Several times a week, Christopher and Matthew Noon of Noon Turf Care in Hudson, Mass., field phone calls from lawn care companies. After reading about the brothers and their success with online sales in Lawn & Landscape (January 2008), the callers want advice on how to innovate their own companies with technology and build online sales.
For now, the technology is proprietary, says Christopher, although the brothers haven’t ruled out marketing it to other companies in the near future.
The idea for Noon Turf Care’s online quoting and sales system arose from brainstorming and a lot of “what ifs” between the brothers, who are partners in the $2 million residential lawn and landscape company. They wondered, what if their customers could shop for lawn care online? After all, you can buy airline tickets, shoes, books, computers and just about any other product online, so why not lawn care, too?
And what if Noon could be the first lawn and landscape company to develop and bring this technology to market?
Working with a full-time programmer, Matthew and Christopher spent more than a year and a half and an estimated $150,000 to get the system up and running. They expect a return on their investment within five years, but the technology already has paid for itself in other ways, says Matthew. In the technology’s first two years, Noon Turf Care has enjoyed sales growth of 33 percent and an estimated 40 percent, respectively, despite a tough economic climate that has homeowners pulling back on expenses.
The service is a hit with younger homeowners, who tend to be tech-savvy and routinely buy goods and services online. Older clients may be more reluctant to order online, but the brothers expect that hesitancy to fade, especially as customers discover how easy it is to navigate the site.
Here’s how it works: A potential customer visits Noon Turf Care’s online site, www.mysmartlawn.com, types in a home address, then hits send. Within seconds, the customer gets a quote for a seven-step lawn care service based on property size. (The system uses a satellite service to check out the property.)
If the customer clicks “I accept,” a technician visits the following day for the first application, along with a thorough lawn diagnosis with suggested add-on services.
The online quote and fast turnaround time help weed out “window” shoppers. “We’re filtering tire kickers up front so we can conserve our energies for people who really want to buy the product,” says Matthew.
The site also offers a Price Match Promise: If the customer finds a lower price, Noon Turf Care will match that price and reduce the cost of the last treatment by half.
Prospects who decline the online quotes get follow-up e-mails, as well as telephone calls from the company to answer any questions and try to close sales.
Online sales have an added benefit: They’ve lowered the acquisition cost per customer to approximately $40, compared to $150 for direct mail and $60 for telemarketing, Matthew says.
The system also enables the company to capture more e-mail addresses for ongoing marketing efforts; Noon’s database of potential and existing customers is up by 20 percent due to increased customer traffic to the site. To drive more business there, Noon Turf Care offers a 15 percent discount to new customers who sign up for services online. Existing customers are reminded on the invoice to visit the Web site for more information about add-on services or to pay bills online.
Customer service is also stronger because the company reacts swiftly to Web site activity, Christopher says. “Traditionally, customers may see their lawn care company a few times a year, and that’s the relationship,” he explains. “But through Internet and e-mail, we can talk to customers 20 times a year.”