What Kind Of Clients - And Employees - Do Your Photos Attract?
Do your portfolio photos attract your Hell Yes Customers, or scare them away?
And what do potential employees think when they're checking out your photos?
Are they inspired to work with you, or are they working with a landscape company that does better work?
If you're like most landscapers, you're continually growing and doing better work each year. It's wintertime. It's time to do an annual pruning of the photos on your website, your Google listing, and your other online listings to put your best photos forward and
Check out the rest of today's episode to see my simple Hell Yes Photo Test to make it really easy to decide which ones you should keep and which ones you should cut.
Join Us At Our Upcoming Webinar!
Hey, it's Jack Jostes. And before we dive into our Hell Yes Photo Test, I'd like to invite you to join me for a live free webinar coming up on January 27th, The How To Say No To Landscape Clients (WITHOUT Being A Jerk). Register at https://landscapersguide.com/events/
Your Portfolio Photos Impact The Quality Of Leads You Attract
Your portfolio photos have a huge impact on the type of leads you get. Not only for projects for customers, but also the types of leads you get for recruiting and for open positions, because landscaping is so visual. People want to be inspired by the work you've done in the past to know that you could accommodate and accomplish the project they have in their, and for employees, they want to know they're joining a team, that's doing great work.
Why Your Biggest, Baddest, Most Expensive Photos Might Not Actually Be The Best…
A lot of landscapers make the mistake of using their biggest photos of their biggest projects. And sometimes that's not really what you want.
I had a client who did not want projects that had pools that had any kind of roofing structure or water features, because he needed to pull all kinds of permits and invite all these different subs to work on the project. And they were a nightmare. They took forever. They weren't profitable. And guess what his homepage photo was, guess what? Most like 60% of the photos on his homepage were photos of projects with pools, roofs, and water features. So we had to get rid of those and put the smaller projects that he actually wanted right now.
Old, Out-Of-Date Photos Attract Lower Quality Leads With Smaller Budgets
In the same token, too small, maybe your skills have really grown. I had a client who, um, went from mowing lawns and then learning landscaping, and then getting a general contractor's license where he does these outdoor living spaces that integrate with your house. And he does like doors and all kinds of, um, all kinds of different skilled trades are brought in.
His project photos on Yelp and Facebook and Google were from like literally 15 years ago of much smaller projects. So you need to evaluate is Who is Your Hell Yes Customer now? What services are they gonna offer? What kind of budget range are they gonna be in? And then show photos of those projects.
Recruiting Tip: Portfolio Photos Influence Potential Employees
So you're attracting photos of your actual work and don't overlook this thinking all I'm too busy. I can't hire anybody. Uh, why would I spend any time on my website? I have a client down in Colorado Springs who was hiring, um, for a manager, um, because, uh, one of his managers was leaving and he, he brought somebody to the interview who told him, Hey, I almost didn't interview with you because the photos on your website are so bad. I saw good things on your Facebook page, right? So a lot of times people are posting photos on their Facebook or their Instagram, because it's easier often to update that depending on your website, but you've gotta get this dialed in and the hell yes, photo test will help you get it done.
3 Steps To The Hell Yes Photo Test
1. Evaluate Each Photo As a "Hell Yes" or a No
So it's pretty simple. Look at the photos on your website.
And is it a Hell Yes. Do you want to sell this project this year again? If it's a yes, I would sell and do this project again, then keep it.
2. Remove The Hell No Photos From Your Website!
If it's a no, I'm embarrassed by this photo. I don't want this type of project anymore, then prune it out.,
3. Prune Your Google Listing, Facebook Business Page, Houzz, and Yelp
but don't stop just with your website. You absolutely need to do this on your Google listing because referrals are gonna Google your business name and they're gonna find your Google listing. Or if you're doing SEO properly and getting leads there, they're gonna click around on your Google listing and look at your photos. Absolutely prune your Facebook page because people are gonna look at that to prune your house. And in some parts of the country, Yelp, like if you're out in California, Yelp's a really popular sites still for landscapers.
Capture Photos Throughout The Year Of Projects AND Team Events Like Barbeques, Training, Meetings, and Events That Show Your Culture
So that's it. Look through your sites, look through it with your team and decide, yes, I'm keeping this. I want this type of project or no I've outgrown this or it isn't a fit for me anymore and simply remove a it and then replace it with new photos, go out and get new photos this year. And remember to get photos of you and your team at your company, barbecue at your pig roast at, at things like that and put those on your careers page to help people understand the cool company culture that you have and they why they would want to come and work for you now.
Learn How To Say No To Bad Fit Clients
And if you do this, you're going to get leads that aren't a fit for you. And a lot of landscapers struggle telling people, no, we're not a fit or no, I, I can't come and do a proposal for you.
Or once you've met with people, I don't think it's a good fit to move forward. And the price of that is extensive because you waste a lot of time creating proposals and sending them to people and following up with them, or sometimes even selling projects that you knew weren't a good fit for you. But if you're struggling to do that, you're not alone. In fact, I used to struggle with it. A lot of my clients do, and that's why I'm gonna be doing a free webinar on January 27th, called how to say no to clients without being a jerk. It's a free event. I'm gonna give you some scripts. I'm gonna teach you how to train your, the people who answer your phone. Maybe bring them to this event. So come to it, register at landscapersguide.com/events/.
Thank You!
My name's Jack Jostes, and I hope you enjoyed today's episode of the Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales & Marketing Podcast. See more episodes on our podcast page.