What lawn care customers actually care about (it’s not what you think)

What lawn care customers actually care about (it’s not what you think)
Most lawn care businesses focus on delivering quality results to their customers. This could mean attention to detail, beautiful mowing patterns, quality fertilization, and flawless cleanup. While the final product is certainly important to customers, it's only scratching the surface. 

Lawn care customers care about how their lawn looks, but there’s more at stake. They also care about how their lawn care company acts and makes them feel. If you’re trying to build stronger customer relationships or win new customers, there are a few things you need to focus on more than just the lawn service itself. Let’s take a look.

Having a good online presence

In today’s age, people start looking for service providers online first. In the research phase, they’re really just looking for an established business that they can trust. When they’re shopping around, they're not as concerned about high-quality results; they just want to hire someone who they feel like will be reliable.

This is where your online presence comes in. Whether you use social media, ad campaigns, or GreenPal to find customers, it’s important that you have a complete “profile.” You want homeowners to take one look at you and feel confident that they’re hiring someone who’s knowledgeable, experienced, and friendly. Completing a full profile on GreenPal is essential for this.

Reliability and showing up on time

The key to getting more satisfied customers is reliability. No one wants to hire someone who schedules a certain day and time and then cancels. Unfortunately, this is all too common in the lawn care industry, so you can really set yourself apart by always showing up on time. Reliability is extremely important with business owners and property managers. If these people hire someone who cancels frequently, they’ll just move on to another service provider.

On GreenPal, your reliability directly ties into your online presence. The app has a reliability rating that displays the percentage of times you show up when you say you do. This rating helps build trust with your customer base. A 90% or better is optimal for standing out and finding new customers.

Excellent communication

Communication goes a long way with new and existing customers alike. When you respond to the inquiries quickly, let them know about changes in scheduling ahead of time, and follow up to ensure that they're satisfied with the results, you’ll make a lifelong customer. 

Most people hire a landscaping business so that they no longer have to do their lawn care work themselves. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to be involved in the process. Ideally, you should keep them informed about everything from when you’ll show up to what work you’ll do.

Overall professionalism

The best way to improve your customer retention is by working with professionalism. Many lawn care pros focus too much on the yard work side of things. They think that as long as they do quality work, their customers will be satisfied. It doesn’t matter if you offer lawn care in Gainesville, FL or Portland, Maine; ultimately, customers will remember how you operated as a business for longer than how their yard looked.

Here are a few professional lawn care tips that you can start using today:

• Create a standard set of services so that customers know what to expect every time.

• Set recurring schedules. Show up at your customer’s homes at the same time every week/every other week.

• Keep a professional image with high-quality equipment and clean clothing.

• Invest in branding for your landscape company.

• Offer lawn care services besides basic lawn mowing. Consider mulching, weed control, aeration, and fertilization.

• Always follow up with your customers and ask for their feedback.

• Ensure that you are licensed and insured. Take industry training opportunities when they’re available. 

• Treat every customer the same, regardless of whether it’s their first time, they come from referrals, or you’ve been helping them for years.

Reviews, reputation, and qualifications

Word of mouth reputation and your presence on social media platforms play a role in how customers perceive you. But at the end of the day, real reviews and qualifications will set you apart from your competitors.

Customers want to feel like they’re hiring an expert for their lawn care; otherwise, they would just do it themselves. GreenPal provides an excellent platform to display reputation. Every job has photos uploaded to your profile for prospective customers to review, and you can display reviews from past jobs. The bio section also allows you to explain your background and any relevant qualifications/certifications you may have.

Small details matter

You’d be surprised by how much homeowners notice the small things. While the look of the entire lawn matters, going the extra mile with small touches makes a huge difference in customer satisfaction. It shows that you appreciate their business and want to do everything you can to meet the customers’ needs. For example, you could:

• Sharpen your mower blades so that the grass has a clean cut, rather than jagged.

• Send your customer quick texts if the weather changes, and you have to delay.

• Avoid leaving tire tracks and ruts in the yard when the grass is wet.

• Provide detailed weedwacking around trees, mailboxes, and other obstacles.

• Blow clippings off the sidewalk, porch, and other hard surfaces.

How to keep customers coming back again and again

Your goal is to turn one-time customers into long-term customers. Providing excellent mowing service is a great way to achieve this, but you need to go the extra mile. By having unwavering reliability, excellent communication, a high-level of professionalism, and attention to detail, you’ll create satisfied customers that keep coming back week after week.

Elevate your business and get started with GreenPal today

Finding customers has never been easy for lawn care companies, and it can take a while to get your business off the ground. GreenPal speeds up the process by giving you direct access to customers who are looking for services in your area. All you have to do is bid on jobs, and homeowners will have the chance to hire you. Get started today by signing up.