Ok, here it goes. I am looking for some real advice - first lets get some facts together:
Company - This past spring I started a lawn mowing service. it is fully licensed in the state, county, and is insured. I kept that name vague though so it can be re-used for different things if needed **** Property Solutions.
Assets - 14ft enclosed trailer with ramp, 52 inch scag v-ride II, 30 inch scag-30 (lol), stihl km-94 with weed eater and stick edger attachments, stihl BTR 600 blower. Various other tools from running a homestead as well: chainsaws, pruners, hand tools, etc.
Vehicle - 2006 Ford F-150 with 8ft bed. 140k miles; making... noises. Only care that me and my wife have (had a kia, it died).
Jobs - I had a full time job before starting this, but the commute was over an hour and i decided to go full force into this. Due to a need i have stayed on with them part time and they bend around my mowing or landscaping schedule - but this is my last week with them. My wife is a school teacher - 2 weeks left and then she will be joining me doing this business venture. She gets paid through the summer (until august 10th).
So far this summer - it hasn't been going good. I have been doing what everyone says, posting in all the Facebook groups, running ads, advertising on all local bulletin boards, etc. Door hangers, flyers - I keep going and doing it. So far this summer i have been able to make $900 - gross. yeah. it is big in the red. I am just not sure what to do anymore. Keep going and just hope it finally clicks? --- or is there something else I should pivot into? I am open for any suggestions. I am in south eastern TN if that helps. Coming up here i will be at a excess of manpower and a lack of work to do. So i guess one of the questions should be diversification? What are some things that i could get into with lower costs while i keep building the lawn mowing? Also, i need to diversify for the winter months.
I hope this didnt just sound like me rambling - i am just under a lot of stress.
@parabarb You don’t get to give up until you try pitching your services door to door. Door hangars have abysmal conversion. I know it’s scary but if your wife fully commits to sales when she’s off I don’t see why you couldn’t land a new account a day.
@tiressa The thing about door hangars is, if you hire a student or do it yourself, they are very very cash cheap compared to gambling on FB ads or print
Coupon books have worked for us for cleaning in the past too but bigger but in
@tiressa I talked to her about this, this morning. She actually is (reluctantly) on board a focusing on sales. I think if we can combine that with some of the other suggestions (such as business cards with a quote area). I appreciate the input. Ill keep grinding while she finishes up school and keep throwing business cards at anything and everything.
@parabarb I don’t think adding more services will increase your chances. I think get really good at one thing and focus your efforts on that thing first before you open yourself up to more things.
I think it’s time to do door to door. Be nice don’t be weird hand your business card and go from there.
@parabarb You've done some marketing. Now go do some sales. Face to face. Brand all your apparel, brand your truck, brand everything (that's marketing and promotion). Give EVERYONE your business card. Meet EVERYONE you can. Your customers are everywhere you live. Make sure EVERYONE knows your face, your name. Be that guy that EVERYONE knows that mows a great lawn. It's easy to do, just be slightly better than your top competitor.
@coffee777 I have branded the truck - but I am going to order shirts this morning. I have been giving everyone business cards (which I am going to re-do and order more of today too). We have been even going to open houses and pitching cleanup services to realtors on the weekends. I stick business cards on gas pumps, waiting rooms tables, hand them to anyone I can find.
@parabarb Agree with what everyone else is saying. Also, give yard signs a try, they have way better conversion for me than any of the other things you mentioned. Place them at busy highway exits, intersections (if it's an empty lot or something - I avoid private business property), and of course in the yards of completed customers.
@parabarb UZmarketing.com. Though it looks like their prices went up recently unfortunately. Used to be about $3 and change per sign, now it's over $4/sign (I ordered 100 - it might be a bit less if you order more in bulk)
@parabarb Do you have a website? You say you've been running ads but are they converting into customers? If you are online do you do anything with email to retain and create reoccurring customers?
@wmc21157 i do have a website but the traffic is next to none - most of the advertising has been Facebook ads that have a call now button and go strait to my cell. I have been working on our google my business page and started getting reviews for it.
@parabarb I’m actually thinking about running my own ad campaigns for my commercial cleaning company. Do you mind sharing how the ad was structured? Like what the offer was, what image or video do you include, what targeting you used, and what headline you used?
Also just a tip that might of helped improve your ads success is to run lead form / lead gen ad campaigns to a killer offer that customers could sign up for. This gives a lot more perceived value and entices people to give you their info.
This way you could get their info (phone # and email) and call/ email them directly yourself once someone signed up for your offer. This seems to have a higher success rate and be much more cost effective than only a call now button. Just my two cents.
