You’ve worked hard to start your landscaping business; you’ve filed the paperwork, invested in equipment, named your company and you are ready to launch your dream. The next step is narrowing the field to find the best clients to target with your skills. Knowing who is most likely to need your specific landscaping services will save you time and money spent pursuing the wrong clientele. I have done some of the legwork for you and compiled a guide to choosing the best clients to target for your landscaping business.
The best clients to target with a landscaping business include multi-family residential areas, retirement communities, and middle-aged homeowners with a focus on white-collar workers, families without teenagers, and those with larger or older properties. Business targets include those that stand alone, corporate headquarters, or those in older areas. Landscapers should also target parks, schools, churches, and city-owned property. In addition, new residential and commercial construction is a prime market to tap into.
Now that you have some starting points, l am going to focus on these areas a little closer to help you find your target!
Best Clients to Target for Landscaping by Business Size
Landscaping businesses come in all sizes. The first step in knowing where to aim your money and resources to capture the attention of your ideal clientele is to think about the size of your business. Consider where you are now the project size you can take on with your current resources and where you would like to go in the future. This can help you formulate your marketing plan as you move forward.
Small landscaping companies
Landscape businesses that have just a few employees and smaller equipment have lots of potential clients. Not everyone needs help with massive projects requiring heavy equipment and lots of boots on the ground.
Tips to narrow the target
-Multi-family residential areas are perfect for smaller companies. Here you’ll find lawns that are clipped with just one mower, a manageable amount of pruning and trimming, and bite-sized hardscaping, decking, and irrigation projects.
-New single-building construction projects will become your new go-to customers. People and companies building new structures are looking for help with design, ground prep, planting, hardscaping, and decking.
I recommend partnering with a specific contractor, if possible, to gain the inside track to new jobs.
-Small businesses are an ideal clientele for a small landscaping company. They are often located on small properties bounded by the streets and businesses around them.
Stand-alone businesses frequently have small lawns and flowerbeds and modest hardscaping. Maintenance will take a smaller amount of time and resources than larger properties spanning multiple acres.
-Small towns and parks and individual schools and churches are all places that need landscaping, maintenance, and yard care. Many towns install strips of landscaping between sidewalks and streets or along medians. These are usually relatively small areas that a few employees can handle.
Benefits small landscaping companies provide their clients:
- personalization
- accountability
- consistent quality
- small equipment
- ease of communication
- enhanced responsiveness to feedback
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Mid-sized to large landscaping companies
If your company has lots of employees and access to big equipment, your target demographic will be a little different than smaller companies with fewer resources.
Tips to narrow the target:
-Residential areas are a great place to find business for large landscapers, as well as small. Some subdivisions may wish to hire a large company to maintain entrances, parks, and trails, as well as keep all landscaping at residences within certain boundaries set by a local homeowner’s association. A large company can provide consistency and long-term commitment to these communities.
-Businesses owning acreage or maintaining corporate grounds will need a company with access to large equipment such as industrial mowers, as well as plenty of employees to plant, maintain, and restore existing landscaping.
-Cities, state parks, and recreational areas may hire large companies to provide efficient, consistent, and timely landscaping services. When these clients need large areas of trees and shrubs maintained, removed, or planted, they will be looking for a company with lots of equipment and employees to fill the roster.
Benefits large landscaping companies provide their clients
- standardized services
- ability to work with large areas and projects
- access to a variety of expertise
- many employees
- large equipment
Best Clients to Target for Landscaping by Services
The term “landscaping” covers quite a bit of ground, including almost anything that is done to improve or maintain an outdoor environment.
Here I am going to focus on several of the most common services landscapers offer:
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Lawn care
Mowing, trimming, watering, fertilizing, and debris removal are services landscaping businesses frequently provide. Your company can find plenty of work tackling residential, commercial, and government grounds.
Tips to narrow the target:
-Multi-family residential areas are a great place to start building your customer base. You will likely benefit from word-of-mouth advertising when you give consistent, quality service and respond quickly to concerns.
-I recommend you especially focus on the middle-aged to elderly demographic. These groups are less likely to do their lawncare than younger people. Many areas have retirement communities which are a great place to pick up regular customers.
-Keep income in mind. White collar workers often don’t have time to tend to their grounds and have enough disposable income to hire someone to do it for them. Blue-collar workers, on the other hand, are more likely to take care of their landscaping.
-Areas with larger acreage provide better income over expense ratios. To explain this a little better, I want to give an example. No matter where you go to mow a lawn, you’ll need to transport your equipment, which will add fuel costs.
The larger the area you need to mow when you get to your destination, the more money you will make for the same expense. I know that sounds basic, but it’s easy to think about quantity versus quality. Look for subdivisions with ample yards for the best investment.
-Families without teenagers to do the work also fit your ideal client profile whether young or old.
-Many fast-food joints, banks, and pharmacies stand separately from other buildings to give customers access to drive-up services. This often means that areas of lawn are located around the building.
-Company headquarters are usually found on large properties with lots of manicured lawns and well-maintained landscaping. First impressions are important to these businesses. Consider advertising your services to them for guaranteed, long-term work.
-To give the best income-over-expense ratios consider approaching several businesses in the same area to limit transportation costs and maximize convenience. This also increases the potential of word-of-mouth advertising, which I believe is one of the most effective (and one of the cheapest) campaigns there is.
-Schools and churches are definite target customers for lawn-care businesses as they often have acreage to maintain.
-Advertise your services to local and state parks, as well as recreational areas such as campgrounds.
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Tree and shrub planting and removal
Many people and businesses are looking to improve the curb appeal and aesthetics of their property and trees and shrubs are popular items to accomplish this goal. However, as I know you are aware, planting bigger vegetation can be a tricky business. Luckily for these clients, you bring the know-how and skill to get their projects done right.
As conservation awareness grows, more people than ever are interested in increasing renewable resources and contributing to a cleaner atmosphere. Planting trees and shrubs nicely fits the bill.
Tips to narrow the target:
-New homeowners are an ideal focus for those in the business of planting trees and shrubs. This target group is ready to invest in new surroundings and look to trees and shrubbery to provide increased curb appeal, privacy, noise reduction, and even energy savings.
-New construction, whether residential or commercial building, is a no-brainer for your business. There is no existing landscape to work around and most people will not consider their project complete until some trees and shrubs are installed to soften the foundation and beautify the property.
-Older residential areas should not be overlooked in your quest for customers. These homeowners often want to get rid of old and outdated landscaping and remove trees and shrubs that have outgrown their surroundings or are posing a hazard.
-Don’t forget older businesses. Just like older residences, these clients need help removing landscaping that no longer works for them and will hire you to refresh their trees and shrubs.
-Parks and recreational areas are often wanting to add trees to their grounds in the interest of beauty and nature. This includes city parks, state parks, and private campgrounds.
Hardscaping
Retaining walls, patios, paths, decking, and lighting are essential parts of landscaping. These materials bring usability, safety, and conservation to the scene. Landscaping companies with the skills to offer these services to the right clients will find their company in high demand.
Tips to narrow the target
-New construction is a good place to put your marketing focus. Hardscaping is easiest when it is the first step in the landscaping process. In addition to not damaging existing landscaping, doing hardscaping first can give direction to the design and feel of the entire property.
-Older subdivisions and commercial areas are a perfect place to find new customers. Nothing lasts forever, especially not in areas with big temperature swings. Patios will crack, retaining walls will disintegrate, pathways will grow over, and decking will rot.
Customers will need to replace existing hardscaping from time to time to maintain safety and keep a property looking kempt as well as up-to-date and fresh.
-Hardscaping is one of the more difficult and expensive areas of landscaping, so in residential areas, you will want to focus on white-collar workers who don’t have the skills but do have the disposable income to hire you for their projects.
-Many businesses like to go beyond the standard sidewalk to make their property stand out. Retaining walls, pavers, and lighting improve their appeal to customers. Advertise these services to build your customer base.
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Best Clients to Target for Niche Landscaping
Specialized landscaping refers to businesses that focus on one area or niche. Landscaping is a broad brush that includes many different services. Picking one of them and excelling in it can help you stand out in a crowded field. Niche or specialized landscaping businesses focus on one or two key areas including:
- stylized gardening (traditional, formal, cottage, Oriental)
- outdoor art
- outdoor furniture
- aquascape
- low-water and sustainable gardening
- decking
- hardscaping (retaining walls, patios, pathways)
- lighting
There are so many different directions you can go with specialization but here are some of the most common and the type of clients you will likely attract:
Stylized gardening
Tips to narrow the target:
- The best clients will be found in areas that are not highly regulated. Look for subdivisions that have loose guidelines for architecture and you’ll find your ideal client.
- Search for businesses that are aligned with the type of landscaping you do best. For example, a fancy steakhouse or bank will lean toward more formal and patterned landscaping, while a Japanese restaurant or a mind-and-body wellness center may lean toward a peaceful Zen aesthetic.
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Low-water and sustainable gardening
Tips to narrow the target:
- People the world over are looking to reduce water consumption and conserve resources but a prime target for this type of expertise continues to be areas that have low annual rainfall. Lush, green gardens are not common in Arizona, for example. I have seen a few but most people there are looking for drought-resistant plants and hardscaping materials that suit the environment.
- City dwellers are another ideal target audience for this type of landscaping, both for ease of maintenance and suitability to the surrounding environment.
Aquascaping
Doesn’t this type of landscaping just sound fun? If aquascaping is on your resume you will want to target your skills to the right audience.
Tips to narrow the target
-You aren’t looking for families with small children and pets. Residential areas hosting an older demographic are your aim. People of retirement age often have more time to spend sitting and enjoying their surroundings and will appreciate the soothing qualities that water can provide.
-Once again, white-collar areas will provide you with the best customer base due to the expense of design, installation, and maintenance of water features.
-Many businesses and subdivisions add water features to their properties for instant appeal and should be a target for your advertising dollars.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most effective marketing strategy once I have identified the target customer for my landscaping business?
E-mail marketing is one of the top contenders for the best return on investment when it comes to marketing. This method has an amazing average return of $36 on each dollar you spend. Don’t know where to start building your list? Check out Hubspot’s blog page: How to Build an Email List from Scratch: 10 Incredibly Effective Strategies for tips to make it happen!
What percentage of my landscaping business revenue should I put toward advertising?
Most experts agree that 5-10% of your revenue should be committed to marketing when you are a business providing services to a consumer. This can sound like a lot up front but getting established in the market is important to the growth of your business. Remember that effective marketing is an investment in your future and can yield big returns.
To learn more on how you can start your own landscaping business, check out my startup documents here.
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Meet Shawn Chun: Entrepreneur and Landscape Business Fan.
I’m a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a landscape business owner at a job site, driving down the road or anywhere else I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to retain clients, find good employees and keep the business growing all while trying to stay competitive.
That’s why I created Landscaping Business Boss: I want to help landscape business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.