Enhancing Your Sales

Everybody knows that you’d rather upsell current customers than you would bring on new customers. The most efficient sales efforts are those that focus on current customers. Joe Skelton, former president of Lifescapes in Atlanta, Ga., agrees, and that’s why he used to focus so heavily on selling enhancements to his customers.

But that doesn’t mean all enhancement sales make sense.

“Enhancements are bad when they’re proposed as a result of a customer’s complaint,” he pointed out. “They’re also a problem whenever they are something the client thought was included in the base contract or when they are unanticipated and not part of the client’s budget.”

Still, enhancement sales can be high-margin business that boosts client satisfaction.

“There are a number of instances when enhancements are win/win,” Skelton maintained. In particular, he identified the following instances where upselling can really benefit the company.

• When they are perceived as added value by the customer
• When they boost a property’s marketability
• When they’re proposed proactively
• When they’re presented as a creative way to lower long-term maintenance
• When the client can plan them into the budget

Identifying the right enhancement opportunities still requires some thought. “Good enhancements that clients appreciate are anything that boosts safety, boosts curb appeal, cuts maintenance costs or proactively offers to replace dead plants,” Skelton pointed out.

He went on to illustrate that selling these jobs can be simplified if you can demonstrate that the work represents a long-term improvement to the property, especially for commercial customers. “If the job costs more than $500 and represents significant improvement, then it can be classified a leasehold improvement and amortized over five to 10 years by the client,” Skelton explained. “That makes it much easier to pay for.”

The author is Editor/Publisher for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at bwest@lawnandlandscape.com.