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Recently, our team has launched GreenPal into the Tampa Bay region. The launch was widely covered by the local media, we were surprised how popular the idea of "Uber for Lawn Care" would be in Florida. During the weekend we launched, over 200 homeowners in Tampa Bay signed up within 48 hours.
Expanding Our Service Beyond Nashville
Over the past year, we have refined our approach to bring on-demand lawn mowing from homeowners in the Nashville, TN region to mowing grass in Clearwater, Florida. We have placed careful thought into building the GreenPal product to offer a nice convenience to homeowners looking for lawn mowing, while really going deep on the vendor side providing them with much needed new business already in the same neighborhoods they are mowing.
The Challenges of Launching in a New Market
We knew that launching our first new market outside of our hometown was going to be a challenge, but we were up for it. The first thing we did was recruit local vendors and meet with them face to face. I flew down to Tampa, and spent a few weeks meeting with our pioneering vendors discussing how the GreenPal platform works, as well as their ideas for how we needed to customize our approach for the Tampa Bay region.
Valuable Insights from Local Vendors
I learned so much in those dozens of meetings with our new vendor partners. Their knowledge and feedback proved to be invaluable to our marketing approach for the local Tampa market. For instance, I discovered that Tampa and St. Petersburg needed to be handled as separate markets and not one. It was kind of funny when Chad from Lawn Sculptures told me bluntly, "Look man, it's like New York, and New Jersey, it's two separate cities, don't treat them the same way."
Why Choose Tampa?
Many people ask us, why we chose Tampa to launch our second city. What many people don't realize is that an abnormal distribution of nationwide chains (Carabbas, Red Lobster, Hooters, Olive Garden, Capital Grill to name a few) have originated in this part of the country. This is because Tampa has rare, unique, and eclectic sampling of many demographics from all over the United States. In Tampa, you'll meet northerners, southerners, east coast, west coast, midwesterners, and people from all over the world. We like to say, "If you can make it work in Tampa, it will work everywhere."
How Lawn Care Differs in Tampa
Key Differences in Lawn Care: Tampa vs. Nashville
1. Most lawn mowing in Tampa is contracted on a flat monthly rate, not pay per service.
2. Many lawn care service rates include trimming the bushes as well (this is never the case in Nashville).
3. The lawn mowing season in Tampa Bay is pretty much year-round, with a slight slowdown during the winter, but doesn't grind to a halt like in Nashville.
4. Many of the same pain points such as getting paid for lawn mowing in a timely manner exist in both cities.
Success and Expansion
These discoveries have guided our team on our approach to the Tampa market, adding a slight customization to our product so as to meet the needs and expectations of consumers in the Florida market. Overall, expanding our lawn services in Tampa has gone well. We have 53 solid vendors throughout the region that have joined up with GreenPal, and over 100 people in Tampa get their lawn cut with GreenPal each week.
We are now offering on-demand lawn care services in St. Petersburg, Florida, joining Ft. Lauderdale and Miami!
If you are interested in getting your lawn mowed you can signup for free lawn quotes here.
