Sales Success Magazine Menu

Sales Success Magazine | Sales Training | Success Stories

"Green Grass Fortunes"

Hello !fname, if you remember, last week we left off with:

"But you know, that shiny perforated metal box with the button was attached to a very neat house. I bet that house would be very interested in cleaning products.

I approached my old nemesis respectfully. I pushed it's button."

And now continuing:

"What do you want," the box asked.

"Sir, would you like some cleaning products?" I asked.

This time I heard a sigh.

"No. I do not want them. Do not come back," the box instructed me.

"Thank you sir," and I was off.

I did not make even one sale. I told my mother the products were a bust and I did not try to sell anymore of them.

I had a friend that I knew from our church who was born 2 weeks after I was. We had known each other our entire lives. He lived in a richer part of town and told me he was making great fortunes mowing lawns.

So of course I had to try it out.

We had a older lawn mower and I asked my father if I could use it to start mowing lawns. He agreed.

You will not find a mower like this one today. To start this one, you took a rope with a knot on the end, hooked it and wound it around the flywheel. You would then hang on to the rope wrapping it around your own hand and yank.

The mower would kick back and almost pull your arm out of it's socket.

The mower also had no muffler on it, so it was very loud.

I pushed the mower down the street looking for customers. My first inclination was to go to houses with lawns that needed mowing. I remember my first job. I was offered $1.25.

The yard had many decorations, bushes, bird baths, stones, etc. I had to push around these objects many times stopping to pick up objects laying in the grass. It took me about 5 hours to do the entire job.

The owner complained that I was not doing a very good job and refused to pay me. I mowed my fathers grass occasionally, and I knew that my work was satisfactory. But this yard was a total mess. Mowing it was not going to fix it.

I told my buddy Rick about my experience at church the next week. He told me he got $5 for jobs that took him about 2 hours at the most. He also told me that he only worked on houses with neatly trimmed lawns because they were easier to do and the people already cared about their lawns, otherwise it would be a mess.

Well, that made a lot of sense. Good thing for friends in your life.

I started soliciting houses with neat looking yards, and I had much better luck. I could not get the prices that Rick did however as he was in a richer part of town.

My usual price was $2.00 to $2.50 for a yard that took me 1 to 2 hours to mow.

I had only ventured to houses within a block or two of my home since I had to push the lawn mower to get to the job.

But then my father did a wonderful thing.

Click here to go to chapter 13