October, hunting for next season???

[jagmagic]

With this being my first off-season, I was wondering if any of you would share your "tricks of the trade" with a newbee that plans to leap from starting this part time back in April of '04, to now putting in over 50 hrs/wk mowing.

Next season I would like to start with at least a two man crew. Possibly a third to work with me on the larger accounts. Anyway, if I'm going to be responsible for the financial stability of four people (including myself) I have to have find and provide the work to do this.

So that being said what in the off-season do you offer to get new accounts for the upcoming mowing season?

[GrassMaster]

Have you read these links?

Are You Ready? http://www.lawnservicing.com/ready.htm

No Work, I'm still waiting? http://www.lawnservicing.com/waiting.htm

Work Smarter Not Harder! http://www.lawnservicing.com/work-sm...not-harder.htm

Advertise, go after New Commercial Accounts, Advertise, find other sources of income that will be a nice addition to the services you already offer that are Profitable & Advertise!

[Phil Nilsson]

Magic ... whatever you decide on don't wait too long to get your share of business. Oil prices just hit a new high ... the war continues to destabilize the world market ... if they keep blowing up pipelines in Iraq and ... and ... and ... recession is HIGHLY likely. Do not wait!

You don't want to know what happened to this industry during the last recession.

[highlander316]

phil, what do you believe might happen to this industry in the next 5 years? Continued growth?

[jagmagic]

Thanks for the links, they were very informative. I do like the clean-up jobs they are outstanding money makers.

I was more wondering about special offers made to customers during the off-season.

Does anyone do off-season specials like 10% off a mowing contract if they call before a certain date, or 1/2 off leaf clean up with a mowing contract, stuff like that. I don't think I have found the best way to market in the off-season for next years services.

I have quite a bit lined up for the off-season, but when next may gets here, I want to have 75-150 regular lawns for my crew and I to mow as apposed to the 35 I have now, and I'm trying to find the best way, if any, to start preparing for the next mowing season.

any help is always appriciated, Thanks again guys...

[jagmagic]

Wow, this thread has had 183 viewings, but only 3 replies other than my own. Does this mean the majority of viewers are in the same predicament as me, and searching for ways to increase business as I am and really have nothing special they are doing? Or does it mean the people in the business a while don't want to share marketing ideas for what I think should be the most lucrative time of year?

I don't think it's the latter, however if it is I'm sure I will get ripped by a few of you because of all the GREAT info on this forum. I'm not being sarcastic, I understand that this question may have been answered many times over the course of the past few years, however I can't seem to really find any threads linked to off-season customer building, other than the "find some other way to make money approach". I'm not concerned with making money in the off-season, I'm concerned with being prepared to make money in the up-coming mowing season.