How do you get people to realize you are a great company?

Anyone can say they are great, so how do you get someone to realize you are a great company. First you have to be a great company. Great companies can happen overnight, but this is often a process that takes time. Smoke and mirrors will only go so far. Make sure you don’t over promise and under deliver. This will come back to haunt you many times over. Now that we got that settled, the next thing is to have marketing pieces that reflect your great quality. Make sure if it is not going to reflect you well, don’t use it. Everything from your website to invoices should reflect the quality organization you are.

The best way for prospective clients to know you are a great is to hear it from others. Let the industry say you are great. This can be done by submitting projects for awards and publications. We have had award winning projects published nationally, regionally, and locally. Our 28 “Excellence in Landscape” awards from PLNA has made River Valley Landscapes PA’s most award winning company 3 years in a row. To this day, River Valley Organics installs the most Filtrexx products in the world and has been recognized both locally and nationally for its environmental efforts. I realize I just said that about my company, but we often get these types of write ups about River Valley.

Another source a prospective client can hear it from is your clients. Your clients can be the most powerful testimony you have. Making your clients happy is the best way to get them to talk. If they really love what you did for them, why not make a video to let t hem express how great you treated them.

Watch this!

 

Regroup, Review, and then React:

Here I am planning my mini geta away to regroup.

With 3 weeks left in 2011, most of us have a good idea how our companies will end this year. The seasonal nature of our industry can be good and bad. Let’s look on the good side. The slow season is a great time to regroup, review, and then react. Each year we get to look at our business with a clean slate. Our entrepreneurial spirit pushes many of us to plow forward. Before you plow forward you need to take a moment to look back with a clear vision.

It is usually easier to give a nonbiased evaluation when you are not stressed about the day to day activities. May I suggest a few days off to clear your mind and soul before digging too deep? Having a clear head will help take the negative emotions out of your review process. Here are some suggestions:

• Extended weekend with spouse

• Skiing or fishing trip with a friend

• Spa and Shopping

• Tropical Cruise

Now you are relaxed and focused. Depending on your role or company size, the time needed for this review process may vary. You need to take an honest look at the past year before you do anything. This is a great time to pull out your core values and see how you are doing. Then check to see if goals were met in these four areas.

• Were Marketing or Leads goals met?

• Were Sales goals met?

• Were Production goals met?

• Were Financial goals met?

Now it is time to react. With a clear understanding of what happened in 2011, you can lay out a game plan for 2012. Use your review to evaluate your next steps. Which area of your company is growing and which is struggling? You have to decide, if it worth fighting for the struggling part of your company. Maybe your time is better spent growing the thriving part of your business. Maybe you can simple hit the repeat button. Be careful if this is your conclusion. Most businesses need to be trying to move forward or they will fall back. This doesn’t mean you need to grow your revenue. You may be more interested in growing profits. Whatever your plan is for 2012, make sure you make it with clear understanding of the past.

Good luck planning 2012!

How much information should be on a landscape design? Part Two:

Design Presentation

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. 

This question has different answers for different people. Boy, now I sound like a politician. Bear with me, I’m not copping out. What works for me might not work for you. You first have to ask yourself 3 simple questions.

• What does the landscape design accomplish for you and the client?

• How much time do you have?

• What is your UCA (Unique Competitive Advantage)

A simple answer to the first question may sound something like this: “The design shows the client what we are doing.” True, but not really. Some companies use the design to sell the installation, while others start by selling the design. The design process should be your first step to win the client. This starts before you ever come up with an idea. Your questions and follow up questions will quickly inform the consumer on how well you connect. Your questions will also demonstrate how much you know and care. Show you are the professional by how you approach the project not by saying how good you are. Does the design process get your creative juices flowing? Does it get the client excited? The more information you can get from the client the more you can apply to the design.

How much time you have should be looked at from 2 angles. First, how much time do you have to create the design? Even if you don’t have much time, make sure you know what you are creating. You can’t have an accurate estimate without a good idea of what you are creating. Believe me this will cost you more than just time. The second is even more important. Secondly, how much time do you have to oversee the project once it has been sold? How many times have you said we can figure that out on site? Where is the designer when it is time to figure it out? He or she is trying to sell another job, picking plants at the nursery, on vacation, at the gym, etc. The more time you spend up front the easier it is to pass off to production. This will leave the production staff with less questions and more time for the sales staff to sell.

Thirdly what is your Unique Competitive Advantage? If you don’t have artistic skills you have options. You can always capitalize on technology. Technology won’t make a bad design good, but it can make a design look professional and attractive. Your other option is to down play the design process. In order to do this you will have to be a good communicator. You still have to establish consumer confidence. This can be done by having a strong portfolio to back what you are saying. Also you may have to rely heavier on referrals. If you are artistic, make sure you express that through your designs. This will create immediate consumer confidence. The reality is all consumers are different and so are we the providers. Remember you are the only thing your competition can’t offer, leverage it!

How much information should be on a landscape design?

This question has different answers for different people. Boy, now I sound like a politician. Bear with me, I’m not copping out. What works for me might not work for you. You first have to ask yourself 3 simple questions.

• What does the landscape design accomplish for you and the client?

• How much time do you have?

• What is your UCA (Unique Competitive Advantage)?

You should have a clearer understanding once you answer these 3 simple questions. I find most people are somewhere in the middle. Next week I’ll follow up with each of these 3 questions in detail.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The best landscape designers don’t use perfect plants, pavers, or products!

The best advice I can give any designer is to go back and critique your work. I have been doing this for over 20 years. Although it is not always flattering, it has made me the successful designer I am today. The best designs are those that comes the closest to meeting your client’s wishes. It took me about 10 years to realize the properties that look the best are not the ones that are maintained the best, but the properties that have lack of maintenance designed in.


This discovery has made me search high and low trying to find the perfect plant, paver or product for a designated area only to come up empty. It’s not because I don’t know the materials that exist. The reality is the perfect, you fill in the blank does not exist. Successful designers realize this and search for the best plant, paver, or product. Knowing the weakness of the material and how it will decline over time is crucial. When designers don’t understand this, it results in a disposable landscape. This understanding will help you design a landscape that will improve as time goes on and need little to keep it going.

Sales - Speak After Listening Equals Success

It always bothers me when people tell me I could sell ice cream to an Eskimo.  I guess this bothers me because it applies I can trick them into buying something they don’t want.  Being successful at sales, starts with listening.  Most people like to talk about how great their product or company is.  The best sales people understand they are there because the consumer is looking for something.  They never assume they know why.  People buy for different reasons.  The more information you gather from the consumer the easier it is to serve them not sell them.  The salesperson’s role is to educate the consumer, but not just educate.  Successful salespeople quickly identify what the consumer wants to know.  Again the closer you listen the easier this is to identify.  Don’t just hear what they are saying, but listen and understand them.  As the salesperson educates the consumer he or she is adding value to the product or service.  Most fail to realize this also adds to their value. 

I still remember my first lead after starting our business.  The client had a walkway going down their property line to the neighborhood park.  The first thing they said to me was, they want a hedge the entire way down the path.  At this point I had a choice to make.  I could be an order taker or a design / salesperson.  I ask them, why do you want a hedge?  It wasn’t because I didn’t know the answer.  I wanted them to see the thought process that good designer’s use.  After they told me it was to screen the people walking, I followed with another question.  Would you be open to another suggestion to screen the people?  Of course, they said.  I suggested a naturalized planting that you couldn’t see through.  We also identified that most of the traffic happens in the summer when the deciduous trees have their leaves.  We scattered, hemlocks, river birches, viburnums, rhododendrons, azaleas and an assortment of perennials.  I tell this story because I just didn’t let the client talk, but I tried to understand them.  Listening helped me truly satisfy the client with something they never would have come up with themselves.  In the end the client saw more value while spending more.

Gotta know what you’re fishing for before you bait the hook

Part 4:
Choose your bait.
Identify how to reach or connect with those clients

Only after you have defined your services and the client that uses these services, can you try to understand how to connect with them. Choose the media that will appeal to them. For example, if you love competing on commercial bid work, don’t send 1,000 direct mailers to residences. Yes, everyone lives in a home, but you could send 100 contractors a direct mailer 10 times for a similar cost. There may be reason to go out on a limb, but be careful. I once tried targeting a wide market that was not hitting our client base. It worked in getting the phone to ring. We got more leads from this form of marketing than anything else. The problem was that none of them turned into jobs. The only thing worse than not having work, is working hard for people that will never be clients.


Once you grasp this concept with marketing you will be able to apply it to every aspect of your business. The more you align your marketing, sales, and production with a focus on your vision the more dynamic the results will be. You are now on your way from marketing to branding.

Congratulations, you caught the big one!

Gotta know what you’re fishing for before you bait the hook

Part 3:
Determine your fishing hole.

Identify who is looking for these projects or services

Identify existing clients that are the best fit for your business. If it’s residential work, examine their lifestyle. What is their profession, what kind of neighborhood do they live in, where and how do they shop? This will direct your approach to them. It is one thing to take a lead that falls in your lap, but it is another thing when you are paying to get a new client. Before you start spending any money for marketing or advertising, be sure that it will be going to the right place.

Look for Part 4 to follow…

Gotta know what you’re fishing for before you bait the hook!

Part 2:
Three tips on how to stay in focus:

Define your catch.
Identify what are your preferred projects or services
You may have heard the advice to define your largest jobs or even the most profitable jobs. I believe that is very important, but look first at what kind of work will fit with your vision. It’s a lot more satisfying to make the work you enjoy profitable then to profit from the work you settle for.

Look for Part 3 to follow…

Gotta know what you’re fishing for before you bait the hook!

Part 1:
You might be wondering; what does fishing have to do with the Green Industry? Just hang in there, it’s coming…. I’ve noticed in the past 20 years as a business owner, that as much as business has changed, it is basically the same. However, in today’s business there is less room for mistakes. We all have to be a little wiser, more creative, and mostly, more focused on what we need to do.

Before you bait the hook, you must first decide what you want to fry up for dinner. Too often we spend money throwing out the nets simply hoping to catch something worth keeping. The problem with this strategy is either spending more money than needed or catching the wrong clients. It is common to think any job will put food on the table, but not any job will take you where you want to go. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has taken a job I should have walked away from. In these economic times, it is easy to fall to this temptation and deviate from your vision. But it is critical to define your best market and stick to it.

Most companies, weather by design or just plain reality, are set up to service a certain type of client or job. Some are geared for commercial work, while some are better positioned to service a residential market. Most small to mid-size companies have conflict when trying to service a diverse clientele. When you try to service the wrong client, you generally don’t meet the client’s expectations. You will either fall short on price, service, or quality. In some cases all three. This results in a poor reputation and eventually will affect the bottom line. Any time you have two distinct client groups you are trying to service, it is best to break your company into divisions. This will allow everyone to stay clearly focused on their client’s needs.

Look for my 3 simple tips to follow…

Get the most out of your conference!

Most people go to a conference finding themselves looking for the Golden Nugget that will change their business or life forever? They get back home fired up. They can’t wait to share the great news with everyone. They find out that no one is on board and the employees feel, “Here he/she goes again.”

I can help your participants get the most out your conference. As a business owner for over 20 years, I will show how businesses are made up of 4 main elements. This will help them focus on improving what matters most and not get burned out achieving nothing. This opening talk will be as beneficial for the one man show as it is for an entire team. With everyone running lean businesses can only give resources to what will make a difference!