Advertising?

[Widow Shooter]

after the new year, I want to really push the winter-tree work thing.

up here, the majority of people have the mindset that summer is the best time to do it, which as we all know unless it is deadwooding or removals,is the WORST time

anybody do radio spots? have they worked for you?

I'm tempted to try them, they are pricey, but it could pay off, or it could flop....

I have flyers printed off, 2,000 of them.


I'm going to drop them in mailboxes of homes that have trees in need.


I'm advertising 20% off winter work, to encourage people to get me to do the work in the winter, good for the trees, good for my pocketbook.

I'm also thinking of a big ad in the paper, one that takes almost a whole page?


what do you guys do to drum up winter work, ( besides plowing)


merry christmas

 

[SkwerI]

I've found that the best time to plant those seeds is in the summer. When I'm overwhelmed with work in August I'll try to defer some of the calls till winter. It's easier with established customers since they are less likely to just call the next guy in the phone book.

 

[Widow Shooter]

I've found that the best time to plant those seeds is in the summer. When I'm overwhelmed with work in August I'll try to defer some of the calls till winter. It's easier with established customers since they are less likely to just call the next guy in the phone book.

I have done that, and have some stuff lined up from that.

another thing I'm going to start doing on jobs over 500 bucks, is to get a deposit. I have lost some jobs this year, handshake deals.

Get a call to hear that someone else is doing it, or drive by and the tree is gone?

I think if they pay 20% down or something, they would be less inclined to go with someone else in the meantime, especially if they are low in the que.

 

[Al Smith]

Tom was able to talk a few people into waiting a bit longer on some of those removals caused by the dying off of the ash trees .

Because of the late rains he would have needed to lay out an enormous amounts of plywood roads to prevent damage to the lawns . After it freezes it's a simple matter of pushing off the snow so the lawns freeze hard as asphault and virtually no damage is done . Of course that approach wouldn't work in Florida or some place where it doesn't get that cold .

Another thing is it in effect puts the money from the job into next years work as far as paying taxes on it providing it's into next year or at least the billing is .

 

[emr]

This year we are booked into mid February and almost all of that was from summer selling. I think that my last approval was two or three weeks ago. In that same time period, I have done maybe 3 estimates. I believe that people are just not outside enough to be thinking about trees. If you think about when someone calls you for an estimate, many times its when they first notice the problem. When someone thinks they just got a clearance problem, the fact is that that tree has most likely been like that for at least a year but they just noticed it. My point is, if they are not outside, they are not going to notice any problems.

Maybe if you do a radio show add you could offer free "evaluation" of trees that may need work. I don't know how you would phrase it, but it would be similar to car places checking your battery for free or checking the a/c for free.

 

[Rborist1]

How are you ranking in Google for your area?

 

[Widow Shooter]

This year we are booked into mid February and almost all of that was from summer selling. I think that my last approval was two or three weeks ago. In that same time period, I have done maybe 3 estimates. I believe that people are just not outside enough to be thinking about trees. If you think about when someone calls you for an estimate, many times its when they first notice the problem. When someone thinks they just got a clearance problem, the fact is that that tree has most likely been like that for at least a year but they just noticed it. My point is, if they are not outside, they are not going to notice any problems.

Maybe if you do a radio show add you could offer free "evaluation" of trees that may need work. I don't know how you would phrase it, but it would be similar to car places checking your battery for free or checking the a/c for free.

Thought about that Eric, it is a good idea. but there is a fine line as to where a "free" evaluation ends and a "paid" consultation begins Also, I always have my climbing kit on those in case I have to climb to inspect, at that point, it is a paid-gig, to a degree.

 

[rangerdanger]

Up at TCIA I talked to a bunch of people about this. Biggest thing I found was:

1-sell it in the summer/fall time period. When you're bursting with work, ask if its ok to push it back to the winter, and offer a 10-20% discount. Just about everyone I talked too said thats the best way to keep busy in winter.

2-Get a good website up and running, and then hire an SEO, a Search Engine Optimizer. He's the guy who will make your website show up at the top of a Google search. They think of just about anything that will make it show up on top, and on the first page multiple times. Key words, etc. The guy I talked to about this said it was the best advertising money he ever spent.

 

[canadiantreeman]

Yeah, I would much rather spend money on digital advertising than print. While some folks still use the yellow pages etc. for advertising, I hope to use teh interwebs more this year. The yellow pages just doesn't seem worth the cost to me.

Selling winter work in the summer is a great idea, do you that do ask for a deposit for the work? It would seem that a person could lose a few jobs just due to people forgetting about getting us in in the slower months.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Requiring a deposit wouldn't fly around here.

 

[Rborist1]

Deposits would not fly around here either. We are booked into March already, with zero deposits. Pre-booking/selling (for winter work) in the fall is the only way to go.

 

[Tucker943]

Here's my thoughts, but there are folks on this site that might be far better to take advice from. Think long and hard about dumping a pile of money on advertising this time of year. Thats a risky proposition. It might work, it might not. If you can absorb the financial blow if its a flop, then give it a whirl. Im starting to find that planting the seed for winter work is best done in the summer. If Im screaming busy, i write them an estimate for now, and below it an estimate for Dec 1-March 1. It helps big time.

As far as taking a deposit, do what you think is best. In my area, it wouldnt fly on a $500 job. On a job that goes for a few grand, folks seem to be willing to put some money down. I take money down on planting jobs, that way they cant screw me on the hard cost out of my pocket. I dont even get a signature when they give me the go ahead on work. I probably should. I call them a day or 2 before we will be out to do the work and if its still waiting, great, if they went and got another guy in the mean time, they obviously arent the customers Im after. Dont get me wrong, it pisses me off, but if they manage to piss me off before the work starts, then they arent who I want to do business with.

 

[NeTree]

I would think the world's greatest climber would be swamped with work year-round.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Haha.

No, I've plenty of off time!

 

[Tucker943]

LOL at Butch..... That one got me roaring!

 

[sotc]

which as we all know unless it is deadwooding or removals,is the WORST time

It is?

I think were looking at a slow winter starting about now. Lost a couple bids for a weeks work each, we were second place. I have a 30 second spot on a local garden show every Saturday that seems to work ok, it is a year round thing. Having a secretary has been great, shes been good about keeping things fresh on Facebook and our website. We have the Spring homeshow coming up in February, thats always a nice booster. Were pushing the specialty stuff more than the everyday pruning and removals now, getting the word out to municipalities that like your work is a great boost.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Holiday season always slows down.. Just the way it is....

Maybe he is scaring the customers off Erik, writing in the price of admission to his climbs in his estimates.

Most clients I have found, like it included at no extra charge

 

[Widow Shooter]

yeah but they pay to see my butt, don't think they will pay to see a climber with a pancake bum

and Butch, pretty quick man, pretty quick

 

[CurSedVoyce]

HA!

 

[squisher]

For me the winter work has come with being more established. Word of mouth is still my biggest seller of work. I've got about a month month and a half on the books that will easily take me through winter with the plowing I do too.

 

[Widow Shooter]

yeah, i don't plow, everybody and their dog does it here, we have 20+ landscaping companies in a town of 22,000, not to mention all the contracting companies, not enough plowing here for all of them

 

[squisher]

There's huge money in snow if you know what you're doing, I've culled the culls and filled all gaps in my route with big money pushes. Now I have steady work whether it snows or not, because in a heavy snowfall here equipment/treework isn't happening very easily so I plow, and if there's no snow I now have plenty of treework lined up too. Took about 4 years to build to the point where I'm now pretty much swamped year round.

Treework sucks when it's snowing, it's better to be really cold than snowing temperatures where you get soaked, I'd rather plow those days myself. I climbed/rigged many, many days in the woods while soaked at temperatures around freezing and that's the worst time for it imo.

 

[NeTree]

Tough call, huh? Wet and freezing... or warm and dry...

 

[thattreeguy]

if you put fliers on mailboxes the postmaster will be upset with you and may remove each one and charge you for it....dont touch the box,

but no one says ya cant use a push pin and put it on the post that holds the box.

a real good ph book ad, with a good website for starters......our ad tops everyone, by quality of content and our web site is decent...people pick up right away that we are something more than tree trimmers

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Do you work Saturdays? Neighbors are home. Conspicuously park your rig in view, with signage. You could have a sign made that says, "Ask me about your trees" which would be placed in the front yard in case you move your rig to the back/ out of sight. Add some smaller lettering details of services. If they are interested, they'll slow down as they drive past to see what you offer.