Marketing Hints and Tips
Ready for more revenue?
“There is nothing more frustrating,” says Holganix CEO Barrett Ersek as he reflects on when he ran lawn care companies, “than the summer lag on revenue.” After all, with the summer in full swing, no one wants to talk about lawn care. For Ersek, the real secret to earning revenue in the summer was upselling, specifically upselling aeration and overseeding. “With aeration, I could nearly double the revenue per customer.” Ultimately, this meant turning a $500 client into one worth $1,000 while providing real value for the customer.
“The need for aeration is the most obvious during the hot summer months when your customers’ pain is at its greatest,” says Ersek. Aeration is key to maintaining a healthy turf. It also helps build a thick, web-like root system – the ultimate natural solution when dealing with summer stress, disease and weeds – problems you face during the summer. So, how do you upsell aeration and overseeding?
At the end of the day, it’s important to select your most likely candidates for aeration and overseeding. “These are the folks that are picky about the look of their grass,” said Ersek. The key is to educate your client base on the value of receiving aeration. “When the customer is properly informed, upselling specialized lawn services [like aeration and overseeding] does not require pushy selling,” says Lawn and Landscape magazine in an article on the subject.
“Your best plan,” says Nicole Wise, Holganix Head of Marketing and a former marketing coordinator for a regional lawn care company, “is to utilize direct mail and inbound marketing techniques like emails, YouTube and blogging to educate the customer on aeration.” Supplement these efforts with phone calls and your return on investment could double.
“As you plan out your marketing campaigns, try not to be too sales-y,” cautions Wise. While it’s important to deliver a clear offer to entice customers, you want to educate rather than sell. Keeping the message clear and concise is also key. “You don’t want to cloud up a direct mail piece or any other marketing materials with too much information and multiple offers; otherwise prospects won’t even bother to read about your services.”
Need some extra help? Wise has already done the hard work for you. Click the button below to access all of the aeration upsell marketing pieces we've designed to help you bring in new revenue. The peices include easy, printable direct mail pieces and upsell letters. We’d be more than happy to customize the pieces by including your logo in the postcards, free of charge. Reach out to Holganix Communication Specialist, Suzanne Longacre for details (slongacre@holganix.com).
