We have weekly sales meetings with the team at Grunder Landscaping Co. that I sit in as part of my role as Marketing Manager. These meetings give me insight into what type of work the team is trying to close more of, what projects might be on the horizon for photographing, and helps me stay fresh with what the sales team is facing so that I can help guide our content at The Grow Group, too. 

In a recent meeting, one of our landscape designers, Jon, shared great advice for the sales team that I think is extra important this time of year. His advice to the newer salespeople on our team was to respect a budget when you're given it, but if you have additional ideas include them as options.

This is smart for two reasons:

1. You show that you're listening to the client. When my sister got married, she had a florist she got a proposal from. She told them her budget, and the florist came back with a proposal that was triple that. The budget and the quote were so far apart, that it was difficult to see how they could meet in the middle by cutting or shrinking some arrangements. She went with a different florist who did a better job from the get-go of communicating and limiting the number and size of centerpieces to stay within her budget. 

This tip is not about cutting your price. It's about limiting your plans and providing options that are within what your client wants to spend. Maybe that means that the patio they wanted needs to be smaller than they planned, or that we only do the front landscaping instead of a full renovation. 

2. You put additional revenue on the table. By presenting your plan within the requested budget but with additional options, it shows the client what you could do if their budget IS flexible. For many clients, this may be the case and you may just win a bigger project than expected. And the worst case: they say not right now. Having these additional options may be planting a seed for future phases of work.

In our upcoming Virtual Sales Bootcamp 2.0 on May 7-8, I'll cover what we're doing to market Grunder Landscaping to prospective clients and Chris Psencik and Marty Grunder will talk about what's working and not working for sales people right now. It's a great investment in training for your sales team, and we'll share lots of strategies, tips, and tactics that sales teams can use to close more sales this month. 

I know you're busy, we are too: I promise if you spend a few hours with us this week, we'll help you make up for the time with strategies to close more sales in the time left in the growing season.

Emily Lindley
Content & Events Manager
The Grow Group & Grunder Landscaping Co.