LAWN & LANDSCAPE EVENT: Strategize for Success

Safety training. Hiring new foremen. Re-working routes. Often the daily duties that bog down landscape business owners and managers cause them to focus on internal forces (employees and operations) rather than external ones – market conditions and, most importantly, the customer. In fact, most businesses spend 92 percent of their time on their intrinsic priorities, says Judy Guido, green industry consultant with Guido & Associates, Moorpark, Calif.
 
“Most of us aren’t listening to customers’ needs or to how the market has changed because we’re so busy on the internal side of it,” says Guido, who shared marketing insights with 13 landscape contractors at an industry roundtable sponsored by Bayer Environmental Science and Lawn & Landscape in June.
 
Neglecting customers and market conditions is like getting ready for a big party without making a guest list, Guido says, adding, “you may be preparing for a party that might never happen.”
 
To companies that claim they don’t need marketing or have all the business they need, Guido points out that marketing isn’t only about advertising and acquiring new business. “You always need business and you better be marketing all year round,” she says. “Does that mean you’re advertising all year? Not necessarily, but you had best be keeping your name out there, asking your customers about needs, looking for partners and performing competitive analyses.
 
“The heart of marketing is creating a strategic process of building your business,” Guido adds. “How I position myself and brand myself are two of the most important questions in marketing.” However, it’s not something most contractors recognize. Only 6 percent of green industry companies have strategic plans, according to Guido’s research. “You don’t have to be a large company to have a strategic plan,” she says. “In fact, the smaller you are, the more important it is to have a plan.”
 
Companies who follow strategic plans tend to be No. 1 or No. 2 in their markets and average 47 percent higher profits, 92 percent higher customer satisfaction and retention rates and 64 percent higher employee retention than those that do not, Guido says.
 
There’s no “silver bullet” in marketing, Guido notes. “There’s no one strategy, tactic, tool, message, medium or market that does it all,” she says. “Your customers’ needs, values and market forces dictate what you should be doing. Your strategy will drive what tactics you use.”
 
One tip to creating a customer-driven strategy is to create a customer-advocacy board comprised of the company’s most profitable clients. Ask these clients what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong and what they’d like to see you start doing. Also, ask them about the competition and why they choose to use your company. From these results, perform an honest analysis of your company and your competitors. Document strengths, weaknesses and where the competition stacks up.
 
Guido finds this honest analysis is one of the top reasons many contractors don’t do strategic planning. “It can be painful,” she says. “You may find some things out about your company that you really didn’t want to know. But wouldn’t you rather find the things out now than just keep going about your way thinking you’re a great organization? It can and should be hard, but energizing.
 
“If you just ask the right questions, your customers will create your strategy for you,” she adds.
 
In addition, this process allows contractors to get a 360-degree view of their companies to create one of the most important strategic elements: an identifiable difference (ID) between your company and the competition.
 
An identifiable difference is key to a company’s long-term marketing success and competitive advantage, Guido says, explaining that a company must actually make itself different – not just appear different. In addition, a company must communicate this ID accurately to the public. As Guido stresses: “Nothing costs more than a disconnect between marketing and sales promises and the reality of the customer experience.”