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Thread: Common questions and your answers

  1. #16
    Senior Member Mrs HMS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Common telephone question - how much to mow my lawn?
    Answer - well until we see it we can't give you a quote.
    Question - why not?
    Answer - cos it depends on things like size, length of grass, amount of edging, clean-up required etc.
    Response from potential customer - well it's a standard size block and the grass is only a little unruly.

    Of course when you get there the block is half an acre with grass so long you can just see the top of the kids' swingset sticking out the top. You take four steps into the garden, trip over the dog you can't see asleep on the ground and fall in the pond you didn't know was there.
    ~ Joanne ~

  2. #17
    Senior Member bb1's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Quote Originally Posted by Mrs HMS
    Common telephone question - how much to mow my lawn?
    Answer - well until we see it we can't give you a quote.
    Question - why not?
    Answer - cos it depends on things like size, length of grass, amount of edging, clean-up required etc.
    Response from potential customer - well it's a standard size block and the grass is only a little unruly.

    Of course when you get there the block is half an acre with grass so long you can just see the top of the kids' swingset sticking out the top. You take four steps into the garden, trip over the dog you can't see asleep on the ground and fall in the pond you didn't know was there.
    My best one along a similiar line was, that she told me "it only took me 20 minutes to cut last time I did it", when I turned up it was obvious it was an hour job. When I had finished she told me "she had just moved in, and her mower was broken and she had never mown it". I fely like asking about the 20 minutes, but bit my tongue, as it was close to another job, and she was happy to pay what it was really worth.

  3. #18
    Senior Member Bgs's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    A common telephone question is how much? I had one yesterday how much to do my lawn it hasn't been done for 3 months I quoted an hourly rate and i get **** only charged me $50.00 last time ......... but they didn't do a good job and left half of it

    Question to people who have a add in the local paper.I have not yet advertised in the paper and I am currently thinking about it, Do you spend a lot of your time fielding calls from bargain hunters and doing quotes?

    Thanks

  4. #19
    Senior Member Mrs HMS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Quote Originally Posted by Bgs
    Do you spend a lot of your time fielding calls from bargain hunters and doing quotes?
    Yes. But then that's how you grow your business.

    The trick is to not let them badger you into giving a price or hourly rate over the phone sight-unseen. They'll decide it should be do-able in a particular timeframe and hold you to it. OR they don't exactly tell you the truth about the state of the lawn, size etc and hold you to your verbal quote of $50 when it's actually worth far more.

    Stick to your guns and say you can't quote unless you see the job, those that are genuine will let you come and quote. Most of the bargain hunters want an answer immediately and will let it go.

    Try not to give hourly rates....quote for the whole job.
    ~ Joanne ~

  5. #20
    Senior Member kakegc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Quote Originally Posted by Bgs
    A common telephone question is how much? I had one yesterday how much to do my lawn it hasn't been done for 3 months I quoted an hourly rate and i get **** only charged me $50.00 last time ......... but they didn't do a good job and left half of it

    Question to people who have a add in the local paper.I have not yet advertised in the paper and I am currently thinking about it, Do you spend a lot of your time fielding calls from bargain hunters and doing quotes?

    Thanks

    Not really, we do get some & I guess you have to put up with them, but not lots. Re quotes; it really depends on the way you word the ad. You can fine tune it so that you catch the eye of the customers you want. We don't want lots of lawns, we do mostly general gardening, so we word the add to catch the eye of the customers we want. We have an almost 100% strike rate on quoting the jobs we want. We quote those we don't want very high (ie date palm pruning!). We still get some of those jobs too.

  6. #21
    Senior Member kakegc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Quote Originally Posted by Mrs HMS
    Yes. But then that's how you grow your business.

    The trick is to not let them badger you into giving a price or hourly rate over the phone sight-unseen. They'll decide it should be do-able in a particular timeframe and hold you to it. OR they don't exactly tell you the truth about the state of the lawn, size etc and hold you to your verbal quote of $50 when it's actually worth far more.

    Stick to your guns and say you can't quote unless you see the job, those that are genuine will let you come and quote. Most of the bargain hunters want an answer immediately and will let it go.

    Try not to give hourly rates....quote for the whole job.

    Soooooooooo true! We don't normally get them, but just lately we've had a couple of them (I took one call, Karen took the other) They were like people possessed! They just couldn't get it into their heads that we want to see the lawn before we price it! When Karen took the call I was almost in tears laughing as the customer was INSISTING on a price over the phone & Karen just brick-walled them, but maaaaaaaaaaan was she getting cross lol! It was quite funny to watch!

    If they won't let you look at it before you quote, they're hiding something.

  7. #22
    Mellors
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    I've been thinking to change my business name to
    "High Price Lawn Mowing", and posting this advert:



    High Price Lawn Mowing

    A superior service for a better class of customer

    0133549000


    That should weed out the riff-raff!

  8. #23
    Senior Member kakegc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    [QUOTE=bb1]
    Quote Originally Posted by kakegc
    I had one of those! He cracked a mental coz I edged "his" side of the front lawn (driveway to driveway type of lawn) & told me not to do it again! QUOTE]

    I had a similiar thing where I used to edge and mow the neighbours half of a 2 metre by 6 metre wide nature strip, becuase it made my body corporate job look a lot better. One week I hadn't edged the body corporate side, because they wanted something else done instead. The lady next door came and had a winge to me because I hadn't done her edges. Well now I just do my side and she miss's out all toghether, some people just don't know when they are on a good thing.
    Had one who was ranting & raving coz I only mowed my customer's nature strip, she was cracking a mental wanting to know why didn't I do hers next door??? I said I'd do it for her no worries, but asked if she wanted a price first? She was gobsmacked! "What?? You want to charge me for that little bit of grass???" "Yep" says me! "well" she says, "I'm glad you don't mow my lawn" "Me too" I says! She stormed off inside her house (Golden Grove) & the grass never did get cut!

  9. #24
    Junior Member forevergreen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Had one a few weeks ago rang up asking about a gutter clean and
    wanted a free quote i said i was busy but usual price is about $50 i
    can have a look next week. Well next week came i rang him to arrange a time he said well its like this i got this ladder from bunnings and if you give me a really good price i am prepared to let
    you do it what do you think,i said enjoy your ladder and hung up

  10. #25
    Senior Member NWGL's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Did a small lawn this afternoon.

    I was standing in the middle of the lawn area about to start the mower up, when a resident came out and asked me "if I was going to mow the lawn ?"

    I said yes.
    Stanhope Gardens And Lawns

    Gardening & landscaping, lawn mowing, strata cleaning & maintenance, high pressure cleaning

    Residential | Real estate | Strata | Industrial & commercial

    https://stratamaintenance.net
    https://stanhopegardensandlawns.com.au

  11. #26
    Lancat
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Some people just find it hard to observe the obvious

  12. #27
    SCO
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    yeh you gotta love thos types of people, I had this call today

    Cus: Do you do Gardening ?
    Me: Yes mam i sure do
    Cus: How much an Hr ?
    Me: I would have to see the job 1st
    Cus: No you cant look 1st

    (at this point I just gave up)

    Me: Oh my flat rate is $35 p/h
    Cus:OMG jim is half that price
    Me: we'll you better call him back then !!


  13. #28
    Senior Member lawn order's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    Wasn't that what the bishop said to the actress?

  14. #29
    Senior Member holdenhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    I have this house I mow every 3 weeks and the guy next door keeps telling me to come every 2 weeks as my customers lawn gets too long. (not too long just the dandelions popping up) I tell him it's up to my customer how often they want the lawn done. But he insists. Yet he cuts his lawn every week and pulls all the weeds out and spends a long time sweeping up and mucking around but leaves a strip of grass no wider than 20cm on the nature strip because it's not on his side of the fence.

    Over christmas I was off for 4 weeks and when I returned he told me not to go on holidays anymore.

    There are really people with nothing better to do but winge and cause headaches for others.

    Cheers Rick

  15. #30
    Senior Member kakegc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Common questions and your answers

    New client when asked on the phone how long the grass is; "oh, it hasn't been mowed for a couple of weeks"

    In truth, it hasn't been cut since Bob Hawke was the prime minister!

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