Business consultant Neville Stein has helped guide dozens of horticultural and landscaping business leaders to success. In this article, he’s looking at garden design and how to overcome any barriers to selling.

Professional salespeople know all too well that customers buy benefits – in other words, ‘what’s in it for them’. Listen to any professional salesperson and you will hear that they ask the customer a series of well-chosen questions in order to identify what benefits the customer might value – match the benefits of the product or service to the customer’s needs and you have a sale.

How then, as a landscaper, can you sell the benefits of a professional garden design to your prospective customers? Well, first we need to elevate the importance of the design process. If the customer has had building work done on their property then it’s a pretty sure bet that the works were professionally designed by an architect – no one would dream of spending a lot of money on a building without seeing a proper design with accompanying plans – the same should apply to a garden. Explaining this principle is the first step in persuading customers that they need a garden design. After all, getting your garden designed is a valuable investment.

Selling the benefits of garden design

But how might the customer benefit from a professional design? First and foremost a design will ensure that your customer’s vision and dream for their garden can become a reality – the design will give them the confidence that the garden you will build for them will match their needs and how they want to use their outdoor space. Sometimes, though, the customer is not quite sure what they need and is looking for inspiration – let them know that a professional garden designer has years of experience to draw on and can use that experience, knowledge, and creative skill to design a garden that will be just right for your customer.

It is also worth pointing out to your customer that a professionally designed and built garden is an investment – not only will it increase the value of the property but will also enhance the visual appeal of the property – essential if the customer ever wants to sell their house.

Finally, it is important to let the customer know that a garden design will form the plan for whoever is going to build the garden – it will take into account the natural features in the landscape such as slopes, trees etc and of course will provide technical drawings that if followed will ensure that the garden is built to the right technical standards – all this then should fill the customer with confidence and peace of mind and when the garden is built, they will have an outdoor space that exactly meets their needs.

Summing up the business of selling

So, in summary, identify your customer’s needs, show them how a garden design will meet those needs, and help them to see that it is a false economy not to have the garden designed.

About Neville Stein

Growing any business involves making difficult decisions. Where is the best place to invest your time and energy to get the best results – in marketing? training? extra staff? Is your business idea likely to yield a return or does it need some refining to ensure profitability?

Neville Stein is a Horticultural business expert with over 20 years experience, a keynote speaker, a best-selling author, a trusted advisor to dozens of brands, an active investor in Horticultural startups, and a member of numerous industry boards. He works with business owners to help answer all of those tricky questions and guide your business to the next level. Discover more by visiting his website.

Click here to visit Nevillestein.com

Click here for a free downloadable client handout to help sell garden design