The Strategy I Used To Get My First Lawn Care Customer ...Go Ahead, Use It!

5 Tips To All But Guarantee Your First Lawn Care Customer

If you are just starting out in the lawn care service industry, I am sure you are just like me and have dreams of having a team of 20 employees covering hundreds of properties around town.

Unfortunately you are not there yet, so let’s scale back your goals and focus on your one job for the next week.

Getting your FIRST customer.

This is easier said than done and will require you to get out of your comfort zone.

So lets start with the obvious and move towards the not so obvious ways to win over your first customer!

Where Should You Start To Build Your Lawn Care Empire?

Location is everything when it comes to starting a Lawn Care Service.

Starting out you need to have laser sharp focus and not try to cover too big of an area.

Honestly, I found that your local neighborhood is the best place to start, because it is close to home (less mileage expense), your neighbors are more likely to hire you if they know you (don’t let your relationship affect your quality of work!), and they will be more likely to recommend you to other people in the neighborhood.

Something to keep in mind is that you don’t have a reputation yet. The only lawn that people can judge your work is your own so make sure that your yard is always in awesome shape! If your yard isn’t maintained to high standard then why would anyone trust you with theirs?

If you don’t think your neighborhood would be a good fit for you then another tip would be to just drive around town and find houses that have yards that need some work and then offer your services.

What Do I Do If My Neighborhood Won’t Work?

One of the biggest myths in the lawn care industry is that you need a $50,000 F-350 truck with a trailer and a Toro TimeCutter V-Twin Zero-Turn Riding Mower with Smart Speed (the mother of all lawn mowers!) to be a successful Lawn Care business.

As a small time Lawn Care Specialist just starting out all you need is a push mower (preferably with a mulcher) and a weed wacker. When I started my lawn care business at the age of 13 that is all I had!

By the time I was 16 and really started to grow my Empire, I had a small 2 door Subaru Impreza, and I would break down the lawn mower handle bars and fit it in my trunk and I would put my weed wacker in my back seat.

I increased my Empire from walking distance to a 5 mile radius and was able to add an additional 15 yards to my portfolio! I even got a customer from calling into my favorite morning talk radio show!

Another solution if you don’t own a truck is to hook up a trailer hitch and use a small trailer to haul your push mower around on.

You can read in more detail about how to accomplish this by reading this more detailed article here (COMING SOON), but the point I am trying to make is that don’t worry about location if you don’t have a big truck to haul your equipment around.

Find a neighborhood that you think has the highest probability of hiring you and just go for it.

The Sales Pitch

The only way to convince someone to hire you is to gain their trust.

You do this by making a great first impression. Here are three things for you to keep in mind:

1. Dress Professionally: This means nice clean jeans and a polo - preferably with your logo on it and don’t forget to shave!

2. You need to be courteous: When you are going door to door make sure you are going at a reasonable time that is going to have the greatest impact but not interrupt peoples lives. So for example the weekend is the ideal time to catch people at home, but typically people sleep in so don’t start going door to door at the crack of dawn.

3. Smile and make eye contact: You are trying to show your passion for lawn care! If you can’t show your confidence then you will never win over your potential customers.

Once you have made your first impression by introducing yourself it is time to sell your service.

You need to be able to do this is no more than 30-45 seconds. Peoples' time is very valuable so you need to short and to the point. I recommend using these three tips that worked for me.

1. Show Passion: Explain that you are passionate about the appearance of your neighborhood. People like helping out their neighbors, so if they know you are close by they will be more likely to hire you over the big guys.

2. Show Your Strengths: I knew I was going to be more reliable and affordable than the big guys, so I used that to my advantage in my sales pitch.

If the potential customer is still interested by this point then ask them this question.

“If there was one thing they would like to change about their lawn what would it be?”

This engages your potential customer and allows you an opportunity to provide a solution and sell your services.

The Marketing Flyer

To go along with the Sales Pitch another key to scoring your first customer is to have a professional marketing flyer. The majority of the houses you go to will more than likely not have anyone home.

By leaving a flyer on their door you have to be able to present your sales pitch without speaking a single word to them.

So how do you design a flyer that won’t go straight into the trash?

They key to an effective marketing flyer is to make it personalized. Show a photo of yourself and your family, explain that you live in the neighborhood and are passionate about what you do.

Offer an incentive to call you back for a free estimate. Incentives like 20% off your first mow or one free mulching of leaves ect… are great ways to catch peoples attention.

People love promotions and while it does take time and money for you to fulfill these promotions if it can get you even one long term customer it will pay itself off.

Low Ball Your Competition

Oh Snap! Someone is interested after your sales pitch and flyer! How do you provide a reasonable bid??

The danger here is that since you are new to the business and haven’t developed a reputation yet so you may be tempted to drastically under-sell your services.

This not only hurts your growth potential but also gives people the impression that your services are not valuable.

My recommendation is to call up your local lawn care businesses and get quotes on your own house, or ask what they charge for ½ acre, ¾ acre, and full acre lots.

If you can get 4-5 quotes you can get a good idea for what the going rate is in your neighborhood.

Based on this knowledge I would recommend you charge between 10-15% less than your competition. So if the going rate is $50 for a lawn try for $40-45.

This is enough to be attractive to potential customers and then after your first year of proving yourself to be a superior service you can ask for higher rates and then hopefully within 2-3 years you will be able to charge the going rate based on your relationship with the customer.

My Last Tip Is An Intangible That You Need To Exploit!

Remember that the average person HATES mowing! While this may not make any sense to you or me because mowing is our passion, you need to exploit this fact.

To the average person mowing is a chore they have to do during their precious weekends.

The service you are providing is a luxury so you need to sell it as just that!

So in your sales pitch find a way to sneak this into speech. I always get a laugh whenever I tell a potential customer that I encourage them to sit under their umbrella in their backyard while sipping ice tea and enjoying their favorite magazine as I am slaving away mowing their lawn.

Remember. Having someone else mow your lawn is FUN!