Sales & Marketing: Think Service

A few weeks ago, I addressed an audience of landscape contractors in Florida, where the sun always shines and the grass never stops growing. Among the marketing tactics I stressed to my fellow colleagues that day was the power of using client testimonials to sell their services – for not only are they the most authentic evidence of the great work and service your firm delivers, they also are the most effective and least expensive advertising you’ll ever find.

"I believe you, Marty," a landscape contractor in the second row shouted. "But how do you actually get testimonials?"

"You have to go out there and ask your clients for them," I said, simply.

"But I do ask for them," the landscape contractor told me. "And I still don’t get them."

Now I must confess I may have misled you before when I said client testimonials are the least expensive advertising you’re going to find. While it’s true they won’t take much out of your budget, they will take a great deal of time and effort. You see, the reason the landscape contractor in the second row isn’t getting testimonials is because his clients do not want to give them.

Put simply: You have to earn testimonials, and to do that you need to exceed your clients’ expectations. In a tight market, nothing will distinguish your business from its competition more than the level of service you provide.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. A couple of years ago, a state-of-the-art sports club opened in my hometown. The facility is terrific, and the equipment is top of the line. If you want to swim laps in an Olympic-sized pool? They have it. If you want to play tennis? They have both outdoor and indoor courts. If you want to work out in the early morning and grab breakfast afterward? Their gym and restaurant can offer that too. But what they can’t do is deliver superior service. Despite charging a princely sum for membership, if you lose your entry pass the sports club still fines you $10 to replace it. Take a shower there after you’ve worked out and chances are you may not find a towel. If you want milk with your cereal? Good luck, they’re frequently out of basic supplies – even napkins and ketchup. If you have a suggestion to make or a concern to address? There is never a manager nor a suggestion box to be found, but they do have plenty of rude teenagers working for them who’ve had no customer service or gym management training and have no authority to take action when a client has a legitimate complaint.

Now even though I think this particular sports club has the best facility and workout equipment around, not only would I not write a testimonial for them, I wouldn’t tell my friends or family to join either. In fact, I’d strongly encourage them not to. Which brings me to my second marketing tactic: The flipside of a good testimonial is a bad reputation. Never underestimate how much a negative review – whether it’s an article in the local newspaper or one neighbor telling bad stories about your landscape company to another at the annual block party – can hurt your business.

So I encourage all landscape contractors to spend some time this month looking closely at your company and the level of service you’re delivering. If you aren't flooded with client testimonials, you have some serious work to do.

Marty Grunder is a speaker, consultant, author and landscape contractor with Grunder Landscaping Co. He can be reached at 937/847-9944 or via www.martygrunder.com.