There’s a debate going on in the landscaping forums about when the best time to bill is.

• Money due at the beginning of the month for future work
• Bill sent at the beginning of the month to be paid in 30 days
• Bill sent at the end of the month for immediate or 15/30 day payment
• Annual/Quarterly prepay discounts

I’m a big fan of getting payments before doing any work. I also offer an optional annual prepay with 10% off the total price. In uncertain financial markets, it’s the easiest way for my clients to lock in a nice discount. That money sitting in a savings account would earn a max of 6%. I offer it knowing that 10-15% of customers will take me up on it lowering my maintenance revenue by only 1-1.5%. That extra cash is essential for a small growing business in the spring. It allows me to send out ads, give thank you gifts and a cushion in the bank for any surprises. Oh, and the clients love it because they save money of course!

I already have a free business listing on Google Local. It’s great because I show up right on top of natural search results when potential clients are searching for a new landscaper on google. There’s a google map with my address right on it, phone number and website link.

Merchantcircle.com is similar in that they offer free listings, but you can also add coupons, reviews, network with other local businesses, blog and more. It may seem like overkill to put much effort into adding your information to more sites, but they do get a significant amount of local traffic (alexa.com stats) which is just the kind you need to grow. Plus, google loves incoming links to your site so the more directories you are listed in the higher up your site will be in search results.

I’ll even give you a bump up here. Leave a comment with your merchantcircle.com listing and I’ll put a link to your site in a future post. Let’s keep this to only the first 10 guys to sign up or comment.

Get your free online business listing. Get more customers. – MerchantCircle.com