As I have managed the sales and growth of my company in the past six years, we have experimented with a variety of different types of sales approaches. Some have been more successful than others in success and they have all varied in the cost to acquire a customer. Creating a successful balance between the cost of sale and the close rate of volume are two variables that have been critical to the success of our company. After all, you need profitable sales so that you can reinvest into future profitable grow.
During the past five years, Noon Turf Care has quadrupled in size – today we have $6 million in annual revenue and recently expanded to our fourth service location in the Boston area. Our sales growth has largely come from two areas: the telephone and the internet.
From my experience, the quickest and most cost-effective method in acquiring a new customer in the lawn care industry is via the telephone. As I always say to other lawn care providers that attend my tele-sales training camp , “The internet and direct mail are the trap, but the telephone is the kill shot.” At the end of the day every prospect will need to be closed by a salesman whether it be in person or on the telephone.
In recent years it has become increasingly difficult to attain phone numbers for sales leads due to the advent of the Do Not Call Registry and the growing trend of people now using their cell phone as their primary telephone.
But I’m an eternal optimist: I look at the decline in published phone numbers as a challenge that our company has to overcome. After all, if sales were easy everyone would do it. That is why this year we are launching a door-to-door sales campaign that will run from March to September.
At its core, door-to-door sales is essentially telemarketing in person. And since we are experts at phone sales, we have a goal to master this approach as well. When I reflect back on how my brother and I started our business one of our most successful methods of getting new business was door knocking neighborhoods of where we already had existing customers. Back then, we couldn’t even afford to buy the scrubbed marketing lists with telephone numbers we have today for all of our salesmen. Door to door sales offered a very economical way of gaining to clients or at the very least getting the word out about our company in targeted neighborhoods.
Here’s how we’ve set up our modern door-to-door program:
1. This winter we are recruiting, hiring and training a team of ten door to door sales professionals to canvas targeted neighborhoods of where we already have customers to further condense our lawn routes. Unlike 10 years ago when we last put efforts into to door to door marketing, today we have the capital, technology and management to make it a success. Although door to door sales is not as efficient and cost effective as phone sales it does serve as another reliable method of acquiring new customers. Ultimately it can also increase our data base by gathering cell phone numbers from prospects as our sales professionals provide free lawn evaluations in the field. So even if they don’t make the sale we now have their phone number and email so we can market them throughout the season.
2. Our door to door campaign will run similarly to our inside phone sales department. Starting in March we have budgeted to staff ten fulltime sales reps to work through the majority of our New England season. Supplied with handheld tablets and registered name tag/license, the Noon Turf Care salesmen will be going door to door to neighborhoods that we already service. While in their professional uniforms they will knock doors and perform a mobile sales presentation displayed on their tablets. Additionally they will have all of the pertinent data in their tablets about the prospect. They will also have the data of existing customers so they can use these clients as referrals and of course to avoid knocking on our existing customers’ doors. With this technology they will be able to update information, log pricing and set up accounts real-time which will then be automatically uploaded to company server. Newly customers will be scheduled immediately by our routing department.
3. From March thru May we will be soliciting new lawn care programs to prospects similar to our inside sales campaign. Then we will shift over to supplemental services such pest control and tree and shrub care as the slower season approaches. We find success in the slower season in sales by being creative and focusing on current needs at this time like insect issues around the home or disease issues on plants and trees.
4. Our current manager has more than 10 years of sales experience in lawn care and more than five years of door to door sales with a large national competitor. Combining his experience and skill with our team and culture we are confident that we will have a successful launch of this new sales initiative.
5. Currently we have budgeted and laid out goals for each sales rep to close two sales per day six days per week. They will work 6 days per week Monday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Training will be critical to the success of our campaign. Similar to our inside sales training program, it is imperative that our new sales team master the craft of door to door sales by honing this craft. Their presentation need to quick, informative and professional. You only get one chance to make a great first impression and doing so swiftly will be key so that we don’t lose the attention of the prospect. We have also created a career path for our sales team and the individuals that are successful in door to door sales will then have the opportunity to join Noon Turf Care fulltime through the winter with our inside sales department.
Just like we did 10 years ago, a friendly sales presentation orchestrated by local and professional company will at the very least create a lasting impression on the communities that we serve.
