SCRUBS!! and what to do about them.

[Stephan Schwebke]

I agree w/Sharp. Get personable with potential customers. I'm a real people person. It's just the way I am, and that's what makes most of my sales. When people see that you are a personable businessman, you've struck their heart. (Say that ten times fast LOL) Be friendly, but businesslike in the same breath.

[Jack D.]

Hello, please understand that commercials are the King Of Lowball Accounts. Commercials generally take the lowest bid & there are generally more bids per account & more stipulations than res.

Lowballing res. & obtaining density & add-ons is the Wave of the Future in Profitable Lawn Maint. & you don't have to be a salesman, just a lowballer w/a good sense of productivity numbers.

[Seascape]

Sounds like a novel idea to me!

If I may ask, how do you market to these “upscale” clients??


At this point I’m getting rather desperate to drum-up some new business. I’m considering putting on my Polo shirt, complete with company logo, and going into small businesses to inquire about maintaining their property. Do you see a problem with this approach?

Of course, I wouldn’t solicit in such a “crude” fashion to the higher end residential customers. Perhaps direct mail would do the trick…

Thoughts?

No i dont think thats a bad approach,,, but i think your a tad late for commercial. Mostly scraps left. They dont have a LCO right now for one of several reasons,,, usually cause theyre latest company was cheap and was the last one to discover he wasnt making any money. Or they screwed theyre LCO and now on the prowl for a new victim. But most commercial outfits that have any concern wrap all that up in fall. I have retained some good commercial after april where as the LCO didnt perform and was fired. Those can be good.

My niche is upscale residential. 500k homes and up. Once you make a name for yourself in that arena its name your own price.Several of my residentials submit to me a annual budget. 15k-35k is typical. I spend 3/4 of my time personally supervising these accounts.


How do you get them?
1) Word of mouth
2) Clean trucks
3) Straight shootin !!

And in that order for the most part. Quality can never be comprimised,, not one little bit. Everything has to be top notch. So dont lowball or youll hit bottom quickly. Once you gain trust w/ upscales you dont do much selling anymore. Alot of mine i dont even talk about prices anymore they just tell me whats on theyre mind and we do it and hand them the bill. They know im expensive,,, i dont hide it one bit.

If i were you i would start in the highest caliber gated community available. I would produce a flyer that out does all,, gloss,thick paper w/ color. About $350 per 500 count i believe my last batch was.And that was mid 90s. But done properly you will get hits. Big ones,, im not talking $500 mulch jobs,,these folks want you to take care of everything so over the course of the first season take control of the account. Never sell them crap and dont sell hard,, be gentle w/ them.They have to trust you and dont ever put them in a situation where they start regreting your appearance. Alway call them,,Mr. Mrs. yes sir ,no sir.

My upscales are #1,, i bend over backwards and spoil them. You want them to depend on you,,thats your goal.

And the best thing about them is the repeat,, i can already tell you about a bunch of mulch jobs and clean ups that we will do this time next year,,i dont have to sell them again. Theyre already there,,thats key to comfortable growth.

But also let me stress that you dont want to invade these upscales if your not ready. Dont burn your bridges before you cross them so to speak.

Also,,, what Jack said about commercial is true. 9/10 will shop till they drop for the down right lowest bid. No way around that unless theyve been burned and seen the light. And the worst part about it,,, some LCOs can perform at low rates,,,If they can play the numbers game like phil said. Its hard ball though,,, i dont enjoy it. But if you can master that game you will be rewarded. Just be prepared to stomach it.

My only point w/ commercial was consitant work. Thats what i like about it. Not that upscales arent,,, but they do have a dormant period here in ohio. Where as if you can come to handle the heavy front load on commercial you can be back to work in late february here. we were edging in february,,started mulching in march. Purpose is to clear that work so upscales can proceed in april w/ little resistance. If we are lucky. Also,, commercial is 12 months of money,,, gotta like that.

Good luck man.

[Phil Nilsson]

I was almost 100% commercial and had yearly accounts that paid snow or no snow fixed dollars ... none of them were lowballed ... most wanted dependable service at a "moderate rate" ... I was inclined toward high production and was a very active bidder to cover myself just in case. Retention rate I had was about 90% but anyone could have come along at any time and be able to bid much lower. I wasn't into micro mgmt of residentials ...

[tulsa lawn guy]

Mike...

Thanks for the info. Up scale residential sounds like a plan to me, but as you said, I don't think I'm quite ready. I could certainly perform the lawn care up to those standards, it's the "other stuff" that I may not be up to speed though...

I'm a little more pumped today. I landed three contracts today! (own of which is $520/month).



Phil...

Are you saying it's possible to land commercials using a "moderate" pricing strategy? If that's the case then I should be able to compete. I'm not, however, interested in the "cut throat" competition. Not that I have a problem with it, it's just that at this time my numbers won't work out to turn a profit mowing commercial properties for next to nothing. Really... how do you get your numbers to where you are able to compete at this level?

[Seascape]

I wasn't into micro mgmt of residentials ...

Ya i understand,,, you dont micro manage upscales though. By any means.

[sharp]

true true, it is a wave coming your way

Hello, please understand that commercials are the King Of Lowball Accounts. Commercials generally take the lowest bid & there are generally more bids per account & more stipulations than res.

Lowballing res. & obtaining density & add-ons is the Wave of the Future in Profitable Lawn Maint. & you don't have to be a salesman, just a lowballer w/a good sense of productivity numbers.

[Lawn Dude]

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." John Ruskin

[Stephen M.]

Here’s an update for you guys…


My advertising has been rather rough, to put it lightly. I’m simply not getting anywhere close to the number of calls that I got last year, perhaps it’s still early.

I have devised a system that calculates how much time I will be spending at a specific property and apply this number to my hourly rate to come up with the clients bid.


Here’s the problem: There are SO MANY “SCRUBS” running around bidding jobs at a FRACTION of the price that I quote, that I can hardly land a job! This is immensely frustrating!

I’m sticking to my guns, but it sure it tough!


What to your pro’s recommend?

This is why I have taken alot of thread space in the other "scrub" threads advocating turning in illegal LCOs and contractors. Last year was a transition year after downsizing out of big unprofitable contracts and trying to land new mowing jobs. I bid alot and got only one long term mowing job. All the other profitable work was other stuff.

I do realize that all states aren't as "wired" as WA state is with internet access. I can go online to the WA Dept of Revenue and access the "Public Records Database" to find out if a person or business is legal. I can also do this with contractor registration. When I find an illegal business, I access the online "Report WA State Business and License Fraud". While the state doesn't have a 100% success rate, they do have about a 94% success rate for compliance, which is darn good!

As a result of my efforts this past year of dealing with illegal LCOs and contractors in this way, there is a big noticable difference in the number of jobs I'm now landing and the upward ability to charge a decent rate. The illegals have been in big numbers as usual because of return of spring, but they are finding it's hard for THEM to do business and not the other way around! I have a file 2" thick of illegals I have turned in and keep turning in for the past 2 years.

Since mid March, we have now landed 11 new jobs and one of those pays me $150/week. The mowing season here is short since most of these people won't water their lawns and will let them brown out in the heat. But it is good money while it lasts. If my math is correct, this represents a 20% increase for my long term work; and I'm still getting calls.

I don't subscrib to the idea of lowballing the lowballer. I'm glad it works for Jack D., but it wouldn't work here in Jefferson County. That's partly because we are all so diversified for survival. It's also common for the customer to be the best lowballer! How many of you have had the same experience as I in that you are asked to bid an upsell project and some other guy is hired doing a project that looks nothing like the one you were asked to bid on!! Pisses me off everytime!

The upshoot is this, whatever YOU can do to combat the scrub issue, even if its lowballing the lowballer, YOU are the key. Its the shakers and the movers who make things happen, otherwise YOU are just waiting for things to happen.