice and eye catchy but slows page loads down a lot and people like pages that load quickly. Take too long to load and they are gone. If you try to access a page full of java script on a dial up modem forget it.

All websites need security and you really need to be able to set up and constantly add to a .htaccess file to help make your pages secure. It is like a big bouncer who doesn't let any of the baddies near the door. I would hazard a guess Wix does not give you that ability.

But having said all this you have done a great job and it has got you on the web. Now all you have to do is get in on the first page of search results and your laughing.

lawngreen
06-08-2009, 05:27 PM
Hi, my website is dirtcheapmowing.com.au

You must remember I have zero experience with web site building and I did this in 2 nights. It was up and running inside a week.

Cheers Rick

If you are aiming to build a Lawn Mowing run that is compact and limited to a certain area - then maybe a website is over kill. The money might be better spent on flyers to local area. Just a thought!

geoff
06-08-2009, 05:30 PM
well lawngreen maybe not...many people that seach use the internet and type ...gardening services ..then type suberb...works very well indeed.

Bluey
06-08-2009, 05:30 PM
If you are aiming to build a Lawn Mowing run that is compact and limited to a certain area - then maybe a website is over kill. The money might be better spent on flyers to local area. Just a thought!

Not really. If someone lives in Whatsaname suburb and they jump on the net and type in "lawn mowing Whatsaname" and your web page pops up you have beat everyone else. More and more people particularly the younger generation use the web as an immediate reference source. I know I do.

Bluey
06-08-2009, 05:31 PM
lol...great minds think alike Geoff

geoff
06-08-2009, 05:35 PM
yeah well mate even though a south aussie and vic can think alike is totally amazing :wave-hi: :wave-hi: but the number of times the gen y email me through a google search far outways any other form of advertising...for us anyway
still SA has the best red wines though

Bluey
06-08-2009, 05:42 PM
yeah well mate even though a south aussie and vic can think alike is totally amazing :wave-hi: :wave-hi: but the number of times the gen y email me through a google search far outways any other form of advertising...for us anyway
still SA has the best red wines though


Lol...well I am really a hybrid....born in NSW....lived a good part of my life in Qld and now live in SA. I reckon I can get along with anyone. Your right abourt the reds though and I live half an hours drive away form the best of the Barossa

holdenhead
06-08-2009, 10:19 PM
Hi all, I am on the first page in my suburb. Type in lawn mowing cranbourne and see. I'm on all the free directories. I know there are cheaper ways to get a website up but I really have no idea. I originally tried to get a website up by downloading a web template and using a HTML program to alter it. I couldn't get it to do what I wanted. This is much easier. A mate of mine put a website up just before I did. He is still trying to put new buttons on his. This is just cut and paste from there list of programs.

Dont worry the name of my business is to get people to call. I charge like the rest of you. It's like ind mowing used to put in the papers. 'Lawns and more from $4' yet there are no lawns at $4.

Cheers Rick

redbackmowing
06-08-2009, 11:07 PM
yes free directories are the way to go to get your business name on 1st page of google search. they will try to get you to upgrade to a premium package, just say thanks but no thanks. there is one directory my name doesn't come up but another mob. if i click that link my business comes up under there listing on the directory page. no need to upgrade listing!

ian
06-08-2009, 11:25 PM
i actually do a lawn for $4.00
the backyard for an old lady in a block of units i edge the lawn while doing the rest of the units then walk in push the mower to the fence[maybe 10 m ]turn around and walk out again done

lawngreen
07-08-2009, 07:35 AM
Hi all, I am on the first page in my suburb. Type in lawn mowing cranbourne and see. I'm on all the free directories. I know there are cheaper ways to get a website up but I really have no idea. I originally tried to get a website up by downloading a web template and using a HTML program to alter it. I couldn't get it to do what I wanted. This is much easier. A mate of mine put a website up just before I did. He is still trying to put new buttons on his. This is just cut and paste from there list of programs.

Dont worry the name of my business is to get people to call. I charge like the rest of you. It's like ind mowing used to put in the papers. 'Lawns and more from $4' yet there are no lawns at $4.

Cheers Rick

But the best part about flyers is you are on your own in the letterbox, not like your Google entry which is sharing space with a million other lawnmowing companies.

Still if you want to know the real value of the website you must have back-end stats and also you should ask every enquiry where they got your name from. Guaranteed you will know what the best form of advertising is then.

Bgs
07-08-2009, 07:48 AM
yes free directories are the way to go to get your business name on 1st page of google search. they will try to get you to upgrade to a premium package, just say thanks but no thanks. there is one directory my name doesn't come up but another mob. if i click that link my business comes up under there listing on the directory page. no need to upgrade listing!

I was signed up with all the free directories as well the only problem I had was last November and December in the lead up to Christmas when I was unable to take on anymore work I was getting 6-7 calls a day sometimes.

I put a note on my website that I wasn't taking anymore work but the calls kept coming and it was pain to keep saying no

So make sure you make a note of all the directories you are with it took me a while to contact them all and have my listing removed.

free directories and a web site is defiantly a great way to generate a lot of calls especially in peak times.

but I also like flyers as I put them in the houses I'd like to mow and as a lot of people have said nothing beats word of mouth best advertising there is

:russ:

holdenhead
07-08-2009, 06:08 PM
I agree that flyers and word of mouth work best. I have built my entire run this way. I have never had an ad in the paper or had any other form of advertising. I really didn't think the web was gonna be worth it but I must say I am wrong. I am flat out with my regs at the moment so any new work I get is charged at a premium. I do have plenty of work but I am trying to compress my run to the smallest area I can.

Cheers Rick

GreenHaven
07-08-2009, 08:11 PM
im in the same boat as you holden head i got little bit more than a hundred regular customers but some of them are to far away for my liking not gonna get rid of them now but trying to compact my round a bit more and doing flyers drops in the areas i want the work seems to be the go i bought the round about 6 months ago been in the industry about 5 years and ive picked up about 10 customers through word of mouth so far some of them are really go payers too

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
21-08-2009, 11:43 PM
Well....I've just finished giving my web site a bit of a revamp. ( the old site was crap) Happy with the look of it now, so hope it attracks a few customers. The old one got plenty of hits but no business from it. :i dunno:

www.laceysdusttillawn.com

GreenHaven
22-08-2009, 02:49 PM
slick mate did you take those photos they look pro

Stripes
22-08-2009, 04:40 PM
The website looks great!

VJinTownsville
22-08-2009, 11:31 PM
Hey I was going to do the same website from vistaprint. Looks really good. I got the same format for my business cards though. Very impressed with them.

Bluey
11-09-2009, 07:11 AM
I was just checking my web page stats. Had a 64% increase in traffic since mid August. Spring is definitely here

Bluey
11-09-2009, 08:59 AM
Late start this morning. I am waiting for a photographer from the local paper to come around. They rang me a couple of days ago and offered me a free quarter page article on the second page as part of the True Local business push.

They got hold of me from my advert I set up on True Local and interviewed me to get the details. Photo today and the article comes out in a couple of weeks. Can't beat that for free advertising.

VJinTownsville
11-09-2009, 06:03 PM
I've been out doing letterbox drop using my magnetised business cards for an hour n half at least 2 times a week. That should get me to about 200 each time I'm out. Theres about 2500 houses within 5-8 so trying to get a close run

glassngrass
11-09-2009, 06:19 PM
I've been out doing letterbox drop using my magnetised business cards for an hour n half at least 2 times a week. That should get me to about 200 each time I'm out. Theres about 2500 houses within 5-8 so trying to get a close run
If you want to get as many cards out as possible, keep doing this!

If your primary motive is actually to get new business, I suggest you knock on the door, introduce yourself and hand him your card. Invite the owner to get a free quote while you are there.
Even if they use someone else, they may take you up on your offer. You might even get the job!

This will have 10 x the success of a letter box drop - where your card may go out with the rest of the junk mail

Stripes
11-09-2009, 06:36 PM
If you want to get as many cards out as possible, keep doing this!

If your primary motive is actually to get new business, I suggest you knock on the door, introduce yourself and hand him your card. Invite the owner to get a free quote while you are there.
Even if they use someone else, they may take you up on your offer. You might even get the job!

This will have 10 x the success of a letter box drop - where your card may go out with the rest of the junk mail

For me personally, I don't like it when people do this. I have 4 young kids and when I am trying to feed the baby or busy doing something with the kids and I get interrupted just from someone trying to sell me a product or service, I get pretty annoyed and I think they are invading my space to an extent.
I feel if people want our service, they will contact us in their own time when they are ready. Just my opinion.

glassngrass
11-09-2009, 07:32 PM
Don't sell, introduce your self.

Good afternoon, I'm David.
I am a local gardening contractor in town, and I wanted to introduce myself to myu neighbours.
Please accept my card, and if I can be of service to you sometime, please consider calling me.
Thank you for your time.

No pressure, no stress, friendly introduction.

Of course if you come across a door with a sign near it saying "No hawkers, no salesmen, etc...", then leave your card in the mailbox instead.

The main point is - flyers in letterboxes have low success rate.
You are better to offer your services directly to ten people, than flyer delivery to 100 boxes

Andy B
11-09-2009, 08:17 PM
Apparently a good letter box campaign will give you a 5% response rate. I've been tracking mine and it's only at 0.5% at the moment but that's fine cause I can only work limited hours. I had a call last week from a drop I did almost a month ago, then today I was barely finished dropping a suburb and got a call. My conversion rate is at 50% so far so there's plenty of room for improvement. :)

Stripes
11-09-2009, 08:31 PM
Apparently a good letter box campaign will give you a 5% response rate. I've been tracking mine and it's only at 0.5% at the moment but that's fine cause I can only work limited hours. I had a call last week from a drop I did almost a month ago, then today I was barely finished dropping a suburb and got a call. My conversion rate is at 50% so far so there's plenty of room for improvement. :)

Give it time too! People hang onto the flyers for a long time. I have had very good results from flyers.

I have just added an ad in the local paper for irrigation, so I will be interested to see what response I get. I have not had much luck with local papers in the past for mowing/gardening.

geoff
11-09-2009, 08:43 PM
I would hate to think knocking on doors is a way to suceed in our business..phone , power and gas companies do it all the time..i know i hate and most people hate having their space invaded so to be the friendly gardener i believe the best approach is to talk to the neighbours in the area you are woking by chance..that is if some one is collecting their mail or doing a bit of work around their house just say hello and strike up a conversation...we get heaps of work from people walking past whilst doing the job , a friendly smile and gday works wonders...

Andy B
11-09-2009, 09:02 PM
I would hate to think knocking on doors is a way to suceed in our business..phone , power and gas companies do it all the time..i know i hate and most people hate having their space invaded so to be the friendly gardener i believe the best approach is to talk to the neighbours in the area you are woking by chance..that is if some one is collecting their mail or doing a bit of work around their house just say hello and strike up a conversation...we get heaps of work from people walking past whilst doing the job , a friendly smile and gday works wonders...

I agree with that, I'm quite rude to hawkers etc, and my dogs are even less polite. :)

Purely by accident I blew some crap up into a neighbours carport while cleaning up a job, the neighbour arrived home before I finished blowing so I approached him just to get permission to access his carport, cleaned up my mess and before I left he approached me for a quote. Next time I'm there I'll find out if the quote was competitive.

gjs
12-09-2009, 09:07 AM
I found the magnet attached to a flyer the best for me. When they get it out of the letter box the weight gets their attention due to the fact it is not a normal flyer. They accept the magnet as a gift and place it proudly on the fridge. It may take time for some to call but I still get calls from magnets delivered several years ago asking if I still do mowing.
I have not had to use any other form of advertising since the magnets went out years ago. Do a good job for those you get and word of mouth will take over.
Word of warning I would probably stop at 200 magnets for now due to the fact we are heading into growth season and you find yourself unable to cope with demand especially if new to the game.
Summer,high work load,new to mowing = exhaustion and burn out
=I hate this occupation.Keep it simple for now and the rest will follow.
Cheers
gjs

Eastwood
13-09-2009, 10:35 AM
word of mouth works best for me and local yellow pages

DavidS
13-09-2009, 11:29 AM
Word of mouth and cards in local Nurseries work for me, then again I am more into gardens than lawns. Most of my lawns come from me doing peoples gardens and then they see that the gardens look a treat but the lawn looks lousy, so they ask me to mow the lawn after I have finished their gardens.

63impala
13-09-2009, 11:47 AM
Same here man I hate mowing with a passion.But love dowing garden clean up or hedging and my favrite topiary Iam a bite of a master.

DavidS
13-09-2009, 01:49 PM
I do heaps of hedges and a few Topiary jobs, I also specialise in Fruit tree pruning, lots of people ring the nurseries for people to prune fruit trees. It's not hard just got to know what trees are and when and how to prune them.

Abeni Gardens
14-09-2009, 05:51 PM
After reading about the success other members have had with websites i have finally organised my own www.acuttingedge.com.au Haven't seemed to get much traffic through it yet though.

mbmows
14-09-2009, 08:09 PM
Hi All....... have just tried something different. Had 10,000 coasters made and gave them to the local pubs and clubs at no charge, they cost me $380.00 to have made. They put them in for free and it is cheap advertising..... 10,000 possibles. So far in 1 week I have had 32 quotes from these..... so not all bad. The company I got them from is AC Products in syd and they were half price of anyone else. Cheers
MB

mbmows
14-09-2009, 08:15 PM
My Example attached.......

redbackmowing
14-09-2009, 08:26 PM
Hi All....... have just tried something different. Had 10,000 coasters made and gave them to the local pubs and clubs at no charge, they cost me $380.00 to have made. They put them in for free and it is cheap advertising..... 10,000 possibles. So far in 1 week I have had 32 quotes from these..... so not all bad. The company I got them from is AC Products in syd and they were half price of anyone else. Cheers
MB

mbmows, that's a lot of quotes for a week - well done. How many did you convert to jobs?

4 Gardens
14-09-2009, 08:31 PM
My wife is a pen junkie. got about 500 pens done for about $400 with my business name and number from Black Dog Promotions on the web. My wife hands them out to her friends and other people. picked up 2 jobs from the one she gave her hairdresser - he only gave them the number and kept the pen for himself. I also give them out to my clients and when doing quotes.

mbmows
14-09-2009, 08:46 PM
Hey Redback........ so far only got 6, but I know at least 8 are awaiting a 2nd quote from a competitor. Most of what I do is gardening, but lawns are always fun as well so bring them on.

redbackmowing
14-09-2009, 08:57 PM
I guess the best free marketing tool we all have is doing a great job & being professional = Word of mouth.

I've been thinking of doing up a few tees. i have about 100 left over from old screenprinting business. Just hand them to my good customers. Also might do up some for kids as well. I done a few for my kids as photo.

redbackmowing
14-09-2009, 09:02 PM
nice coasters mbmows,

could of had a slogan on them ' we mow so you get more time drinking ' :laughing:

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
14-09-2009, 09:57 PM
Thats a great idea mbmows.

I've just advertised in the paper, Just in time for the growing season
and today the phone hasn't stopped ringing, did over $700 worth of quotes today. I am going to have to learn to organise my time a lot better if this keeps up. I will never get any work done. :)

Bluey
17-09-2009, 09:24 PM
The write up in the local rag came out yesterday and already calls are coming in from it. Best thing though is a ex Army mate of mine saw it and looked me up. We had a good catch up and he mentioned he was looking for a few days work each week. Just when I was looking for a new offsider because Robbie went had got himself a full time job.

Sandgroper
17-09-2009, 11:30 PM
If your primary motive is actually to get new business, I suggest you knock on the door, introduce yourself and hand him your card. Invite the owner to get a free quote while you are there.
Even if they use someone else, they may take you up on your offer. You might even get the job!



I did this once, went out to do a quote and told the lady it would be $50 to do the lawn, i got the ok to start the job and half way through the lady rings and says wnen are you coming to do quote the lawn ? I said pardon i am doing it,,she said no you are not,,turns out she was further down the street i got the numbers mixed up.

But the advise above is good,,make sure you speak to the home owner if you can.

Just Love Gardening
29-09-2009, 12:25 AM
Getting new lawn customers for nothing

I have been working in my lawn business for seven years and have worked very hard building up my client base, spending up to a third of my time chasing new customers. A few years ago I set up my internet site www.justlovegardening.net and was hoping to get new clients that way. The problem with my internet site was, if I want more customers I needed more internet traffic. After many hours of researching and listening to so called internet experts, the only way I was told to get more traffic, was pay per click like Google. In theory pay per click works, although the cost made it totally uneconomical for my lawn business. Even when pay per click visitors came, I still could not figure a way to convert them to lawn clients without offering silly discounts or giveaways. I just didn’t know who my internet site visitors were, so it was pretty much a waste of time and money.

Now the good news that all lawn businesses want.
I found a free way of getting internet traffic to my site, and the big thing is, it is also a way of collecting my internet visitors details, so I can contact then to discuss what they want in the way of lawn care. It’s like set and forget, because when I want more customers I just make more free internet traffic.

How I did it.
I was doing a Google search for “Star Cities International” and found this free SMS promotion I put on my website, I think it is called Richleads, but you find it by the search I did.
If you have the term free as a keyword, and you have a free service on your website, search engines pick this up and your site will be featured in the search results on the main part of the Google page. Free is one of the most searched words on the internet, and having free SMS is very popular. Put these key words together with all the words that relate to my lawn business, you get more traffic and more people interested in lawns. The best part is people have to register through my website to get the free SMS service and I get their contact details to follow them up.
So far I am happy with the early results, mainly because it hasn’t cost a cent, but stay tuned.

63impala
29-09-2009, 06:56 AM
I put on my flyer gutter cleaning Lower set only.

redbackmowing
29-09-2009, 09:14 AM
Getting new lawn customers for nothing

I have been working in my lawn business for seven years and have worked very hard building up my client base, spending up to a third of my time chasing new customers. A few years ago I set up my internet site www.justlovegardening.net and was hoping to get new clients that way. The problem with my internet site was, if I want more customers I needed more internet traffic. After many hours of researching and listening to so called internet experts, the only way I was told to get more traffic, was pay per click like Google. In theory pay per click works, although the cost made it totally uneconomical for my lawn business. Even when pay per click visitors came, I still could not figure a way to convert them to lawn clients without offering silly discounts or giveaways. I just didn’t know who my internet site visitors were, so it was pretty much a waste of time and money.

Now the good news that all lawn businesses want.
I found a free way of getting internet traffic to my site, and the big thing is, it is also a way of collecting my internet visitors details, so I can contact then to discuss what they want in the way of lawn care. It’s like set and forget, because when I want more customers I just make more free internet traffic.

How I did it.
I was doing a Google search for “Star Cities International” and found this free SMS promotion I put on my website, I think it is called Richleads, but you find it by the search I did.
If you have the term free as a keyword, and you have a free service on your website, search engines pick this up and your site will be featured in the search results on the main part of the Google page. Free is one of the most searched words on the internet, and having free SMS is very popular. Put these key words together with all the words that relate to my lawn business, you get more traffic and more people interested in lawns. The best part is people have to register through my website to get the free SMS service and I get their contact details to follow them up.
So far I am happy with the early results, mainly because it hasn’t cost a cent, but stay tuned.


your right jlg, google ads can became expensive. i had it for my previous business. i hope this richleads are working for you. i type 'free lawn mowing' in google search & your name didn't come up. 'Lawn Green' was 1st on the list. other were for free weed spray & free quotes. when i wanted to see the client list on richleads all i got was access denied.

on my website i have a quote page new customers can fill out or they can just email me for free. i don't think people would google 'free lawnmowing'. i wouldn't want to give my details away just because i can get a free sms. let us know how it goes. i noticed your same post is on another thread as well. all the best with it.

cheers
rbm

Bgs
29-09-2009, 01:30 PM
I signed up to Google ad words last year for a couple of months with reasonable success I stopped it last Christmas and didn't worry about reinstating it until last month.

I have a set limit of $45 per month in august I spent $27.00 with out any calls, this month its up to $25.00 and I have quoted three jobs got two of them totaling $190.00 and one has become a regular.

so its not fantastic but with brown crunchy grass out there its better than nothing, I will keep tracking it and see how it goes once our wet season arrives (hopefully soon :confused: )

VJinTownsville
29-09-2009, 02:25 PM
You can't go past magnetic business cards dropped on letterboxes.

I've got a client in every street I've dropped so far. All I need is to do it more often.

I betcha you can establish your round doing this without even leaving your suburb.

redbackmowing
29-09-2009, 05:47 PM
did a letterbox drop a couple of weeks ago. maybe only 200 max. only 1 job from it at the moment. every lawn i do now i drop my flyer into the streets letterboxes. hopefully they hang on to the flyer till the rain comes. :i dunno:

redbackmowing
08-11-2009, 05:23 PM
well after a bit of rain last week & some heat. started advertising in local rag again. As well as 23 other lawnies. number of calls this week. zip, zero, none :dean: lets see how this week goes. at least some casuals have phoned again.

Glenofcarwoola
09-11-2009, 08:20 AM
Have you tried a notice at your local shops or surrounding areas? Best ones are near a chemist or doctors surgery.

redbackmowing
09-11-2009, 09:52 PM
Have you tried a notice at your local shops or surrounding areas? Best ones are near a chemist or doctors surgery.

yes when i 1st started out but have progressed from that marketing. sticking to local paper, web & letterbox drops.
cheers
rbm

Fresh_Cut
18-11-2009, 07:46 PM
Don't know if this has been said before, but market research goes a mile!!

Bluey
18-11-2009, 07:49 PM
Don't know if this has been said before, but market research goes a mile!!


Enlighten me a little on your thoughts here Freshy.

mbmows
18-11-2009, 10:06 PM
Hi guys..... having this come up again makes me laugh....... in my area in sydney the local paper is a waste of money, flyers or as I have done, being coasters in local watering holes has worked for me. I have done no other advertising and as for flyers have only done 600 in last 2 months, around where my regulars are. It seems to work. Local paper does not........ how do I compete with a company called "Dad and Dave"...... who charge $30 for what I perceive to be a $50 job? Not for me! MB

redbackmowing
18-11-2009, 10:10 PM
Hi guys..... having this come up again makes me laugh....... in my area in sydney the local paper is a waste of money, flyers or as I have done, being coasters in local watering holes has worked for me. I have done no other advertising and as for flyers have only done 600 in last 2 months, around where my regulars are. It seems to work. Local paper does not........ how do I compete with a company called "Dad and Dave"...... who charge $30 for what I perceive to be a $50 job? Not for me! MB

and you know were to find them if they have done a runner.

mbmows
18-11-2009, 10:14 PM
lol redback....... to be honest the guys in there do not want to mow, that is why it is so lucrative.......I find u can charge a bit more and get away with it as long as you turn up regularly and the better half is happy!

redbackmowing
18-11-2009, 10:26 PM
i'm near my local. how much did it cost for the coasters & what do the pub charge you. or are they happy to get free coasters. i guess this could apply to some other restaurant & eateries. heaps of competition in my local rag. its beyond a joke.
cheers
rbm

GreenHaven
11-05-2010, 04:29 PM
how much does everyone pay for the magnetic buisness cards? Thinking about getting some made up ive done a little bit of flyers latly as ive got some free time starting to think about advertising and compacting my round a bit more aswell as getting more work

Andy B
11-05-2010, 05:53 PM
I only got 100 and paid $50 inc postage. I hand them out for my regulars to put on their fridges.

graeme
11-05-2010, 06:07 PM
Here in my village they have a local services directory that is delivered bi-monthly, an add costs me $35.00, I have picked up several good regular clients plus quite a few one offs from the first add that I placed. A fair bit of work also comes from my very simple homemade web site. Both these I have found very cost effective.
Graeme

brettly
11-05-2010, 07:01 PM
I only got 100 and paid $50 inc postage. I hand them out for my regulars to put on their fridges.

that is cheap, vistaprint i ordered 25 for 28$ and that was a special :i dunno:

Scooby Steve
13-05-2010, 08:30 PM
Fridge magnets for advertising, i'm getting some made up what size would everybody recommend to get the best return.

courty
13-05-2010, 08:40 PM
I'm going with gjs's idea earlier in this thread of the magnetic business card attached to a flyer,just not going with full magnetic backing as I couldn't find any cheap enough.I picked up 1000 2cm x 4cm adhesive magnets on ebay for 25 bucks. My daughter and I dropped of 200 yesterday only 800 to go :frightene will report back with the results.

cheers
Glenn

GreenHaven
13-05-2010, 09:57 PM
thats a good idea courty i can get 1000 buisness cards for 99 at my local sigh writer so 125 for 1000 of the magnetic buisness cards, ive also got 2000 flyer done for $50 so it will be intresting to see what catches the attention of potential customers

VJinTownsville
14-05-2010, 12:25 PM
The magnetic cards work EXTREMELY well.

Ive mowed over 40 residents in my suburb with 20 current regulars.

Thats from roughly 2000-2500. I should be really putting more out every week, But I get distracted easily by the 30sec drive home lol

GreenHaven
14-05-2010, 07:33 PM
i can see why they would work well. person gos to letter box and sees a lawn mowing flyer already has a lawnie so throws it away. person gets a magnet and slaps it on the fridge and when their current lawnie gos back to their old job or gets a bit crabby at the customer they would think first to ring that lawnie on the fridge theyve been looking at everytime they go there its just the cost of the magnets thats the killer. how much are you getting them for vj?

Tender Lovin Lawn&Garden
14-05-2010, 08:15 PM
i can see why they would work well. person gos to letter box and sees a lawn mowing flyer already has a lawnie so throws it away. person gets a magnet and slaps it on the fridge and when their current lawnie gos back to their old job or gets a bit crabby at the customer they would think first to ring that lawnie on the fridge theyve been looking at everytime they go there its just the cost of the magnets thats the killer. how much are you getting them for vj?

Ive been handing out magnets since i started. I havent put an add in the paper for almost 2 months yet every day im busy i have customers that i need to get back to and all this is coming from my magnets im sure.

geoff
14-05-2010, 08:47 PM
our calls from the internet are going at 2 to 3 per day with a huge sucess rate.. i am running out of space at this time of the year so hate to think about next spring....today i got a job of the sign from the ute , weekly visit of mowing and gardening 150 bucks for 2 hours 52 weeks of the year , now i love getting those and wish i could get more like that...alyhoug i reckon the magnets are great idea as your name stays on the fridge ...you always use them to stick stuff on the fridge and they are always presenting your name 24/7

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
05-06-2010, 12:30 AM
I had a couple of hours to kill earlier in the week so I picked an area to target and delivered 100 flyers. So far I have picked up 2 $45 jobs. One every three weeks over winter and 2 weekly over spring/summer. The other every 4 weeks over winter and 2 weekly during peak season. So not bad for 1-2 hours effort.

Also noticed a sign on a big place wanting grass clippings. So wrote a note on a flyer stating that I can give him all the clippings he wants just give me a call. Got an email from this bloke tonight. Gave me his mobile number and said call when ever you want ,he'll open the gate and put the clippings in his back yard. In return every so often I can help myself to all the veggies I like from his gardens.....Bonus

ian
05-06-2010, 12:44 AM
I had a couple of hours to kill earlier in the week so I picked an area to target and delivered 100 flyers. So far I have picked up 2 $45 jobs. One every three weeks over winter and 2 weekly over spring/summer. The other every 4 weeks over winter and 2 weekly during peak season. So not bad for 1-2 hours effort.

Also noticed a sign on a big place wanting grass clippings. So wrote a note on a flyer stating that I can give him all the clippings he wants just give me a call. Got an email from this bloke tonight. Gave me his mobile number and said call when ever you want ,he'll open the gate and put the clippings in his back yard. In return every so often I can help myself to all the veggies I like from his gardens.....Bonus
that's the idea with handbills you can target an area and deliver them when your not doing anything else and congratulations on the response this is a great time to build up a round as all the guys that started in spring and don't have the drive are geting out now that things are slowing down and there income is dropping
also with dropping off clippings make sure you don't leave any that come from a lawn that has been sprayed for weeds or insects otherwise way to go save heaps on tip fees and get fresh vegies

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
05-06-2010, 04:33 PM
that's the idea with handbills you can target an area and deliver them when your not doing anything else and congratulations on the response this is a great time to build up a round as all the guys that started in spring and don't have the drive are geting out now that things are slowing down and there income is dropping
also with dropping off clippings make sure you don't leave any that come from a lawn that has been sprayed for weeds or insects otherwise way to go save heaps on tip fees and get fresh vegies

Thanks Ian. Must of been a good area to target. Picked up another $35 dollar reg today.:)

starmow
24-06-2010, 07:05 PM
I put in letter box around 800 flyers and from them I find 3 regular and 2 clean up jobs, I now now is very hard time to find new customer, but is anybody target spec lawns, gardens or you leave flyers everywhere??
:rolleyes::rolleyes::dance:dance

Bgs
24-06-2010, 07:44 PM
I put in letter box around 800 flyers and from them I find 3 regular and 2 clean up jobs, I now now is very hard time to find new customer, but is anybody target spec lawns, gardens or you leave flyers everywhere??
:rolleyes::rolleyes::dance:dance

when I do flyers I like targeting huge houses on small blocks in new estates

DavidS
24-06-2010, 09:26 PM
I have found that one of the best things for advertising for garden maintenance is to give a presentation to the local Garden Clubs. I did one 2 weeks ago and I am now averaging 1 call a day for the last 2 weeks from Garden club members wanting me to do garden maintenance. Before that I found Flyers the best source of work.

Andy B
25-06-2010, 09:19 AM
Letter box every street you have customers in and your immediate area save money in the long run with compact rounds etc

administrator
26-06-2010, 11:22 AM
:read_this

Today, a number of businesses and corporations currently use USPs as a basis for their marketing campaigns (Unique Selling Proposition) The Unique Selling Proposition (also Unique Selling Point) is a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced them to switch brands.


Have an organized or formal system of generating referrals Statistics show that the quickest and easiest marketing method you can use to increase your company’s bottom-line is by attracting targeted pre-sold prospects through the generation of referrals.

Referral-generated customers are the least expensive, most profitable, and loyal source of new business.



Make it really easy for customers and prospects to do business with you

Make sure you are not guilty of useless advertising

Make sure you are an excellent communicator with your customers, past customers and future

Make sure your Marketing is the number one the priority of your business

Make sure you sit down every couple of months and tweak your business and yourselve keep your marketing fresh and vibrant and of course up to date.

Above all be happy in what you do smiling under any circumstance makes you popular .

courty
29-06-2010, 03:14 PM
I've been mowing my mates front yard for nix every couple of weeks, it paid of today when two of his neighbors became regulars ;)

63impala
29-06-2010, 03:36 PM
Not bad for winter man....:stormtrooper

courty
29-06-2010, 03:46 PM
Pretty happy so far Kev,now have 5 regs on 3 weekly at the moment and have picked up a few green waste removals and one offs. To be honest I have probably only dropped 500 leaflets around so pretty slack in that department. Rome wasn't built in a day;)

Tender Lovin Lawn&Garden
29-06-2010, 05:47 PM
I've been mowing my mates front yard for nix every couple of weeks, it paid of today when two of his neighbors became regulars ;)

I don't do mates yards anymore unless they want to pay like everyone else. I did a quick tidy up for free for one of mates he complained about it to me for a week till the poison kicked in. When he handed back to the real-estate they commented they didn't expect him to have the garden in such good order.

courty
30-06-2010, 11:11 AM
The business card magnets work. I've had three calls this morning (quoting tomorrow) from my first drop 6 weeks ago. Nice to know people do put them on their fridge:dance
Don't forget to promote your business with everyone you talk to,left some cards with my local Mitre 10 when I brought the hedger a couple of weeks ago and picked up a play area mulch job from their referral.

geoff
30-06-2010, 05:17 PM
`today i received a 50 buck adwords voucher from google.they ask you to set up an account and use the 50 bucks and if you dont wish to proceed theres no problems.Wondering if any one has paid for google adwords , they state you get top listings for the key words you use.Prensently i get top billing for gardening services and lawn mowing services for my area and surround and cost nothing, but if you type gardener or lawn mowing only ( plus area ) not so good , so if i pay for the adwords would I get extra traffic ??
??

geoff
30-06-2010, 05:19 PM
apparently you only pay for potentional customers that click on , having stated that you would obviuosly pay for the competion clicking on your site at will:madnoel .It also states u can ditate spend per month..see how it goes maybe

Bluey
30-06-2010, 05:41 PM
apparently you only pay for potentional customers that click on , having stated that you would obviuosly pay for the competion clicking on your site at will:madnoel .It also states u can ditate spend per month..see how it goes maybe

Don't waste your month Geoff. I had it for a while and got bugger all leads from it. It is far better to get your web page polling better in Google searches and in the Google Local Business Centre. Adwords can become costly and you pay for each time someone clicks on your listing. I had a look at the reports and it was not really worth it. You could set it up and use up the $50 and pull the pin. You set the value of the bid so the highest bidder gets poll position

Tender Lovin Lawn&Garden
30-06-2010, 06:58 PM
`today i received a 50 buck adwords voucher from google.they ask you to set up an account and use the 50 bucks and if you dont wish to proceed theres no problems.Wondering if any one has paid for google adwords , they state you get top listings for the key words you use.Prensently i get top billing for gardening services and lawn mowing services for my area and surround and cost nothing, but if you type gardener or lawn mowing only ( plus area ) not so good , so if i pay for the adwords would I get extra traffic ??
??

Mate it is a scam i paid 300 dollars and they said you pay 5 cents a click any way three months later and 75 clicks according to there paper work they wanted another 300 dollars. When i argued that i hadn't had enough clicks to have used up the 300 i already gave them they said that the 300 was the minimum. There is another company WEBSYTE CORP they cost 33 a month and put you on the front page of Google Have scored a few jobs from people out of town with investment properties thanks to these guys. Had one lady once ring me saying she was in England and apparently her lawn mowing man hadn't come due to her not leaving him payment. $250 clean up 4 ft high grass thanks very much.:tomcat

geoff
30-06-2010, 07:26 PM
well thanks bluey and tender , appreciate the feedback and will take your advice .....my existing rating is good so why spend as you say ... thanks

Bluey
30-06-2010, 07:30 PM
NP mate. Whats your local area. I will have a look and see if i can help. Also you should have a link to your webpage on your signature. All posts then link to your page

redbackmowing
30-06-2010, 07:52 PM
i've found i was slipping down the google maps after a few weeks. i republished my whole website got me back up near the top the next day.

Tender Lovin Lawn&Garden
30-06-2010, 07:53 PM
NP mate. Whats your local area. I will have a look and see if i can help. Also you should have a link to your webpage on your signature. All posts then link to your page

Your link comes up as a link mine doesn't what have i done wrong bluey.:puter devil

Stripes
30-06-2010, 07:57 PM
Your link comes up as a link mine doesn't what have i done wrong bluey.:puter devil

When you go to edit your sig, click on insert link.
Copy and paste this and swap my details with yours.
<a href="http://www.autoirrigation.com.au">Autoflow Irrigation</a>

Tender Lovin Lawn&Garden
30-06-2010, 08:09 PM
Have you also noticed you type your business name in Google and it comes up with links to this forum. That sometimes could be dangerous though.

courty
01-07-2010, 07:37 PM
i can see why they would work well. person gos to letter box and sees a lawn mowing flyer already has a lawnie so throws it away. person gets a magnet and slaps it on the fridge and when their current lawnie gos back to their old job or gets a bit crabby at the customer they would think first to ring that lawnie on the fridge theyve been looking at everytime they go there its just the cost of the magnets thats the killer. how much are you getting them for vj?

This happened for me today,customer put my magnet on the fridge 6 weeks ago,their current lawnie hasn't been and has been uncontactable,turned into a $60 regular for me:laughing:

imoww
03-07-2010, 04:12 AM
I tried the local newspaper with no luck.
I got better results from letter box flyers with a quote for their front lawn and nature strip written on the flyer. I got this info from the INDY book. Thanks guys for the help.

Stripes
03-07-2010, 10:19 AM
They have these flat screen panels in a lot of shops now such as real estates with a slide show of their properties on them. How long before they come up with technology so these flat screens can be mounted onto our utes or trailers? They are getting cheap enough, they just need something that can handle the bumps and weather. I'm sure they can come up with something so they run off the electrical system of the ute.

Instead of getting the traditional signs done, you have a panel on each side of the ute/trailer showing off your work with a slide show program with your number and website address on it. My in laws just bought a 42" plasma tele for $500, so if they can come up with something that withstands the treatment, I'm tipping we will have something along these lines for a decent price in the future.

Scooby Steve
04-07-2010, 07:36 AM
Great idea, always thought our trailer sidewalls were under utilized, good way to show off your work and promote your business. As well as the bumps and weather issues you would also have to be careful with flying rocks, gum nuts etc bouncing off the trailer and hitting the TV screens. Could also be a distraction, imagine if you got tv reception on them, who's going to want to work if you could watch race 3 at Caulfield or the footy or the bikini part of the Miss Universe contest :marilyn.

bellarinelawns
04-07-2010, 10:01 AM
I've been mowing my mates front yard for nix every couple of weeks, it paid of today when two of his neighbors became regulars
__________________
Are you aware that you can claim this free mow as an advertising expense, and you can also claim bad debts as an advertising expense. Its quite logical and you have proved it because you got business from it. I do a few freebies for different reasons, and I have scored a few paid jobs from them.

simo
04-07-2010, 08:40 PM
I've been mowing my mates front yard for nix every couple of weeks, it paid of today when two of his neighbors became regulars ________
Are you aware that you can claim this free mow as an advertising expense, and you can also claim bad debts as an advertising expense. Its quite logical and you have proved it because you got business from it. I do a few freebies for different reasons, and I have scored a few paid jobs from them. Well done MATE do you ever come to Ballina..? :D :D

Anjaryan
05-08-2010, 05:05 PM
Marketing ... what works..

Just purchased a new iphone over the phone with our local telstra shop, upon finishing the call the girl asked me to come to her house to provide a quote for some gardening work.

It always pays to tell people what you do!!!!

Redlandsguy
03-09-2010, 04:26 PM
As newbie, just browsing the forum and interested in this one for myself. One thing I will say regards the initial post and that is with Bartercard or similar trade exchanges. Think very seriously about them, then think again and unless you are absolutely positively sure and know exactly how trade exchanges work do not get involved. I know them very well as both a member and an employee, so can speak from experience.

I am not saying they don't work, because they can, but and it is a big but, you do need to know how to work them and how to get them working for you to get real value from them. If you do seriously think about it i am more then happy to give any advise or opinions that you require, just pm me.

VJinTownsville
07-09-2010, 01:42 AM
GOD I AM STARTIN TO GET LAZY!!!!

I havent done my marketing for my biz because I have been too busy with either my 2nd job or just being a young whipper snapper!!

I do free mows for a couple of fit young lasses who would rather walk for 10hrs a fortnight than to give up $45 to mow the yard. So far half my regulars are from them hahaha. Too bad theyve been ringing me up asking for more business cards with magnets on them. I have been mowing theirs for a while and too busy to give them new marketing gear!! All I need to do is drop a wad of cards and alternate with flyers offering other work cycle and voila

Also there is a tavern smack bang into the middle of my farm suburb, army folks left right and centre. All I need to do is provide the tavern with beer coasters or whatever marketing gear i have and I would dominate the whole suburb.

Seriously I need one of the forum guys to come and smack me in the head (Daniel, no you cant you hit too hard). I did 3 lawns in a short distance in between...(45+45+50=140) in 1hr 30. Thats got to be good money right? All wanted it mulched too. Can probably do 10 lawns in the same area as long as I pick the fast easy ones with no garden beds and not catching. May take 6 or so hours for a nice fast workout.

Driving is a killer!!!! Fuel and downtime and killing off momentum!

PaulG
09-09-2010, 01:21 AM
Beer coasters for the pub = good idea!

Andy B
10-09-2010, 11:21 AM
Beer coasters for the pub = good idea!

Let us know how it goes? I was thinking most fella's at the pub are capable of doing their own lawns or would only be willing to pay beer money prices???

Sandgroper
10-09-2010, 12:56 PM
Yeah but if they are army blokes maybe most don't have lawnmowers on account that they get transfered all the time and its not worth carrying one.

I find the navy folks pay well in my area.

Andy B
10-09-2010, 01:04 PM
Yeah good point, and they can be away for months at a time and want a regular service or a clean up done before they move on, wasn't thinking of them, good one.

Bluey
10-09-2010, 03:57 PM
Yeah good point, and they can be away for months at a time and want a regular service or a clean up done before they move on, wasn't thinking of them, good one.

I am close to the RAAF base here. Got quite few of them as clients. With the Army set to send a battalion down here soon I am hoping for some more. When they move on you normally get inherited by the new tenants

Andy B
10-09-2010, 04:14 PM
I am close to the RAAF base here. Got quite few of them as clients. With the Army set to send a battalion down here soon I am hoping for some more. When they move on you normally get inherited by the new tenants

How does the change over work? do you leave a quote for the newbies or do the oldies introduce you? or how?

(Can't remember your name but the fella from Brassall you'd probably see a fair bit of this too???)

Bluey
10-09-2010, 04:19 PM
How does the change over work? do you leave a quote for the newbies or do the oldies introduce you? or how?

(Can't remember your name but the fella from Brassall you'd probably see a fair bit of this too???)

I have inherited a few and the outgoing bloke has left a note for the new one along with one of my cards. If I have one drafting out I ask them if they are willing to do this and most are. I have even thought of typing up a welcome note and asking the old bloke to leave it for the new one but have not gone that far yet. The main time for transfers is around the end of the year.

PaulG
10-09-2010, 05:33 PM
There's a lot of Defence Housing Authority homes here due to having two Army bases near Toowoomba but they're nearly all done by two contractors here who seem to have an arrangement with the department. Hard market to break into here.

Bluey
10-09-2010, 05:54 PM
Over here there is maintenance contract with Defence Housing. I put in a bid for it a couple of years ago but missed out. I don't think it covers regular mowing though as the ones I have all have to do this themselves. I get quite few clean ups prior to departure as well. The contract from memory was for maintenance and refurbishment when there was no one in the houses between postings. Mainly Dec through to Feb. Would be a good contract top win though. I am not sure who does the base.

Sandgroper
11-09-2010, 03:22 PM
A couple of customers got flyers in the mail box over the last month,first i have heard of it where i live in Perth and i have been here 20 years, its not something anybody does,,must be new chums and they will probally pick up a few lawns as well beating the experienced hands at our own game .

I tried it once i spent a lot of money for printing,desighning and delevery and got no jobs out of it,,

PaulG
13-09-2010, 11:38 AM
Letterbox drops are how I get 90% of my work here as the local newspaper is just too costly. Design and print my own to a semi-decent standard with a little help from a graphics-design friend. Whenever I'm driving around and see a lawn needing mowing I drop a flyer in the letterbox. Remaining 10% would be word of mouth, neighbours of existing clients etc.

VJinTownsville
14-09-2010, 09:09 PM
The army lads are the best. After getting flogged out in the field all they want to do is drink at the tavern while the lawn is getting done. While they are drinkin at the tavern they will use the coasters which they will show to their mates. There's usually a group of 4 to 10.

Too bad Im usually drinking with them at the tavern....and hungover the next day

imoww
13-07-2011, 04:52 AM
Local Paper works well for me and if you want a lot of calls put your phone number first and you will be the first ad of the list.

Advertising after rain seems to work aswell but it is mostly one off work but it is all money in the long run

Ive never heard of this way of advertising but it sounds like a great way. Just been thinking if I was looking through the paper and saw a printed phone number first... I would call it.

watlebird mowing
13-07-2011, 08:57 AM
The army lads are the best. After getting flogged out in the field all they want to do is drink at the tavern while the lawn is getting done. While they are drinkin at the tavern they will use the coasters which they will show to their mates. There's usually a group of 4 to 10.

Too bad Im usually drinking with them at the tavern....and hungover the next day

Gotta love the KT and someone to mow the lawn when your out field, you may have done mine, how long have you been working lawns in the Ville?

Benny1
20-05-2012, 08:08 PM
As the cooler season has kicked in here in sydney, work has eased off a little and i will start marketing a little..

What would every 1 say would be there most productive way of advertising apart from word of mouth ???

Stump
20-05-2012, 08:18 PM
As the cooler season has kicked in here in sydney, work has eased off a little and i will start marketing a little..

What would every 1 say would be there most productive way of advertising apart from word of mouth ???

You need to think the opposite to what you are doing now. Maximise your marketing dollar when the need is greatest. You are throwing your money away if you wait till nobody needs you, unless it is just apart of your ongoing area saturation, when you will still have backed off your marketing in a major way.
On the other hand, you can market for the seasons, and not direct it specifically for mowing. (like fruit tree pruning or weeding). There is more than one way to get a foot in the door come spring.
You will build faster if you use your marketing money from the winter to put on extra labour to take on more work in the Spring, and scoop up more regular work that way. Spend up big in Spring on your marketing, and get as much help as possible during that period, leaving you plenty to do in winter.

South East Mowing
20-05-2012, 08:29 PM
You need to think the opposite to what you are doing now. Maximise your marketing dollar when the need is greatest. You are throwing your money away if you wait till nobody needs you, unless it is just apart of your ongoing area saturation, when you will still have backed off your marketing in a major way. 2
On the other hand, you can market for the seasons, and not direct it specifically for mowing. (like fruit tree pruning or weeding). There is more than one way to get a foot in the door come spring. 1

You will build faster if you use your marketing money from the winter to put on extra labour to take on more work in the Spring, and scoop up more regular work that way. Spend up big in Spring on your marketing, and get as much help as possible during that period, leaving you plenty to do in winter.

If you want a direct answer I say what he says - but in opposite order! :)

Benny1
21-05-2012, 05:15 PM
But my answer still hasnt been answered ?

I know that spring is the best time to get your name out there but what way has every 1 found to be most productive ??

They say that only 50% of your advertising gets noticed the question is what 50% is it ?

PaulG
21-05-2012, 05:29 PM
Or your question still hasn't been questioned! LOL.


What have you done in the past re marketing and advertising? Help us help you so we are not re-covering old ground.


There's numerous threads in the forum about it including 14 pages in this one. There's also a couple in the member's section of the forum.

Personally I think Winter is am ideal time to advertise. Get your name in peoples' minds now before all the 'Beer Money Bobs' come out of their Winter dormancy in Spring and Summer.

I have a thousand cheap business cards to use up at the moment so I'm writing a letter of introduction for my business, attaching cards and hand delivering them to selected suburbs and homes on my quiet days. Most of my clientele has come from flyer drops. Some from online advertising and some from referral.

happymowin
21-05-2012, 06:05 PM
no wonder the poor guy is getting frustrated.

his question is:


What would every 1 say would be there most productive way of advertising apart from word of mouth ???


What is YOUR best advertising APART from word of mouth


my answer is: newspaper ad

cheers

South East Mowing
21-05-2012, 06:05 PM
But my answer still hasnt been answered ?

I know that spring is the best time to get your name out there but what way has every 1 found to be most productive ??

They say that only 50% of your advertising gets noticed the question is what 50% is it ?

Benny boy, you need combination of many things, long and short term. What they are? well how long is a piece of string? Different things work for different business, climate, areas etc.

You need a target market and then be able get into their heads when your sort of work is what they want. You also need a way of measuring what you do

As previous post says - there is already info on it , go read it.

Maybe ask what has worked for other contractors relevant to your area you are targeting. :i dunno:

For me my website works but goes hot & cold, but travel is an issue. Anything I do will always have my web address.

When I relaunched 12 years ago flyers (by the bucket load) worked for me then, now I am not so sure as I do not do any.

ian
21-05-2012, 06:05 PM
unfortunately it seems there is no one way that works. different ways work in different areas some people on here have said that local paper advertising doesn't work for them i found it did for me i also found letter box drops effective but then again times change and i haven't done any advertising for a long time
i would suggest advertising at this time of the year to include wording of rose pruning,fruit tree pruning ,leaf cleanups and if you offer it gutter clearing

AJD Mowing
21-05-2012, 06:14 PM
As the cooler season has kicked in here in sydney, work has eased off a little and i will start marketing a little..

What would every 1 say would be there most productive way of advertising apart from word of mouth ???

I would say waste of time lawnmowing advertising maybe newspaper add or flyers for gardening work

PhilG
21-05-2012, 06:14 PM
Yellow Pages online by a country mile for us. Followed by online directories driving traffic to our website.

Mrs HMS
21-05-2012, 06:25 PM
Benny, here are some past threads in relation to advertising. If you read through them you will see what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

I also recommend reading through the posts in the newbies section because most newbies pretty much ask the same questions eventually, one of which is the best way to get new customers.


http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?10844-Advertising-Autumn-Spring&highlight=advertising

http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?10137-Flyer-or-newspaper-ad-that-works&highlight=advertising

http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?948-Advertising-for-New-Clients&highlight=advertising

http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?9682-Autumn-Winter&highlight=advertising

http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?9681-Business-Flyer&highlight=advertising

http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?2279-internet-Advertising&highlight=advertising

http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?9539-Local-paper-ads-are-so-expensive-do-they-pay-off&highlight=advertising

http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?9399-Free-internet-sites-to-list-your-business&highlight=advertising

http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/showthread.php?8945-Flyer-drops&highlight=advertising

Edited to add: It might look like I've posted the same link 20 times, but they all take you to different threads ;)

Lawn Mowing Professionals
21-05-2012, 07:34 PM
Everyone seems to get caught up in the where to advertise rather than what to advertise.

Do everything different to what everyone is doing.

Firstly,

1. who is your "ideal" client or target market.
2. What is the right "message" that is personal to your ideal and gets there attention (what is there "pain" and what will make them hand over there hard earn't cash?).
3. have a "limited offer" (doesn't have to be monetry or discounts etc) and create "urgency" with a strong call to action.
4. sell the "benefits" instead of the features that you provide.

Target there PAIN (what they want done) and and then offer the perfect solution to there pain.

NOTE: test and measure the results of multiple ads "message" to see what gets the best return.

Where to advertise and how?

Well, i could be here for days with the thousands of different methods of where to advertise... I only go for bang for buck advertising with a positive ROI.

Best by far... Black and white Flyer drop on A5 produces the best result for my target market... I get 1 in every 40 homes on average from letterbox drops so far from a strategic scattergun approach.

Second... is focus on who is selling there home - FOR SALE SIGNS (weekly maintenace) and buying - SOLD SIGNS (welcome to the neighbourhood) in the area... a targeted enveloped letter works best.

Again, First it is all about CREATING the RIGHT "MESSAGE" and second is how to "SPREAD" the RIGHT message!

P.s Can't wait till Spring to test my latest and greatest marketing concepts... local competitor's won't stand a chance :smileydevil

Simmo.

Benny1
21-05-2012, 07:54 PM
Thankyou guys for answering my question...

In the past the only advertising i did for myself was dropping the magic 20 cards around every job i did.

But now being a indy i need to look at advertising in a different manner.

I have picked 2 new suburbs which have popped up in the last year or 2 which mostly have middle income families or home owners.

I will be saturating these areas with flyers and intro letters. After reading some of the threads im not convinced putting a add in the local paper is worth the $$$
but i will be putting adds in the local school letters, my daughters schools newsletter cost $11 per week and there is about 400 students in the school.

we have approx 6 primary schools in the area which i will look at advertising in.

If any 1 could show me a copy of there intro letter or flyer i would greatly appreciate it.

PaulG
21-05-2012, 09:16 PM
Second... is focus on who is selling there home - FOR SALE SIGNS (weekly maintenace) and buying - SOLD SIGNS (welcome to the neighbourhood) in the area... a targeted enveloped letter works best.

^ This

I target 'for sale' and 'sold homes' regularly with reasonable results.

Also target the new subdivisions and housing estates. As soon a a letterbox is built, drop a flyer and follow up again as soon as it looks like someone has moved in.

South East Mowing
21-05-2012, 09:51 PM
Thankyou guys for answering my question...

In the past the only advertising i did for myself was dropping the magic 20 cards around every job i did.

But now being a indy i need to look at advertising in a different manner.

I have picked 2 new suburbs which have popped up in the last year or 2 which mostly have middle income families or home owners.

I will be saturating these areas with flyers and intro letters. After reading some of the threads im not convinced putting a add in the local paper is worth the $$$
but i will be putting adds in the local school letters, my daughters schools newsletter cost $11 per week and there is about 400 students in the school.

we have approx 6 primary schools in the area which i will look at advertising in.

If any 1 could show me a copy of there intro letter or flyer i would greatly appreciate it.

Drop off and pick up the kids in your work vehicle (sign written of course) can help greatly especially if you are a local! Have business cards in your pocket

PhilG
22-05-2012, 05:54 PM
Drop off and pick up the kids in your work vehicle (sign written of course) can help greatly especially if you are a local! Have business cards in your pocket

Did you hire someones kid to drop off and pick up from school???

imoww
22-05-2012, 09:40 PM
I like the Aldi marketing plan.
ALDI rely on ongoing repeat customers (loyalty) and word of mouth by satisfied price conscious customers (post purchase satisfaction) convincing their friends that ALDI is good and that the unknown brands are good, thus ALDI’s customers remove the key barrier of “fear of the unknown” and grow the market for ALDI and at no cost to ALDI.

HPM
22-05-2012, 10:10 PM
Did you hire someones kid to drop off and pick up from school???

Drop off the kids you picked up yesterday then pick up some new ones....

Back to Basics
30-05-2012, 09:04 PM
Got these drawn up by a friend today, and in the process of getting some signs, magnets etc for the car and trailer. Fingers crossed it will look the goods. The next step in the plan, check!

geoff
30-05-2012, 09:10 PM
whats with the theory of the frog

Tender Lovin Lawn&Garden
30-05-2012, 09:12 PM
Got these drawn up by a friend today, and in the process of getting some signs, magnets etc for the car and trailer. Fingers crossed it will look the goods. The next step in the plan, check!

go to vista print there pretty good and very cheap.

Stump
30-05-2012, 09:36 PM
I like the look of it. I would be spending what ever you can afford on your front line marketing first though. Focus plenty on getting the copy right.

Back to Basics
30-05-2012, 10:09 PM
No real theory with the frog, just liked the look of it. To me it says all things good about flora and fauna.

Back to Basics
30-05-2012, 10:14 PM
Stump, to me it does not get more front line than signage on your trailer to be seen by everyone and a business card to hand out to who ever will take one. I am not that interested in a web page as I feel anyone can and does put what ever spiel and photos they want to put on and make themselves look the goods!

The best advertising is for word of mouth and who ever sees your work. This matched with a professional tidy, well maintained trailer, truck and equipment and I think it is a great start.

Stump
31-05-2012, 07:39 AM
BTB, you need some kind of proper marketing to bring the work in. While word word of mouth type will realistically only keep your client base topped up once already established (if there is no company growth planned. I have pretty large visible signage on my trailer, and I can tell you it would get me a whopping 5-6 calls a year. I don't have a website as such either, but atm 95% of my work comes from the net,at no, or very low cost. People really couldn't give much of a toss about how great your rig looks, as long as it is not an eyesore. I get alot of walkups while on the job, but they only see a trailer and guys mowing lawns from a distance to spark a thought.
It will be a long slow and disappointing road if you plan to go in with no real marketing plan.
You will be suprised at how many clients that will come, and go with renters moving etc, and pitas that started off great customers, and quickly or slowly show their true colours. You need a steady flow of work coming in all the time. Its all one step forward, 3 steps back most times.

PaulG
31-05-2012, 11:04 AM
How do you make the free listing websites work for you Stump? I'm listed on a lot of them, using all the necessary keywords, but get very few calls as I don't show up in the first page at all.

Lawn Mowing Professionals
15-07-2012, 12:02 AM
I decided to experiment on my advertisement this week with my online marketing (free listing) and recieved in total 13 hits and had 5 phone calls to quote.

I was happy with the 13 hits... I usually only recieve around 6-7 hits but i normally have 3 - 4 calls per week also....

Need to work on the conversion rate (tweek my offers etc)... but happy with the traffic increase!

I'm now contemplating getting a website... Does anyone have any feedback on approximate hits they recieve per day from the site and also how many enquires per day they recieve?

Simmo.

PaulG
15-07-2012, 01:18 AM
One of the free sites I'm listed on is Hot Frog. Got an activity report from them a few days ago for April May June. 62 people had viewed my profile but not one email or phone call was received.

http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/Gardenworx-Toowoomba#Products

PaulG
15-07-2012, 01:46 AM
Toowoomba born and bred. Don't think I'll ever leave this place. If things had played out differently in my early 20s I might not be here still, but that's another story...

Anyway I need to go to bed. Supposed to be photographing race-cars today if I wake up in time...

Lawn Mowing Professionals
15-07-2012, 02:27 AM
One of the free sites I'm listed on is Hot Frog. Got an activity report from them a few days ago for April May June. 62 people had viewed my profile but not one email or phone call was received.

http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/Gardenworx-Toowoomba#Products

I don't use hotfrog so unsure how effective it is... I suggest you change your wording, put an offer with a reason to call or something as its doesn't seem to be working for you.

You could always dump Toowoomba and move to the big smoke :laughing:

Simmo.

Wyadra
16-07-2012, 08:33 PM
Might be luck, but then again...I had only 2 views on hotfrog but got 1 job.

Dropped 2000 flyers last week, got only 2 calls, however those 2 calls generated $4200 in work to quote. 2k of that is already part done. Anyway.... was speaking to a guy today who runs a garden maintenance business that turns over $1m+. He said he dropped 10k flyers and got only 2 calls, so I felt a little better. Then he said he dropped 100k in flyers in April with very poor results. His advice was you are wasting your time with flyers in winter. He has been in the business for 20 years and apparently had used flyers to build his business.
He said he sold off the mowing side of the business years ago because it was too difficult to manage once the business grew larger. He also said he would charge $1 per minute 20 years ago.

Lawn Mowing Professionals
16-07-2012, 11:18 PM
Might be luck, but then again...I had only 2 views on hotfrog but got 1 job.

Dropped 2000 flyers last week, got only 2 calls, however those 2 calls generated $4200 in work to quote. 2k of that is already part done. Anyway.... was speaking to a guy today who runs a garden maintenance business that turns over $1m+. He said he dropped 10k flyers and got only 2 calls, so I felt a little better. Then he said he dropped 100k in flyers in April with very poor results. His advice was you are wasting your time with flyers in winter. He has been in the business for 20 years and apparently had used flyers to build his business.
He said he sold off the mowing side of the business years ago because it was too difficult to manage once the business grew larger. He also said he would charge $1 per minute 20 years ago.

Nice job to generating that much work from 2 calls!!!

I have to question the logic of the guy you were speaking to though....

He dropped 10K flyers and recieved 2 calls... and then decided to send 100K flyers (knowing the previous 10K result was bad) My question is was he expecting a better result? I could almost predict that he recieved 20 calls from 100K (if no changes were made to the flyer).

Dropping 100K flyers without testing and measuring the results is absolute insanity. It's like throwing dozens and dozens of $100 notes in the street and expecting a great result. If the average 1% success rate for a flyer drop was obtained... he should have recieved a minimum of 1000 calls.

When I first started doing flyer drops (2009) I would only distribute 250 at a time and I had 4 different headings and offers (4 x 250 flyers = 1000 flyers in total) I would wait for the results and I could confidently pin point what works and what doesn't in a few days. I get at least 1 -2 calls per 100 flyers, once i worked out the best flyer with best response rate and tweeked it with other points that were missing I have then recieved over 3 calls per 100 flyers. When I restarted mowing earlier this year... My goal was to get 1 in every 20 homes (5 calls in every 100) which i accomplished without alot of hard work... still did testing and measuring but this time around I understood my target market's wants and needs.

I am now focussing on a new bordering suburb but I know that I need to retest the waters with different style of advertisement to maximise the results (they are different homes, block sizes vary and overall requirements are different etc).

My point is... you can't do 1 flyer and expect exceptional results from 100K homes. It needs to be broken down and target specific suburbs to the "audience" who you are trying to connect with.

I don't doubt that he built his business of flyers... I am also going to guess that he is probably using the same or similar flyer from 20 years ago. The days of doing things once and getting paid forever in marketing are basically gone... If you are not on the ball, continually educating yourself in marketing techniques, keeping up with the market trends, knowing your target arket and testing and measuring the results, evolving... then you are going to be left for dead.

Just as it was to difficult to manage a successful and growing lawn mowing business... it's probably to difficult to create a winning advertisement time and time again. Personally, I wouldn't be taking advise from someone who has been in business over 20 years and only doing $1 million turnover and still sending 100K flyers to get work in! Something just doesn't add up.

$60 per hour for mowing back in 1992... now, that is an accomplishment! I remember that I was 13 and my great grand mother would get her quarter acre block in sydney mowed and front yard weeding for $20 (2 workers with push mowers and took them around an hour). He must have sold off the mowing side of the business for an absolute fortune especially if he had a few crews on... wages in general were in comparison quite low back then.

Simmo.

Wyadra
17-07-2012, 08:49 AM
The reason I generate so much income from 2 calls is I make most of my money from doing trees. I always seem to generate $1-2 of work per flyer dropped within 1 week.

He obviously doesn't drop that many flyers by himself {the going rate is $50 per 1000, probably cost him $7.5k}so you would expect a lower strike rate as they would not drop 'marked' boxes and the flyer would be amongst 4-5 others...He didn't say he dropped 10k this winter, he did say he dropped 100k in April this year. Only 1 call per 5000, something doesn't add up I agree. I'd like to see his flyer. Does it have a call to action, limited offer, appeal to emotion...I doubt it.

Got to go to work...

PaulG
10-09-2012, 10:16 PM
When I first started doing flyer drops (2009) I would only distribute 250 at a time and I had 4 different headings and offers (4 x 250 flyers = 1000 flyers in total)


Did you deliver all 4 at the same time to the same houses with the phone number monitoring technique?

cadase
11-09-2012, 08:55 AM
Don't know about flyers, personally i throw them in the bin, which is located next to the mailbox, it's just automatic, don't even look at them, maybe envelopes might help

Lawn Mowing Professionals
11-09-2012, 09:32 PM
Did you deliver all 4 at the same time to the same houses with the phone number monitoring technique?

No, The flyers were delivered only once to test how the headings and offers worked... The law of average is always the same! The houses and residents are very similar in my target area... I recorded the streets and which flyer was used... I also recorded the day, time and weather conditions (that can impact on a results) and I also had different phone numbers to monitor the offers...

It is not uncommon to get calls from streets that you haven't distributed in... people have family and friends that live nearby and refered. It is also common that i get a client and they refer 2 - 3 other people that need my HELP... I don't even ask them for referals :slam dunk

Believe it or not... different headings even with slight modifications can make a difference in the overall results. The right offer to the right home is very important (that is why i only target 1 suburb at a time)... The call to action (walking the client through the hoops to get in contact with me) is most critical to get maximum results.

In your advertisement you must connect with the reader, build trust and rapport, make it clear what you have to offer and most critical offer them a solution to there problems.

I can tell you that in my area - Wednesdays are the best days to distribute... Mondays and Thursdays are no good as the supermarket catalogues get delivered on these days and cause clutter... Wednesday are best anyways because in my opinion, people are thinking about the weekend (I know i do).

Simmo.

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
11-09-2012, 09:46 PM
One of the free sites I'm listed on is Hot Frog. Got an activity report from them a few days ago for April May June. 62 people had viewed my profile but not one email or phone call was received.

http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/Gardenworx-Toowoomba#Products

Wouldn't take too much from the activity reports from any free listings. According to the activity reports I get from google, hotfrog etc.etc I always have views but no actions. Seems strange when 95 percent of my calls come from people finding me on google.

Most are just trying to get you to sign up on their payed advertising.

imoww
11-09-2012, 10:05 PM
Ive allways thought if I was to look for a lanw mowing guy, what would i do?
I'd google lawnmowing in my area....
So thats where i advertise.... Google maps....
All for free

Lawn Mowing Professionals
11-09-2012, 10:18 PM
Ive allways thought if I was to look for a lanw mowing guy, what would i do?
I'd google lawnmowing in my area....
So thats where i advertise.... Google maps....
All for free

do you get good results from that?

Simmo.

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
11-09-2012, 10:27 PM
do you get good results from that?

Simmo.

You can but it takes a combination of website free listings and google maps and the content in all.

petethemowerman
30-09-2012, 06:06 AM
Hi all.
I am in QLD and have been in this business for only a relative short time. 1 yr. The things i noticed as i spent my life in the pursuit of a dollar was that it all is based on numbers. (Spent 4 yrs in Life Insurance to find this out)
If you want 100 customers in a period of time consider approaching 10,000 with your services. Seems daunting but WORKS. I have heard it said that 50% of your advertising is useless but you will never find which 50% does work. This is because 100% of your advertising goes towards the first 10,000 people. Think about it . If your strike rate is 100 to 1 , IE out of every ad/brochure/lead/prospect, this means that if you target 10,000 you WILL get 100 customers. When you apply this as I have done over the years it makes so much sense. Something like a scatter gun approach to killing a moth. Anyway to give you and example from starting my business. Arrived in Victoria in January 2012 , needed 10 regular customers to test the water and see if i really wanted to mow lawns for awhile. Advertised with 2000 brochures letterbox doropped in Trafalgar/Moe/Morwell area . Did this by hand and never again. Within 2 weeks of delivering got 9 fortnightly mows and 6 one offs Strike rate on the ones I was interested in (the regulars) was roughly one in 200. Oh I also ran free ads on electronic media such as Truelocal. Yellow Pages. Gumtree. Facebook. connected with a different phone number to test the responses. Funnily enough got some big jobs out of the free media. Anyway that was in Jan Feb this year, got stuck into the jobs regularly then waas forced to move back to QLD for family reasons in May 2012. had to apoligise to all customers and try to find them other lawnies. Back in Brissy in June , family dramas took over for 1 month and ended up purchased a house in Ipswich to be closer to elder family. Needed 50 fast clients in Ipswich to make it work. Used the numbers I got from Victoria ads and decided that I needed 15,000 brochures beacuse of very dry weather and relocate all electronic ads to Ippy. Had brochures delivered.(15,000 for $400 bucks , never pass this up) phone ran hot for 5 days, now i am not a cowboy that cuts other lawnies throats and runs. I quote a fair price based on a hourly rate of roughly $50 My client list is now 36 fortnightly 12 monthly and 18 one offs or end of lease clean ups. Numbers werent as good as VIC but roughly 1 in 300
Only stopped , cause we are at the beginning of the wet season up here and dont want to have to put on too many staff to cope with the flow on effect of referrals as well.

Anyway do the math and things will happen for you.
Good Luck and remember When Edison was asked why he failed over one thousand times to make a lightbulb he replied he found 999 ways it didnt work. Mathematics dont ya just love it.

petethemowerman
30-09-2012, 06:31 AM
Sorry thought i should back this up with income numbers and costs ratios.

Expenses

Vistaprint 15,000 brochures $$820 bucks
Delivery to 4 suburbs within 6 k radius of home. $412
Electronic media $ 0000000
Deans letter to neighbouring properties 2 either side $45 for 1000 preformed letters. (Thanks Dean for your insight and wisdom oh wise one)
No local paper advertising as yet.

Income

Average job $45 (Some 400 Sq , some 1000 sq) averaged over client base.
Monthly cut Dry Season $4050
One Offs Average 6 per month $300

Total Average Yearly Gross income $52,200 from $1277 spent on advertising

Dry season income will increase during October to Feb then return back to dry for Winter
Been experimenting with High Pressure Driveway cleans at the moment to add value to service during the next Winter.

Cheers and Hope this helps someone.

simo
30-09-2012, 09:02 AM
Great work pete
My two daughters wanted some pocket money over the school holidays, so got them to deliver some vistaprint postcards
Got 10 calls out of 1000, which equaled 4 one offs which has paid for the the cards and the girls pocket money and 2 regulars as profit
They have another 1000 to deliver
Its the dryest its been the grass is bearly growing so didn`t expect much anyway, just something to keep the kids happy......And a couple of regulars for me

luketud
30-09-2012, 09:41 AM
Hey Simo do you do color or black n white postcards
Cheers Luke

Redeye
30-09-2012, 10:57 AM
I ordered 500 cards last week from vista, colour, for a try (only 500 houses here)

simo
30-09-2012, 02:58 PM
Hey luke got a deal 1000 full color glossy for around $120
black & white back

Lawn Mowing Professionals
30-09-2012, 09:01 PM
Hi all.
I am in QLD and have been in this business for only a relative short time. 1 yr. The things i noticed as i spent my life in the pursuit of a dollar was that it all is based on numbers. (Spent 4 yrs in Life Insurance to find this out)
If you want 100 customers in a period of time consider approaching 10,000 with your services. Seems daunting but WORKS. I have heard it said that 50% of your advertising is useless but you will never find which 50% does work. This is because 100% of your advertising goes towards the first 10,000 people. Think about it . If your strike rate is 100 to 1 , IE out of every ad/brochure/lead/prospect, this means that if you target 10,000 you WILL get 100 customers. When you apply this as I have done over the years it makes so much sense. Something like a scatter gun approach to killing a moth. Anyway to give you and example from starting my business. Arrived in Victoria in January 2012 , needed 10 regular customers to test the water and see if i really wanted to mow lawns for awhile. Advertised with 2000 brochures letterbox doropped in Trafalgar/Moe/Morwell area . Did this by hand and never again. Within 2 weeks of delivering got 9 fortnightly mows and 6 one offs Strike rate on the ones I was interested in (the regulars) was roughly one in 200. Oh I also ran free ads on electronic media such as Truelocal. Yellow Pages. Gumtree. Facebook. connected with a different phone number to test the responses. Funnily enough got some big jobs out of the free media. Anyway that was in Jan Feb this year, got stuck into the jobs regularly then waas forced to move back to QLD for family reasons in May 2012. had to apoligise to all customers and try to find them other lawnies. Back in Brissy in June , family dramas took over for 1 month and ended up purchased a house in Ipswich to be closer to elder family. Needed 50 fast clients in Ipswich to make it work. Used the numbers I got from Victoria ads and decided that I needed 15,000 brochures beacuse of very dry weather and relocate all electronic ads to Ippy. Had brochures delivered.(15,000 for $400 bucks , never pass this up) phone ran hot for 5 days, now i am not a cowboy that cuts other lawnies throats and runs. I quote a fair price based on a hourly rate of roughly $50 My client list is now 36 fortnightly 12 monthly and 18 one offs or end of lease clean ups. Numbers werent as good as VIC but roughly 1 in 300
Only stopped , cause we are at the beginning of the wet season up here and dont want to have to put on too many staff to cope with the flow on effect of referrals as well.

Anyway do the math and things will happen for you.
Good Luck and remember When Edison was asked why he failed over one thousand times to make a lightbulb he replied he found 999 ways it didnt work. Mathematics dont ya just love it.

Getting clients is a numbers game... i agree with that statement 100%. I have been very fortunate to experience the value of numbers in previous businesses.

However, i will add to this statement.... If you test and measure your results you will get an even better conversion rate. For example, if you do 5 different ads with 5 different phone numbers you can work out which ad pulls the best results. If you get 1 in 100 and send out 10,000 flyers that is 100 enquires, if you get 1 in 50 that is 200 enquires.

I agree this is more work initually, but if you can get from 1 in 100 strike rate down to 1 in 50 you have doubled your results and it has actually cost you the same amount to advertise.

Getting a good conversion rate is what business owners really need to focus on, not the actual numbers of flyers being sent out. To do this effectively you need to advertise directly to your target market, build trust and rapport, have compelling copy and most important connect with the reader on a personal level.

My advise is to do the total opposite of what everyone else does and start learning... it's not failing if you get it wrong (test and measure the results) but instead it is learning (experimenting) what works and what doesn't. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is what the majority of people do because they don't want to fail... Ironic really!

Simmo.

Lawn Mowing Professionals
30-09-2012, 09:01 PM
Hi all.
I am in QLD and have been in this business for only a relative short time. 1 yr. The things i noticed as i spent my life in the pursuit of a dollar was that it all is based on numbers. (Spent 4 yrs in Life Insurance to find this out)
If you want 100 customers in a period of time consider approaching 10,000 with your services. Seems daunting but WORKS. I have heard it said that 50% of your advertising is useless but you will never find which 50% does work. This is because 100% of your advertising goes towards the first 10,000 people. Think about it . If your strike rate is 100 to 1 , IE out of every ad/brochure/lead/prospect, this means that if you target 10,000 you WILL get 100 customers. When you apply this as I have done over the years it makes so much sense. Something like a scatter gun approach to killing a moth. Anyway to give you and example from starting my business. Arrived in Victoria in January 2012 , needed 10 regular customers to test the water and see if i really wanted to mow lawns for awhile. Advertised with 2000 brochures letterbox doropped in Trafalgar/Moe/Morwell area . Did this by hand and never again. Within 2 weeks of delivering got 9 fortnightly mows and 6 one offs Strike rate on the ones I was interested in (the regulars) was roughly one in 200. Oh I also ran free ads on electronic media such as Truelocal. Yellow Pages. Gumtree. Facebook. connected with a different phone number to test the responses. Funnily enough got some big jobs out of the free media. Anyway that was in Jan Feb this year, got stuck into the jobs regularly then waas forced to move back to QLD for family reasons in May 2012. had to apoligise to all customers and try to find them other lawnies. Back in Brissy in June , family dramas took over for 1 month and ended up purchased a house in Ipswich to be closer to elder family. Needed 50 fast clients in Ipswich to make it work. Used the numbers I got from Victoria ads and decided that I needed 15,000 brochures beacuse of very dry weather and relocate all electronic ads to Ippy. Had brochures delivered.(15,000 for $400 bucks , never pass this up) phone ran hot for 5 days, now i am not a cowboy that cuts other lawnies throats and runs. I quote a fair price based on a hourly rate of roughly $50 My client list is now 36 fortnightly 12 monthly and 18 one offs or end of lease clean ups. Numbers werent as good as VIC but roughly 1 in 300
Only stopped , cause we are at the beginning of the wet season up here and dont want to have to put on too many staff to cope with the flow on effect of referrals as well.

Anyway do the math and things will happen for you.
Good Luck and remember When Edison was asked why he failed over one thousand times to make a lightbulb he replied he found 999 ways it didnt work. Mathematics dont ya just love it.

Getting clients is a numbers game... i agree with that statement 100%. I have been very fortunate to experience the value of numbers in previous businesses.

However, i will add to this statement.... If you test and measure your results you will get an even better conversion rate. For example, if you do 5 different ads with 5 different phone numbers you can work out which ad pulls the best results. If you get 1 in 100 and send out 10,000 flyers that is 100 enquires, if you get 1 in 50 that is 200 enquires.

I agree this is more work initually, but if you can get from 1 in 100 strike rate down to 1 in 50 you have doubled your results and it has actually cost you the same amount to advertise.

Getting a good conversion rate is what business owners really need to focus on, not the actual numbers of flyers being sent out. To do this effectively you need to advertise directly to your target market, build trust and rapport, have compelling copy and most important connect with the reader on a personal level.

My advise is to do the total opposite of what everyone else does and start learning... it's not failing if you get it wrong (test and measure the results) but instead it is learning (experimenting) what works and what doesn't. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is what the majority of people do because they don't want to fail... Ironic really!

Simmo.

Lawn Mowing Professionals
30-09-2012, 09:06 PM
Sorry thought i should back this up with income numbers and costs ratios.

Expenses

Vistaprint 15,000 brochures $$820 bucks

What size brochures do you use? Are they double or single sided?

Simmo.