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  Jason Felstead February 6, 2011 at 7:01pm

  I agree, its generally quite over the winter period but will soon pick up come spring / summer. Stick with it the work will soon come in.
• PRO

  Paul @ Ashgate Garden Care February 6, 2011 at 7:30pm

  As John say's loose the prices on your website as going to price a job up gets your foot in the door, plus people will hold you to that price even if it's a pig of a job.
  
  It may be worth joining Derbyshire County Council's Trusted Trader Scheme as it will pay for itself in one job.
  
  Keep plugging away as at this time of year you'll probably be relying on your customer base for most of your winter work.
  
  john grass roots home and garden said:

  hi daniel welcometo ljn

   , my opinon is give it another month or so and you will see the customers coming , ive been queit and been ticking over ,i dont expect it to be as busy as the summer months . your website looks very colourful only turn off your prices , i posted prices on my website a few weeks ago and everybody thought it was a put off , take off your prices maybe that will put less people off and your foot in the door .

  regarding  your age everybody has to start off ,gaining trust from your customers i think is a good start , i wouldnt worry about the age thingy . 
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  Lawnman February 6, 2011 at 7:49pm

  To me the point of a flyer is to generate leads, maybe you need a couple of different flyers for the different aspects of the job.

  On my flyers I also have my web address this is to reassure the customers that I am reputable and can be contacted , as already said I would include a landline number on flyers, and a contact address as well as phone numbers on website, otherwise might be interpreted as you would be difficult to find.

  Definetly do not include prices, customer likely to use them with other contractors to say can you beat this,  then it is easy for them to undercut you by   not be quoting on same level of quality as yourself.

  Key is to get in front of potential customer, I  like the photos of your previous work.

  As already mentioned it would be worth having different pages for different aspects of your work and you could tie this into google adwords pointing customer at page relevant to their needs.

  I  would agree that enquiries should pick up from now onwards as weather improves, keep plugging away the more active you are the more leads will come your way.
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  David Cox February 6, 2011 at 8:46pm

  I had similar issues last year when I was going through the startup phases; Especially the age related issue, as I'm now 25, was 24 at the time, see this link:

  http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/age-as-a-barrier-...

   

  One thing I have learnt about that is that its how you come over - When meeting new people, especially older than me, I often can loose my train of thought - I've learnt to control that.

  The second thing I learnt was that the people who did insinuate age as a reason not hire, all fitted into whats called the "time wasters" category - They seize on any reason to not admit they dont want to pay more than £5 - £10 a visit for their Garden.

   

  I also suggest this discussion:-

  http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/new-starter-looki...

   

  As for advertising - We found simple leaflets with Landline Number and keeping to advertising just maintenance got 2.2% response rate, the general purpose ones we used before got us less than 0.5%/
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  Jenny Bloom February 6, 2011 at 8:59pm

  Hi Daniel

  Agree with the good advice here so far. There is loads of more useful info on here under the Marketing and Advertising discussion categories - everything from leaflets to websites and SEO. Also free methods such as Google Places - are you listed?

  It does take a while to build up a customer base and the referrals that come from this - and as others have said, coming out of winter, things should pick up soon. Try to aim for on-going regular maintenance contracts that will help cash-flow, as well as the one off jobs. Price accordingly (and agree, don't put prices on your website).

  Age shouldn't matter if you do a good job. But, looking at your profile (unless you are counting your uncle's skills and experience as well as yours) - how did you get to be a qualified tree surgeon, garden designer, landscaper and all the rest of it at age 22?!

  I would agree with Gary on the quality and feel of your promotional material. And I do wonder if you should focus your business into the main areas you wish to work and which there may be a market for in your area - have you researched demand and competition? Play to your strengths. At the moment you are rather giving the impression you may be jack of all trades...

  Good luck!
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  Dan Frazer Gardening February 6, 2011 at 9:17pm

  Your feedback comments are all from one-off handyman jobs. Have you got any regular maintenance clients?

   

  You should change that feedback page. It is not feedback as such, it should be 'testimonials'. The format looks crap and I think you should lay out some proper tesimonials that you type in yourself to make them look smart. Usernames on ratedpeople don't sound like real people, Mr Smiths, if you know what I mean.

   

  In essence, I feel you should smarten up the whole suite of communications a bit, think of yourself as more professional, not handymen. Consider your services to be well-paid and professional, highly skilled and thorough.

   

  Don't forget clients can and will find pages on this website when they enter your business name on google, so every time you put a post on here make sure it's written/spelled properly. Sounds silly, but it is one thing that stops me hiring a tradesman!
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  N. F. Trees & Gardens February 6, 2011 at 11:07pm

  Also, it might be helpful to mention somewhere that you have public liability insurance and staff are qualified to carry out some of the things you list in services, such as tree surgery.
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  Mark Watson February 6, 2011 at 11:26pm

  Certainly agree with the mixed messages coming over on the website-also maybe you should call yourself something which identifies what you do-DCG maintenance could be anything.In my (limited) experience, a lot of customers won't initially look past the name !

  Maybe have a read of Paul Powers book "How to start your own Gardening Business".

  Key is to put yourself in your customers shoes all the time-try to see things from their perspective.

   

  Stick with it and be positive, enthusiastic and cheerful and you'll be fine.
• PRO

  Mick Gammage February 7, 2011 at 6:49am

  You need an address on the contact page

  you need an about us page

  change the feed back page to a customer testimonial page and remove the myhammer details

  get more photos, a good photo is worth a 1,000 words

  add more text to each page, search engines need text to find your site

  take the text off the page saying "we will try to beat any other quote"

   

  this is up to you but you won't be found at google via a search other than by family and friends with the current format of your website as no one will type at google "dcg-maintenance"

   

  I agree with Mark stay positive upbeat and focused on what you want to achieve and it will come to you in the end
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  Dan Frazer Gardening February 7, 2011 at 8:11am

  Not necessarily... you can advertise your wares to potential thieves if you do this. Client's don't need to know your postal address, just which town you are from perhaps (but even that's irrelevant to them).
  
  Mick Gammage said:

  You need an address on the contact page