8 ROOKIE Mistakes To AVOID As A NEW Lawn Care Business!

hey what's going on guys it's Brian here Brian's all maintenance alright today I want to talk to you guys just short and sweet have some fun with you guys talking to you about the top eight rookie mistakes that I see new lawn care business owners make as they go into business and as they go into their first season let's check it out alright guys so if you're new to my channel I'm all about helping you guys grow a more successful business so you guys can go out there and crush it so if you're new to the channel don't forget to smash that subscribe button and join on in and to the adventure which is everything Brian's all man that's right and welcome to the jungle so anyway I want to do a fun video for you guys just short and sweet a list video and here's the reason for this video a lot of you guys are going into your upcoming season a lot of you guys are new into the business into the industry you've got a lot of questions a lot of fears a lot of anxiety but also a lot of you guys are just full of gusto and energy but at the same point I want to make sure as you go into the season you don't make some of these top eight rookie mistakes all of them which by the way I've made and I made for a long while so here's the deal I've been doing a lot of podcasts a lot of podcasting recording interviews with a lot of guys and it's been taking me down memory lane a lot of folks have been sharing their story as we do these podcasts and quite honestly it's been a lot of fun I'm looking to launch the podcast at the end of February that'll be a green industry related podcast so hang tight hang loose as things come out so just stay tuned it's gonna be really really fun but while I'm doing all these podcasts it's been making me think about all these mistakes or rookie mistakes and even mistakes that we still all make today and so here's the deal let's just keep it short and sweet let's go into a top eight list and no particular order although the last ones gonna be probably the most juicy if you will and they'll just keep it continuing to build right now the number one mistake that I see new lunker business owners make is they don't have a service plan option or their service plan options are way too crazy all right if you guys are a new business owner keep your pricing in your plans simple like there's people that are sending me stuff and they're like well I've got a a bronze plan a silver plan a gold plan a platinum plan the diamond plan and I'm like Jesus what is this like network marketing I'm just having fun and that's but it's just it's like they have all these options like you know $49 gets you this $79 gets you this and I know listen if you're a new lawn care business owner and you're making your company available whether it's on your postcard marketing on the phone or in person you got to simplify things so customers just go look I want my lawn service I want a tall grass short I wanted to look nice for the twenty six twenty eight weeks of the season what kind of service plan am I on for me we only offer one plan for you guys you might have a a good better best or the basics and then like lawn of the Month Club I'll call it but keep it simple I just see a lot of marketing materials coming in I know I was a victim of that we had the the bi-weekly plan the the regular weekly planned the every month plan like it was just it was all over the board so I see a lot of folks making that quick early mistake having too many service plans we're not simplifying their service plans number to talk about scheduling same thing you know a lot of you guys give too much information when you're trying to schedule your clients we give them you let the tail wag the dog I know I sure did what do I mean by that well I top-heavy you know front loaded my business by my Friday lawns right that my Thursday's and we worked backwards during the week and so when somebody calls or signs up you guys automatically think they have to get a Friday cut or a Thursday cut or the customer tells you what they they want their long cut that's a huge mistake that I see a lot of new lawn care business owners make don't let the tail wag the dog well I've talked about this on other videos about you know if somebody wants to sign up put them out on Monday Tuesday Wednesday the way you sell that is just saying hey look your lawns gonna look nice all week and you're gonna be the envy of the neighborhood if you sign up a new customer and you're filling up your route on Thursday or Friday hey awesome your lawns gonna look nice all weekend and you're gonna be the envy of the neighborhood okay but don't let the tail wag the dog and don't let folks tell you what day they're gonna get mowed by the way we always say that your lawn will be cut every six to eight days never every seven days now we try to cut Wednesdays on Wednesdays right but the end of the day there's rain there's weather there's equipment breakdowns there's labor issues right never know when your guys are gonna show up sometimes so I always tell customers we'll be there every six to eight days the idea is to be there every week on Wednesdays for example if they're a Wednesday cup as we keep going number three payment options sometimes you guys you know trying to online invoice or charge card on file I do the same thing but sometimes you give folks too many options to pay just like with the service options sometimes you guys give too many options to pay well we'll take cash credit Bitcoin charge card PayPal square stripe I mean it just gets ridiculous listen whatever you got going on it's all good but if you're getting started in business off of your customers one two or three ways to pay cash you know it's an option we do not take any cash in person a little bit bigger company is never gonna take cash in person because who knows who's gonna collect it and if it's gonna get back to the office right credit cards and invoicing is probably the best way to do that always over email or you know over the phone is fine but always over email or through an invoice through your software right I just see somebody who sent me something that's like they had like seven different payment options list it's like venmo even and I'm like look at no I'm not saying no business offers venmo payments PayPal is probably little bit more professionally recognized but don't have seven different people some different merchant ways to pay that lawn invoice keep it short keep it simple use a CRM a yard book kind of a type of program send invoices okay hold these are helping you guys out if so should big thumbs up by the way all these have just been stories down from memory lane as I go through this because lord knows I've made all these same problems or same mistakes number four being a little too lenient on clients now this one's gonna be talking a lot about fees I'll leave a video up here wherever it would go about late fees I did a top seven fees that need to be charging your customers to make sure that you can run your ship in order so two of them that I'm going to talk the most about for just ten seconds number one is pet waste fees do not accept that as a new lawn care business owner you don't need the client that bad if you're rolling through dog mess every single week or every other week it's nasty it's unhealthy for you it's unhealthy for the lawn you can track that you know those those you know the all that's from Londa lawn from aunt to other pets which is just not good at all so you know nip that in the bud number two late fees late fees are my other biggest one don't let the tail wag the dog if somebody you know you do a you know a customer and you're you know saying hey we'll bill you every fourteen days at you know at the end of the month or every net 30 or do payments do at the end of the month do payments do like payments do get your money don't let the tail wag the dog that was my biggest cash flow issue way back in the day which is why I got in your book and why I do charge cards on file right have plenty of other videos if you want to go down that rabbit hole about how we manage our office but the bottom line is don't be chasing money after 3045 days like that's that's a huge no-no it'll it'll be catastrophic to your business especially as things go let's keep it going what else we got um not cancelling quick enough that's a huge one you know I've always been I've always heard how you're fast or hire slow fire fast right same thing with your customer base right if you're if you're taking on customers and you think it's gonna be a good fit that's awesome but if things come up and you just realize really quick out of the gate that this customer is too needy they're complaining they're a little high-maintenance maybe and you know maybe you charge appropriately for that but I know for me personally I had customers stick with me way longer than I ever should have so as you're a new lung care business owner don't be afraid to cancel don't be afraid to tell people no and I know you're gonna say easy for you to say mr. successful right you get old you know you got a big established business which my business is you know very small by the way but know even back when then you know back when I was just getting started if somebody was a headache and they're a fuss cancel those folks laugh he's somebody else's problem alright let's keep it going hopefully you guys enjoy this I was just I'm laughing along the way I want to be quick just for time sakes for you guys because you guys know I like to jibber-jabber right another one I got number I think we're at six is being needy or desperate I don't know I don't ever want you guys to again play defensive as you grow your business we all want customers we all want to grow the business but don't be so needy where you're selling your service short where you're selling your prices short you know the big guy in town he might cut along for you know forty two dollars and you think you have you know less overhead and less expenses right now so you like while do it for 30 or 32 hey man don't sell yourself short make the same amount charge the same amount you know make sure you have those great prices and that way you can have the business be supported as it grows but one thing I see too many folks out there especially your lawn care business owners their flier and everything their marketing everything which is fantastic but don't be needy out you know play a little hard to get you know if in fact if you play hard to get sometimes you get better clients and you get better prices and and I think you'll be a happier it just overall which that's a whole nother story I'm if you can have run a business and be happy at the same time that's what it's all about number seven and we're gonna keep it going explaining too much when you're signing up a new customer or you're talking to somebody about your business sometimes you know especially when you're on the phone as I think the analogy I wanted to bring up here was you know when somebody calls up and they say they want to sign up for your business the bottleneck to being able to sign up should be very simple in fact a lot of times we get in the way of even signing up a new customer so like you know Beth calls in and bets like hey I'm interested in signing up for your business what what what you know how do I do this what do I need to do I've never had a service before right well you know if you're in there and you're saying again you're getting so detail itíd well we have the bronze the silver the gold in the Platinum package we have the monthly program or the bi-weekly program we have this going on and we have that going on well an or you know well hey well here's why we're entirely different than the other guy and you start selling and convincing there's some of that you know you need to do some of it you probably have to add some contacts I always say hey we've been in business for more than a decade we live here locally I mean I grew up in the area of course I know your subdivision in fact I do so-and-so and so-and-so in your subdivision you know hey yeah we'd be more than happy to take you on well hotter service work hey we we cut every week on Wednesdays cut trim blow we edged bi-weekly and then for a payment we do a charge card on file system where we've cash out at the end of the month super simple okay fantastic honey looking forward to signing up with you no problem shoot me a text message with your name your address your email your phone number and of course we'll plug into our system you'll get that credit card on file link will store your credit card on file and if your Wednesday cut you'll see us charge your card on the fourth week at the end of the month on Wednesday that little sound bite right there in 60 seconds that's examine you explain the whole business now if they need mulch if they need shrub pruning and all that other mess go down the rabbit hole right but don't explain too much don't don't throw up on them like you need to tell them your whole life story what else we got the last one and by the way hopeful you guys are enjoying this I know I'm coming at you fast but you know I'm glad I'm having all these fun conversations going down memory lane as I talk to all these other lawn care business owners so I've been like compiling this list and in by the way I've sinned and made every single one of these top eight mistakes the last one that I'll talk about for new lawn care business owners and even guys still in business today is not asking for the sale but kind of piggybacks off the last one you talk talk talk talk talk talk talk I know me I was like we're gonna cut with this more we're gonna kind of this height we're gonna be on time on Wednesdays we're gonna offer all these amazing things like your your life will be perfect right what we're solving all the world's problems if you will with just signing up with my hands a lot magnets or or bills lawn service right I get it that's fine but sometimes you need to put a cork in the cake hole and just calm down and just ask for the sale right you know if if you here buying questions like well how much in it they're called indicators if you hear well how much is it or how does somebody get started or how do we sign up stop talking that's the exact cue to stop talking and go into closed remember the ABCs right what does that Wall Street or boiler room I can't remember always be closing right remember your ABCs the minute somebody shows intent or indicators I should say that they want to sign up with you close them and then move on to the next sale and stop wasting time oh really talk and that's what works for me you know when would you like to get started would you like to schedule that do you feel like you have enough information to get that scheduled how quickly do you want to see these results they're just really good language that you can have if you're not a huge sales e person kind of like Brian's lawn maintenance right which by the way I learned all this stuff way back in the day actually way back from TruGreen like I said great sales organization I'm a fertilizer organization and a great company out there so here's the bottom line folks just want results folks just want their lawn mowed again these 8 mistakes I see you know all of us we've all done it let me know if you guys are ever guilty of any of these top 8 service plans options having too many scheduling options you know tell me what day people are gonna people are gonna tell you what day they want it mowed payment options some of you guys have way too many options for payment or it's not streamlined you know or you're taking cash with this customer invoicing with this customer none of that nonsense try to keep it streamlined it'll it'll pay huge dividends as we go number four to lenient on client fees hey I did a great video if you haven't checked that out do it I mean it it'll definitely pay huge dividends we'll bring in some revenue - but it'll help you stop playing defense with your business and letting people walk all over you that was a huge issue for me number five not cancelling quick enough you know what do they say higher slowly fire fast so kind of that people as you go just make sure they're a good fit for your company and also I guess you're your own company make sure you got good people and all that mess number six being BD being needy or desperate don't be needy don't be desperate don't be trying to take on everything make sure it still fits into that picture of what you're trying to do with your business and if it's that vision of what you're trying to get for your target customer your perfect avatar customer number seven it's explaining too much we're all here victims of this we've all are guilty of this we just explain and explain and explain and usually customers are they just say yes to tell you to shut up yeah that's how it is for me they're like yes yes honey I wanted a narration you had me at yes you know I mean you had me at a ratio and so one of those and then number eight not asking for the sale not asking for the sale which is those indicators right listen in those conversations look for body language right when somebody's going like this probably not impressed when they're like you know talking they're like they're opened up and their body language is open probably a good communicator that you're communicating and you're in you're breaking through those walls and they want to go with you remember nobody wants to get sold everybody wants to buy that's an old sales you won and so just give them information present it to them if they want to buy it let them buy it all right so any which way that's my top eight list appreciate you guys being flexible with me as I haven't really uploaded a video the last week I've been grinding out podcast plus I wanted to leave the last video up as well I'll leave a link here if you want to check that out where we gave away literally our free lawn care agreement form for our residential clients a lot of you guys have also been purchasing the commercial lawn care form which is like 20 bucks so if you're trying to get more residential clients as a new lawn care business owner amazing resource for you guys at launch premier Academy com if you trying to get commercial work hey we got a contract that's both one more editable they're both Word documents which is awesome it's plug and play go check them both out I got a great videos on all that stuff alright guys that's it Brian here brian is all maintance preciate you guys watching a big-time look forward to catching up with you guys on the next video

Channel: Brian's Lawn Maintenance

Views: 101,861

Keywords: how to start a lawn care business, lawn care tips, lawn care advice, lawn care marketing, lawn care billing, lawn agreement form, lawn care business, starting a lawn care business, start a lawn care business, lawn care service agreement, lawn care forms, lawn care flyer, lawn care business tips, how to start a lawn business, how to get lawn care customers fast, lawn care business startup, lawn care business advertising, how to get lawn care customers, lawn care business plan

Id: vNncthmwAYU

Length: 15min 27sec (927 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 05 2020