Getting New Accounts during the winter?

[N.TX]

Do any of you guys try to pick up new accounts for the spring during the dead of winter or do you think it is a waste of money spent for your advertising. I am trying to think of some incentive to make ppl want to go ahead and call and sign up for spring service. Maybe free Fertilizer ? , or maybe 2 free mowings for the season if they call before Feb?

[OLD HAT]

I have called on a few new comercial places and they are bidding right now to start on January. Also around here there are a lot of places doing leaf pick up still so in this area if I had the time I would go that route. Come Feb I am still planning to do fliers and give away fall aeriation on a contract for the year to also include a spring aeriation. That way they will have to stick with me all summer to get thier freebie. Either that or give 1/2 off for aeriation if buying 2.

[GrassMaster]

This one is a Winner...

Read everything in Bold 10,000 times, read everything else 5,000 times.

It is never too early or too late to try and pick up new work. The thing is you are making yourself and your company known by any contact you have with potential new clients, be it commercial or residential.

Example: We just signed contracts for an additional 14 Taco Bell and 19 Arby's facilities. I have been working on these for about a month. We are bidding 23 more in central Indiana next week.

Find a market niche and promote that to any potential new client. One of the things we offer for all our commercial clients is contracts that are payable out over 12 months. This has given us a huge leg up over other companies in our area. Clients love it because it makes their books look better each month. Keep in mind you will need to have an ample cash reserve to carry this type of arrangement. But the up side is you create a positive cash flow for all months of the year. With this arrangement I added in access of 12K a month in incoming revenue, billed on the 15th of every month and payable in 30 days, I am building cash reserves through the winter, which means I have an established cash base to pull from in the spring.

Now I know that a lot of landscape companies can't survive on or would not even consider thet type of a contract. It is all about what you have read on here and correct business practices. Stay out of debt as much as possible, keep overhead low, promote your company, get your name out there.

Something else to consider, look at all aspects of work. Do you offer irrigation even if you have to sub it out, or fert apps? Another thing you will find in commercial is that a lot of the facilities are paying 2 or 3 companies for different types of work. Offer a complete package. Do it all instead of just mowing. What about making mowing a loss leader? Upcharge other services to compensate for the mowing.
Too many times you see scapers focused on one thing, become a complete supplyer and it will open a lot of doors.

Just my thoughts and what has worked for my company.

Ron

Regular monthly income is what it takes to survive. This is what's so great about year round maintenance agreements.

Later on I bet Ron will try to get everything paying every month straight across the board.

Hang in there Man, it gets better!

[csalisbury]

Amen to what Ron said. You should ALWAYS be in marketing mode. Even though the grass isn't growing, that doesn't mean there isn't business out there to be had.

The key to good marketing is to get people to recognize your name and trust you. Now's a great time to start building a relationship with potential customers.

Pick a market you want to target and send them some information about what they can do to have a healthier, greener lawn when it finally does warm up. Send them something (letter, postcard, or flyer) at least once a month for the next few months until you're ready to do your Spring marketing.

When the grass does starting growing again and they get your marketing piece, they'll already be familiar with you and chances are they'll give you a call.

While it might seem crazy (i.e., expensive and time consuming) to do something like this, if you've carefully selected a 'farm' (1K-2K ideal prospects in a tight geographic area), all your time and money invested will pay huge dividends down the road.

[DearbornLawnCare]

I just picked up a nice residential in a good area, the got my number from someone for snow removal. I gave them a price for full maintenance, year round billed once a month at a flat rate.