by Michael J. McGroarty

You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your 
newsletter as long as you reprint it as, including the contact 
information at the end.  You must include an active link back 
to http://www.freeplants.com

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.  Visit his most 
interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his 
excellent gardening newsletter, and grab a FREE copy of his 
E-book, "Easy Plant Propagation"