Sell or Lease? Why the All-Inclusive "Red Carpet" Service Beats Selling Christmas Lights

Every Christmas light installer eventually faces the same question: do you sell the lights to your customers, or do you lease them with an all-inclusive service that installs, maintains, takes down, and stores everything? Many installers who start out selling lights ask how to move over to the all-inclusive model. Those who have made the switch say it changed their business.

This guide breaks down the pros and cons of both, shows what the all-inclusive "red carpet service" includes, and covers pricing, reviews, pitch, and installation habits that go with it. If you want more strategies for building a profitable Christmas light business, start here.

Make It Easy for the Customer

Before comparing models, ask one question: are you making it easy for the customer? The all-inclusive model works because the customer has nothing to worry about.

A Real Example: From Almost Booked to a $100,000 October

One installer attended a training session with only five or six spots left for the entire season. He was busy, but he wasn't making great money. He had two choices: start hiring people, or raise his prices a lot. He raised his prices and switched from selling lights to the all-inclusive model. This season he hit a $100,000 October. That isn't a $100,000 Christmas light year. That is $100,000 in one month.

Others have already put up $300,000, $400,000, or even half a million dollars of Christmas lights in October. But for this installer, $100,000 in a month is a huge milestone, because most people don't make $100,000 in a year. He credits the switch to rental as a big part of it.

Selling Christmas Lights: Pros and Cons

Selling lights isn't always wrong. Some installers have a good model for it. The good ones don't sell at $4 or $5 a foot. They sell the lights at $15, $18, or $20 a foot, then come back in year two and install them for 50% of the original price.

Where Selling Goes Wrong

Many installers sell lights at about what an all-inclusive service would cost, then come back the next year to install them for $200 or $300. That's how you go broke.

The Pros of Selling

• You can charge extra whenever something goes wrong. If a light goes bad, or you have a callback, you charge to fix it, because the lights belong to the customer. If a squirrel eats a light, you charge for the repair.

• You can sell the lights at a high price per foot, as above.

The Cons of Selling

• There is no recurring revenue beyond repair calls.

• You end up nickel-and-diming the customer, and next year they will probably go with someone else.

The All-Inclusive Red Carpet Service

With the all-inclusive model, the customer gets everything. You come out and fix any problem. If a squirrel eats a light, you fix it. You take the lights down. You store them. Next year, if the customer wants new colors, they can change them. If the lights need replacing in two or three years, which they won't for a long time, you replace them for free.

The Guarantee

The guarantee is simple: if a bulb is missing or a strand is out, the customer calls and you are out there within 24 hours. Their lights are on all the time. The customer's only job is to give you a credit card. They don't worry about a light going out or about takedown. It's stress-free: they pay, and you take care of everything.

The Recurring Money

Charge $8 to $12 a foot, and that is recurring money every year. You are not selling lights once and coming back next year to make $200 or $300.

Why You Need Profit

Profit is not a bad word. Everyone talks about the top number, but the top number means nothing if the bottom number is zero or close to it.

With real profit, you can:

• Put money into marketing

• Pay your employees a living wage

• Carry workers' comp on them

That last one matters. Two people got hurt hanging Christmas lights this week. One hurt himself handling a ladder, twisting to do different things, and the other fell down a ladder. If you aren't making enough money, you can't pay workers' comp, and you won't keep paying the injured employee's salary either.

Many New Installers Go Out of Business

Every year people say there are so many new installers and so much competition. That has been said since 2014. What nobody mentions is how many go out of business every year. Many new installers set their price at $5 or $6 a foot and go right back out because they aren't making a profit. Charging $8 to $12 a foot is how you stay in business.

Is it easy to get $8 to $12 a foot? No. The key question is whether you are selling the bulb or the feeling and the emotion. About 90% of people buy on emotion and 10% buy on the bulb.

What to Say When Customers Own Their Lights

A common objection: "I own my own lights. Will you hang them?" The best answer is no. Explain why:

• Your insurance doesn't cover what someone else installed.

• You don't know whether the wires were cut properly. People often tie wires together, sometimes with a piece of tape and sometimes with nothing.

• Wires that touch a gutter can spark and arc and burn up the gutter.

Customers bring a big bucket of glob, or claim "these are professional lights" and hand you a box of incandescent lights duct taped together.

If someone argues, saying they just bought the lights last year, ask why the original company isn't coming back to reinstall. A common answer is that the customer has called ten times and nobody answers, so the company is probably out of business. They went cheap, and now they're gone.

Pitch Beats Price

An installer with about 30 calls and two sales, both around $1,000 tickets, said the problem was price. The reality: if you believe the problem is price, the customer will believe it too, and you will never get $8 to $10 a foot. It's usually the pitch.

If you talk about LEDs and clips, you are selling the wrong thing. Customers don't care that you use LEDs or which clips you use. Instead, talk about how amazing and beautiful the home will look and how everyone will want to drive by. Ask: "Are your grandkids coming over? What are their names? Can you wait to see Johnny's face when he comes over?" That is the difference between selling bulbs and selling the magic.

Record and Grade Your Calls

One negative word in a sales script can lose the sale, no matter what else you say. Record your calls and listen to them, or put them into AI and ask where you did well and where you missed. You can often tell within the first 30 seconds whether a call will become a sale, and the only way to get better is reps.

If you're thinking, "I'm wasting my time sending quotes and mock-ups all day," kill that mindset. You are learning and growing.

Raise Your Price One Dollar at a Time

An installer between $6 and $7 a foot should go to $8. If a customer won't pay $700, they probably won't pay $800 either, and if they'll pay $800, they probably would have paid $700. Going from $7 to $8 a foot adds a dollar a foot of profit right away.

Discounts and Minimums

Giving a discount for following years is split about 50/50 among installers. If you charge $10 a foot, you could give 10% off. If you are at $6 a foot, don't discount at all: 10% off is $5.50, and if you measured wrong, you could be at $3 or $4 a foot. Build any discount into your price instead.

A $750 minimum is a good price. As you get into the business, you'll raise it to $1,000. Some installers have a $1,500 minimum and won't go out for less.

Marketing That's Working Right Now

• Yard signs: This is go time. Put out 100 signs this week and 100 a week from here on. Signs out on Friday get seen on Saturday, when people drive around with their kids.

• A free job in a big community: One installer did a job for free, and the customer posted about it in a Facebook group. He got over 50 leads in two days.

• Google Ads and Facebook: Google Ads have been working well for some installers. Facebook is mixed, and several installers say their Facebook ads aren't doing as well this year as in the past. Posting, showing up, and building your brand also works. Become "five-mile famous."

  

Get Google Reviews That Help You Rank

Reviews matter for both Google and AI. When customers write what you did and where, it helps AI tools and Google find you.

Keep Your Reviews on the Right Page

Count the reviews on your Christmas light installation Google Business Profile specifically, not your landscape or pressure washing page. In many areas, 20, 30, or 50 reviews will put you at double the next highest. One installer had reviews on his Facebook and pressure washing page but no Google Business Profile, so none of them helped.

How to Ask

• Ask early. Ask during the sales process and again at the end of the job.

• Use the close: "Is there any reason you wouldn't give me a five-star review?" Then hand over a tap card.

• Have a backup: If the customer can't log in, because not everyone uses Gmail, ask for a video review instead.

• Ask for detail. You don't want "They were great." Skip the owner's name and any employee's name too, because Google can flag those reviews.

• Use cards. A tap card, a business card with the review link, or a sturdier card with a referral on one side and the Google review on the other.

• Follow up. On the next-day follow-up call, ask how it went and ask for the review. The most aggressive installers send two emails and two texts after the job.

Yelp Matters for AI

Yelp is where ChatGPT finds a lot of its information. If you get Yelp reviews, you have to pay $12 a month or Yelp will show only the bad ones and hide the good ones. It's worth it.

Responding to a Bad Review

One installer's client of four years changed a five-star review to two stars because he wouldn't cut his price by half. When you respond to a review, you aren't responding to that customer. You are responding to everyone reading it. Talk about your professional work, your insurance, and your workers' comp.

Installing, Taking Down, and Storing Lights

Keep it simple, the same way you make it simple for customers to buy.

• Use clips. They pull right off at takedown. Skip zip ties on the install, since you'd have to remove them later. If you label, zip ties are your friend.

• Pre-bulb and pre-clip in a garbage can. Lay the lights in a big garbage can and carry them to the roof. To keep them from tangling, put a piece of cardboard every 100 feet, so a problem only costs you 50 feet.

• Store without tangles. Hold the bulb and socket, reach out, and bring up the next bulb. Wrap the male or female end around the bulbs two or three times and plug it in. Next year, unplug and unwrap it and it falls right out.

• Try newer clips. There is a tile clip and a Tuff clip that make pointing bulbs out on a roof easier than a shingle tab. Find them at Christmas Lights HQ.

• Label or reuse sections. Some installers label everything, and others put 50- to 100-foot sections in 55-gallon containers to reuse on the next house. Installers swear by both.

• Stay safe on the roof. Have the proper roof gear: a pitch hopper, the right shoes, and a way to tie off. On some roofs, use a lift or a ladder instead. If it snows, ladder it and get it done. Falling off a roof can kill you or hurt you badly.

What About Permanent Lights?

Google Trends shows permanent lights get a lot of searches, possibly more than Christmas lights. But there has been less talk about them this year than last, and they may not be where they need to be yet. People still want the feeling of Christmas lights and the big bulbs they remember as kids.

One approach: sell them Christmas lights this year and credit the cost toward permanent lights next year. You can buy permanent lights from Christmas Lights HQ.

Get the Supplies You Need

Christmas Lights HQ carries the colored and white wreaths, garlands, C9 bulbs, clips, and male and female plugs. Orders typically ship the same day, depending on when the afternoon UPS pickup comes. Browse Christmas Lights HQ to stock up.

Take Action

There's no such thing as perfect. Take action, answer the phone, and get quotes out fast. One coached installer started out as a garbage man and is on track for a $1.4 to $1.5 million business. Nothing special set him apart. He showed up and acted.

For more training and support, visit ChristmasLights.io or the online class.

Should I sell my Christmas lights or lease them?

Leasing with an all-inclusive service gives you recurring revenue and a better customer experience. Selling only works if you sell at $15, $18, or $20 a foot and install in year two at half price. Selling at lease price and installing for $200 to $300 will put you out of business.

What does the all-inclusive red carpet service include?

Installation, repairs, takedown, storage, color changes, and free replacement if lights ever need it. If a bulb or strand is out, the customer calls and you're there within 24 hours.

How much should I charge for the all-inclusive service?

$8 to $12 a foot, which is recurring revenue every year.

What do I say if a customer wants me to hang their own lights?

Say no. Your insurance doesn't cover work someone else did, and you can't know if wires were cut properly. Learn more at ChristmasLights.io.

Why am I not closing jobs at $8 to $10 a foot?

Usually it's the pitch, not the price. Talk about grandkids and how beautiful the home will look, not LEDs and clips.

Should I give discounts for returning customers?

It's split about 50/50. At $10 a foot, 10% off is fine. At $6 a foot, don't discount, and build any discount into your price.

What's a good minimum price?

$750 is a good minimum. Many installers move to $1,000, and some have a $1,500 minimum.

How do I get more Google reviews?

Ask during the sales process and at the end of the job, use a tap card or card with the review link, ask for a video review if they can't log in, and follow up the next day. Keep the owner's and employees' names out of the review.

Do I need Yelp?

Yes. Yelp is where ChatGPT finds a lot of its information, and you must pay $12 a month to have your good reviews shown.

How do I keep lights from tangling in a garbage can?

Put a piece of cardboard every 100 feet, so if a section tangles you only have 50 feet to sort out. Shop clips and supplies at Christmas Lights HQ.