What it says on the tin

One of the things we do at Lawn & Landscape is provide you with practical information that helps you run your business better. And the best way to do that is to help you better understand your customers.

So instead of just reprinting data from the U.S. Census or Pew, we took it to the top and asked a bunch of homeowners what they think of landscapers.

For our inaugural Grow the Market report, we picked three major topics of interest: homeowner perceptions of the cost of landscape services (too high), their expectations of service (also high) and the impact they think landscaping has on the value of their home’s eventual selling price (again, high).

This supplement is the first installment of a year-long feed of actionable information in print and online that you can use right away to improve your selling process, focus your marketing and do what it says on the tin: grow your market.

We’re going to roll out more data throughout this year – on irrigation, hardscaping and other segments, as well as consumer perceptions of water in the landscape, organic services and how they feel about upsells. We’ll also bring you case studies of contractors across the country who are using this research to grow their markets.

To stay connected between issues, I encourage you to follow our Grow the Market Twitter account – @growthemarket. You’ll get regular updates on statistics, news and other information that can help you sell and market your company’s services more effectively.

Some housekeeping to help you follow along: We use homeowner and consumer interchangeably, and often compare homeowners generally with people who contract some or all of their landscape services. When we refer to lawn care, we mean herbicide, fertilizer and insect control applications. Maintenance services mean mowing and trimming of a home lawn.

Lastly, I want thank Syngenta for its support of this study. What you’re about to read can dramatically impact your business, and we wouldn’t be able to bring it to you without them.

So, settle in, get comfortable and turn the page. Let’s get started.

– Chuck Bowen

How we did it
The online study was fielded in November 2012 to the opinions@trone panel and a supplemental homeowner audience. We collected 819 responses, yielding a 95 percent confidence level with a margin of error of +/-3.43 points. The survey was programmed in Perseus and the analysis was conducted using SAS software.

The percentages referred to in the report are from the “top two box” scores, based on a six-point Likert scale. Trone Brand Energy prefers this to the more common five-point scale because it eliminates the default neutral position (box 3 in a five-point scale) and adds meaning to the findings by not including those indicating marginal agreement (box 4 in the six-point scale).

Trone Brand Energy, based in High Point, N.C., is one of the largest independent, full-service brand communication agencies in the Southeast. For most of its 30 years in business it has delivered branding and marketing solutions to the lawn and landscape industry. To learn more about them visit TroneBrandEnergy.com.