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  Fenlandphil May 14, 2010 at 6:23am

  I don't know your area or what your expectations are, avoid yellow pages avoid magazine adverising.
  If you have a van have it sign written it is a big free advertising hoarding so use it as such don't just put your name on i,t have a proper ad on the sides, read Simple and effective marketing by David N Russell if you can get it and Success in Rcession by Richard Lomax.
  If you have had your leaflets printed you might as well use them, try the better areas first, target particularly houses that have gardens that can use your services, then in a fortnights time repeat the process. If you are able to offer a promotion or incentive do so.
  0.1% response is better than no response at all and if you target properly it may be as high as 1or 2%.
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  Neil Bishop May 14, 2010 at 8:00am

  Hi David,
  
  I was in the same position as you at the end of last year. I haven't done any magazine ads or yellow pages but I did have some flyers made up but only put out about 500 with no response.
  
  The best marketing tool I found has been Facebook. I've got over 400 friends on my list of which 300+ could be potential clients. I set up a group and page on there (Bishop Gardening Services) and then invited everyone to join them. I've only got about 150 people who joined it but now 400+ people know that I'm a gardener.
  Friends and family are also a huge help as they spread the word. I did a few jobs cheap for family and then they told their neighbours...they told their friends...etc etc.
  
  Another good one to try is the job centre, I've bagged a commercial contract from applying for a job out of there. I emailed my CV off in the winter and then out of the blue last week I got a call and now I've got 3 days a week on two housing estates and I'm struggling to fit all my regulars in!
  
  You will get there mate, just little and often, and remember to 'plant the seed' (excuse the pun) in peoples mind everytime you meet someone that you're a gardener, they may not need you now but at least they know who you are, what you do and how to contact you if they do need any help.
  
  I hope this has helped
  
  Neil
  Bishop Gardening Services
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  Dave Sewell May 14, 2010 at 8:23am

  Dave,
  To start off with, drop the bloody leaflets. Even at a 0.01% return that's 75 enquiries. You could have dropped that lot in the last two months while you were twiddling your thumbs and now you'd have some work.
  Otherwise, Phil and Neil are spot on the nail. Essentially you've got to try everyhting and anything and NEVER give up and it will come given a little time. The other thing is to make sure that when you do get a chance you deliver 110% with every facet of your service. Word will soon spread.
  All best,
  Dave
  www.the-gardenmakers.co.uk
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  Keith Barker May 14, 2010 at 8:59am

  7500 x 0.1% = 7.5 enquiries. A more realistic return, if well targetted, would be 1%, or 75 enquiries.
  
  A website will help, as a 24hr advertising space. Get yourself a simple site, listing everything you do, areas covered, work examples etc, get it added to Google Places, read up on search engine optimisation (SEO) and apply it to your site. You can do all of that for practically nothing. Then have a good look at Google Adwords.
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  Dave Sewell May 14, 2010 at 9:57am

  Jeez, my maths is shocking at this time of the day! 1% - that's what I meant!! :)
  Regardless of my inability to add up, we've always found with our small garden maintenence division that a
  1 - 3% return is quite realistic on leaflet drops. So going back to the original point - get the leaflets dropped!
  Dave
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  David Cox May 14, 2010 at 10:31am

  Thanks for all this, I think we'll definitely get 2k leaflets out this weekend. We've been offered a church compost heap and garage sstorage in lieu of payment for grass cutting, so we hope to use this as an advertising point. Its good to hear what we needed to hear from people! Were based in north leeds and wetherby area if that gives people a better idea of where we are. On the subject of the lead sites, has anyone had any success with them, such as people accepting realistic prices? I suppose the doubts are an inevitable part of starting in business! (Sent from mobile, apologies for typos)
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    Neil Bishop > David Cox May 14, 2010 at 10:56am

    I signed up to FreeIndex on the web and they've sent me through 4 or 5 leads but I've been to busy to follow them up so somewhere like that may be a good starting point
    
    David Cox said:

    Thanks for all this, I think we'll definitely get 2k leaflets out this weekend. We've been offered a church compost heap and garage sstorage in lieu of payment for grass cutting, so we hope to use this as an advertising point. Its good to hear what we needed to hear from people! Were based in north leeds and wetherby area if that gives people a better idea of where we are. On the subject of the lead sites, has anyone had any success with them, such as people accepting realistic prices? I suppose the doubts are an inevitable part of starting in business! (Sent from mobile, apologies for typos)
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  Lawncare-4u.co.uk May 14, 2010 at 11:13am

  do the leaflet drop quick - best ever u will get work................... good luck
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  Lawncare-4u.co.uk May 14, 2010 at 11:16am

  go on yell.com for a free listing . put as much full info as you can free. expect maybe a sales call to upgrade but politely /firmly decline it.................... ive had many jobs here/shrops and london from it ...
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  Classic Gardens May 14, 2010 at 11:37am

  We have gone on to yell.com with a paid listing and we are getting approx 4 calls a day from it.