If you sell commercial landscaping services, you don't really need to worry about all this digital marketing internet stuff, right? It's all about relationships and referrals. The internet doesn't even matter. That's how a lot of people think, but in today's video, I'm going to share an interview with Scott. Scott is one of my commercial landscape clients from Florida, who has over 20 years of experience, who is going to share with you what he's noticing, what's changing and what's working right now. And how HOAs, apartment complexes, hospitals, all different types of commercial clients are buying.
My name's Jack Jostes and welcome to the Landscaper's Guide To Modern Sales And Marketing Podcast. This show is all about helping lawn and landscape contractors increase your profit, and enjoy a better lifestyle as a result of sales and marketing. Now, a lot of people listen to this show and they do residential landscaping.
But I know a lot of you also do commercial, or maybe that's your sole focus. And this episode is for you. We're going to uncover three common myths about sales and marketing, about what works and what doesn't work. And hear from an actual commercial landscape contractor about what he's seeing now. So let's dig into today's episode.
Myth #1: Commercial Landscaping Sales Are 100% Word Of Mouth
There are three key myths that I hear repeated when it comes to selling to commercial clients. The first one is that it's entirely word of mouth. And you may have heard me share this story on the show before about a contractor who sells commercial services that lost a $3 million sale. What's worse is that this was a repeat client. It was an existing client, who came to them originally as a result of a referral.
But when they did a great job on the first project, and got invited to bid on another, a much bigger project, the client ultimately didn't feel confident in this contractor because they didn't see the services that were being sold, the things that were in the proposal, on the contractor's website.
Myth #2: Commercial Clients Don't Read Online Reviews
The next myth, myth number two, is that commercial clients don't read online reviews. And I want to share with you an interview clip with Scott Callenius from Forever Green Landscape Services down in Florida. He's been selling commercial landscape services for over 20 years. And well, let's just hear directly from Scott about what he's saying that's changing in his day-to-day sales with commercial clients
"Hey, Jack just wanted to shoot you a quick video and let you know that I'm super thrilled with all the work that you and your team have done to create a website for, Forever Green landscaping. We're a South Florida company we've been in existence since snob 1989 for the last 20 years have spent servicing only commercial properties, homeowners, associations, condominiums, and other communities multifamily. And since building the website, we've definitely started to see an increase in traffic to our site. And it's leading to the type of leads that we would like the opportunity to bid on, or be in front of the decision makers. Recently, we've had several phone calls for new properties, new communities, apartment complexes. Even today, we got one for a hotel who's looking to switch landscapers. So we set up a meeting for that. And so we're starting to see a lot of traction and for people out there that think that it's all about relationships and relationship building and business development, there's, there is some truth in that, but the reality is that they need to find you first, once they find you, then you can obviously go and develop and build a relationship with them.
And hopefully they become a long-term client of yours. But in the process, you need to have something to show them or some way for them to find you, whether it's with Google or with its, you know, local searches. And what I'm finding is is that we are getting traction in that area. I also think that one thing that's been helpful is you have good reviews on Google and have the right time type of reviews. Not only having reviews that are all positive, but maybe even have some negative reviews and then how you handled them. Along with that, people do look at the reviews and, you know, recently we've had a few appointments where we've gone to the communities and we've looked at them and we've met with the boards and they've told us, Hey, you know, other contractors didn't look so good online. And when that happened, they basically eliminated them from the choices or the options that the rest of the community would have.
So we're definitely having wins. I will say that the leads come a little slower, but they're the right type of leads. And you can work through them, work your process, and they become your clients and you build long-term relationships with them. Currently, we're having lots of wins and lots of success with this format. And I think that anybody that's in commercial landscaping reeds are really looking at their online presence about how they can grow and build their audience and how that they can be a resource for everybody to go to for a solution to their ongoing issues. All right, everybody, thanks, Jack, for all the opportunities and thanks for being a great business partner and a friend to me and to, Forever Green. Thank you."
Thanks so much, Scott, great video, by the way. Scott attended the Landscapers Modern Sales And Marketing Summit, and we sent him that video and the tripod, and he's using video all over the place. Be sure to connect with Scott Callenius on LinkedIn, and see what he's doing there because he's also generating leads on LinkedIn.
Myth #3: Because Selling To Commercial Landscape Clients Is "All About Trust And Relationships"... My Internet Presence Doesn't Matter
The third myth is that because commercial landscaping is all about relationships, your internet presence doesn't work. But like Scott shared in his interview, and like I shared with the story before, about the contractor who lost a $3 million client, that was a repeat business.
Whether it's at the start of the relationship, maybe people are looking for a new contractor because their existing contractor isn't working out, or they're a current client of yours, and they're whining to verify well can they do these things that they're upselling me on? Can they handle this enhancement? What kind of work do they do?
I want to see some photos. Whether it's at the front, or the middle of the sale, or post-sale with online reviews, the fact is that digital marketing, smartphones, your internet presence is just part of all of our day-to-day life. Regardless of your generation, or how old your clients are, digital is part of how people communicate these days, and it's only going to increase moving forward.
So what can you do about it? Well, the first thing I'd say is Google yourself. Pretend that you are one of your clients, or potential clients, and Google yourself. And do you like what you see when you look at your website? When you look at your online reviews, do you look like the most professional trustworthy contractor in town? Or do you have room for improvement?
If you're not sure exactly where to start, join us for our upcoming live virtual event where I'll be sharing the three... We'll have to cut there. Three keys to selling commercial landscaping in 2021; sales process, generating leads, and how to use video.
If you'd like to learn more about how to get started with using digital marketing, to increase your sales for commercial clients, you've got to join me at our upcoming virtual event on December 10th. Where I will share with you the three keys for selling commercial landscaping services in 2021. We're going to help you generate qualified leads. I'm going to share with you what keywords are people putting on their websites that are helping them get found by commercial clients?
I'm going to share with you real case stories. How can you adjust your sales process so that you're in control of the sale and not wasting time bidding on every job that comes around. Because it's probably a major source of profit loss. If you're just bidding on everything inefficiently. And lastly, how to use video. Video is a very powerful way.
And like you saw Scott do, you can make it yourself on your smartphone. And I'm going to show you how to use that in your proposal process, and account management, and scoping out enhancements, maybe you're doing a walkthrough of a property. Video is a really powerful tool, and I can show you how to make it really easy. And anyways, join us, get your tickets at landscapersguide.com/events. This is a paid webinar. We have limited seats because we're going to be doing personal reviews of your digital marketing, all other kinds of cool things.
You'll get a first copy of my upcoming e-book about commercial landscape marketing, and I can't wait to send all that to you. So register online at landscapersguide.com/events. And things so much for checking out this episode of the Landscapers Guide To Modern Sales And Marketing Podcast. If you know another commercial landscaper who needs to hear this, don't keep it a secret, send them a link to this podcast. And thanks so much for tuning in. See you next Friday.