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🌳 Greenway Landscape Design & Build: https://grnway.com/
👤 Connect with Scott Lawn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottlawn/
📸Connect with Christopher Labadie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-labadie-249707377/
🏢Greenway Landscape Design & Build on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenwaydesignbuild
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The Client Wasn't Honest About Their Budget
00:00
Scott Lawn: The client wasn't honest with their actual budget.
00:04
Christopher Labadie: If your client's spending $3,000 on the design, they most likely aren't hurting for money.
00:12
Scott Lawn: That was an aha moment for me, Jack. That's great.
00:15
Jack Jostes: Have you ever charged a client for a landscape design, done the work, put in the hours, maybe even weeks, and then send it over to hear nothing. Or worse, have you ever heard back?
00:26
Jack Jostes: Thanks.
00:26
Jack Jostes: We went with someone else.
00:29
Jack Jostes: That happened to a landscape company I met at an industry roundtable. They had a client who paid $3,000 for a design, a beautiful design with slope and drainage. Everything figured out and after a month of work, they sent it over. The client replied, thanks, went with somebody else. So they called and the client said, well, we didn't hear from you for a month. We thought you ghosted us. So they hired somebody else. I've had this happen to many people I've met. So today I'm going to show you a simple video that would have saved that sale and how to use it in your business.
Why Customer Journey Videos Matter
01:10
Jack Jostes: I'm Jack justice and welcome to the Landscaper's Guide podcast where we share sales, marketing and leadership tips to grow your snow and landscape company. Last week I held a virtual workshop called the Landscapers Guide to Customer Journey Videos where I debuted some new content from my upcoming book, the Landscaper's Guide to Direct Response, Sales and Marketing. Coming out this summer, the workshop was geared toward helping landscape companies increase sales by sending the right videos to the customers at the right moment in a design build process. The idea is simple. When people don't know what's happening next, they get anxious and then they stop buying. Videos sent at the right time can.
01:58
Jack Jostes: Solve that problem sustainable, systematically, every single time.
02:03
Jack Jostes: Here's a clip from the workshop.
Losing Sales After Paid Designs
02:05
Jack Jostes: How many of you have ever lost a sale after you got paid for a design? Anybody? Have you ever gotten paid to do a design? I'm just curious, what do you think happened, Scott? What? What happened? Are there any stories that you can think of that.
Budget Mismatch And Client Embarrassment
02:22
Scott Lawn: Yeah, it. It almost always is price mismatch. The client wasn't honest with their actual budget. We designed to their proclaimed budget. And then when the price came back in at $100,000 more than they actually were hoping to spend, I started shopping and then reducing. And many times I think that they become embarrassed by the fact that they didn't weren't honest with the fact that they couldn't afford it. And so even though we might have been able to re engineer it, I think we lose those because of that embarrassment. That's my altogether.
03:02
Jack Jostes: Well, okay, so what if your video let them know that it's okay and that it's. In fact, normally people are embarrassed. Sometimes they realize it's more than they thought.
03:15
Scott Lawn: It's a good idea. Great idea, actually.
Using Videos To Normalize Budget Conversations
03:18
Jack Jostes: You know, so this is. I think you're absolutely right that I think people become embarrass when they can't afford what they talked about. And I don't know if you're currently doing this, but I would include a next Steps and revisions meeting. I would say, hey, we're, you know, so one. I would present the design to people if in. In zoom in your studio, if you have one. And then if they have, you know, and then schedule that decision, you know, revisions and next step meeting. Hey. And I would tell them in the.
03:58
Jack Jostes: Meeting, hey, it's normal.
04:00
Jack Jostes: Sometimes when I meet with people, we're dreaming during the front end.
04:03
Jack Jostes: And then once they actually see it.
04:04
Jack Jostes: In writing, they feel like, oh my gosh, you know, this is more than I thought. And Robert, I think there's a question about process pages in the chat, if you could help find a good one. So that's just an opportunity in these videos, right? To be like, hey, here's the process. We're going to meet and review your design and we're going to have a revisions and next steps meeting after that. And it's normal during that time a lot of people feel embarrassed even that the project is more than they thought. That's normal in our revisions and next steps meeting. We can talk about phases, we can talk about different materials, we can adjust the plan with to, you know, meet your needs. Something like that.
Scott's Biggest Aha Moment
04:52
Scott Lawn: Can I. Can I just say that was an aha moment for me, Jack. That's great. This will be my best takeaway so far. And then if we pre explain the importance of budget and budget reality, at least in their own home between the two decision makers, that will help immensely to let them know how important this is and be able to explain that many times customers and don't evaluate this correctly and then it causes problems later on. We can certainly re engineer the project. But just addressing it in the video takes it away from the salesperson having to have that awkward. Well, what do you mean you won't tell me your budget? Because I think that's the most difficult process for any of us in design and build is getting that real budget, that real honest conversation.
05:42
Scott Lawn: Yes, I can spend and do intend to spend $200,000. So anyway, thank you. That was A great aha moment.
The Hidden Cost Of Going Silent
05:50
Jack Jostes: Scott nailed it. Budget embarrassment is real and most landscape companies have no system to address it. But there's another reason you lose the sale after the paid design. And it's even simpler than price. If your design takes four weeks and you go completely dark with no updates, no check ins, nothing, the client starts to wonder and wondering turns into fear and then the fear turns into well, maybe we should call some other landscape company.
06:24
Jack Jostes: A single video sent on, you know,.
06:27
Jack Jostes: Day seven of the design process can.
06:30
Jack Jostes: Stop all of that. And here's what I mean.
The $3,000 Design That Lost The Construction Sale
06:33
Jack Jostes: They send it to the.
06:35
Jack Jostes: Client and they reply thanks so much. We went ahead with somebody else. So the client had spent $3,000 and then was just like thanks so much but we hired somebody else.
06:47
Jack Jostes: So they called them and they said.
06:49
Jack Jostes: Hey, what happened you, we have this cool design and they said we didn't hear from you for a month so we thought you ghosted us and we hired somebody else. So this is a key lack of understanding of the process. If the design is going to take.
Communicating What Happens During Design
07:06
Jack Jostes: Four weeks, communicate that to the client. Communicate to them.
07:11
Jack Jostes: The next step is this. And when we're working on a design, we're doing. What are you doing?
07:17
Jack Jostes: What are you doing?
07:18
Jack Jostes: Scott or somebody else? Who else charges thousands of dollars for design? Does anybody else?
07:23
Jack Jostes: Chris, what do you, what are you.
What Goes Into A High-End Landscape Design
07:25
Jack Jostes: Possibly doing that would be worth thousands of dollars for a design?
07:30
Christopher Labadie: Oh, I mean I'm designing a two hundred thousand dollar landscape for their million dollar house.
08:30
Jack Jostes: Well, so I, I, you know, you mentioned everything and I could extract more from you. What does everything mean? Like what do you like when you've got this. This big project where it does take.
08:42
Christopher Labadie: A month, like, okay, well, you site model, you know, site model. You're doing a site model importing your. Your elevations, your. Your cut fills, you know, just to start off the rip, you know, your next step after you get all your cut fills out, you're going into base materials. What's your. What you're counting your base materials. What's your tackle block product? You know, every. Every itemized deal. Your pergola is your.
09:11
Jack Jostes: Yeah, yeah. So. So how many. How many roughly, items would be in the proposal for. For this.
09:20
Christopher Labadie: Just an estimate, a ballpark between, you know, call it 50.
09:25
Jack Jostes: 50. Okay. So. So. So we're. I'm kind of putting you on the spot here. But my point in doing this is like, wow, 50 custom decisions that you need to research and decide and elevation, drainage, material choices. Do you ever need to do any permitting or get a site survey, or do you need to. Do you need to do anything like that with utilities? Is there. Is there potentially coordinating other vendors? Is there anything like. Yeah.
09:58
Christopher Labadie: So, I mean, personally. Personally, I try to cut most of that out until a design is sold, but in the process of doing the design process, you know, until the. The design has then come into a sold project, then I would pull the. Get into the permitting. But, yeah, a site survey, you've got other entities involved. I try to kind of limit any other outside entity as much as I can outside of my vendors when I'm doing my design process. But, sure, I suppose that could come into play.
The Seven-Day Design Update Video
10:31
Jack Jostes: Well, so the point is, whatever you're working on, the point is to communicate to people. And so this is. Let's pretend that I buy the $3,000 design seven days later. And you could trigger this to happen automatically with marketing automation. Client gets an email, jack, we're working on your design. Watch this video to see what we're doing. And now this is where maybe we dip into some of that brand direction. We've got Chris, and he's on a giant drafter's table, and he's got huge monitors, and he's. You know, there's a. You know, this is where maybe we dip into some of that. Right, but the point is, now you're communicating to them. We're working on this.
11:14
Jack Jostes: And then what if the next week after that, you sent a personal email that was like, hey, Jack, we're on track to complete your design two weeks from now, like we planned. Here's what I've accomplished so far. And it's just a quick update. I've done the elevation, I've done this and just wanted to keep you updated about what we're working on. Right. So it could be instead of four weeks of silence, there's a video that goes out that's like hey, here's what we're doing when we're working on a design and this is a pre made video. Not every time do you need to do it right. I'm not saying you need to make it, but this is these are little touch points in the Customer Journey that help you close the construction sale.
How Customer Journey Videos Increase Conversion Rates
11:57
Jack Jostes: One video sent seven days into the design process and a personal follow up email a week after that. Those two things could massively increase your conversion rate from the design phase to a signed construction contract. The video never goes silent. The video never forgets to follow up. The video is working while you're out on a job site or figuring out a complex design decision. Customer Journey videos are a key strategy we implement for our marketing clients at Ramblin Jackson, the snow and landscape marketing agency. From writing and strategy to filming and production to editing and distribution and marketing automation and email templates, we help you build Customer Journey videos into your process to create consistency, clarity, and ultimately to give you time back in your life. If you found this helpful, I hope to see you at one of my next events.
13:01
Jack Jostes: I host monthly virtual workshops and regularly speak at state and national landscape trade shows as well as industry supplier events. You can see everything on my schedule@landscapersguide.com events. See our show Notes for a link to that. My name is Jack Justice. Thanks for listening to the Landscapers Guide. I look forward to talking with you next week.