{"id":4136,"date":"2020-04-20T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovativepixel.com\/IGIN\/?post_type=features&p=4136"},"modified":"2021-12-30T18:15:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T23:15:28","slug":"find-the-right-fit","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/innovativepixel.com\/IGIN\/features\/find-the-right-fit\/","title":{"rendered":"Find the right fit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anna Thurston, a landscape designer based in Tacoma, Washington, sees herself as her customer\u2019s agent, \u201clike a real estate agent would be on behalf of a seller,\u201d helping them work with contractors to get what they want out of their outdoor living spaces.<\/p>\n

Wade Parker, owner of Majestic Landscapes in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area, says, \u201cThe amount of time I spend on a customer personally is unlimited.\u201d Through developing a personal relationship, he\u2019s able to keep them over the long term.<\/p>\n

And James Denison, vice president of residential and hardscape sales at Denison Landscaping and Nursery Inc. in the mid-Atlantic region, says his salespeople focus on how customers are going to use their outdoor living spaces. \u201cIt\u2019s function over everything else,\u201d he says. \u201cI hate to invest their time and money in something that doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

In talking with customers about how to design and build their outdoor living spaces, landscape and irrigation professionals say it\u2019s important to focus on planning to meet customer needs, determine how much maintenance they want to do and keep things simple in order to avoid expensive customization. With the right approach, it\u2019s possible to make sure customers are happy for years to come, generating repeat customers and long-term profits for their companies.<\/p>\n

A personal approach<\/h2>\n

Thurston, whose goal as a designer is to create outdoor rooms that are functional, aesthetically pleasing, easy to maintain and beneficial to the environment, likes to give her first-time customers a multipage questionnaire. \u201cI ask questions like, how many family members do you have?\u201d she says. \u201cWhat do you want in your garden? How long are you planning to be in the place?\u201d<\/p>\n

The purpose is to educate herself on their needs and give them a chance to articulate their vision. \u201cI have enough information in that very first meeting that I can do quite a bit of work right there in the first two hours,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Sometimes that initial dialogue can mean educating clients about difficult topics. For example, she\u2019s currently working with older clients who have laurels sprouting all around a retaining wall along the property line. Thurston suggested pulling the laurels entirely and rebuilding the crumbling wall. \u201cThey were reticent to do that,\u201d she says. \u201cBut even though in the short term it\u2019s a big expense, in the long term it\u2019s a benefit. They\u2019re elderly people, and my whole objective for them is to make that landscape as low maintenance as I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fire elements are always popular with outdoor spaces, but customers need to understand the difference in upkeep between wood and gas sources. (Photo: Dennison Landscaping)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steve Brinson, owner of Steve Brinson Irrigation in Miramar Beach, Florida, typically works with landscape contractors to implement their designs, so for him, customer education is less extensive. Although he walks customers through his irrigation systems and how they function, he says, \u201cMost homeowners don\u2019t have a concept of what it takes for an irrigation system to run and function. All they want is a finished product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker says he never gets tired of talking to customers. \u201cMy wife accuses me of just going until the customer is tired,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t look at my talk time as on-the-clock time because I know that no matter what, the more I talk to this customer, whether it is about their grandchildren or whether it is about ripping out shrubs in the front and putting in new ones, the better the relationship you can build with that person.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Denison, salespeople use the first site visit to size up the customer\u2019s needs and understand their budget and timeline. Next, they try to develop a scope of work that delivers value for the customer and profit for the builder. \u201cWe try to use our expertise so that customers don\u2019t ask for too much or make things too hard,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of my main things would be, \u2018Less is more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes that means steering customers away from unreasonable ideas and toward practical ones that will make them happier over the long term. \u201cSome people think they want a patio or kitchen 100 feet away from the house, and we have to say, \u2018No, you don\u2019t want that, you\u2019ll never go back there,\u2019\u201d Denison says. \u201cWe\u2019re always trying to ask, \u2018How does it work and how does it function?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Maintenance is key<\/h2>\n

Diagnosing how much maintenance a customer is able to do and designing a project for their needs is also critical. Thurston, who focused her graduate studies on examining the failure of green roofs due to lack of maintenance provisions, says not doing this can threaten long-term business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll address their budget for maintenance if I see that it\u2019s lacking,\u201d says Thurston. \u201cI don\u2019t want them to end up with a project they can\u2019t handle over the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brinson educates his clients about irrigation system maintenance and tries to eradicate the false perception that they don\u2019t need upkeep. \u201cI describe it like this to my customers: The Grand Canyon was made by the Colorado River,\u201d says Brinson. \u201cMind you, it took thousands of years for that to happen, but a canyon was still cut by flowing water. What we do is put pressured water through PVC pipe. And that tells you everything you need to know. If flowing water can make the Grand Canyon, then pressured water through PVC is going to have maintenance; there\u2019s no way around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be proactive,\u201d he adds. \u201cThat\u2019s part of being a good contractor, seeing things that other people don\u2019t. You might have to move some heads around, redesign some things, to make it work better. When designing it, you need to have that [mindset].\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker agrees that it\u2019s critical to educate customers about maintenance when designing a landscape, and he often steers them away from doing things he thinks they can\u2019t handle. However, because he is also a maintenance contractor, he has the option of selling them a maintenance package along with their outdoor living improvements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that first year, it\u2019s crucial to get them set up,\u201d he says. \u201cUsually, I\u2019ll step in and walk them through it on a no-charge basis. Or if I have to regularly maintain it, I\u2019ll cut them as good a deal as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love looking at jobs I did 10 years ago,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice to see when someone actually knows how to take care of things themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denison educates homeowners about maintenance, and he directs customers to keep things simple to cut down on costs and upkeep. \u201cOne of the first things would be, if they\u2019re building a fireplace, do they want wood burning versus gas?\u201d he says. \u201cDo they want to handle wood, and do they know it\u2019s a smoky mess that\u2019s going to stink up the neighborhood? Then we ask about the appliance size and number of appliances, because it\u2019s a lot more to keep clean. Everything\u2019s outside and gets dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSimple is better,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Limiting changes<\/h2>\n

Showing customers examples and detailed designs before the work starts is essential to making sure everyone\u2019s on the same page. It\u2019s also important to limit changes as much as possible after the shovel hits dirt, because that\u2019s where things get messy. When changes need to be made, landscape and irrigation experts counsel being flexible and adjusting where possible, limiting the extra costs to the customer unless it\u2019s part of a larger design-build contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be open-minded and know that you could run into something, because you never know what\u2019s underground,\u201d says Brinson. \u201cYou have to have the ability to change on the spur of the moment. Most of the time it\u2019s not a big enough cost to where you\u2019re going to alter it, unless it\u2019s something major.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Above: Spending more time in advance working with customers to find out exactly what outdoor elements they want both improves the final product and builds a relationship. Parker says that makes it easier to work out changes that happen later in the process. (Photo: Majestic Landscapes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Parker says that when changes need to be made, either before or after the work has started, having a good personal relationship with a customer can help ease the transition. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to tell someone what they want doesn\u2019t work when you\u2019ve made the relationship somewhat personal,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

These landscape and irrigation professionals also counsel against upselling unless it\u2019s truly what the customer wants. \u201cI think it\u2019s morally important for the seller not to take advantage of the customer,\u201d Thurston says. Overselling to a customer who can\u2019t keep up with the maintenance also ends up making both the landscape professional and the wider industry look bad.<\/p>\n

Parker says that customers will come to you when they\u2019re ready to add on services or improvements. \u201cMost of the time I\u2019m not a pushy salesperson,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t upsell that much. I probably should, but I\u2019d rather keep the relationship.\u201d When he suggests that a customer think about an additional service in a few years, the customer usually asks for a reminder about those plans once the current installation is finished.<\/p>\n

Denison has had a lot of success selling preset packages to master-planned communities in recent years. Because they\u2019re already working in the community, they\u2019re able to show customers exactly what they\u2019re getting. Having something they can see really helps to sell the services and design, keeping costs down for customers and maximizing builder profit.<\/p>\n

With higher-end projects, they upsell by giving customers multiple options or packages. \u201cWe tell them, \u2018This is the base of what we talked about, with the patio and the kitchen, and these are separate line items that show possible extras, such as lighting,\u2019\u201d says Denison. \u201cThat way, we\u2019re really showing them how it enhances their outdoor living.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What do you need to know from your customers?<\/h3>\n

It can be challenging to work with a new customer to figure out what kind of outdoor living space works best. Sometimes, the customer has ideas, but doesn\u2019t come into that first meeting knowing exactly what they\u2019re after.<\/p>\n

Brainstorming is helpful, but a designer can use a tool like a questionnaire to narrow down some of the ideas that won\u2019t push the customer toward a design that will provide the right outdoor experience. Here are several sample questions that can help start that process, supplied by the designers we interviewed.<\/p>\n

1. What is your reason for pursuing landscape enhancements at this time? Check all that apply.<\/strong><\/p>\n