How are you offsetting seasonal churn in your business?
We’re in the part of the year where churn can start creeping up. For us, summer can be weird. People travel more. Kids are home. Budgets get tighter. Some customers pause because they think they’ll “just handle it themselves for a while.” Then a few weeks later the yard gets away from them again. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to reduce that churn before it happens instead of only reacting after someone cancels. A few things we’re working on right now: bulk prepayment offers more customer engagement through our physical newsletter promoting add-on services reactivation campaigns for past clients downselling instead of immediately accepting cancellations The downselling piece has been important. If a customer reaches out to cancel because of finances, I don’t always want the only option to be “stay or leave.” Sometimes there’s a middle option. For example, moving them to a lower frequency for a season may keep the relationship alive and still keep their yard from getting completely out of control. That’s better than losing them entirely and having to reacquire them later. We’re also sending more prepayment offers because it helps with cash flow and gives customers a reason to commit ahead of time. The physical newsletter has helped too. It keeps the relationship warmer. Customers hear from us outside of invoices, appointment reminders, and service texts. That matters because recurring customers are easier to lose when the business only talks to them transactionally. I’m also paying more attention to which customers are most at risk of canceling: price-sensitive customers lower-frequency customers customers who pause seasonally people who have recently had schedule changes customers who haven’t used add-on services past clients who canceled but may still need help This is one of those areas where I think service businesses need more than just new leads. You need a retention plan. What are you doing to offset seasonal churn before customers cancel?Are cheap competitors actually your fault?
This is probably going to rub some people the wrong way, but I think it’s worth talking about. A lot of service business owners complain about cheap competitors. I get it. There is always someone willing to do the work for less. In my industry, I’ve seen people charge prices that make no sense once you factor in drive time, labor, supplies, fuel, insurance, taxes, and the actual time it takes to do the job right. But I also think we have to be honest as business owners. If the only thing a customer understands about your service is the task itself, they are going to compare you against the cheapest version of that task. For us, that would be: “They scoop dog poop.” So the customer starts comparing: price frequency who can come sooner who seems cheaper That’s a weak position to be in. The customer has no reason to value the difference because we haven’t explained the difference well enough. That’s where positioning matters. For us, we had to get much better at explaining what the customer is actually paying for: proactive communication reminders before service on-the-way messages gate photos after every visit waste hauled away thorough multi-pass yard checks professional invoicing and scheduling reliable weekly service trained and background checked technicians a company that shows up consistently Those things matter to our best customers. And when we looked through our reviews, customers were already telling us that. They were saying things like: “worth every penny” “like clockwork” “one less thing to worry about” “they text before they come” “they send a picture of the closed gate” “they take the waste with them” “our last company left the gate open” That changed how I thought about cheap competitors. Some customers will always choose the cheapest option. That’s fine. But if too many good-fit customers are comparing you only on price, your message may not be doing enough work. Your marketing should make it clear why your service costs what it costs before the customer ever asks. That means talking about: risk trust reliability communication safety convenience consistency the cost of hiring the wrong company The cheaper competitor may still win some customers. But I don’t want to lose the right customers because I failed to explain why we’re different. Are cheap competitors hurting your business, or is your positioning making it too easy for customers to compare you on price?
How To Get Customers Without Relying on Thumbtack or Lead Generation Apps?
Hey yall. Im Simon 35 based in Brooklyn NYC and im a Mobile Welder. My jobs comes from Thumbtack however that platform along with others like it are beginning to get saturated with low ballers. Any advice you guys can offer for marketing and customer reach? Im open to all suggestions and guidance.Brand new junk removal biz grossed $9k from June 1 - June 22nd
I was learning how to market while trying to rent websites to businesses (set up a lead generating website and sell all the leads to an exclusive partner on a monthly flat rent) and realized I wanted my hands on that blue collar service. I always wanted to run a business that genuinely helps people and the community and found that junk removal could do just that. Making money of course is important. I want a good life just like everyone does. So here is what made our junk removal business start paying the bills in our first month of ditching W2. Verified Google Business Profile Clean website with SEO/Keywords Google search ads (pay per click) Google local service ads. Meta Ads Posting organically Begging on Facebook marketplace (actually got a good amount of jobs but is not super reliable or consistent. I know that customer acquisition is tough but so necessary for running a business so really focus on your online presence!Are clients buying the visible work, or the judgement behind it?
I am building a small dog training business, and one thing I keep coming back to is that clients often see only the visible part of the service. In my case, that might look like a walk, a training session, or some handling work outside. But the real value is not just the visible activity. It is the assessment, the judgement, the reading of the dog, the owner coaching, the risk control, and knowing when not to push further. I imagine this applies across a lot of home service businesses. A client may see the mowing, cleaning, repair, landscaping, or installation, but not always the planning, experience, insurance, equipment, decision-making, or risk carried by the business. That creates a marketing problem. If we only describe the visible task, clients compare us against the cheapest version of that task. If we explain the judgement behind the work, we have a better chance of being compared on value rather than price alone. For those further along, how have you explained the “invisible value” of your work without sounding defensive or overcomplicated?
What are some ways to remarket your business that are effective?
I am basically starting all over from scratch other than the five or so clients that I currently have. I've been a solo cleaner since 2022 and have been able to keep my business afloat without any debt and making sure everything is in order in my office. From 2023 to the end of 2024 I had a very successful cleaning business because of a apartment complex I was cleaning for on a regular basis, I no longer have that client or situation. I am coming to a portion of trying to get clients again and I'm not sure if I need to lower my rates at this point, but I don't know if my marketing game is on point right now. So my question is what are you doing to market your business to bring in more clientele? How are you advertising? Thank you! - Teig
Marketing Question
Hello jobber community, I’m Niah Thompson , founder of MoveTime 4U Enterprise LLC, a moving, relocation, and clean out company based in Delaware. As a growing business owner, I've been exploring different ways to attract customers, including social media marketing, google business profile optimization, yelp , customer referrals, community networking, and before and after project photos. what marketing strategy has generated the most leads for your business?What happened after I changed my marketing to use the exact words from customer reviews?
I recently shared on this post about using customer reviews to improve your marketing: Are you using your customer reviews to improve your marketing? | Home Service Community - 12894 Since then, I’ve been paying even closer attention to the exact words customers use when they describe why they hired us, why they trust us, and why they keep paying for the service. That has changed how I write ads, follow-ups, website copy, and even how we talk to prospects. For us, the reviews kept repeating the same things: “worth every penny” “like clockwork” “one less thing to worry about” “they text before they come” “they send a picture of the closed gate” “they take the waste with them” “I was embarrassed by how bad the yard was” “our last company left the gate open” “there aren’t enough hours in the day” Those phrases matter because they came from real customers. So instead of trying to invent clever marketing language, I started using the language customers were already using to explain the value. And I’ve noticed a difference. Prospects seem to trust us faster. They already feel understood before we even get deep into the sales conversation. When someone sees an ad or follow-up that speaks directly to the thing they’re worried about, the conversation changes. For example, if someone is worried about their dog getting out, talking about gate photos immediately matters. If someone is embarrassed about a winter backlog, telling them we handle those all the time and they’re not the worst yard we’ve seen matters. If someone is comparing price, showing that other customers call us “worth every penny” matters. If someone is busy and overwhelmed, “one less thing to worry about” hits harder than a generic service description. This has helped us close a higher percentage of people because the marketing is doing more of the trust-building before the call or quote. The prospect shows up with a higher willingness to buy because they already see themselves in the message. That’s been one of the biggest lessons for me. Your reviews are not just social proof. They are market research. They tell you: who your best customers are what they were dealing with before they hired you what they value most what they were afraid of what language makes the service feel worth it what separates you from cheaper competitors If you’re only using reviews as a 5-star badge on your website, you’re probably missing the best part. Read them for patterns. Pull the exact phrases. Use those phrases in your ads, emails, quotes, sales scripts, and follow-ups. The best marketing language is often already sitting inside your customer reviews. Have you changed your messaging based on the exact words your customers use?
Do handwritten thank you notes still make a difference?
Random thought: Have handwritten thank you notes become a thing of the past? In a world of emails, texts, and automated follow ups, I wonder if a simple handwritten note stands out more today than it did 20 years ago. Do any of you send them to customers, employees, referral partners, or vendors? If so, have you seen an impact? Curious to hear what others are doing and whether personal touches like this still move the needle.
