Worm Man's Worm Farm

Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 23 – Lawn Care Marketing Business Show

In this episode we will be talking about

GopherHaul breaks the 700,000 view mark! Thank you everyone for watching us!

Inspirational Story:

You don’t need a new truck when you are starting out. Check out Dave’s truck as an example.

Join the discussion here:

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=4;t=7448;st=0;r=1;&#entry36520

A while back Bill wrote us on the forum and posted a picture of him hauling his lawn mower around from job to job, in the back of his car’s trunk. No longer though, Bill has been able to upgrade his lawn care business vehicle this year from a car to a pickup.

Check out the pictures and join in the discussion on this post here:

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=4;t=7261;st=0;r=1;&#entry35248

Lawn Care Business Marketing Idea:

One of our new Gopher lawn care forum members Emerald Green Lawn Care was kind enough to post a sample letter they use to contact property managers.

Download the letter template and read more about this post here:

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=29;t=7403;st=0;&#entry36220

Business Question:

Are you keeping track of where your new customers initially heard of your business from? If you aren’t you might be wasting a huge amount of advertising dollars. Let’s jump to a post Chuck made in our lawn care forum.

In his post Chuck said “I keep track of everything, My findings were surprising. about 65-70% of my business thus far has come from 1 source & at an advertising cost of just over $10 per customer! Pretty cheap. ”

Our friend Justin also jumped into the discussion and posted an excel sheet template to help you track your lawn care business advertising dollar.

To download the template and get involved in the discussion join the post here:

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7356;st=0;r=1;&#entry35873

Another great topic Chuck brought up, along a similar line, is the question, are you answering your business phone during the day? It is amazing how many small lawn care businesses don’t answer their calls during the day because they are busy working. The problem with this is many potential customers won’t leave a message. Instead they will simply call the next lawn care business on their list.

If you are interested in joining this discussion, join the post here:

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=29;t=7421;

Lawn Care Search Engine Optimization:

Read this post thoroughly because it could make a big difference for you and ask your web programming questions here:

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=6;t=7346;

Lawn Care Marketing Idea

Have you ever experimented with offering a referral program to your lawn care customers? Emerald Green Lawn Care created a great referral coupon template that they posted on the forum. Check out the post and see what the best way is market your referral program to your current customer base in order to reach out to more customers.

Join in on the discussion here:

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7386;st=0;r=1;&#entry36079

Book of the Month:

This month’s business book of the month is Robert Slater’s “No Such Thing As Over Exposure.”

If our show or forum has helped you, or if you have any business questions, please let us know and send an email or make a post about your experience! I hope all these ideas have helped you expand and grow your business and mind. So until the next time, always remember to Dream it, Build it, Gopher it!

If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher.

Ken Chiarella

http://www.gopherforum.com With the economy taking a down turn, there are going to be many new opportunities for entrepreneurs to get started with their own business. A lot of times people will think about starting their own business but if they have a full time job, the job will most likely take priority over starting a business. But if you get laid off, you then can jump on the opportunity to finally start the business you wanted. Here is a great question and a great example of an entrepreneur taking advantage of his resources and his knowledge to get his new business off the ground. In the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum he wrote â??Hi I am totally new to all of this. I mowed lawns while I was younger and through high school in my neighborhood and can do just about anything there is. I was just recently laid off at a excavating business because people are not wanting to build new houses or buildings right now.
Right now as I am just starting it is frustrating trying to get new accounts. Beyond lawn care, I also am doing snow removal. I am not too good at this whole internet deal but I managed to start up my own website as well. I am trying to make a flyer right now with my plan to make around 1,000 flyers and just start going door to door. I do not know any other way to just get my name out there.

What are the best ways to go out there and get customers? Are there any suggestions out there to make my company look better than the others? I just want my company to stand out more than others so we look like we have been in business and so people would come to me more than other lawn care businesses
Thanks to everyone that helps!�

I think first off you should jump on promoting services you can offer now that can make you money now. If your new business doesnâ??t start making money quickly, you may lose interest in it or others around you may push you to consider other alternatives. There is nothing like making a profit to show the nay sayers they were wrong and you were right.

So how do you do this? Get on the Gopher Forum and download some of the winter snow plowing templates. I have a bunch of them for snow plowing and holiday light decorations. Edit the flyers as you need to and start handing them out to family members and friends. Get business cards made up and hand them out to everyone you know. In fact, give them a couple each. Tell them you are just getting started and you would appreciate any work you can get.

Review the concentric circle marketing chart I posted in the forum and on my blog. It gives you a graphical representation of what you should be doing. Market to your inner core first. That would be friends and family. Have them become spokespeople for your business and have them help get the word out about your business too by telling their friends, co-workers and community organization members. Hang up flyers where ever you can, such as in local stores. Go door to door and hand out flyers that promote your winter services. The more people you meet, the better your chances are of landing a new customer.

You had also asked about standing out more so than others. First off you have to remember, people will prefer hiring someone they know vs someone they donâ??t. So if someone knows you, that is the best way to stand out. Second off, you can get yourself set up with a uniform. Figure out a color scheme you want to wear and get a shirt and khaki pants along with a hat to match. This will help you look professional and presentable. Then get signs for your truck and trailer. If you need a business logo, remember I have hundreds of free lawn care business logo templates you can download and use from the Gopher Forum. Thirdly answer your phone and always be friendly and approachable, this should help you win many people over.

You can join in on this discussion further at the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. http://www.gopherforum.com If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life.

Ken Chiarella