As a hardscape contractor, you know your clients’ vision is the key to creating outdoor living spaces that truly wow. But turning those ideas into professional-looking designs can be time consuming. Taking you away from what you do best – the construction and installation and serving your clients. Outsourcing your drafting and visualization needs can […]
Designing a landscape can be a complex and time-consuming process, but with the right approach, you can streamline your workflow and increase your efficiency. One effective strategy is to break up the design work into stages and outsource the CAD and 3D drafting to a specialized provider. Stage 1: Landscape Concept Development Stage 2: Review […]
The sale is often made on the first call, and more than likely won or lost in the first 30 seconds. However, the process is important, and if any sale fails to close, it’s likely you skipped a step. This is true for the Design Brief/Retainer Agreement sales process as well. Sales are always non-linear, […]
This guide will equip you with a 5-step approach to securing design retainer agreements, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating stunning outdoor escapes for your clients. (Side note: After my first sales call using this process after nearly 20 years of doing it “the old fashioned contractor way “my remark to […]
A series of HOW TO articles on selling design work profitably.This is article #1. Why Offer Design Most landscape and hardscape design build companies make their money on construction. But find building other people’s designs less than satisfying from a creative and financial perspective. The way to beat the competition in any market is through […]
“Whatever work there is should have as much meaning as possible. Wherever possible, workmen should be artists; their work should be the application of knowledge or science and known and enjoyed by them as such.” –Michael E. Gerber (Author of “The EMyth Revisited”) In business coaching, the secret to helping people is in asking […]
This appeared in my Spam folder and the title got me to open it. The sentiments expressed are at the heart of why I do the work at Systems Organized by Design SOD. I feel fortunate that I took the time to read this. I hope you do too. A CFA’s perspective is a lot […]
The accompanying chart, taken from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s March 2014 Frequently Asked Questions report, tells a tale of heartache and concern. The data include entrepreneurs and existing, large firms. But mixing large and small companies together skews the numbers so it doesn’t look as risky as it really is for small landscape companies. […]
Why did you start a business? Freedom to set your own hours, be your own boss and enjoy your life more. Felt trapped by the corporate mentality of big business. Whatever it was, if you’re perfectly honest, it’s probably not working out as well as you had imagined. In fact, studies show that most businesses […]
There is a low bar for entry into the landscaping business. Many people get into it with the best of intentions and high hopes of achieving success. How can you distinguish your business from all the rest? The answer is found in “Why”. Why are you in this line of work? The answer is at […]