Finding out how much a lawn mowing customer is really worth? 

Sometimes lawn mowing contractors will tell me that if it’s a low-value lawn, it is hardly worth the advertising it took to bring in the customer. Why spend $25 to bring in a $25 customer?

Your average lawn-mowing customer is worth a lot more than that.

There is a simple way to determine how much a lawn mowing customer is really worth.

As a lawn mowing business owner, each customer is valuable to you. 

Each customer that you acquire is worth a certain amount of money to your business. The value of a customer is determined by how much revenue they generate for your business minus the costs associated with acquiring and servicing them. 

The revenue a customer brings in is determined by the frequency with which they use your services, the price they pay for those services, and their willingness to refer other customers to you. The costs of acquiring and servicing a customer include advertising, fuel, equipment, and labor costs. 

A loyal customer who uses your services regularly and refers others to you is worth a great deal to your business. They help to offset the costs of acquiring new customers and keep your business running smoothly.

Customer lifetime value

A new customer who is looking for a lawn mowing service is not only looking for someone to cut their grass once. They are looking for a long-term solution to their lawn care needs. A lawn mowing service that can provide them with consistent, quality service at a fair price will quickly become their go-to choice for all of their lawn care needs

As a result, the true value of a lawn mowing customer is not measured in one mow. It is measured by the formula known as customer lifetime value. This formula takes into account the number of years that a customer is likely to use your services, as well as the average amount they will spend each year. 

By providing consistent, quality service, you can ensure that your customers will continue to use your services for years to come, resulting in a high customer lifetime value.

Replacement value

When thinking about how much a customer is worth, it’s important to consider the replacement cost. This is the cost of acquiring a new customer to take the place of an existing one. 

For example, if a customer has been with a company for 10 years and spends an average of $100 per month, their lifetime value would be $10,000. However, if it costs $500 to acquire a new customer, then the company would need to bring in five new customers to replace that one. 

As a result, the replacement cost is an important factor to consider when determining customer value.

Your current customers are a great place to find more work

For any business, customer acquisition can be a costly and time-consuming process. However, once a customer has been acquired, it is important to nurture that relationship and keep them coming back. 

This is especially true for businesses like lawn care that rely on repeat business. Not only is it more cost-effective to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones, but loyal customers are also more likely to give referrals, providing an additional source of leads. 

Therefore, it pays to focus on advertising and marketing efforts toward current lawn-mowing customers. By cultivating a strong relationship with them, businesses can ensure a steady stream of revenue for years to come.

Now let’s do some sums

Considering the different seasons, you would expect to get around 20 mows in a year. If you were looking at a minimum charge of $25 and your average customer lifetime length of three years, your lowest customer value would be $1500.

The goodwill value based on the standard 12 week turnover would be $150—much more than you paid to get the customer.

Cost of purchase

If you were to buy a lawn mowing customer list, you would be paying somewhere north of $12K for a business of 50 clients turning over $1K a week.

If you built that yourself, spent $20 a lead, and only secured one in three quotes, then it will cost you $60 to bring on every new customer. So to build a business of 50 customers turning over 1K a week would cost you 3K instead of 12k.

That sounds like a bargain to me.

What is your time frame?

However, another thing to take into consideration is your time frame. If you want income tomorrow, buying a business is your only choice. It would take you six months to build a business this size.

Building is your best option if time is on your side.

In Closing

A good lawn-mowing customer is pure gold. 

They are the bread and butter of the business, and they keep you busy week in and week out. Most importantly, they are always happy with your work and they always pay on time. 

You can’t go wrong if you aim to bring on one or two good customers a week. They will keep your business thriving and your bank balance healthy. 

So go out there and find those lawn-mowing customers of your dreams!