Selling Secrets: Keys To Sales

Even the most spectacular landscape services aren’t worth much unless there’s a willing buyer. That’s why an effective sales strategy is a must, especially in regard to residential landscape work, where a carefully cultivated customer base is essential to building a referral-based business. Creating a strategic sales approach will ensure that the right customers will be there to properly pay for what contractors have to offer.

FIND A FOCUS. To avoid squandering employee efforts and valuable company resources, clearly identifying a target customer base is the first step in formulating a successful sales strategy. Johnette Taylor, president, Roundtree Landscaping, Dallas, Texas, urges contractors to avoid the all-too-common scattershot approach to sales and marketing. "Pick two or three markets that you really want to target. And then think of what services clients in those areas would like," she advised. "You need to hone in on what you’re going to do. Otherwise, marketing is a waste of time."

Similarly, Grover Landscape Services, Modesto, Calif., only considers work that fits its predetermined criteria. Skipping the "ma and pa" properties, the company caters to large residential and commercial jobs. "We have a target clientele," according to Daniel Machado, a landscape architect with Grover Landscape Services. He added that he always qualifies customers on the telephone, determining their specific landscaping needs, to see if a caller is a "good fit with the company," he described. And when making a first impression with potential customers, Machado advises always going above and beyond their expectations. "Give more than what people ask for," he said.

Daly-Sublette Landscape Architects, Metairie, La., identifies its preferred customer by carefully screening in-coming calls. "They interview us and we interview them," noted Bill Daly, president.

High-end, residential work is the most profitable niche for P.O.P.S. Landscape Co., Marietta, Ga., and in turn, its target consumer base when marketing, according to Kym Gatti, chief financial officer. And, like many companies focused on attracting a certain kind of customer, P.O.P.S. charges for its estimates and is sure to mention this to anyone who calls for an estimate. This fee eliminates those "who are just fishing for ideas," Gatti said. "That way, we know the customer is serious about landscaping."

Along the same lines, Cayuga Landscape Company, Ithaca, N.Y. screens potential customers carefully to make sure they fit its target customer profile, according to David Fernandez, president. As the season goes on, the company is increasingly careful about which jobs it will even consider. If it’s getting enough high-quality leads, Cayuga might not bother with residential projects that are too small or too far away, as to not waste time or resources, he noted. "We’ll grade prospects by how likely they are."

FOLLOWING THE LEAD. Contractors must be ready to handle that first call from a potential customer in an organized, efficient manner so potential customers don’t fall through the proverbial cracks. Roundtree Landscaping recognizes this necessity. "Our office manager is key in asking questions and making sure the customer’s need is the type of work that we do best," Taylor said. "If not, then we provide a referral."

Roundtree’s office manager maintains a log of incoming calls in a binder kept next to the phone. Then, "trying to extract as much information as possible," he asks callers a series of questions about their landscape needs and what particular services they might require, Taylor described. The office manager then fills in that information on a specified form and forwards it to the appropriate landscape architects, who also function as salespeople and follow up with clients.

Before meeting with one of Roundtree’s designers, however, prospective customers are sent a packet of company information, which includes the company’s quarterly newsletter, informative brochures with photographs of past projects, details on available services as well as a brief company history. This immediate follow-up to an inquiry always leaves a positive impression, Taylor said. "We’re trying to educate our clients all along," she commented. "They can read through materials and get a sense of who we are as a company."

Organization becomes crucial to successfully tracking potential customers after the initial contact. P.O.P.S. Landscape Co., which does primarily residential work, documents every single step in the sales process, according to Gatti. The company’s receptionist even works from a set of scripts when taking incoming calls, so she can answer most questions from potential customers, Gatti noted.

Such a systematic approach ensures that P.O.P.S.’s service is consistent and conveys a professional first impression to potential customers. In a booming market such as Atlanta’s, saturated with its share of contractors with dubious business practices, P.O.P.S.’s sales approach gives potential customers confidence in its abilities, Gatti said. After all, the secret to sales is often more about selling the company itself than its services, she pointed out.

GOING TO MARKET. Another critical component of effective sales is effective marketing. Contractors need to get the word out about their services or the phone is simply not going to ring. P.O.P.S. Landscaping, for one, has experimented with just about every approach to marketing: direct mail, the Yellow Pages, a catchy logo, an Internet presence and even television ads.

Television, by far, has been the most successful medium for promoting the company and generating sales leads, Gatti said. "When (people) see you on TV, it’s amazing," she said. "They trust everything you say."

P.O.P.S. advertises on three cable channels: HGTV, the Weather Channel and the Discovery Channel. This costs around $1,400 a month to air 150 spots, not including production costs, which generally total about $800, Gatti related. Since the television ads yield consistent, high-quality responses, these costs are more than reasonable, she said.

P.O.P.S.’s retail division also has played a key role in bringing in new design/build customers. At least 10 to 20 percent of its landscape installation work is derived from visitors who stop by the store to look around, noted Gatti. From plant material to water features, these on-site displays allow customers to see what their landscape investment might look like. "It has a visual impact," Gatti said, adding that a sense of professionalism is conveyed through an actual, tangible retail site. "They’re seeing that we’re an established company."

Compared to television ads and the retail division, direct marking has been a "waste of money" for the company, Gatti observed. "It’s not as effective and people throw it in the garbage," she said.

In order to know which marketing efforts pay off, tracking leads is essential, Gatti advised. Whenever a call comes in, always ask "How did you hear about us?,’" she recommended, adding that P.O.P.S. keeps track of its leads in a database, "so we can take a look and see what works and what doesn’t."

In terms of marketing, Fernandez has also found television ads to be the most effective route to new business. Commercials with images of completed landscapes "convey that we have the capability of coming through with the complete package," he said. "Television is one of the few ways to get vivid pictures of completed work to a broad market."

He added that the company does a variety of other marketing, such as displaying company logos on trucks and uniforms and running newspaper and Yellow Pages ads to create an awareness about his company and the services it provides.

Daly-Sublette Landscape Architects pursues a more affordable route to market its design/build services throughout the greater New Orleans area. Employees deliver informative talks at area garden clubs and to other organizations. "We’ve never really done any advertising," Daly observed. "It’s a matter of getting out there in the community and talking about the type of work that we do." During these public appearances, which are good for generating word-of-mouth business, Daly will show "before" and "after" photos of past projects and explain the intricacies of landscape architecture, he described.

When it comes to selling landscape services, Sidney Showalter, owner, Showalter Landscaping and Irrigation, Naples, Fla., has not found an acceptable substitute for a personal approach. In his experience running a small landscape company, marketing materials such as flyers haven’t been terribly effective, especially with new homeowners who get barraged with mailings and telemarketers trying to sell them services, Showalter noted.

Whether he’s out on business or having a slow day, Showalter’s personal approach to sales entails scouting new housing developments for prospective customers by simply driving around and knocking on doors. If no one is home when Showalter stops by, he often obtains the name of the property owner from the building permit and follows up with a call, he said.

He has also established relationships with area builders, which helps generate leads. "I’ll ask them if they’ve done anything about their landscaping yet," he said, adding that after a brief conversation with a homeowner or builder, he can immediately tell if they’re interested or not. "Either they like me or don’t like me," he said. "I’ve never found that a hard sell did any good."