why am I not getting more clients?

[sean'sengines]

I put out a great flier, I thought anyway, and I haven't gotten hardly any response yet. Should I do follow ups?

 

[BKBrown]

What did your flier look like and what did you offer ?

Remember that times are tight for many people right now -- don't be discouraged yet ! :thumbsup:

 

[Sprinkler Buddy]

Be patient, do good work and more work will follow. It takes time for word of mouth to spread. You probably wont get much feedback from the flyers. You will from here but not paying customers.

 

[sean'sengines]

I start at $30 and work my way up by $10 for every extra half acre. So $30 is for .5 acres, but 1.5 acres would be $50. I also do bagging and weed wacking for an additional $10.

And I made sure to add that I had been doing it for 3 years.

 

[BKBrown]

I will make a suggestion - just to get you started - you could offer "a first time only" half price trial. LIKE "I'll do your lawn the first time for half price and you decide if you like my work." It might get you started and you will make some $ plus a chance at a steady customer.

GOOD LUCK !

 

[LandN]

advertising should be- ........simple to read........simple to understand..........and services priced right(notice i did not say cheap)...the more that a potential customer has to study and interpret what a flyer(or any other printed material) is all about, the less likely they are to want to buy.you HAVE to keep all printed matter simple. read a lot of newspapers and such, and see what other business do, to get some ideas.advertising is an art in itself,you have to find out the best way get customers money in your hands,and be professional about it.......THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. i thought once about putting a battery powered strobe light on my mower while cutting(attention getter):biggrin: people would see and notice you.I only flyered out once several years ago and that was it ,the rest spoke for itself(word of mouth)these days i'm slowly getting out of cutting and some peopled are really po'ed that i'm not cutting their yards. it takes time ,time ,and more time to build a lasting business,just make sure you dot the I's and cross the t's

 

[Oddball]

Are your prices in line with what others are charging? I know your prices seem low for where I live. We've got 2/3 of an acre and just a little less than 1/2 acre of yard and the last time I had to pay someone to cut our grass it cost me $60, with no clean up. Some people see cheap prices and assume they'll get service commensurate to the cheap price. Also, and I hate to say it, but some people see a 16 year old kid and just expect the bare minimum from them as far as work goes. They just expect unreliability and/or half-assed work from kids. You're at a tough age and will have to prove yourself over and over for a few more years yet. And on top of all that, as someone else pointed out, times are tough right now. Many people that would have gladly paid for yard service a few years ago have tightened their belts due to lost jobs, cuts in pay to keep their jobs or just fear that they may lose their jobs and are saving money any way they can.

 

[sean'sengines]

I didn't even think of people possibly expecting bare minimum work from me, which, let me tell you, is not how I do business. Everyone that I've either mowed for, or fixed an engine for, has been VERY PLEASED with my quality and with my price. I guess some people just can't get inside my head; because I'm VERY particular about how a lawn looks. I do different patterns and I take joy in my work, if it doesn't look good, I'm not satisfied.

I think I'll put out some more fliers, and maybe try to "half off your first mow" thing, and also not base my prices yet, and do a free estimate on peoples yards.

 

[Oddball]

Not only are you the labor, but you have to be a salesman also and be able to sell yourself, as with any self employed individual. Good luck. One thing I'll mention about fliers. I automatically throw away or discount any fliers that I receive or see that have misspelled words or blatantly poor grammar on them. I figure if the person responsible for the advertisineg isn't thorough enough to proofread and correct mistakes on their fliers, then neither they nor their company are thorough enough to do any work for me.

 

[mystreba]

I figure if the person responsible for the advertisineg isn't thorough enough to proofread and correct mistakes on their fliers, then neither they nor their company are thorough enough to do any work for me.

I completly aggree.

Seriously though, if I take the time to look at a flier, I'm expecting to find bargain price. If I take the time to look at a brochure, I'm expecting to find a valuable service.