Do you ever wonder what your potential customers are concerned with when they're checking out your website? Well, in today's episode, we interviewed the homeowner of this beautiful landscape and also the landscape design company, my client, Alpine Gardens. We're in Estes Park, Colorado. It's an absolutely beautiful landscape.
So check out today's interview where we're going to share some ways that you can use your website to warm up referrals so they're aware of your pricing and internet leads also. So come on in. Let's check out this landscape.
00:00: It’s Ramblin Jackson’s 14th Birthday & We Have a Special Episode Today!
Hey everyone, Jack Jostes here, and welcome to the Landscapers Guide, where we share sales, marketing, and leadership ideas to help you grow your snow and landscape company. Right now, it's Ramblin' Jackson's retreat. It's our 14th birthday. I flew out our entire team from around the country and we're in Estes Park in the home of one of our client's customers. So check out today's podcast. If you're new to the show, make sure that you subscribe at landscapersguide.com/podcast. And now, let's check out this incredible landscape.
01:13: Introducing Brandon Vannest at Alpine Gardens
Jack Jostes:
All right, here we are at Sandi McCoy's property up in Estes Park, and we've got Brandon, who is the project manager and designer for this amazing property. What elevation are we at right now approximately?
Brandon Vannest:
7,000, something like that. I'm not exactly sure - it's up a ways.
Jack Jostes:
It's a pretty windy drive here. One of the things I was curious about is how was it getting materials?
Brandon Vannest:
It was slow. We couldn't bring it all at one time. We had to bring it in smaller deliveries, so it was a challenge.
Jack Jostes:
Cool. Well, tell us a little bit about this part of the design. I remember seeing... This was all mud and everything at one point. Now it's a beautiful staircase. So tell us a little bit about the design here.
1:56: Brandon Explains the Property Features & Challenges Before The Project Began
Brandon Vannest:
Well, really, yeah, you're right. It was a mud hill that we had to put some sort of stairs in and we wanted to keep it natural. So we went with these stone steps here that all had to be dropped in from up above with straps. Now the hardest part about this whole area was this boulder right here. We had to drop that in as well without damaging the house. So it was a little bit of a challenge.
Jack Jostes:
So the home was here and there was no staircase prior to that. Was it just a-
BrandonVannest:
There was a staircase, but it was torn out previous to us getting here, so we ended up having to build something. This is what we came up with.
Robert Felton:
There was original drainage issues. And then just curious on how you solved them?
BrandonVannest:
Well, actually the problems with the drainage happened before we got here.
Robert Felton:
Okay.
BrandonVannest:
So they were fixed before we started. So we run into drainage problems all the time, but we just didn't have to deal with it much here. We just had to coordinate with the construction crews to make sure we weren't in their way and they weren't in our way.
03:15: Brandon Explains The #1 Problem For Building on a Mountain
Jessica Winkler:
Building on a mountain side, what are some of the common problems and solutions you do with landscapes?
Brandon Vannest:
Well, probably the most difficult is bedrock. We can't plant a tree if we run into rock. So you have to be a little bit flexible with the design and work with what you're given. As you'll see later in the landscape, we put in water features that have vaults that go down eight foot. Well, we were just hoping that we weren't going to hit a rock or something, and actually we did where we originally wanted to put it, so we had to move it. So you have to be flexible with that type of stuff.
03:50: Brandon Describes the Process of Building Custom Steel Staircase
Robert Felton:
We were intrigued by the steel. You were telling us a little bit about it. Curious to learn more. The color, it's a patina, and then they epoxy it? Or could you explain that again?
Brandon Vannest:
Yeah. This is all new steel that was beat with a hammer, and then there is an acid that we spray on the metal to make it rust prematurely. And then when it gets to a certain point, then there's a rust arrester that we spray on it to get it to stop and then to protect everything and to keep rust from getting on your hands and then putting an epoxy on it. That's the process in a nutshell.
Kristen Bloomquist:
I was curious how you drill through the boulder without it cracking.
Brandon Vannest:
They're very hard, but they don't fracture. We use a core drill most of the time, with water, and it's a diamond bit drill that cores a hole in it, and you take this plug out. It actually doesn't... It's very un-disruptive, I guess, to the rock. So we do that with our water features too, to bring water to the surface of the boulder. And we did it in this case just to mount the metal and epoxy in the rock.
05:15: How Clear Communication Adds Value & Helps Clients Build Trust
Robert Felton:
I know we did a lot of work on the process at the beginning and trying to make it a little bit easier. Have you seen some help from that where the client maybe understands and trusts you a little bit more from... That's what we worked a lot on at the beginning was, "Hey, let's talk through. We're going to have some time together." Make sure that they understand from start to finish so there's less surprises and a little less of that discomfort. Have you seen that they're a little more open to ideas and a little bit easier to work with?
Brandon Vannest:
Yeah, I think that the website and all the, I wouldn't call them hoops, but all the steps that they have to go through, it almost in a way, for me, it builds value in what we do. If it was just like, "Hey, give me a call," and that's all it was, it'd be like, we are not as professional as we really are. The stuff that you guys have done has really helped me as a salesperson just already have value built in the product before I ever talk to them. It's definitely helped.
Now, she came from a referral, so she doesn't know about the process, but we talk to people all the time and they really enjoy the website experience. They think it was very intuitive and easy, and the people that make it that far seem like they are our customer, which is huge.
06:25: How Your Website Can Help Warm Up Referral Leads
Jack Jostes:
We've heard that from other clients that referrals are... They're great. We all want referrals. And sometimes the person referring them coaches them of here's what to expect, here's the price about what we paid. And I would just encourage you when you're selling to give it to people and say, "Hey, will you read this before our next conversation?"
Brandon Vannest:
Mm-hmm. In past experiences, I have seen where that has worked out really well. You have a video that you're almost required to watch or a page required to read before you meet. I think that's a great idea. Pictures are great. I have a lot of people that say, Hey, I like this, and they send me pictures on the website, which is cool. It's another tool for me as a salesperson and it's one that speaks without me saying anything, and it's just huge. Again, you guys are great. Thank you.
07:35: Jack Introduces Homeowner Sandi McCoy
Jack Jostes:
Sandi, thanks for having us here today. I was curious, can you tell us a little bit about your home? Did you have it for a period before you hired Alpine, or did you hire them right when you bought it? Just tell us a little bit of the story of how you connected with Alpine.
07:50: Why Sandi’s Drainage Issue Prompted Her to Connect with Alpine Gardens
Sandi McCoy:
Well, I've owned the home for about 20 years. I had recently a foundation drain failure that required us to basically destroy any previous landscaping that existed in the front of the house because they had to replace the foundation drain, repair the foundation, things like that. And so I discovered Alpine actually through a friend who recommended that we check them out. And so Brandon came out and looked at the incredible mess that was this front area, which basically was just all dirt, even a dirt hill leading up to the driveway up here.
Jack Jostes:
Wow. Okay, so there were not steps down to this?
Sandi McCoy:
There were no steps left.
Jack Jostes:
There was no patio here?
Sandi McCoy:
There was no patio here. There were no pillars here.
Jack Jostes:
Wow.
Sandi McCoy:
This portico was basically just shored up by two by fours.
Jack Jostes:
Alpine, did you all end up building this part or did-
Sandi McCoy:
They did the stone work.
Jack Jostes:
You did the stonework.
Sandi McCoy:
Our contractor built the pillars consistent with code and everything else, but they did all the stonework and Brandon and Alpine designed everything that you see here.
08:54: From Drainage Problem to Beautiful New Landscape: Sandi Shares Her Experience Working with Alpine Gardens
Jack Jostes:
So it went from a drainage issue to now there's a water feature and a patio and steps, and there's this cool walkway down. So tell us a little bit, how did this evolve into everything that it is now?
Sandi McCoy:
Well, I worked with Brandon and told him what I wanted. I wanted something that really was consistent with the environment up here because it really is important I think, to blend into the environment. But I also wanted something that was really beautiful and that I could sit outside and enjoy at any time of day or evening, at least during the non-winter months. And so he really caught my vision and designed something literally first time out of the box. I didn't have to hardly change things. He really, I mean, he designed everything and without even telling me what he was going to do, he created these beautiful rails and this light fixture that is... I don't know, it's a signature piece. People think it's a statue. People are coming by all the time going, "Where did you get that? I want one." And I'm like, "Yeah. Well, I could give you Brandon's number." And I do all the time.
Jack Jostes
That's awesome.
Sandi McCoy:
He's very artistic.
09:56: Sandi Describes Her Vetting Process for Selecting a Landscape Company from a Referral
Jack Jostes:
So tell me, before you contacted Brandon, what did you do? So you got a referral from a friend. Did you Google them? Did you look them up online or did you just go straight and call them?
Sandi McCoy:
Well, I googled them. I talked to a couple of other people that had used them in the past and... I can't remember who they were so don't ask.
Jack Jostes:
That's okay.
Sandi McCoy:
And I talked to Brandon. Really, it was all about the personal relationship with the people at Alpine and previous people who'd worked here had done a fine job, but it wasn't as spectacular as what Alpine and Brandon did.
10:36: How Google Reviews & Website Photos Helped Alpine Gardens Stand Out from Competitors
Jack Jostes:
And when you Googled them, do you remember what stood out? Did you look at photos or reviews or what were you looking for?
Sandi McCoy:
The reviews were great. The photos were awesome. I actually went over to the, is it the Estes Hotel or Estes-?
Brandon Vannest:
Hotel Estes, yeah.
Sandi McCoy:
Hotel Estes. I went over there and looked at a water fountain that they did there. Brandon also sent me some photos of more recent work that they had done. So it was a combination of all of those things.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. So you looked online, you looked at some photos, and then you went and saw some work and you contacted a few referrals and that all checked out that you wanted to move forward.
Sandi McCoy:
Everybody sung Alpine's praises and in fact said, "Okay, but they're going to be too expensive." And what was really interesting is that I got competing bids and he was actually the most reasonable. So Alpine is the most reasonable. So not only do they do the best work, they also had the most reasonable price in terms of what I had looked at anyway.
Jack Jostes:
Which part of the landscape do you find yourself using the most?
Sandi McCoy:
Well, I don't really use it. I look at it. The stuff I look at the most is this waterfall right here 'cause my kitchen is right there. I love to cook and I love to stand there at that window and look at this. And then in the evenings, early evenings, I like to come and sit at this table and have a glass of wine and just listen to the water. It's beautiful. It's just beautiful. It's very calming, very pretty.
12:00: Sandi Takes Questions from the Ramblin Jackson Team
Jack Jostes:
So who else has a question for Sandi or Brandon? We're here, we're on a patio.
Jamie DuBose:
I was curious, how long did the entire process take? This is-
Sandi McCoy:
Including the repair work of the foundation drain and everything?
Jamie DuBose:
Yeah, yeah.
Sandi McCoy:
It took almost two years.
Jamie DuBose
Oh, wow.
Sandi McCoy:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes:
Is that as long as you thought it was going to take, or was that longer or shorter or-?
Sandi McCoy:
I think it took a little longer than I anticipated, only because it took a long time to get people up here to do the contracting work, some of the excavating work and some of the foundational repair work and drainage work that needed to be done. And we hit into winter, so that took a while. We had to wait through that.
Jamie DuBose:
I was going to say, seasonally….
Sandi McCoy:
So there were seasonal delays as well. And so I don't know that I, in my own mind, factored that in. I think it took a perfectly reasonable amount of time if you look at what the nature of the project was, what happened, what needed to be repaired, and then what needed to be built after the fact. I just didn't understand just how bad this problem was at the time. I mean, to me, it started out with some water in my basement. I stepped in the water and I thought it was a minor leak and it turned into basically complete reconstruction of the front of the house.
Kristen Bloomquist:
Were you nervous to add a water feature after you had water damage?
Sandi McCoy:
I actually wasn't, because Alpine explained to me how they were doing it. They put this big tank underground, and so water just comes from the tank and recycles through. And so it's actually... There was a water feature here before, and this one is a hundred percent better than that one. I think that one did tend to leak, and had they proposed something along those lines, I would've been very nervous. But they didn't propose that. They proposed this. And this tank, I think feeds, you can correct me, feeds both water features?
Brandon Vannest:
Yep.
Sandi McCoy:
But there really isn't any water that gets out anywhere, just what might splash off the rock or something.
Kevin Kawa:
Two years for a landscaping project is a pretty long time. How easy was it to work with Alpine and how much of a disturbance was it in your everyday life?
Sandi McCoy:
It was fun actually. I'd feed them lunch out on the deck every day, and so people started showing up like, "Where's the food?"
Brandon Vannest:
It's true.
Sandi McCoy:
It's true. They were all very excited to work here. And they're like family to me. I mean, when I see Jeremy, I throw my arms around him, give him this huge hug. I mean, these guys are family. They were kind of my roommates for a year. Well, roommates outdoors, I guess.
Brandon Vannest:
Yeah.
Sandi McCoy:
But I set up the table over there with a bunch of food. Sometimes I'd make these big piles of chili or stew or spaghetti and meatballs or something, and they were every day like, "When's lunch?"
Brandon Vannest:
That's not common. I mean, she used to make-
Rambler:
So that’s why it was delayed two years!
Brandon Vannest:
Yeah, yeah.
Sandi McCoy:
He wanted it to end.
Brandon Vannest:
That is true. There's some truth to that. There's some truth to that.
Robert Felton:
I think about your first phone call. So that's always the hardest one is just the first time you actually talked to each other or your first interaction. How did that occur? Or did you get his number from someone or-
Sandi McCoy:
I did.
Robert Felton:
You did? Okay. And then did you just call him, did you shoot him a text or how did that first initial touch occur? That's always the one that's the hardest.
Sandi McCoy:
I think my soon to be ex-husband was in charge of making the initial calls. I was in charge after that. So basically to find out who might be available to do it. So like I said, I talked to a couple of other landscape architects and companies, and so I just was handed a list of the people that might be available and Brandon was my favorite pretty much at the outset. Again, it's just a intuitive feel for people.
But also, I'd get an estimate that was a single spaced email that was three pages long that I'd have to try to wade through and visualize, which is very hard to do. He comes back with basically a video walkthrough of what it's going to look like when it's done, and a full explanation of how that's going to work and how much it's going to cost. And it's almost like comparing apples to oranges, but it's really nothing anywhere near as stellar as what he presented.
To give you an indication of the level of trust for me, he didn't just randomly decide to do whatever he wanted to with the lamppost and the rails. There was, after we had this whole project going and it was getting very close to completion, he's like, "Do you trust me enough to just do it?" And I thought about it and I said, "Yeah, actually I do. So please do it." And it is like the signature. It ties everything together and it's a signature piece, he says. So to me it's like, you don't just randomly trust people at that level to go ahead and do something sight unseen, but I did.
16:49: Does How Long You’re in Business Affect Client Perception & Trust?
Jack Jostes:
Well, so one thing regarding trust, Sandi, that Brandon asked about earlier and that many of our clients ask about is Brandon said, "Hey, I don't think she knew that we'd been in business since 1978." I'm curious, does that matter to you?
Sandi McCoy:
No. It really didn't matter how long they'd been in business. I think I had a sense that they'd been doing this for a long time just judging from the quality of the work. I mean, I've had people work for me who have not been in business for a long time, and you can see that it isn't done quite as well. There's a little bit of learning on the job that takes place, and you can't criticize that because you know it going in that there's a little learning on the job that's taking place. But I didn't want that with this project. I wanted people that really knew what they were doing, and it was very clear to me that they.
Brandon
When you say that we've been in business since 1978 or whatever, it's always followed by its a family business and we want you to be part of the family. And that's what I try to do. I mean, Sandi, she's awesome. And I would call her just to see what's going on, how she's doing, how things are working out.
Sandi McCoy:
Yeah, he just checks in to see if everything's doing well. And so does Chelsea. Everybody. It does feel like family to me. It really does.
Jack Jostes:
Well, good job, Brandon, for nailing it, right? That's awesome. And they literally fed you guys meatballs and pasta and chili, so I don't think you could ask for more.
Sandi McCoy:
Sandwiches, all kinds of stuff.
18:13: Sandi Shares the Shocking Wildlife Challenges Throughout Her Landscape Project
Jack Jostes:
So Sandi, what are some of the more interesting wildlife experiences you've had up here in the mountains?
Sandi McCoy:
Well, there was a bear poking its head out the other day over one of the rocks down there. The elk love to come stand in the fountain and drink out of it. One of them was a big bull elk that was the size of half my house, nose to nose about three feet away with my dog. I'm like, "We're going inside." 'Cause he was going to tear the deck down. So lots of big bull elk. There was a moose mama and her baby down there, so I didn't go downstairs for a while.
Brandon Vannest:
Tell them about the bobcat or the mountain lion they had.
Sandi McCoy:
Oh, I had a mountain lion experience. I had a puppy, and it was October, November, starting to get winter so I'd take him out in the evening. It was pitch black, and I wasn't yet that mountain woman because I only recently moved here full time. But I could hear it screaming way up at the top of the mountain, so I turned the corner and I walked a few steps and I heard it again, this time halfway down the mountain. My dog's ears perked up. He starts growling. I'm thinking, "Nah, we're going back in. I don't care. Pee in the house." So we turn around, we are headed back to my driveway, the end of my driveway there. I was about up here, and then I heard it at the neighbor's house right down there. So now I have to walk toward it to get to my driveway.
My dog is now growling and barking. His ears are back, and I'm terrified. I don't run, but we scoot ourselves inside and the dog proceeds to run around the house for an hour barking. It turns out it was mountain lion. There were mountain lion tracks all over there and at my neighbor's house down below. So it clearly just made its way right past my house at the moment in time that I happened to be out there walking the dog. I never saw it. I just heard it.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah.
Sandi McCoy:
Yeah. I saw the evidence of it after the fact too.
Brandon Vannest:
Yeah.
Sandi McCoy:
That was an interesting one.
Brandon Vannest:
I think she sent me a text saying that I almost died or almost got eaten or something.
Sandi McCoy:
I think I almost got eaten by a mountain lion.
Brandon Vannest:
Yeah, out of the blue.
Sandi McCoy:
Out the blue. "What are you talking about?"
Jack Jostes:
Thanks so much for checking out today's episode. I enjoyed hearing Sandi's perspective on what she cares about when hiring a landscape company and ultimately that she had a great experience. And it was also interesting to hear how referrals are a little different from internet leads, and it gave me some ideas on how we can coach our clients to use their websites for more.
So does your current marketing team come and meet with actual landscape customers? Do they understand your business? Probably not. So if you'd like to meet with me and my team to talk about ideas to help you generate really qualified leads, we'd love to have a 15-minute marketing brainstorm conversation with you. In this conversation, we're going to help you figure out who is your Hell Yes Customer, and what are some ways that you can use marketing to attract them to your landscape company so they ultimately choose you?
Go ahead and schedule your 15-minute marketing brainstorm at landscapersguide.com/brainstorm. I've got the link in the show notes, so just click on it, get on our calendar. My name's Jack Jostes, and thanks so much for tuning into the Landscaper's Guide. I look forward to talking to you next week.
SHOW NOTES:
Schedule your FREE 15 minute Marketing Brainstorm: www.landscapersguide.com/brainstorm
Tell us where to ship your beef jerky + Marketing Toolbox! https://landscapersguide.com/toolbox/
Check out Alpine Gardens website: https://alpinelandscaping.com/