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$1,148 in One Day with
Plants? You Bet!
by Michael J. McGroarty -
www.freeplants.com
Last spring we sold over $25,000. worth of our little
plants right from our driveway in a matter of about six
weeks!Click here to see one of our plant sales, photos of
our house, and our backyard nursery.This article is actually
an example of a simple yet, excellent marketing plan. Pay
close attention to how I went
out and found new business at a time of the year when things
are normally slow, and not only did I make $1,148.00, my
friend
Franky also made $1,060.00.
Because I chose to keep myself out of the rat race of
landscaping new homes, I went after a market that was more
of
an impulsive type market. New home landscaping is almost a
necessity, since new homes don’t have any shrubs, or grass.
Not only that, many housing developments actually require
people to have their landscaping done within a certain
number
of months from the time they move into their new homes.
Therefore, when the house is done, people are anxious to get
it landscaped.
Since I wasn’t in that market, and most impulsive
gardening decisions are made in the spring, my business
typically slowed down during the very hot summer months. So
one year I decided to do a little test marketing, to see if
I
could muster up some work during the summer.
I decided to do a test mailing to 350 homeowners in an
area where I knew the people could afford landscaping
services,
but were not extremely rich. I mailed a letter to these 350
homes, and the letter basically said I could help them with
any landscaping project that needed done, and because my
business was slow during the summer I could give them a
really
fair price.
Of the 350 people that received the letter 3 called
me. I immediately sold two jobs, and the third job was still
open for discussion. On one of the first two jobs I made
about
$350. and on the other I made about $700. That’s net profit.
That’s how much I got to keep. Since the mailing cost less
than
$175., my immediate profit on the mailing was $875.
Not bad at all considering this was only a part-time
business for me. But don’t forget about that third caller, I
had not even met this person yet.
The reason he called is because he happened to own a 60
unit apartment building in the Cleveland area, and he need
some
trees or shrubs planted around the parking lot. The
architect
that he had been working with suggested Taxus Hicksi, which
is
an evergreen that is easily trimmed and maintained to a
certain
size. However, all the landscapers he had spoken with in
Cleveland wanted about $44.00 each to install these plants.
Although a fair price, that amounted to $4,664.00 because he
needed 106 plants.
He contacted me because he was hoping I could find a
less expensive plant to use. After visiting the job site I
realized that Taxus Hicksi actually was about the best
choice
for this situation, so I told him I would see if I could get
a
better price on the plants. I showed in a wholesale catalog
that the wholesale price was $22.00 per plant, but mentioned
that I might be able to find another source.
I knew that my friend Franky did at one time grow this
particular plant, so I gave him a call. Turns out he did
have
106 plants available, and was anxious to move some of them,
he
quoted me $10.00 each, balled in burlap.
I called my customer and told him that I found good
plants at a lower price, and that I could actually deliver
and
plant them for $22.00 per plant, which is exactly half of
what
others had quoted him. He was delighted, and I did the job.
As a matter of fact he actually asked me to install some
additional plants while I was there.
I hired 3 guys to help me do the job, and we had it
done in one day. After I paid for the plants, and paid my
help, I actually made $1,148.00 on that one day job. My
customer was so happy with the work we did that he asked me
to
come back the following week and do about another $700.00
worth
of work. I made another $350.00 The following spring he
hired
me to re-landscape an older home that he had purchased, and
I
made another $600.00.
Remember the $175.00 that I spent to mail those 350
letters? The net profit on that mailing turned out to be
about
$2,973.00!!! And my friend Franky picked up $1,060.00 for
the
plants I bought from him.
Were these 350 people I selected special? No they
weren’t. Every town in America has at least 350 people just
like them, probably thousands more.
There are many different ways to make money with
plants, this is just one of them, I can show you plenty
more.
I’ve been making money with plants for over 25 years.
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article.
Bonsai Gardening Secrets
Click Here!
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