Stimulus = Sales Tool

Jason Cupp doesn’t like to follow the herd. So when he comes up with marketing ideas or people want him to advertise, he asks if his competition is doing the same thing.

“If our competitors are doing it, we probably won’t,” says Cupp, CEO of Olathe, Kan.-based Highland Outdoor.
Enter his latest program: The 2009 Stimulus Package. The program offers a lifetime warranty on all projects, two free trees, once-a-month landscape maintenance and a 5 percent discount if clients prepay their entire design/build contract. It runs through the end of the year.

Cupp got the idea after talking with a friend of his in the industry. He wanted to create a value proposition that set himself apart from his competition. He floated the stimulus package idea to a sort of advisory council – a group of friends and clients he calls “the boys” – and they loved it.

“The boys are clients of mine, and we share business stuff,” Cupp says. “They said, ‘We think it’s brilliant.’”

While some contractors might blanch at that offering, Cupp says it really doesn’t cost him much. Take the warranty: In 2008, the company’s charges for warranty claims were .01 percent of its total sales, Cupp says.

“We looked at what our exposure claims were over the past years. At the end of the day, we don’t have too many clients call us for warranty issues,” he says. “We could offer it with little additional exposure. It’s not really that big of a number. That tells me we’ve got the right people out in the field installing things the right way, and people are happy with what we do.”

He also has an interest in a tree farm, so he already has a supply of trees on his balance sheet. Having a crew to maintain new landscaping gives him many sets of eyes at that account to make sure everything else looks right and to catch problems early on. And the company already offers a lifetime warranty on hardscaping materials anyway.

“It’s not that hard. If you’re an inferior contractor and you don’t have good management out in the field, then you do create issues – you create perpetual issues,” Cupp says. “This isn’t for the faint of heart. You’ve got to look at real numbers and understand what it’s going to be.”

In an industry that can become commoditized – especially in a recession – the package is aimed at pushing potential purchases over the edge.

“We never have been this bold about telling our clients about what we can do and what we can’t do,” Cupp says. “We compete regularly with five contractors in town, and we all offer the same things. This is something grossly different than what our competitors are offering.”

The program also helps Highland fight against another unfortunate result of a tight economy: Falling prices.
“What we’re trying to combat is … frankly, we’re dealing with some ridiculous price competition. We’re dealing with competitors who don’t know how to price. They’re offering pricing they cannot make any money off of, frankly,” Cupp says.

And while the program is just a few of months old, Cupp’s seen an uptick in sales and interest. Just a few weeks after announcing it, he had two meetings for projects – totaling $300,000 – that were a direct result of the stimulus package. “We have sold two jobs as a result of it, and we’ve received many leads,” he says. “I just want it to be one of the things that tips the project over the line.”

The goal of the package – besides making more money – is to give clients more value for their money, and to increase spending in the local economy, Cupp says. “We’re creating something that’s hard to say no to,” he says.

Cupp says the company doesn’t have a goal for revenue from the stimulus package, and he’s not sure what the ultimate result will be. But, he says that even in just a short time, it’s been a good source of leads and jobs. “Even if we stopped the program today,” he says, “I’d be happy with the results.”

The author is associate editor of Lawn & Landscape. Have a great What’s Your Niche? story? Send it to nwisniewski@gie.net and cbowen@gie.net.