How to Buy Lawn Mowing Accounts

One of the great things about the lawn care business is that there are actually two ways that you can pick up new business. Like most businesses, you can acquire new customers via your marketing. The other way is to purchase lawn care accounts from other business owners. In this article I look into the buying and selling of accounts in the lawn care industry. Find out why people buy and sell lawn mowing accounts, how to reduce the risks involved with such a transaction and more.


Why Lawn Businesses Sell Accounts

Accounts are sold for a variety of reasons. Sometimes people will sell off accounts if they are going out of business or looking to raise some quick cash to pay down debt. Some business owners will sell accounts that don't fit in well with their routes or scheduling. Other times accounts will be sold because the customers is question are known to be difficult and the business owner wants rid of the headaches associated with dealing with them.

Why Lawn Businesses Buy Accounts

Business owners that buy accounts are usually looking to pick up a good deal and expand their business quickly. If they are new to the business and are not particularly proficient at marketing then the purchase of some lawn care accounts can help them to get started easily.

Is This Method of Customer Acquisition Right For You?

Many lawn care business owners will advise against account purchases. They will tell you that you are better off investing your money into building your own client base. However, if your marketing strategies are failing you and you find that the cost of acquiring a new customer are quite high then it may make sense to look at purchasing accounts.

If you have the budget for it I would advice that you pursue both methods. Focus on your own marketing efforts but still keep your eye out for accounts that are for sale. If you don't you may be missing out on some good opportunities to grow your business.

How to Value a Lawn Account

Finding a fair price can be difficult and the value of an account will depend on many factors. A purchased customer will not be as loyal as one that you have acquired yourself and spent time developing into a loyal client.

Accounts are usually valued at around four or five week’s worth of the income that they represent. Prices can go fairly low if the seller is desperate to sell. Prices may go higher if there is an agreement in place that reassures the buyer that the customer will be sticking around for a while. It pays to be realistic and remember that you are buying a job and you will still have to put in the work to service them. You don't want to have to mow a lawn for ages for free just to pick up a customer.

Due Diligence

From a buyer’s point of view, you do have to be careful about trading in accounts like this. Some dodgy lawn business owners have been known to scam others into buying accounts that are either grossly over priced or don't exist at all. You want to be sure that the accounts that you are buying are real and are not just buddies of the seller who are lying to help out a friend. You will know that you have been scammed if you take on new accounts only to find that they all quit your service within a couple of weeks.

Try to find out why the seller wants to offload the accounts in question. Quiz them with a few direct questions and see how they respond. You will want to find out how long they have been servicing the account and if the account in question involves a 'problem customer' or any other unusual difficulties. The seller may just be passing their nightmare on to you and charging you at the same time. Try to get some kind of financial history on the client and find out if they have been paying on time.

It helps if you can go out and meet each customer before you take over the account. This will give you a chance to meet them and make sure that they are aware of the change. If you do this you will find out exactly what the job involves and you can decide if the current price is fair.

Find out if there is any agreement in place and if there is you must be aware of the terms. You then have to either decide if you want to proceed with the present conditions in place or make any changes that are permitted. Taking over a job and raising prices right away would probably not get you off to a good start with a new customer so make sure that the current price is enough to allow you to make a profit.

Have an agreement written up for the transfer. You may include a clause that protects you in cases where customers quit your service after only a short period of time causing you to lose money on the deal. The way would be to pay the seller in installments over a period of six months so that the total payment amount can be reduced if clients start dropping off.

Finding Opportunities to Buy Accounts

If the idea of buying lawn mowing accounts is appealing to you then you will want to stay on the lookout for opportunities as they arise. You will want local jobs so you should look at local classified listings in newspapers. Contact equipment suppliers or other lawn business owners and ask them to let you know if they are aware of anyone selling accounts.

Look online as well. Perform a search on major search engines using keywords like 'lawn care accounts for sale' and keywords relating to the area that you service. There are many websites where sellers can list their accounts.