I talk to a lot of lawn care professionals. I mean A LOT.
Other than bumping into your competition at a trade show or at a gas
station, how many do YOU talk to every day?
I bet you’re too busy to even attend that trade show you wanted to
attend. And if you did talk to your
peers or competition, do you think that they’d share the secrets of their
success with you? Of course not.
So, at least once a day, when I ask a lawn care, landscaping
or Maintenance Company about their marketing plan and get told that they rely
on Word of Mouth (WOM) as a primary source of new business, I immediately know
two things: they’re small and are on their way to being out of business. If you only rely on your current customers
to refer you to family and friends, not only have you limited your prospect
pool to the size of their collective networks but you also EXPECT them to do
your marketing for you. Tragic, really.
Here’s why WOM is an ineffectual strategy. Let’s say that you have 100 customers. And let’s assume that those customers each
have 20 friends who live in your market area.
In any given year, how often do you think any one of those 2000 people
will have a critical need for your services, so bad in fact, that it
requires them to ask their friends for a referral? Once? Maybe twice? Chances are, the friends of your customers
already have an adequate source for the services you provide. So, your WOM “strategy” may pick you up two
new customers a year, at best.
Why DO YOU rely on
WOM?
You’re in business to provide a service. As many lawn care companies start small, often the business owner has direct involvement in performing the actual service. And, as long as you don’t “screw up” and make a horrendous mistake at the customer’s property, you’re more than likely to retain that account. Human nature is such that we want to believe that we have done a good job and, barring any criticism, feel our customers think we do an excellent job. Having fooled ourselves into believing that, the next logical assumption then, is that we EXPECT our customers to brag about our work. And, unless you’re adept at turning dandelions into golden eggs, they won’t. They just won’t. So, what now?
You’re in business to provide a service. As many lawn care companies start small, often the business owner has direct involvement in performing the actual service. And, as long as you don’t “screw up” and make a horrendous mistake at the customer’s property, you’re more than likely to retain that account. Human nature is such that we want to believe that we have done a good job and, barring any criticism, feel our customers think we do an excellent job. Having fooled ourselves into believing that, the next logical assumption then, is that we EXPECT our customers to brag about our work. And, unless you’re adept at turning dandelions into golden eggs, they won’t. They just won’t. So, what now?
Who needs leads? YOU
need leads
If your business isn’t growing, then guess what? A lot of people get into this business with the goal of passing it down to future generations and/or selling it and making a handsome profit. What are you currently doing to make your company stand out from the crowd? It seems like anyone with a truck and a mower is a “lawn care company”. You’ve worked too hard for too long to get trampled by all of the amateurs or low-ball Johnny-Come-Lately’s.
If your business isn’t growing, then guess what? A lot of people get into this business with the goal of passing it down to future generations and/or selling it and making a handsome profit. What are you currently doing to make your company stand out from the crowd? It seems like anyone with a truck and a mower is a “lawn care company”. You’ve worked too hard for too long to get trampled by all of the amateurs or low-ball Johnny-Come-Lately’s.
Modern marketing for
Lawn Care Companies
How many times a year do you still break out a reel mover? It can do the job of cutting grass but, despite the environmental benefits of using reel mowers, you know why you can’t use these on every job. They’re just too inefficient. And that’s why you need a modern Inbound Marketing strategy.
How many times a year do you still break out a reel mover? It can do the job of cutting grass but, despite the environmental benefits of using reel mowers, you know why you can’t use these on every job. They’re just too inefficient. And that’s why you need a modern Inbound Marketing strategy.
When you need a new piece of equipment, hardware or consumer
product, 9 times out of 10 you turn to the internet and one of the giant search
engine companies like GOOGLE. It’s how
the world shops. If prospective customers
are looking for lawn care services, it’s a given that they will turn to the
internet to provide a selection from which they can choose. I bet you remember before your company had a
web site. Do you recall why you spent
the money (or took the time) to build that?
You wanted to be FOUND. Yep,
having a web site today is as important as the telephone was to the
communications industry.
Imagine trying to find a person’s phone number without
knowing their name! It’d be an exercise
in futility. That’s what the internet is
like today. Unless your prospect knows
the address for your web site, a smarter marketer is going to grab all your
potential new business. What to do?
Getting on Page 1 of
Google Search results
If your prospective new customers are searching for “lawn
care” in their area, you’re going to do battle with all of the larger lawn care
providers like Scotts, TruGreen and Weed Man, who have much larger marketing
budgets than you. The only way to “game”
the system is to beat them on your own “turf”.
Local search is still a very winnable game and really the only game you
should be in, unless you’re a multi-million dollar corporation with company
cars, a 401K match and a corporate jet (painted green, of course).
We’ve developed a lead generation source for new members of
the BeeSafe® Applicator Network. Using
this new tool, we’re able to rank on page 1 (usually at the top of page 1) of
Google for any search terms you’d like.
Of course, keyword selection is critical but we now know the secret of
being at the top of the leading search engine’s results pages. We’re building and using these tools to drive
prospective new customers to our network of fertilizer applicators.
The Key to Winning
New Business
Using our new tool, you’ll be able to generate lots of new estimates which can turn into new business for your company. If you already have an existing web site, we can link the search tool to your site. If not, we can feature your phone number and direct those new leads to call.
Using our new tool, you’ll be able to generate lots of new estimates which can turn into new business for your company. If you already have an existing web site, we can link the search tool to your site. If not, we can feature your phone number and direct those new leads to call.
To learn more about our inbound marketing tool for the lawn
care market, go to dealer.beesafelawns.com
and look around. Or call us at (603)
587-0384 and ask for the Sales Department.
