Telemarketing continues to be an effective sales tool in the lawn and landscape industry. Yes, the telemarketing universe (names and phone numbers you can legally call with an unsolicited offer) has diminished significantly since the inception of the Do Not Call legislation. Yes, the percentage of unworkable phone numbers as a percent of the available universe to call has increased, driving response rates down a little. Still, average response rates this spring on a lead generation script ranged from 2 to 2.5 leads per hour with closing rates as high as 20%. (See Yes Marketing’s Telemarketing Programs.) These are cost effective sales that you may not get from other sources. However, telemarketing has become extremely more complex and risky if you don't follow the rules.

No longer can you just look up someone's name in a CrissCross directory and give them a call just to tell them about your lawn company or the free lawn estimate you left them on their door. If that person happens to be on the national Do-Not-Call (DNC) list and they report you to the feds, you could be fined up to $11,000! If you happen to call another person on that list, that would be another $11,000! Get the point? And, there are state DNC files that may be different than the Federal DNC file and you must comply with the state as well.

Every list of names to be telemarketed (either outsourced or in-house) must be passed through the DNC filter and to do that, you must register with the federal government and secure a Subscriber Access Number (SAN). Even if another company does the telemarketing for you, you will need a SAN.

Please go to this address for additional info or to set up an SAN:

https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov/Profile/Create.aspx

Yes Marketing's telemarketing programs

Yes Marketing can help walk you through the maize of government regulations concerning the DNC including setting up your own telemarketing department or using our own telemarketing programs designed to generate lawn care leads.

We have years of telemarketing experience and in spite of all the legislation, telemarketing response rates average 2.05 leads per hour this spring at a cost of about $14.00 per lead. Wiith an average closing rate of 16%, that means you're generating additional new sales with a lifetime value of around $1400.00 for a cost of $87.50. That's a marketing cost of just over 5% of total revenue.

Telemarketing is the most flexible sales tool available to you. Leads can be generated to coincide with your ability to run them on a timely basis. If weather or labor issues arise, no problem – we can discontinue telemarketeting until those issues are resolved. Leads can also be generated in specific areas so your sales staff can be more efficient.

Telemarketing is relatively inexpensive to test to see if it can work for you. A 50 hour test should give you 100 or more leads – a sample size large enough for you to determine your return on investment.

Our telemarketing programs are completely customized to fit your business needs. Telemarketing scripts are tailored to your market and offer.

The cost of telemarketing is $29.50 per hour. Names, addresses, and phone numbers cost $0.0415 per name. There is a minimum list order charge of $500. This price includes selections by wealth rating (home value plus income) and zip code. Counts by wealth rating and zip code are FREE and already have counts suppressed from the Do Not Call file so you’ll know almost exactly how many phone numbers you have available to call.