Free is Good in the Lawn Care Business

Free is Good in the Lawn Care Business…

One of the things that people who succeed in running their own lawn care business like is how you approach your work. Unlike, when you work for someone else, you are not just doing time to punch the clock and make a paycheck. The quest to build your own business is much more of an adventure and a huge, all consuming obsession or hobby than it is “just a job”. There is no such thing as “punching the clock” when you own the business. You are always thinking of ways to find new customers, make the customers you have happy so they will keep you on and recommend you to others and to fine tune the business so you are productive and profitable.

Customer service is more than just a slogan when you make your living working for a roster of loyal customers. A lawn care business is not like a grocery store. You don’t have hundreds or thousands of customers. You may have a dozen or more when you start out and perhaps a hundred or so for an established lawn care business. Everything you do in building that business revolves around getting and retaining customers. You don’t just think about customer service, you live and breathe it.

There is one principle of customer service that is one of those hidden tricks of the trade that successful lawn care professionals know. That principle is, “always look for a way to do something for your customer for free.” This may seem to run against the concept of working for making money. But there may be no more potent way to get new customers and to cement an existing customer as one who will stay with you for years than to occasionally find a way to give them some service that is above and beyond the call of duty.

A give away is an outstanding way to land new business especially in a very competitive market. Even if you are talking to a potential customer that you connect to via a reference, nothing gets your foot in the door better than offering the first session of lawn care for free. You can present this as a trial offer so the customer can get a feel for the quality work you do. Make it no obligation so the customer knows he or she can enjoy the free service and not have to sit through a sales pitch. You are literally letting your work stand on its own two feet.

When you go to a job site every week and spend a few hours there, it is easy to see things that can be done for the customer. This is particularly true of a residential customer. You may see a tree branch that should be taken down or removed from the property or a section of a fence that could use a few nails. Part of your maintenance on the account is to visit with the customer either to deliver the invoice, discuss future work or pick up a check.

If you offer to take care of that little job that you or your crew noticed for free, that can endear you to that customer. That little free service will come back to you in customer loyalty and in many referrals that will serve to grow your business simply because you took the time to be nice and do something for free for the good customers that you have.

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