I frequently remind my team at Grunder Landscaping Co. that we are ALL salespeople. It's driven home by the data we have on why new prospects call us: the number one driver of new business for our company is our reputation. It's referrals, people seeing us work at their neighbor's house, and repeat business from past customers. I drive this home during our monthly all-team meetings: the work we do today sells the work we'll do tomorrow. 

Strong sales are the result of production and sales teams working well together and both doing their jobs well. This week, I have a tip for each team to help them support new sales that boil down to doing a little bit more than your competition would. 

For Production: Take Up the Trash

Doing just a little bit extra for our clients is one way that we can stand out and really cement client loyalty. An easy way we do this is by bringing up the trash cans or the newspaper if they're at the bottom of the driveway on the day we're onsite. We'll roll the trash cans up to the top of the driveway or put them away if we know where they go. It takes next to no time or effort for our team to do this, and it's one less thing for a homeowner to do when they get home. You wouldn't believe how impressed clients are by this small favor. 

There are other small things we teach our crews to do, too, like stopping the blowers and string trimmers when people walk by. I'm always amazed by how many people don't do this when I think it's just good manners!

For Sales: Schedule Walk Arounds

Enhancement sales are an easy way to add more revenue onto your schedule, and when presented correctly, our clients appreciate that we're being proactive about their property. Especially on commercial maintenance properties, I teach my sales team to look for:

• Safety issues like uneven pavement, low tree limbs, or standing water
• Bare mulch beds that a few additional plants could fill in
• Aesthetic improvements that would make a better first impression for visitors

The key to doing this well is to make time for it. Schedule time for site visits on your calendar to get eyes on properties, and use a site visit checklist (we use site audits in Aspire) to look for any opportunities. We can then create proposals that we send to the client with a message to the effect of: "Hi, I visited your property today and noticed X, I wanted to let you know that we could fix this by doing Y. Here's a proposal for what that would cost. Are you interested in talking more about this?"

Look ahead now: is your fall schedule full? If it's not, it's time to look at what you can do now to drum up the sales you need to keep your crews busy. I have tips and tricks to help, all available virtually so you can get the education you need to be successful without any travel or time away from the office required. Try out:

Our Sales Training available through Greenius by Granum on-demand: This self-paced training covers what sales people need to understand about themselves, their clients, and their processes in order to be successful. It includes a sample sales process you can use yourself, scripts for overcoming objections, and more.

The Landscape Pro's Sales Training: This virtual event is a crash course for sales people, walking through optimizing sales at every step in the process from lead generation through follow-up after the job is complete. It was live in May and the recordings are still available for purchase.

The Virtual Sales Manager Bootcamp: Formerly called our Virtual Sales Bootcamp 2.0, this event is tailored to supporting sales managers as they manage their team and all the aspects of a sales organization. It's a great fit for managers, owners who still handle sales, or individuals who are the only salesperson at their company. 

I'd love to help you make this year your best ever. Sign up for one, or all, of these sales trainings to ensure you're well-equipped to crush your goals before it's too late. 

Marty Grunder
Founder & CEO
The Grow Group & Grunder Landscaping Co.