As the owner of a lawn care or landscaping business, or at the very least, someone responsible for growing a green industry business do you know what you’re really selling?
Sounds like a silly question, doesn’t it?
Think about it for just a minute though. What are you really selling? Is it lawn care services? Is it landscape maintenance or installations? If you think the answer is, ‘yes’, you’re wrong.
I know you probably think I’ve gone off my rocker, but believe it or not, you’re NOT simply selling your services. You’re selling something more. You’re selling freedom. You’re selling status. You’re selling value.
You see, when you go to Home Depot to purchase a new drill, you’re not going to buy something that drills holes. Nope. You’re going to buy holes. That’s right. You’re buying the actual holes themselves. You don’t really care how you get those holes, you just know you need a hole so you buy a drill.
It’s the same with your services. Your customers aren’t buying ‘lawn care services’, they’re buying freedom from having to spend their free nights or weekends out slaving away in the yard. They’re buying the status that comes with having a gorgeous, professionally designed and installed landscape that makes their customers say, “Wow!”
So, stop simly selling your services and start selling the BENEFITS that come from your services and watch how your marketing becomes more effective.
I’ve been reading a book by master salesman/marketer, Chet Holmes, called ‘The Ultimate Sales Machine’. One of the things he talks about in the book is the power of something called a core story.
In a nutshell, a core story is a report or case study that illustrates some problem, issue, or concern affecting your prospects and customers. When you present this core story, you start off talking only about this problem and how it impacts your prospects. Again, you start off talking ONLY about this problem and it’s not until the end of your story that you introduce your service as the solution.
It’s a very powerful way to establish yourself as an expert in your field in the sense that you’re educating them on a problem impacting their lives. This core story is very similar to the free report or consumer guide I’ve recommended you use.
Basically, you offer this core story or free report as a way to get your foot in the door of your prospects. And because this core story contains information your prospects would be interested in, you offer it in exchange for their contact information or a face-to-face meeting. You then have a great opportunity to continue the conversation, establish your credibility even more, and present an offer for products or services.
If you don’t already have a core story or a free consumer report, I have several available to members of the Lawn Care Champion’s Circle.
Okay, to be completely honest, this post has absolutely NOTHING to do with lawn care. In fact, I was thinking about what I could write that would be insightful, educational, and helpful in terms of marketing your lawn care or landscaping business. Unfortunately, I just got back from watching the newest Batman flic, The Dark Knight, and that’s all I can think about at the moment.
Now, I’ll readily admit that I’m a big fan of good movies. I love movies that have lots of action and adventure, but even more important than all that is a good story line. I loved the way the story unfolded. They did such a good job of interweaving the character development with the interplay between the characters with the way the plot moved along.
I could go on and on about what I liked about it, but I don’t want to give anything away and I don’t want to get too far off topic. I’ll just summarize it by saying the action was non-stop, the storyline was captivating, and Heath Ledger’s performance was off the charts.
Basically, I can’t wait to see it again!
Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled lawn care marketing insight and advice.
This one’s courtesy of my good friend Richard Flint:
The Real Reason Companies Are Losing Their Customers
The more I research salespeople, the more I am realizing the lack of certain attributes that have to form the foundation of selling. Business is lost everyday by companies because they are putting order takers on the street, not salespeople. This means relationships are being lost, which makes price a larger issue than it has to be. When price is the issue, someone has not done his or her job of presenting value. As long as the price is competitive, it will not be an issue if the relationship is solid and the customer feels valued. Here are the attributes I see missing in most people who call themselves a salesperson.
First, they really don’t prepare for the sales call. They don’t do their research about customer history. The result is a lack of customer knowledge. They don’t seek to understand where the company is in their growth journey. The result is a presentation that guesses at the customer needs.
They are not really students of their product. Oh, they have knowledge, but their knowledge is limited in the fact they don’t totally understand what the product can do. The result is the salesperson making promises about the product that can’t be delivered. That means an upset customer who believes he has been lied to. Do you think that could affect company reputation?
They would rather email the customer than go face to face with them. Technology is not something to replace the salesperson; it is a tool to help the salesperson become better prepared with information. When technology becomes a way of avoiding the customer, it becomes a negative sales tool. As much as we may not want to admit it, most customers still want to do business with a human, not a machine.
They are not strong with follow-up. When it comes to details, they tend to be weak. Very few return phone calls in a timely fashion. Many would rather wait for the customer to call them, than call the customer. The result is business that was theirs going to other salespeople who are more proficient at taking care of the customer’s need.
Is it possible the lack of a strong sales presence with customers is the reason many companies are struggling today? The customer will use price as the reason they switched, but in private conversations they will tell you it was the lack of customer attention.
At any one time, only about 3% of your market is looking to buy your product or service RIGHT NOW. The other 97% are open to it, are thinking about it, or don’t think they’re at all interested.
So, having this knowledge, it’s important to find ways to capture this 97% so you can continue to communicate with them, educate them, and eventually, convert them to that 3% that is interested.
Here are a few suggestions for converting the 97% to the 3%:
- Always, always, always capture contact information whenever possible. Whether over the phone, online, or in person, get at the very least a name and email address so you can continue the conversation.
- Continually communicate with your prospects, sending them educational based marketing messages. Don’t just try to sell them something, educate them and they won’t see you as a salesman, but as a trusted advisor that has the solutions to their problems.
- Be consistent. Most businesses make the mistake of running advertising who’s sole goal is to develop name recognition. This is a waste of money. Yes, you want to develop name recognition, but you do this through consistently communicating with your target market using consistent, educational based marketing.
Follow these 3 simple steps and you’ll find yourself converting many of the 97% to happy, satisfied customers.
Robert Skrob is an expert at building successful, thriving, profitable businesses. He’s also the host of a weekly business building web radio program called, ‘Business Profits Radio’.
He recently did a show titled, ‘Essential Elements of Successful Business Owners‘. It’s a valuable resource for anyone that’s looking for the edge when it comes to building a successful lawn care or landscaping business.
Here’s some of what Robert covers in this episode of Business Profits Radio:
• The essential element it takes to succeed in business
• A little trick to overcoming the resistence you face getting things done
• How to anticipate mistakes before they happen
• Secret to convicing customers that you are honest, truthful and correct
• How to avoid wasted time and effort
I listen to every episode and highly recommend it to you as well!
