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As proud Midwesterners, the Smart Service team definitely understands that not all regions have continuously warm weather. For a lawn care business, winter often means a downturn in work or the services they can realistically offer clients. This could mean a loss of revenue/profits for a period of time, but it doesn’t have to. A good way to extend your profitable season? Prepping clients for winterization.
As a lawn care provider, you know the devastation freezing can bring to a sprinkler system. You may already offer some form of winterization, but if you find it difficult getting your clients on board, you can try these things to improve sales for winterization services.
Improve customer awareness.
Before a customer can purchase your services, they have to know that you offer them in the first place. Most customers do not know the ins and outs of your business, so you should constantly bring up the secondary services you offer (including but not limited to winterization).
This can be super simple. Sending out pre-formatted emails, phone calls, or even making field workers mention winterization post-service all represent great options. Remember, customers can’t buy something they don’t know you have, so remain persistent. If you’re a Smart Service customer, you can take advantage of our built-in marketing tools to do handle this for you. If you need a guide on utilizing the features of the marketing section inside Smart Service, you can find it here.
Push prevention over replacement.
Preventive maintenance is absolutely crucial when it comes to avoiding costly repairs or emergency work. The cost of preventive services pales in comparison to the costs of completely to redoing a system. Give clients data or images of past disasters. Let them know what kind of damage can occur with an improperly maintained system.
Showing customers your rates for winterization versus total replacement will drive home the importance of doing preventive work. Outside of the cost issue, remind customers of the additional landscaping needed to complete repairs. No one wants to think about additional hassle, so this will help push customers towards doing proper preventive work.
Hot tip! Customers will occasionally mention doing winterization themselves with their home tools. When this happens, make sure you mention the difference industrial equipment can make in ensuring a job gets done right. Alternatively, if you have a storefront, offering any adapters or specialty tools will help you get sales from these DIY-ers.
Offer a total care solution.
Clients in a position to consider winterization will normally have some service history with you. Why not take this a step further and give them the total care solution? Bundle their existing services with a winterization package. Let customers take a step back so you can manage all their services for them. Why should they fuss with multiple businesses when you can handle everything?
A total care solution allows clients to get comfortable with your staff over a period of time. This helps them feel they are in good hands. Offering savings to customers (when compared to what they would pay when purchasing services individually) could nudge them towards your full service solution.
This can be done in reverse as well! New winterization clients should be offered your standard lawn care services in the same sort of bundle.
Consider offering additional services.
Outside of winterization, make sure that you explore all possible avenues for offseason revenue. This can include services such as leaf removal, snow clearing, or even hanging Christmas lights for clients. As a lawn care provider, you already have the tools needed for these services. Let your clients know you’ll be there for whatever they need. This can also mean taking the time to learn new skills or improve office workflow. If you’re looking for options on what your team can do in wintertime, check out our article on the subject.
