Landscape Management, October 2010

NOT A SPENDING SPREE 3012 billion Amount spent by consumers on lawn and garden activities in 2009 SOURCE NATIONAL GARDENING ASSOCIATION S9 PHASED OUT Are your customers taking too long to make decisions because theyre afraid to spend too much at once in todays uncertain economy Offer the work on phases Its worked for Todd Dilley general manager of Minneapolis MNs The Lawn Ranger People are still spending money just not as much so we have to learn to work with them he says And doing jobs in phases even over several years has worked Also it ensures work he adds You do phase one the fi rst year phase two the next year and as long as you keep the customer happy you know they arent going somewhere else when it comes time for phase three Matt Griffi n has also found success in phasing out work People are managing their money tighter theyre still spending just not in mass amounts says the president of Kingwood TXs Prime Lawn Prime Design The additional perk A lot of times the profi t margin can be higher when you break a job into phases Griffi n says You have to set up on the job site each time so the profi tability is better than doing it all at once as one big job Sales are increasing but customers are still taking more time to make decisions 36 Sales are on par with last year were holding ground not gaining or losing business 32 OCTOBER 2010 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET manager Joanne Kostecky Garden Design Allentown PA As with the terrible demise of the easy fl ow of money in the residential housing market landscape budgets have contracted and clients if they are looking to do any work at all are scaling back their wishes and ramping up their demands requirements Customers are defi nitely getting more picky Baldi confi rms Theres still that hesitation They are still spending but hesitant to do too much In an August survey The National Gardening Association found one in fi ve households spent more time caring for their lawns and gardens last year a good sign However they are spending 16 less money total than in previous years Todd Dilleys biggest fear is the recession will continue to worsen and play on customer psychology to the point where even if they have money they will be scared to spend it says the general manager of The Lawn Ranger Minneapolis MN Yet optimism prevails but it grows in baby steps Baldi says When asked which one customer segment holds the most opportunity for business growth a clear majority of contractors 51 chose residential I do believe that people will continue to see the value of our industry in 2011 Dilley says So Im CUSTOMER CHECK How are customers responding this year SOURCE LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT RETAIN TO GAIN Landscapers average customer retention rate SOURCE LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT 16 reduction in all lawn and garden activity spending by consumers Sales are up the recovery from the recession is in full swing 8 Sales are still down looks like this will be a repeat of last year 19 Sales are way down the recession is worsening 5