Hey folks, Jack Jostes here from The Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing podcast. And, this show is all about helping lawn and landscape contractors increase your profit by attracting the right customers and helping you ultimately enjoy a better lifestyle.
Interview With Nate
Jack Jostes:
Right now we're in Windsor, Colorado. I'm with the General Manager from Alpine Gardens, Nate Fetig and we're actually here at a job site. So Nate, glad to be with you here today.
Nate Fetig:
Thanks for having me.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah, this is fun. Got to see some of your crew. We got some footage of your skid steer, the mini skid steer. We've got this excavator behind us and you guys are working on a water feature here. So, it was really just great to meet at some of your crew. And, today I wanted to talk with you about the time, we were in our mastermind recently, and you were sharing a story about how... We were really talking about using the phone to qualify leads. And this is something I'm a big advocate of, of having a form on your website is really helpful and it can help weed out people. And, once people fill it out, you got to call them. You got to talk to them on the phone before you go and meet with them. And, I know you all do this and it's working for you. And, so tell us a little bit about, well first tell us a little bit about Alpine Gardens.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah, Alpine Gardens was started in 1978 we're a full design build, maintain contractor and work basically from Denver through Southern Wyoming.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah, that's awesome. What kind of projects are you doing in Wyoming by the way?
Nate Fetig:
We've done everything from one of the hundred largest land owners in the country's family cabin.
Jack Jostes:
Uh-huh.
Nate Fetig:
We've worked on the air force base. We've done all kinds of cool projects in Wyoming.
Jack Jostes:
It wasn't the Terry Bison ranch, was it?
Nate Fetig:
No, it was not.
Jack Jostes:
Have you been there?
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
That's a pretty special place.
Nate Fetig:
It's pretty cool.
Jack Jostes:
That's pretty cool. Right across the border is this amazing bison ranch. So, one time somebody filled out the form on your website and they say, they needed a couple lilacs and some sod or something real casual.
From A Few Lilacs To A Quarter Of A Million Dollars
Nate Fetig:
Yeah. We had someone fill out our web form and say they wanted a couple lilacs and to repair some irrigation. And so, typically that looked like it might be a small project, but through our phone call with them, we started to realize that it was going to be a bit bigger than that. And, it grew from what in our minds was going to be a couple thousand dollars project to a quarter million dollars by the time we were done.
Jack Jostes:
Wow. That's amazing. So, from just a few lilacs to a quarter million dollars. So, who did that call? Was it you?
Nate Fetig:
No, that that call was done by our Sales Manager, Chris Nylander. He receives all the web form submissions and reviews them. And from there, if he can kind of get a good read on them, he'll send him off to one of our designers and project managers to make the call. Otherwise, he'll personally make the call and start qualifying from there to see who would be the best fit in our company to work with them. If our company is even the best fit to work with them.
Jack Jostes:
And, so to tell me a little bit about this phone call and what role does it play in the overall sales process?
Nate Fetig:
Yeah, so we like to start getting an idea of what the client's looking for, because when you check a box saying that you want landscaping, or you want a patio, that doesn't mean the same thing to everybody. And, so we really have to get a deeper understanding of what the client's looking for and how we can fulfill those needs or if they'd be best suited looking at a different contractor.
Jack Jostes:
And, so you're stepping in towards getting a no.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
How To Say No To Bad Fit Customers
Jack Jostes:
Right. And, I really believe in sales that you want to be driving towards a no so that way you can say yes to the right fits and take really incredible care of them. And so often I think in business, in any business, people say yes to too many things, and then they can't do a good job for all these customers. And, that's really the risk of saying yes to everyone.
Nate Fetig:
Right.
Jack Jostes:
So, and I know it's also really hard to say no. We were just talking about this.
Nate Fetig:
We were.
Jack Jostes:
So, how do you kind of coach your team to manage that?
Nate Fetig:
Well, I think we kind of define what our, in your words, what our hell yes customer is.
Jack Jostes:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Nate Fetig:
And we have those discussions amongst our sales team. And so if it starts to veer from that, then the conversation with the client has to be honest the whole way along. And, if we're not the best fit for them, then we direct them to... Maybe they just want a fence. We send them to a fence contractor. We don't need to just put our market on markup on a fence contractor's price.
Jack Jostes:
Right. Well, that's really smart. So, how do you... Let's pretend that I was a client on the phone. Well, yeah, our neighbors landscape contractor crashed into our fence with an excavator and we would need a new fence.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
That's it.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah, so, you know, then we start asking questions of is there more to the project? Is there damage to the landscape that you're looking to repair or is it simply just a fence? And, if the answer is nope, just the fence, then our answer to that customer is, "We probably, aren't going to be the best fit for, for you. You're going to get a better price and a better project working directly with a fence contractor. Here are some that we work with." And, at that point we've positioned ourself as an expert and we've built some trust with that client. And, when they are looking for landscape down the road they might call us back.
Jack Jostes:
Absolutely. You are building trust with them by telling them, "No, I can't do this" actually does build trust. Yeah. And I think we're all afraid to say that, but if it's the truth, then telling them the truth is really going to serve them.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Sometimes It's Hard To Say No!
Jack Jostes:
Do you ever have people on your team who, who just love customers? That love pleasing people? I mean, I interviewed some of your staff today and they were so proud of the way this is going to look when it's done and they treat it like their own yard. Do some of those people maybe have a harder time telling people no?
Nate Fetig:
Yeah. I mean, I think we all struggle with that, to an extent everyone they want to be able to help everyone and represent the company well. And, so it is hard to say no. And, sometimes that gets us into projects that probably weren't the best fit for us. And, those are the ones that can... You don't usually make a lot of money on and we're not as probably happy with it. And, the customer's probably not as happy with the experience as we'd hope they were.
Jack Jostes:
I think we've all done that.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
I don't know how you could avoid it, to know that you need to try to avoiding it. But, having that hell yes customer clearly defined, and then also what hell no customer.
Nate Fetig:
Right.
Jack Jostes:
Is part of it and actually having it on paper and giving your sales staff, a piece of paper that clearly defines like, "Hey, we work in these parts of Wyoming."
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
"We don't work in these parts of Wyoming."
Nate Fetig:
Right.
There's No Need To String Customers Along If You Can't Work With Them
Jack Jostes:
Before they string someone along. I recently had the experience of trying to hire a plumber in Lyons, Colorado. Lyons is a small town and you know this story and I called and we verified, "Okay, you do work in Lyons, Colorado." And, we had to schedule an appointment. They were a couple weeks out. No problem. I blocked out the big window of time that they made for me. And then after the appointment time started, they're like, "Hey, we can't come." They're like, "We don't work there." I'm like, "Why?" And, the answer was basically, "It's too far."
Nate Fetig:
Right.
Jack Jostes:
And, now I wrote a negative review for them because I tried calling them and I was like, "Hey, you guys kind of lied to me that you were going to come. And we planned this time." And, I never write bad reviews.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
But I did, because even on their website, it says that. Now had they had on that first phone call, "We don't work in Lyons."
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
I would've loved hearing that. I would've loved hearing that on the first call.
Nate Fetig:
Well, it saves you and it saves them a lot of time and a lot of heartache.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. Well, very good. What other things do you coach your team to do on that first on call? And, how do you ask these questions without making the client feel like, "Oh my gosh, they're just trying to find out how much money is in my bank account."
Nate Fetig:
I think a lot of it is just talking through what their vision of the project is.
Jack Jostes:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Nate Fetig:
And, starting to lend our expertise. And, then very roughly as you have those conversations of, "Oh, you want a flagstone patio. Did you know that usually those run 50 to $75 a square foot. So if you're talking a 300 square foot patio, that's this much." And, then so very quickly, you're starting to get to a budget without ever mentioning that you're getting to a budget. And, so if they're not just dead silent when you start giving really general ballpark numbers.
Jack Jostes:
Right.
Nate Fetig:
Then you start thinking, "Okay, well maybe at the end of this call here, we should schedule a time that I can come out and evaluate your property and we can go further with this."
What Role Your Website Plays In The Sales Process
Jack Jostes:
So, one of the things that you can do to kind of prepare not only your sales person or whoever's answering the phone for you and also the client is by putting pricing information on your website, and also having them watch what we call the sales indoctrination video. This is a video that they watch when they schedule that call with you and on your website, we can actually book an appointment for that phone call.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
So talk to me, how are those things working? The pricing page, the video, online scheduling?
Nate Fetig:
Yeah. We've gotten a lot of feedback from clients that it's been helpful for them. Landscaping is probably a once or a twice in a lifetime purchase for a customer and they have no idea what to expect. And, so a lot of times the client calls into our office and says, "Hey, I'd like to talk to somebody about our landscape project." And our receptionist's first answer is, "Hey, we do that by scheduling a phone call on our website. And by the way, while you're there, go ahead and go to our pricing page and check that out so that you can be prepared for the conversation."
Nate Fetig:
And so by then, we've really had them qualify themselves because if they get to our website, they look at that and see their pricing is way out of their range. They're never going to even schedule that phone call with our salesperson.
Jack Jostes:
And, can you help me understand why that's actually a good thing?
Nate Fetig:
Yeah, it's a great thing. We had run into the problem and I mean, this is why we hired Ramblin Jackson to do our website. We had too many leads and we were spending too much time running from customer to customer. And, we weren't able to give them the customer service that really they deserved, or we wanted to give them.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah, it's actually a disservice to the customer, right? So, a lot of these things like telling them the price or helping them book it online may feel at first like, I have a pricing page on my website and did you look at it before we met?
Nate Fetig:
I did.
Jack Jostes:
Right. And here we are. Obviously, I mean, it worked.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
And, we're pretty happy with what we're doing. So I think... I just think it's helpful again, to helping people understand what do things cost.
Nate Fetig:
Right.
Jack Jostes:
And that's really the nature of that call is helping them like you did, "Hey, did you know that that could cost between X and Y per square foot?" And, "Oh yeah, I did. I read that on your website." Because, the experience with most contractors is they don't tell you anything and you have to meet with them and then they're late. And then they take three weeks to send you their or estimate. And the estimate has hardly any detail and it creates all this anxiety about the money.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
Whereas if you're just kind of, "Hey, here's." It's not like a McDonald's menu of you're getting this, this, and this. It's more of like, "Here's a range of what's possible in this budget and this budget. Thanks for sharing that." So, yeah, amazing that you've been able to kind of automate some of this appointment, scheduling the pricing conversation and still having a human to human phone call.
Nate Fetig:
Right.
Jack Jostes:
Right? Is just to kind of wrap up today's episode is I think a key piece of any good sales process is that conversation with people to ask questions and the more you can prepare them for it, the better it'll be for both of you.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
Well, right on Nate. Well, thanks everyone for watching today's video, check out Alpine Gardens.com and see some of the stuff in action. See some of their amazing work. I can't wait to see the finished photos from this landscape installation.
Nate Fetig:
It's going to be a pretty cool project.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. It is. And, funny story was that you guys actually designed this like 20 years ago when this was a new construction area.
Nate Fetig:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
So, you didn't install the original landscape, but you designed it.
Nate Fetig:
We did.
Jack Jostes:
And now here you are doing an enhancement on it, which is pretty cool. So, great to be here with you, Nate. All right, everyone. Thanks for listening to today's episode of The Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing podcast. If you liked this episode, give us a rating wherever you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple podcasts, wherever you're listening to it, give us a rating. So that way other landscapers know that this is a show they should listen to.
Jack Jostes:
And, if you are going to the GIE Expo this year, I hope to see you there. We're having a book launch for my upcoming book, The Tree of Good Fortune. So, check that out at TreeofGoodFortune.com and we've got links for all of that and a link to this episode in our show notes. Look forward to talking with you next week.