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Hello I know its a little late I the season but I'm desperate. I need more customers for my lawn buisness. I am 16 have all the equipment and I have my license. I just don't have any customers. If anyone has great advice to sway people to use my services even if they have a mower. Thanks for the advice

There are more ways to get customers then this, But may want to try craigslist, you local paper, Door to door. Family. Maybe get some business cards, supermarket bill boards, flyers all with your cell phone number so you will not miss any calls. There are others on here that can give more advice. Good Luck and always do a good job.

I have done flyers and billboards and I am going to do door to door. Do you know what big companies do?

And could you point me in the direction if more advice?

When I was a professional painter going door to door in high middle class/upper class neighborhoods was golden for business.

You painted really like people in caldasacs and like real rich neighbor hoods. Was painting in high school a good buisness?

How do I approach or do door to door. Do I leave a flyer on the front porch or do I actually talk to the potential customers

phatreece said:

How do I approach or do door to door. Do I leave a flyer on the front porch or do I actually talk to the potential customers

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I did the painting gig outta high school and made really good money. Then went to college and moved on...exterior painting a house with a small crew was very hard on body but good honest work. I always tried to engage customers because it got me more leads that way. Try to be upbeat and not aggressive. Tell them they have a nice house yadda yadda yadda would they like be interested in having a professional cut the lawn...if someone is a jerk just shake it off and more on. People are friendlier than you think. They might point you to a widow down the street or whatever. Make sure you look the most professional as possible people are weary of someone in a sleeveless plain shirt and tore jeans. I had a clean company shirt on hand whenever going door to door.

phatreece said:

How do I approach or do door to door. Do I leave a flyer on the front porch or do I actually talk to the potential customers

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Approach the door knock firmly (not aggressively) Take 3 steps back or one foot on top step and one on lower step (Captain Morgan) stance If they answer: Hello my name is ____, I work for ____. I was working in the area and was wondering if your interested in having your lawn professionally manicured by us. Blah blah blah etc etc. if not home leave flyer. Move house to house. Yes the upper middle class/upper class suburbs are perfect for your line of work. The more rural suburbs with bigger lawns if you get what I mean.

Thanks for the advice. Finally I got advice I didn't know!

One more thing, should I do it with my other partner. And I'm not professional, I use a riding mower not a zturn. But my other equipment is all commercial.

I agree door to door and word of mouth has gotten me more customers than any other method I have used. Even if the homeowner is not interested insist on having them take a flyer anyways

I gusse im a little nervous ill go door to door tomarrow and tell you guys my progress.

phatreece said:

I gusse im a little nervous ill go door to door tomarrow and tell you guys my progress.

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Yes door to door can be nerve racking. You will bumble and screw up possibly but keep your composer. I felt like a fool the first few days but it became second nature. Next I know I was turning down work because I couldn't keep up. Don't get discouraged and you'll be fine. Yes insisting they take a flyer is good advice.

phatreece said:

One more thing, should I do it with my other partner. And I'm not professional, I use a riding mower not a zturn. But my other equipment is all commercial.

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Yes getting your partner involved only means you cover more ground. I had guys that hated door to door enjoying it after a while. Of course I gave incentives based on leads so that probably helped lol.

Good luck OP keep us updated!

Dress nice. Look clean and wear a shirt.
Guys all over here trying to get work with no shirt on.

Alright thanks everybody can't thanks you enough! Also what should I where sweatshirt and carhartt pants? Or like a flannel?

phatreece said:

Alright thanks everybody can't thanks you enough! Also what should I where sweatshirt and carhartt pants? Or like a flannel?

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You should dress like you do for work.
A T shirt. Not a tank top. Pants or shorts. Not baggy or sagging below the waist.

Image goes a long way. Small things like don't put your hands in your pockets. Don't pull up to a yard with music blasting. Don't smoke at a yard. Always wear a shirt. Have a clean truck. Know what you are talking about before you speak.
Never blow clippings into the yard next door. Stop the mower when anyone walks by.

Dress professionally, advertise in a newspaper, put flyers in mailboxes, put advertising on your vehicle, craigslist, place ads in public places (with permission).

Hope this helps.

LazerZLandscaping said:

Dress professionally, advertise in a newspaper, put flyers in mailboxes, put advertising on your vehicle, craigslist, place ads in public places (with permission).

Hope this helps.

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Isn't it illegal to put flyers in mailboxes?

zmister11 said:

Isn't it illegal to put flyers in mailboxes?

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Yes its a felony with a hefty fine. And they will pursue you and you are just handing then your contact info

Tape it to the mailbox post.

If there is a screen and its unlocked open it and close it on the flyer. If its locked roll the flyer and stick it somewhere on the screen. If there is no screen fold the flyer in half take a corner wedge it in between the door and frame scooting it down. If none of the above works that's when I knock on the door.

Technically it is illigal to tape, wedge, or put the flyer anywhere on the mailbox but most don't care as long as you don't open the mailbox

zmister11 said:

Isn't it illegal to put flyers in mailboxes?

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I don't but I heard of another local landscaping company putting flyers in mailboxes, I even got one in my mailbox two weeks ago.

Carscw said:

Tape it to the mailbox post.

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What about the flag?

exotion said:

If there is a screen and its unlocked open it and close it on the flyer. If its locked roll the flyer and stick it somewhere on the screen. If there is no screen fold the flyer in half take a corner wedge it in between the door and frame scooting it down. If none of the above works that's when I knock on the door.

Technically it is illigal to tape, wedge, or put the flyer anywhere on the mailbox but most don't care as long as you don't open the mailbox

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Technically the people who receive the mail don't or wont say much, the person who will turn you in are the mail carriers. They can remove your flyer or information and take it back to the office and turn it in to the postal police and it's up to them what happens.
The safest way to advertise is just leave the flyer or your business card in the edge of the door and walk away, if there interested you'll be contacted. The other thing to watch for especially in sub-divisions is that most have NO SOLICITING signs and the people who live there don't want to be bothered.

We started up in Aug 2012. Our primary source of advertising since day one has been using Facebook. The way I did it was I created a large friends list first. I have like 2500 or so friends. Then I joined every page I could find from the local areas. They are like buy sell and trade pages ect. I posted on them daily. Right now we have over 60 yards on schedule and we cut a butt load that are one timers that we cut for people who cut their own some times. Once you get going if you do quality work the Word of mouth will get you lots of work as well. On those sites also many times somebody will advertise hunting somebody to cut grass. When they do many times 7 or 8 people will reccomend us immediately. Guess who they call?

Put flyers on doors. Didn't talk to anyone just put flyers up. But I did go put advertisements on buy swap facebook page and what do you know, I a full time snow removal job! Friggin right!!!!!

phatreece said:

Hello I know its a little late I the season but I'm desperate. I need more customers for my lawn buisness. I am 16 have all the equipment and I have my license. I just don't have any customers. If anyone has great advice to sway people to use my services even if they have a mower. Thanks for the advice

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Big business use media like radio, tv, billboards, print, internet marketing, blogs. If you can afford that and people perceive your campaigns and services to be excellence, customers will come to you. Word of mouth is quite hard and requires a lot of hardwork and determination, but you'll notice a return on investments eventually.

No business can get astounding results in an instant. It takes time. After all, a business is a venture.

if you have any new subdivisions being built..always a good start.most new home owners don't want too mess with yard ....soon as they move in...

exotion said:

If there is a screen and its unlocked open it and close it on the flyer. If its locked roll the flyer and stick it somewhere on the screen. If there is no screen fold the flyer in half take a corner wedge it in between the door and frame scooting it down. If none of the above works that's when I knock on the door.

Technically it is illigal to tape, wedge, or put the flyer anywhere on the mailbox but most don't care as long as you don't open the mailbox

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Nothing technical about it, it is illegal, and fines can be hefty if they want to be nasty.

Ric said:

Nothing technical about it, it is illegal, and fines can be hefty if they want to be nasty.

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I'm glad to be in Canada for that. I dont see the danger in this practice.

Lawnboy18 said:

I'm glad to be in Canada for that. I dont see the danger in this practice.

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I understand what you are saying and as for myself it doesn't bother me. Here in the US the mail is federal government and some people can be very nasty just to be that way. I have two words I call these people one starts with a A and the other starts with a H if you know that I mean. You have the same type of people in Canada I am sure.

reynoldston said:

I understand what you are saying and as for myself it doesn't bother me. Here in the US the mail is federal government and some people can be very nasty just to be that way. I have two words I call these people one starts with a A and the other starts with a H if you know that I mean. You have the same type of people in Canada I am sure.

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Ohh yea I understand you. I live in Canada and I sometimes go to the US for some vacations. It is just so different here. I don't want to get in a cultural fight here. I am here to help others in any way I can and get help if I can (full of great people on this forum).

We do have some psycho people in Canada also.

Lawnboy18 said:

I'm glad to be in Canada for that. I dont see the danger in this practice.

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It's not the danger, it's just the fact that people get carried away with things and it interferes with the mail service. People pay for the privileged of using the boxes and people who stuff them full of free flyers for advertisements don't.

Here is a 16 year old person wanting to work hard to make some money. I see a outstanding person that will get somewhere in life and I sure hope him the best of luck with finding customers :thumbsup: His parents should be proud and if it was my child I would be helping him.

reynoldston said:

Here is a 16 year old person wanting to work hard to make some money. I see a outstanding person that will get somewhere in life and I sure hope him the best of luck with finding customers :thumbsup: His parents should be proud and if it was my child I would be helping him.

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There's nothing wrong with a 16 yr old kid trying to make some money but breaking the law to do it isn't the right way to do it. His parents should be teaching him the right way to do it not teaching him to break the law. If he wants to use the mail boxes to distribute his flyers let him buy stamps and get them delivered like everyone else.

Ric said:

There's nothing wrong with a 16 yr old kid trying to make some money but breaking the law to do it isn't the right way to do it. His parents should be teaching him the right way to do it not teaching him to break the law. If he wants to use the mail boxes to distribute his flyers let him buy stamps and get them delivered like everyone else.

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Agree 100%. Never was my intent that he should be using mail boxes or anyone else should do so. My mail box has junk mail in it every day and if a flyer did show up it just all goes in the trash and it wouldn't brother me one way or the other. I don't even look at most of it. I guess the junk mail keeps the postal service going. Other then my Netflix I just don't send out mail anymore and a book of stamps last me forever. I do find that USPS has the best service when it come to packages.

All right Ric. I don't want to start a fight. It's New Year...
I would love to say that Post Canada sucks. They have "lost" blinds. Yes, two very long boxes of blinds. I would love to know how they lost them. They also lost a t-shirt I sent back to a company. That is just a few of the many horror stories from Canada post.
I enjoy USPS while I am in FL and the cheap shipping rates.
I am done thread jackin'. Happy New Years to all!
I hope the OP has a few customers by now.

Lawnboy18 said:

All right Ric. I don't want to start a fight. It's New Year...
I would love to say that Post Canada sucks. They have "lost" blinds. Yes, two very long boxes of blinds. I would love to know how they lost them. They also lost a t-shirt I sent back to a company. That is just a few of the many horror stories from Canada post.
I enjoy USPS while I am in FL and the cheap shipping rates.
I am done thread jackin'. Happy New Years to all!
I hope the OP has a few customers by now.

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There's no fight, nothing to fight about. Laws are laws whether you or I agree with them or not doesn't matter, they are in place for a reason.