Prove someone will pay
- Survey ten likely homes for willingness to pay2 hours 30 min
This step produces a tally sheet: ten named households in your operating area, each with a recorded yes/maybe/no at two stated price points, plus the one-page flyer you handed them. The trap is asking whether people like the idea instead of quoting a price — a yes to an idea is not a yes to a number. The whole step stays under pocket money: ink, paper, and a tank of gas.
Choose the target zone. Pick your city’s affluent, highly visible streets — corner lots, main roads, established neighborhoods that already decorate for the holidays. Drive the zone first and note the addresses where lights are already up.
Set the two anchors from the local benchmark. Request a quote from the national franchise that serves your city; a mid-size home install typically runs $3,000–$8,000. Set your upper anchor just under that quote — roughly two-thirds of it — and your lower anchor about a quarter below the upper. Write both prices on the flyer.
Print the flyer. One page: the offer in one sentence — design, supply, install, takedown, and storage for one season — both price points, and your phone number. Print ten, plus spares.
Visit the ten homes. Door to door, same script every time: ‘A professional crew installs, takes down, and stores your holiday lights for the season at $[upper anchor] — would you sign up?’ Then repeat at the lower anchor. Record yes/maybe/no for each price beside the address, on the spot.