Getting your first customers – the gardening round

Prepare an initial sales strategy

Whatever business you’re planning to start – gardening round, lawn cutting round, general gardening company or any one of the many other businesses we’ve looked at, you’ll need to have a clear sales strategy worked out prior to starting.

A gardening round is a unique business where a different approach is needed. This business is unique in that once your initial objective of finding enough clients to fill whatever diary space you have available is achieved, you will probably no longer need the same continued concentrated sales effort that the other businesses will require.

This is not to say that you should not be continually looking at ways of improving your sales figures and introducing new services and products to your market place. Barring unforeseen circumstances, provided you manage your round in a professional way, making every one of your clients feel as if they are your only one, then you should enjoy their custom for many years to come. You will only have to ‘replace’ your clients when they move on, by which time your reputation will hopefully be such that you have a good-sized waiting list of clients eager for you to come and work in their gardens.

However, you will still need an initial sales strategy. Here are some of the things that you will need to consider:

• geographical location of your round
• competition
• timing – when in the main season you start your round
• advertising – getting your clients.

Geographical location

It’s essential you choose an area as close to where you live as possible. Once you have chosen this area it’s then equally important that you try and keep your round as close as possible. This means making sure that the majority of your time is spent gardening as opposed to travelling. Easier said than done!

Existing competition – who is there already?

Unless you’re very lucky, the area that you choose to work in will most probably have a number of gardeners with established rounds. This should not deter you. There will always be room for another professional.

• At the end of every season a number of gardeners hang their tools up for the last time and retire.
• Others finish for a variety of reasons including ill health, moving away from the area, change of personal circumstances.
• There will also be homeowners who didn’t need the services of a regular gardener last year but now do.

So if you discuss your plans with anyone already living in your chosen area (something I strongly recommend you don’t do), and they tell that you that there’s no point in you trying to start there because so and so has already got the area sewn up, don’t listen to them.

Timing – when to start

Ideally you should aim to launch this business in the spring. If this is not possible, and you find yourself having to start mid way though the summer don’t despair. You will still find a market for your services.

Some of the problems you may encounter if you start mid-way through the main season are:

• Difficulty finding sufficient clients in one particular area, which means increased, ie wasted travelling time spent between appointments.
• Generally the work you might be asked to do is that which the others have turned down, for example weeding. Many clients will already have someone to cut their lawn and trim their hedges, but can they find someone to weed? While certainly this is a sales opportunity in itself, weeding every day, all day is not something that is either enjoyable or good for you. Chances are if you end up with weed-only jobs you won’t be in this business for very long.
• If you’re planning to work at this business full-time, the sooner you fill your diary with work the better. A slow start will have a negative impact on your cash flow and depending on how late in the season you start, it might be the following year before you’ve enough clients to make it profitable.

Getting your round up and running

There are many different ways of advertising your services, but in my experience nothing will make this happen faster than if you place a number of well presented advertisement cards in a whole range of local outlets, especially newsagents.

If you think advertising your business in a newsagent’s window is amateurish and unprofessional you can be forgiven.

When I first considered using this medium I dismissed it as completely inappropriate. Who in their right mind would employ anyone who advertises their business like this? I couldn’t have been more wrong. Despite my enormous concerns, I decided to place a number of cards in a few local newsagents. A fortnight later, when I hadn’t received any calls, I decided to do things properly and placed a large, expensive advertisement in my local paper. The day after the advertisement was published my phone started ringing. Naturally I was delighted with the response, and my only regret was that I’d bothered to waste my time with the newsagents. I couldn’t have been more wrong, for it was only when I met my first callers that they mentioned they’d seen my ads in their newsagents. Ironically, none of them had come via my expensive newspaper ad. In fact, in the six weeks the newspaper ad was running I only received one call, and even this enquiry failed to generate an order.

While it might appear that there is something almost unprofessional doing it this way, the facts are that:

• In many neighbourhoods the newsagent is still a respected, trusted local business. While generally newsagents don’t vet their advertisers, there is nevertheless a belief that if the newsagent has accepted your card then you must be okay. To an extent this is true. I have known cases where the newsagent has withdrawn his advertiser’s card because of complaints he’s received from his customers. How many magazine publishers would do this?
• Gardeners have a long tradition of advertising their services in shop windows and for those looking for one this is the most obvious first port of call.
• Newsagents’ windows enjoy wide exposure. It’s difficult not to browse through the classifieds even if you’re not looking for anything.

But the greatest benefits to your business of using this system is that:

• It is cheap and effective – a rare combination.
• It’s instant. You don’t have to wait until the publication you are advertising in reaches the shops. Hand your card over, pay your money and your ad is in the window for everyone to see 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can target your advertising to particular areas and neighbourhoods.
• You can either increase or reduce your advertisements instantaneously, seven days a week.

You will still need to be careful how you approach this.

Just because you’re advertising in a shop window doesn’t mean that your advertisement should be any less eye-catching, or less informative, than if you were advertising in a glossy magazine. Nothing looks worse than a hastily scribbled ad on a piece of card supplied by the shop. You’ll need to do much more than that. Give some thought to the layout of your cards. Make sure that:

• Cards are not handwritten. Nothing looks worse than a hastily written note. You can either print them at home on your computer, or if you haven’t got a PC have someone do them for you.
• Whatever is printed is clear and easily read from a distance. Use too small a font size and no one will be able to make out what it is you’re offering.
• Your name and telephone number are printed at the bottom of your ad, and are larger than the rest of the information. It’s crucial that anyone interested in employing you can interpret your telephone number correctly.
• Do not use a mobile telephone number. Many of the people for whom I have worked have told me that under no circumstances would they consider employing someone who does not have a land based telephone number. If you’re worried that you might lose calls when you’re not at home, then either re-direct your home telephone number to your mobile, or alternatively have two numbers printed on your card.
• Don’t cram your card with too much text. Keep it to a minimum but make sure you include the important words: ‘Fully insured’, and that if you already have gardened for someone be it a friend, colleague or whoever, and they were pleased with what you did, you include: ‘References available’.
• Stick your card to some cardboard before asking the shopkeeper to put it up for you.
• Don’t put your prices on your card or any other sales literature that you may print.

Here’s what my first card looked like:

PROFESSIONAL GARDENER AVAILABLE

Regular Gardening Work Undertaken

Hedge Trimming

Weeding

Lawn Cutting

Seasonal Pruning

Overgrown Gardens Cleared

Telephone Paul on

12121212

Fully Insured, References Available

When putting your cards up make sure that you:

• Place your cards in all of the newsagents in the area you wish to work.
• Keep a diary record of the date your card goes in the window. Make a further diary entry no later than two days before the ad is due to be removed to give you sufficient time to renew it if necessary.
• Initially, at least, pay to have your cards up for a full calendar month.
• Keep a regular eye on the newsagents to make sure that they are still displaying your card. My experience was that occasionally my cards would either fall down, or be taken down in error prior to their expiry date.

Put them up anywhere people will see them, provided of course you’re not breaking any law.

Alternatives to using cards to launch your business.

If under no circumstances will you consider putting up advertising cards, or you live in area where there are no newsagents who you will allow you to, then you will have to use some of the strategies that follow for launching your business.

Remember though that the gardening round is a unique business in itself. It’s one of those enterprises where you will visit your clients on either a weekly, fortnightly or once monthly cycle. Your first business objective must be to fill your diary quickly without incurring a large advertising bill in the process. Provided you give a professional service you will have no difficulty achieving this. Future expansion will be based on personal recommendations.

Launch strategy for other businesses

Sales forecasting

One of the most difficult things for any businessperson contemplating launching a business is predicting how quickly initial sales targets can be achieved. While it may be difficult, it is not impossible. Don’t be tempted to shy away from producing a sales forecast that not only includes your first three months of trading, but first complete year.

In Chapter 2 we looked at preparing a sales forecast as part of your business plan. If you haven’t already done so, I strongly recommend that you take the time needed to prepare one for your proposed venture.

My favoured way of forecasting is to prepare three:

• 1.Sales forecast predicting a worst case scenario.
• 2.Sales forecast predicting a best case scenario.
• 3.Sales forecast predicting the most likely scenario.

Normally, you would hope to accomplish sales forecast number 2, but would be prepared for and satisfied with forecast number 3. Of course the worst-case scenario should be avoided at all costs. However, I believe it a very useful, if not vital exercise that you prepare a worst-case forecast, because by doing so you are made to focus on what you will need to do to avoid it. This makes your initial sales strategy far more effective and concentrated.

A word on positive thinking

While I’m all for having a positive outlook and believing that if you believe in yourself you can achieve anything you want, I also think it of the utmost importance that you do not adopt an ‘it’ll be alright on the night’ philosophy when it comes to planning your new venture. There’s too much to risk. Don’t rely on faith and circumstances being kind to you. Work out how you are going to achieve your sales. Produce as many sales forecasts as you need to before deciding on which one is the right one for your business. Remember you must plan to succeed. Accept nothing less from yourself and don’t leave things to chance.

Guidelines for preparing your sales forecast

• Be optimistic, but realistic. Success will only be possible if what you’re planning is achievable.
• Give yourself an initial period of grace. Ideally, you should allow yourself your first month of trading as a zero sales month. This will take some of the pressure off and allow you to concentrate on generating business for the following month. Remember that starting and running your own business will include working on sales as well as trimming hedges and cutting lawns!
• Timing – if you’re going to start your business in time for spring or autumn (times when your services will be most in demand), you should launch your business at least one month in advance of this period.
• Survival income – initially, it may be that you will not earn enough to cover your survival income. Provided you anticipate this in your forecasting and make adequate provision for having enough capital to see you through this period then you should have no problem. Your forecast must include the month when you plan to earn enough to cover your survival income and once achieved your sales should not fall below this figure.
• Profit. Don’t forget it. It’s an important part of why you’re in business. There is little point being in business if your sole objective is to simply pay yourself a wage. If this is the case then you may as well work for someone else. To succeed, your business must earn a profit. The month you anticipate your business will reach the point of being profitable must be included in your forecast.

Getting the phone to ring

This is what it’s all about – getting your phone to ring with a regular flow of callers, eager for you to come and work for them. Achieve this, and you’re in business, literally!

In my experience, sitting around waiting for the phone to ring is the most soul-destroying experience of all. It’s a bit like filling a kettle and waiting for it to boil, it seems to take forever. By far the most rewarding thing you can do is be proactive.

Some of the ways you can kick–start sales without relying on advertising are to:

• offer your services free of charge to a favourite local charity
• canvass for business
• attend exhibitions or craft fairs
• offer sponsorship
• attract press interest.

Services free of charge

There are lots of well-deserving causes that would greatly appreciate your offer of help to either prepare or make over an overgrown area of their garden for free. You could donate anything from a day of your time to a week. Believe me the amount of referral business you can get from doing something like this is enormous. And you’re helping a worthwhile cause in the process.

I like to do this as a matter of course, not just as a way of drumming up new business, but also as a way of giving something back.

Canvass for business

This is where you directly sell your business in your chosen area. Dress appropriately, arm yourself with enough leaflets and get out there knocking on doors asking for gardening work. Make sure you bring your diary with you to book the appointment to have the work done when the householder is an agreeable mood.

If no one’s in, then post a leaflet through their door. If and when you come across the properties that are adorned with an arrangement of warning signs, then my advice is to walk past them. Even if whoever lived there did actually open the door, your welcome could be such that you’d be put off calling on anyone else’s door.

Direct selling is a positive way of promoting your business. If you get out there and do it, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can fill your diary. Remember all you need to do is to establish yourself with one client in any given area to start getting valuable reference work. Again, you are your business’ best advertisement.

Exhibitions or craft fairs

Rent a stall at a local craft fair or exhibition. If you really want to kick-start your new venture and you’re not afraid of jumping in at the deep end, this is a great way of filling your diary with appointments. Make sure that you have sufficient leaflets printed and give one to everyone who visits your stall.

Your stand will need to have some sort of inviting, interesting display to attract people to it to begin with. If your own garden is up to it, you could photograph it and exhibit the pictures. My favourite way of attracting attention is to create a miniature garden complete with real turf and water feature. With a little imagination this can be achieved relatively easily. It will provide a wonderful talking point and will certainly give you an opportunity to sell your business.

Sponsorship

If you’re unable to offer your services free of charge to a local charity, you could consider sponsoring a flowerbed, window box or similar. Have a little plaque made up with your business name and telephone number on it and fix it to the bed or box.

You could also sponsor individuals who are doing something on behalf of a local or national charity.

Attracting press interest

In my experience local papers are generally very approachable when it comes to finding some free publicity for your business, provided your offering has an interesting twist, or your business is unique in some way. There’s little point in phoning up the editor of your local paper and telling him you’re about to launch your own gardening business. His only action will be to pass you on to the classified sales section to sell you some advertising space. But were you the local council’s head gardener either leaving or retiring from your post to start up your business then in all probability the editor would be interested in your story. If you’re stuck for ideas on what would make your business newsworthy, then think about the reasons why you’re starting it. There’s a news story lurking there somewhere. All you have to do is dig it out!

Advertising

I believe that traditional advertising can have a place in your business, provided that you do not expect your ad to do all the work for you. If you find that during a certain period your phone is not ringing, then don’t be tempted to place as many advertisements in as many publications as you can afford. This doesn’t work. You need to understand why your phone is not ringing. Here are some of the most common reasons:

• Half-term and school holidays. Many of your clients will either go away during these times, or if they stay at home will not want to have their holiday disrupted.
• Public holidays such as Easter and Christmas. Again many people go away.
• August – generally the quietest month of the year for new enquiries. Again it is a popular holidaying month, but it’s also a quiet time in the garden compared with the rest of the year. Obviously those with gardening rounds or lawn-cutting rounds will still have ample to do, but don’t be surprised if your telephone isn’t as busy during this month.

Where to place regular advertisements

There are literally hundreds of publications where you can advertise your business including:

• directories – Yellow Pages, Thompsons Directory
• local newspapers
• magazines
• local specialist publications
• web sites
• radio stations.

Directories

Running an ad in a directory is not a cheap option. It has certain advantages in that:

• Your ad is available to a wide audience.
• Most households have these directories somewhere even if they’re only being used as door stoppers.

However, there are a number of disadvantages with this type of advertising:

• Relatively expensive.
• You can’t start advertising mid-way through the year. Start your business in the spring and it won’t be until the following year that your entry is published.
• If you’re going to use this medium your advertisement would have to be sufficiently large enough not to be dwarfed by the other ads.
• The area the directory covers is generally larger than the area the average one-person gardening business will cover. You could find yourself with a steady stream of callers from outside your local area who you are unable to help.
• If you’re planning to work part-time or have a seasonal business you will want to have more control over your advertising, ie, stopping your ad when you down tools for the winter.

I wouldn’t recommend directories as a suitable medium for newcomers. My advice would be to run your business for at least a year before you consider placing an advertisement, by which time you will have a clear idea on the direction you would like your business to take and will be in a better position to formulate an effective, targeted advertising campaign.

Local newspapers

These fall into two categories:

• free papers
• those you buy weekly from your newsagents.

I can’t say that I am particularly keen on using either to advertise my business. The main reasons are:

• Relatively expensive.
• Generally there are a lot of gardeners advertising their services here. Why should anyone choose you as opposed to the advertisement above you?
• Because this is a weekly paper your advertisement may well end up wrapping fish and chips by lunchtime the day following its publication.

If you are keen to advertise in your local paper then I would recommend you:

• Have your advertisement inserted somewhere other than in the gardening classified section. If the paper runs a weekly gardening column (many now do), try to have your ad placed on the same page.
• Property pages are one of the better places to advertise. Word your advertisement to target those selling their houses who could benefit by employing your skills to give it a good tidy up to ensure a better price, or those who’ve just acquired a property who could use your services.
• You must advertise for a minimum period of three months. Anything less and those who have seen your ad will imagine you’ve gone out of business if your details no longer appear.

Give this option some serious thought before you place your advertisement. It can be a very expensive mistake if you get it wrong. Beware also of advertising in freebie newspapers that are hand-delivered, as delivery isn’t always reliable. The rates paid to delivery people are fairly miserable which encourages a fair amount of papers being mass delivered to a convenient bin or skip.

Magazines

I am a fan of magazine advertising, provided of course that the magazine enjoys a sufficient circulation to make it worthwhile. Where I live we have a number of quality magazines that are only available in our area. The fact that these magazines are targeted at local interest ensures that when you advertise your business in them you’re reaching your targeted audience.

I maintain an ongoing monthly ad in one of these magazines and have been rewarded with a steady stream of quality business. I’m also fortunate that I am the only gardening company to advertise in my chosen publication.

If you are fortunate to live in an area where you have local, quality magazines then I would recommend you consider placing an ad. As in newspaper advertising, you will have to leave your advertisement in for a number of months before it starts paying dividends; certainly nothing less than three months to begin with, and if during this trial period you find it successful make sure that you negotiate a discount for placing a regular ad.

Local specialist publications

There are an untold number of specialist publications being published in communities all around the country, ranging from drama societies to floral arranging club newsletters. These represent an excellent opportunity for anyone launching a new gardening business or looking to expand an existing one.

Many of these publications are classified as newsletters as opposed to magazines. You may wonder why a gardener would wish to advertise his or her services in the local golf club’s publication, but it is here that you will find a ready market for your services.

Most golfers that I know would agree with me when I say that keen golfers will do anything to get out of spending their free time gardening when they could be golfing. Don’t worry if the circulation appears low when compared to other mainstream publications. Advertising rates usually reflect this. The rewards can be enormous for advertising in these publications.

Good areas of publications to advertise in include:

• church newsletters
• chess society newsletters
• sailing club newsletters
• local companies’ in-house magazines or newsletters
• any publication whose intended readership is amongst the retired or newly-weds
• local sports clubs’ publications
• many private gyms now publish newsletters keeping their clients up-to-date with the latest in health and fitness.

Websites

When I first launched my business the internet wasn’t as focused as it is today. For example, few homes had internet access and those that did relied on a slow dial-up connection, which managed to frustrate more than often than enlighten. Today, few of us could do without the internet and all sorts of services are sold via e-commerce. My advice would be to create a website for your business.

Advantages of a website for your business include:

• You can reach the widest possible audience.
• The costs are minimal in comparison to traditional advertising mediums.
• It gives your business additional credibility and kudos.
• You’re open for sales 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• A professional looking website speaks volumes about your business.

Avoiding the deadly sins of amateur website design

With the exception of home-produced business cards, in my opinion nothing looks worse than a poorly designed website. While undoubtedly the internet can boost your sales and credibility, don’t underestimate the power of the mouse when it comes to killing you off. Remember visitors to your site are only a click away from leaving and searching elsewhere.

So it’s vital that once you get them into your site you manage to convert their interest into something positive like sending you an email or phoning your business for a quotation.

Since starting Paul Power Landscapes, I’ve had a number of different websites, some of which have been designed by professional website companies and are complete with pictures of the work we’d done. However, the site that brought us and continues to bring us the most business is the one with the simple, no pictures approach. While there could be any number of reasons why our other sites have failed to convert visitors into customers, I’m of the opinion that the reason is that the picture site gives the impression that we’re very expensive. Hence we get lots of visitors, few of whom take their interest any further. Therefore faced with a beautiful, but thoroughly useless site, I decided to change our website to a simple, graphic-free site. The result was almost instant. We went from few enquiries to lots of enquiries for both our gardening work and our courses. The good news also was that we were able to create the site ourselves, quite literally in a few hours, thus saving ourselves on designer fees and we also managed to save on hosting fees.

To create it we use a website company that offers template website building. To build your website all you have to do is sign up, pay your money, choose a domain name for your site and then work through the templates.

The company I chose was Mr Site’s Takeaway Website. You can check it out online at www.mrsite.co.uk where you purchase a year’s hosting for your site including templates for a relatively small charge. There are lots of companies now offering this sort of service and I suggest you surf around for the one that suits your needs.

What to include in your website

Unless you’re actually selling products from your website, for example you might be selling gardening tools, books, plants etc by mail order, the objective of your website will be to get visitors to contact you for an estimate.

Working on the assumption that you’re not going to be selling products, your site should give visitors some or all of the following information:

• The type of gardening work you undertake. Include as many gardening services here as you possibly can.
• The geographical areas you cover. This is very important as if you list each town and area you cover then this information will eventually get picked up by the search engines and when someone searches for ‘gardener A Town’ and if you’ve listed ‘A Town’ then your site will come up.
• Either an email address for them to contact you, or an enquiry form for them to fill in with details of their requirements.
• Your name and contact telephone number. For example,’ For an no-obligation, free estimate, please contact Paul on (telephone number)‘. I also now include my mobile number as well as my landline number as I try to minimise the number of answerphone messages I have to deal with.
• Positive customer comments about your service. Don’t worry if initially you don’t have any because you’re just starting out. You can include them later, because people like to see positive feedback.

Site layout and design

My site is basic to say the least and I find it works. Occasionally I am asked by clients why I don’t have examples of our work on our site. The reason we don’t do this any more is that when we did we had some visitors saying they didn’t like such and such a garden – we obviously build gardens to other people’s specifications. What appeals to one, doesn’t do it for another. And then we also found some our customers were unhappy when they visited our site to find their garden wasn’t included. So we now only provide enough information to keep the phone ringing. After all, we’re not an online exhibition.

Whether you build your own site or use a template try to visit as many gardeners’ sites as you can for ideas on layout. Personally I find a crisp, clean layout works for us and brings in the business.

You can see my gardening site at www.paulpowergardener.co.uk

As you’ll see I’ve included a blog on my site as I find this a useful way of reminding our customers of what we can do at various times of the year. According to internet experts, a blog can also dramatically improve your rankings in the search engines and this is something I noticed when I started. When deciding to write your own blog make it as specific as possible to the area where your business is based. The internet is a global newspaper and it’s important that you target visitors who are going to need and use your service. Your blog doesn’t have to be gardening specific. For example you could base it around one of your other hobbies and then advertise your gardening business as part of your site. However if you really want to get local, targeted visitors, one of the best ways is for you to write something similar to an online ‘what to do in the garden’ diary site. Be as imaginative and interesting as you can with your writings. Don’t simply write your diary strictly on a how-to-garden basis but widen it to include as much personal information as you can.

Remember, people love the underdog. If you come across as arrogant visitors will switch off in their droves, which means losing potential customers. If you appear friendly and helpful, visitors will be more likely to pick up the phone or email you for their gardening needs.

Blogs are worth the effort. If you not great at writing yourself, see if anyone in your family can help. A blog can really get your website noticed.

Whatever you decide make sure you choose and register a domain name for your site and business. Try to choose something memorable and don’t forget to include your website address on your business cards, advertisements, flyers etc.

One last word on websites – try to avoid using one of those free website hosting services that will give you a free site with your name after their name and which will bombard your visitors with pop-up ads. Your website needs to be a calm space for people to read more about what you’re offering. They don’t want to listen to your music or read other people’s ads. They’re looking for a gardener and, equally important, they are looking for a gardener in the area they live in. So don’t forget to list all the areas that you cover and highlight those services if any, that you specialise in.

Summary

• Make sure you do sufficient groundwork before starting your business. Presentation and planning are just as important to the success of your business as enthusiasm.
• Never undercut current market prices, or you will not be long in business.
• When selling remember the golden rule – people buy benefits not features.
• Wherever possible try to get to know your competitors. There is no reason why you should be enemies or fear them. You may even find them willing to help you out when you’re stretched and vice versa.
• Creating a positive image is vital to your success. Often it’s the small talk that kills future orders. Beware of volunteering opinions. Your job is to offer a quality gardening service, not commentate on current affairs. It’s easy to insult people without knowing you’re doing it. So be careful what you say and to whom.
• Always make your client feel as if they are your only one.
• When opening a bank or building society account, make sure you shop around and get the best deal.