I've been selling landscaping for 40+ years now, and in that time I've worked with all kinds of clients. I've sold to the engineers who want to talk about the specifics of the plan and see detailed drawings, the business owner who is worried about not having to worry about the landscaping, and the stay-at-home parent who wants to talk about how the end-result space will be used for hosting or playing. What's obvious to every salesperson is that every client will require different information and support in order to make their decision. 

Dawn Arnold, our Director of Sales Operations at Grunder Landscaping Co., recently held a training for our sales team based on a presentation she attended at GROW! 2025 in Columbus, Ohio taught by Megan Parker and Tracy Wallingford, two of our executive coaches who facilitate our ACE Peer Groups. This is such a smart use of content and education from an industry event: to bring the ideas you learned back and teach them to your whole team. 

She shared the four personality types we typically see in clients, how to identify each, and how you can tailor your sales approach to better relate to them and make the sale. Here's the framework that Megan and Tracy shared at GROW!:

Executor: this type of client wants to see clear processes and values efficiency and dependability. 

Influencer: this client values visibility and recognition. They want to know the big-picture impact, and are usually fast decision-makers. 

Relationship Builder: this client values trust and connection, they want to collaborate heavily and will react well to you keeping in touch. 

Strategic Thinking: this client will take time to think and reflect before committing, and they often do an in-depth analysis before making a decision. 

Dawn presented this information to the sales team, then asked them each to identify a client they've worked with recently and which category the client fit into. She asked them to evaluate how they could've better tailored their approach with this information. The sales team had a great discussion about this, with salespeople chiming in to offer suggestions to how others could handle a situation, too.

So this week here's my task for you: look at the education you've had in the last year from industry (or non-industry) events you've attended. How could you do a short presentation to your teammates about what you learned and then facilitate a discussion to take those learnings one step further?

And if you're looking for ways to learn more, we have plenty of opportunities coming up. Join us at one of our two remaining Grunder Landscaping Co. Fall Field Trips, come to Annapolis, MD on September 23-24 for the NALP Field Trip, sign up for our Virtual Sales Bootcamp in October, or lock-in early-bird pricing and register for GROW! 2026 in Dallas, TX. I hope to see you soon, either in-person or online!