How to Start Your Own Professional Lawn Mowing Service
Mowing lawns is a great business. If you live in an area with heavy winters, your lawn mowing business can be a great additional source of income in the summer. If you live further south where there’s year-round growth, you can make a solid income throughout the year. You could even move with the seasons, depending on what option works best for you.
Not everyone will pay to have their lawn mowed, however, and sometimes it can be hard to get repeat business, so how do you get your business off of its feet? You use these tips:
Understand Your Customer Base
The customers who would be willing to pay for their lawns to be mowed on their behalf are all going to be those with unmanageable properties. This means larger properties and often a wealthier clientele.
The problem with this type of clientele is getting your foot in the door. Once you do, all that’s left is to do a good job. You might then get more work through word of mouth or can simply pitch your services by highlighting what you’ve done for a potential client’s neighbor.
The Basics of Lawn Business
To get your foot in the door with this type of clientele, you’ll need:
Credentials
How many years have you worked? What’s your experience? Try to think of any reason why you would be a good fit and use that as a selling point. Consider taking courses, getting licenses, or using other third-party systems that work to help you further your expertise and give you credentials you can use to advertise your services.
Equipment
You will need to invest in the lawn care equipment needed to cater to these larger properties. In most cases, a small push lawn mower isn’t going to cut it. Instead, you’ll need a high-end, efficient option. For example, there are many zero-turn mowers out there, allowing you to offer expedited lawn-cutting services.
Services
If you really want to attract potential clients, you need to offer more than just a cutting service. Consider adding other garden maintenance or learn the ins and outs of lawn health, so you can operate as a full-scale lawn doctor.
Advertising Your Business
Having a solid business plan and the equipment to easily handle the jobs in question is a good place to start. The next step to getting your foot in the door is to then start advertising yourself. One, create a simple website that works like a digital CV and portfolio in one. You can include your license, insurance, and the equipment that you use. You should also have several working communication methods available so customers can get in contact with you the way you prefer.
You’ll also want to invest in social media. Showing before and after videos, as well as progress videos, is a great way to draw in attention and new bookings. Just remember you will need to ask for permission before filming. Some clients might prefer their privacy.
From there, you’ll want to use PPC and other paid marketing methods. To save and get more results, try to stick to very local listings. You don’t need to advertise to people outside of your catchment area, so focus your advertising efforts to get results.
