If you have recently started a landscaping business, you might be wondering what the best way is to get landscaping customers. Starting the business is the hard part. Now, you just have to find customers that are in need of a landscaping business.
Knowing how to grow a landscaping company is in large part just knowing how to find customers. There are lots of potential customers out there for you. In fact, 40% of Americans hire professional landscapers or yard workers. That means there are over 120 million potential customers in America every year, looking for someone to help them achieve their landscaping dreams. Let us introduce you to several techniques you can use to help turn prospects into customers.
Table of Contents
Create a Referral Program
If you are struggling to find out how to get landscaping customers, you should consider creating a referral program. Creating a referral program will give your already existing customers a reason to tell their friends and family about your landscaping business. You can offer your customers a certain percentage or dollar amount off when one of their friends purchases your services. You can even offer them more off if more than one of their friends buys your services.
Next time you are working at one of your existing landscaping customer’s houses, tell them about your referral program.
A referral program is so effective because it can benefit both your landscaping business and your customers. The only time you should probably not mention the referral program is if your customers are upset with the work you did on their lawn. However, assuming your customers are happy with the job you did, you should definitely recommend the referral program to them.
Follow Up on Sales with Email Marketing
Following up with your customers after you make a sale is a crucial part of any business strategy. One of the best ways to follow up with customers is to use email marketing. Email is a great medium to follow up with customers because it is very cheap and can be automated. Even though it is automated, it still tells your customers that you care that they had a good experience.
In addition to keeping your current customers happy, this is also a good way to get new landscaping customers. This can help you get new customers because you will follow up with the prospects you did not close the sale with. In your follow-up email to the prospects that said no, include your contact information. Make sure that your phone number and website are present. A prospect might change their mind and this will ensure that they have your contact information if they decide they want your services later.
Advertise on Your Trucks
One way to get landscaping customers that many overlook is advertising on your trucks. This is a relatively inexpensive way to get your logo and contact information out there. It is inexpensive because you will only have to pay to have the trucks painted once and then prospects will always see your contact information and logo.
Prospects who are casually looking for a landscaping business might be enticed when they see a neighbor getting your services done to their yard. Once the work is done, they may follow up for a consultation because they like the work you did at the other house. If you do not make it clear who is doing the work, you do not get that opportunity for advertising.
Utilize Social Media Platforms
Being active on social media is essential for any business today. In 2019, 90% of businesses were active on social media for marketing purposes. This is in large part because it is a great way to market to customers using platforms they are already active on.
You can use social media in a couple of different ways to fit your overall goals. You can advertise any special promotions you are running. Additionally, if your customers consent to it, you can post the work you have done on your social media accounts. This can act as a living portfolio of all of the work you have completed. It will show prospects the work your business is capable of and also serve as inspiration for their projects.
When using social media for your business, always make sure that your content is appropriate and in line with the values of your brand. You should also not use a personal account for business posts. Instead, make a separate business account on each social media platform you wish to post on.
Get More Online Reviews
One of the ways to get landscaping customers is to make sure you have reviews online. Consumers place a high value on reviews they see online before purchasing a project or Reviews may not seem super important to you, but they are crucial for expanding your business. In fact, 91% of consumers trust online reviews. Many consumers even trust online reviews as much as they would trust a personal recommendation from a friend or family.
Not having many reviews can work against your company. Many consumers are hesitant to purchase a product or service if it has too few reviews. They may believe your business isn’t legit or credible or that it simply doesn’t do good work. This is why getting online reviews is so important.
So how do you get more customers to leave reviews online? There are several ways to convince your customers to leave reviews. One thing you could do is to simply ask them when they are paying. You could also add a link to leave a review in your follow-up email. Finally, you can periodically create posts on your social media pages to encourage recent clients to leave a review.
Develop Partnerships with Other Local Businesses
When researching how to get landscaping customers, you should consider partnering with local businesses to promote your company. You particularly want to focus on local businesses in related fields. Related fields could include local yard work or supply stores.
The local businesses could recommend your company whenever customers are looking for a business to do their yard work. Additionally, they could hand out your business card or a packet with information about your business. In exchange, you could offer them workshops or a contract to purchase their supplies. There are obviously a lot of ways you could negotiate with the local businesses. These are just a couple of ways to get you started.
Send Out Mailers
Using mailers advertising your services can be a great way to get more landscaping customers. You should consider sending out mailers to houses in your area with your contact information on them. In addition to your contact information, you could include any special promotions you might be running. Your mailers should also include the logo for your business. Having your logo on the mailer is important because it could help prospects make the connection between your business and the services you provide. It will also increase the effectiveness of your branding.
Mailers can help you find prospects who might not have been aware of your business before or simply needed that extra push to finally contact a company. It is really important that as many prospects in the area know about your business as possible. It is also important that you are able to reach any customers that do not use social media and prefer physical advertisements. Direct mail might open you up to another demographic that you were not advertising to before.
Increase Your Marketing Before the Busy Season
When you are looking for how to get landscaping customers, you should consider increasing your marketing before your busy season. This is because many prospects will start looking for landscaping companies before they actually need the landscaping work done. This is part of the reason you should start advertising your business before your busy season.
By the time prospects are ready to purchase landscaping services, you hopefully will have been in front of them several different times so they can remember you. Additionally, if you do not advertise before your busy season, you will be behind your competition. You should assume that they will advertise before the busy season starts, too.
Where your business is located and what specific services you provide can change when your busy season is.
As a general rule, most landscaping companies’ busy season is in the summer. This means that they should ideally start the majority of their advertisements in the spring.
FAQs about How to Find Customers for Your Landscaping Business:
- How do I market my landscaping business?
- Where can I find customers for my business?
- What makes a good landscaping company?
- What time of the year is busy for landscaping companies?
- How important are online reviews?
Contact Us Today!