There are so many reasons that a business or homeowner may contract out a landscaping business for their landscaping projects—time, money, or even professional work could be considered. While landscaping is important, as it projects the environment and helps promote a healthy lifestyle, how can you, as a landscaping business owner, take on more of those projects?
To get more landscaping contracts, you should make sure to advertise your business properly, learn to craft the perfect bid, perfect the follow-up, budget your time and work properly, know the industry, get involved in your local community, stay consistent with your communication, work, and bidding, and ask for feedback.
Projects—also known as clients or accounts—are typically very contested, and you’ll be working against other landscaping businesses to get that accepted bid. Read on to find out more about how you can win more of those bids more consistently.
Advertise your business properly
If you’re not getting landscaping contracts, one of the simplest reasons is that people just don’t know about you and they don’t know your record. The easiest way to fix this is simply by marketing, and there are a few ways that will help you as you do.
The best ways to generate leads are by involving your customers and showing off your work online. Consider creating a customer referral program—with this, if a potential customer mentions that another of your customers has referred you to them, consider providing your existing customer with some sort of percentage off or reward for bringing that new customer to you.
You should also make sure your website is up to date with new photos and information about what work you’ve done. Create a gallery to show off your latest work, and even consider sharing the costs so people know what to expect from you. This applies well to social media, too—share what you’re doing so people can see your work.
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Craft the perfect bid
The easiest way to get more landscaping contracts is to simply create the perfect bid for your customer. How do you do that? It’s easy to do and easy to perfect, and it goes a long way. First and foremost, you need to know your customers. This is where most landscapers will fall short. Understand what they need and what they want in a project. Get the job description and if needed, ask for clarification, but also learn to know your client. If you don’t know them personally, you can’t anticipate what they might need, which is what they want out of a project. One way to do that is literally to research your client—they will be researching you, so feel free to do the same. Find out how they expect the job to be delivered, what they typically get done, and what they consider the highest quality work.
You should also research your potential competition. If you’re bidding regionally, you may have already done this for a previous job, but make sure you know who you might be bidding up against. Use and understand their weaknesses when creating your bid to maximize your strengths.
Make sure you take the best measurements you can and completely detail what you’re going to use to complete it before you set your bid. Draw out your design and estimate the cost of your labor and what equipment you might use before you finalize what to give to the client.
You should also predict both a timeline and a project budget. Both of these are integral to the client experience, and make sure you’re realistic—the more realistic you are about the cost and the time it will take, and the better you stick to both, the more reliable your business will be.
Perfect the follow-up
When you’re sending in bids or talking to potential customers, it’s all about how you follow up. Even if you’re just sending out those bids, make sure that they know you’re thinking about them and are still interested in that project. How can you make their lives easier by accepting your proposal? Be professional but kind and engage your potential client through a personalized email or a phone call.
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Budget your time and work properly
One of the ways that you lose customers is through improperly budgeted bids. Know exactly how much you expect to spend on supplies and labor and you can pass that on to the client. While this number can change, and many expect it to change as needed, the closer you are to the time and money spent the better you are at your job, according to your clients. That means you’ll get better reviews—and better marketing as word-of-mouth.
You should also consider the other side of this—if you don’t think your business can handle the time frame and the amount of work that needs to be done on a project or a bid, you have the ability and the responsibility to turn it down. If you can’t provide what the customer wants, saying no will go much further than attempting to do the work in the time provided and doing a poor job. Understanding your limits may benefit you in this situation—which means that a client may come to you with a job later or send you on to someone that your business can take on.
Know your industry
It’s not just about knowing how to mow a lawn—make sure you’re up to date with all your certifications and your licenses, along with having high-quality equipment. Just like any industry, customers want their experts to be just that—experts. Show off that you know what you’re talking about, but make sure you have the knowledge to back it up—if you don’t, that may make it even harder for you to land that contract.
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Get involved in your local community
Going along with knowing your customers and understanding your client base, you should get involved in local projects. Whether that’s working with a school or a non-profit organization, it’s a great way to network—and it’s a great way to talk about your business. Word-of-mouth still works wonders, and if someone knows you personally, they’re going to talk to other people about you and your business.
Be consistent with your communication, your work, and your bidding
One of the most important things to do is to make sure that you are consistent in all your work, whether it’s sending in a bid or sticking to a timeline. Being consistent can mean that your clients will spread how great you are to others, and as long as you are consistent, this can continue. If your work varies between customers, this can cause an issue—and it can cost you business.
Ask for feedback
The only way you can improve your work is by talking to your customers. Communication is key, and making sure that they’re happy with your work is the best way to make the next client even happier with your work. The more they share, the better—and take the critique as a way to improve. If there’s something that someone didn’t like, work on that next time to make sure that you don’t do it that way again.
What it comes down to is communication—if people don’t know about you and don’t know how to work with you, then you can’t get more customers for your lawn care business. The more you network and the more you share with others, the more likely people will know about you, and the more likely you will receive those bids—or even have customers coming to you asking for a bid. Make sure you stay communicative and kind, do good work, and keep your budgets up to date. The more consistent you can stay with both your communication and your work, the better.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I figure out a budget for a landscaping job?
Establishing a budget for your landscaping job can be difficult if your customer does not come out and tell you. Many are hesitant to share, as they are not trusting—thinking that the business will purposely hit their budget to make the most profit. You need to make the client comfortable enough to share that number while reassuring them that your costs will not exceed that budget. All this comes down to frank communication with the client and talking about the site, the work, the ideas, and being open about your costs.
What types of bids can I expect when making a bid on a landscaping project?
There are several examples of proposals that you might be up against when sending in a bid for a landscaping project. First, the highest bids in the contract, and then the low bids. Some of them will be considered incomplete, and the last type is considered the “Jack of All Trades” bid, or the one that covers everything. It’s best to fall within the “Jack of All Trades” section with the lowest bid that you can feasibly present.
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.