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Landscape Sales Presentation
Client Motivation
It is your job as a landscape designer to help clarify the client’s needs and desires pertaining to their landscaping. Sometimes a client doesn’t realize themselves what they need to have their landscaping work for them. Once you explain how your landscape design provides solutions to the clients needs and desires you already have your foot half way through the door.
As a designer you become a teacher, an interpreter, during the sales presentation. You should sequence your information to avoid confusion, i.e., decide which facets you will present and in what order. Also use descriptive language to describe aspects of your design (appeal to senses, e.g., color and season, texture, form/shape, etc.)
What a Presentation Is Not
A good presentation is not reading through the plant list and/or pointing to every symbol on the plan and identifying it. You should leave a copy of the plan with the client. They can at a later time look over the plan in more depth.
What a Presentation Is
Your presentation needs to consist of something that is not evident on the design. Every point you make should answer the question “why?†An example of this would be saying, “This plant provides a nice scent near the patio, or provides brilliant crimson fruit to see from the kitchen window, or I’ve suggested this plant for this spot because it will provide something appealing year-round…â€
What to Bring
• A copy of the plan which can be rolled out on a table or mounted on poster board
• Pictures of plants and of the site to help the client visualize
• Refer to sketches, elevations, section drawings you have prepared
• An itemized work order and/or contract, depending on your companies system
How to Present
• Practice your presentation beforehand
• Be there on time (better yet, early), or call ahead to notify of problems
• Be clean
• Greet client warmly, shake hands
• Begin referring back to the site analysis (both site and client) and put everything into the context of how you are trying to help them solve problems/ ideas that you both identified earlier
• Accentuate the positive
• Focus the attention on the features and benefits
• Don’t make a point of recognizing oversights or shortcomings (they are a distraction that may not even be noticed at first)
• Know your plant material (use common names with most clients)
• Explain design concepts without trying to dazzle them with your technical brilliance
Questions and Objections
When a client has questions or objections it is a good sign they are interested in your design. They should be encouraged and welcomed, after all, you are hoping to arouse some. As a designer you should consider them as opportunities to offer positive solutions.
Closure
At some point you will need to bring closure (close the deal or ask for the client’s business.) Therefore, you will need to come prepared with dollar figures for the given design. Leave a business card and more company literature if you have any available. Typically the longer a client puts off the decision, the greater chance they will later decide to forgo the landscaping idea all together. Persuade them to sign while the idea is active in their heads.
Qualifications of an Excellent Salesperson
The best salespeople are:
• Knowledgeable, competent
• Honest
• A good teacher
• A good listener
• Enthusiastically aggressive
• Articulate
• Professional in their manner
Hopefully you have found this useful for your upcoming landscape design sales presentations. Remember that a presentation starts the moment the clients calls you up till the day the final payment has been received for the landscaping work.
Client Motivation
It is your job as a landscape designer to help clarify the client’s needs and desires pertaining to their landscaping. Sometimes a client doesn’t realize themselves what they need to have their landscaping work for them. Once you explain how your landscape design provides solutions to the clients needs and desires you already have your foot half way through the door.
As a designer you become a teacher, an interpreter, during the sales presentation. You should sequence your information to avoid confusion, i.e., decide which facets you will present and in what order. Also use descriptive language to describe aspects of your design (appeal to senses, e.g., color and season, texture, form/shape, etc.)
What a Presentation Is Not
A good presentation is not reading through the plant list and/or pointing to every symbol on the plan and identifying it. You should leave a copy of the plan with the client. They can at a later time look over the plan in more depth.
What a Presentation Is
Your presentation needs to consist of something that is not evident on the design. Every point you make should answer the question “why?†An example of this would be saying, “This plant provides a nice scent near the patio, or provides brilliant crimson fruit to see from the kitchen window, or I’ve suggested this plant for this spot because it will provide something appealing year-round…â€
What to Bring
• A copy of the plan which can be rolled out on a table or mounted on poster board
• Pictures of plants and of the site to help the client visualize
• Refer to sketches, elevations, section drawings you have prepared
• An itemized work order and/or contract, depending on your companies system
How to Present
• Practice your presentation beforehand
• Be there on time (better yet, early), or call ahead to notify of problems
• Be clean
• Greet client warmly, shake hands
• Begin referring back to the site analysis (both site and client) and put everything into the context of how you are trying to help them solve problems/ ideas that you both identified earlier
• Accentuate the positive
• Focus the attention on the features and benefits
• Don’t make a point of recognizing oversights or shortcomings (they are a distraction that may not even be noticed at first)
• Know your plant material (use common names with most clients)
• Explain design concepts without trying to dazzle them with your technical brilliance
Questions and Objections
When a client has questions or objections it is a good sign they are interested in your design. They should be encouraged and welcomed, after all, you are hoping to arouse some. As a designer you should consider them as opportunities to offer positive solutions.
Closure
At some point you will need to bring closure (close the deal or ask for the client’s business.) Therefore, you will need to come prepared with dollar figures for the given design. Leave a business card and more company literature if you have any available. Typically the longer a client puts off the decision, the greater chance they will later decide to forgo the landscaping idea all together. Persuade them to sign while the idea is active in their heads.
Qualifications of an Excellent Salesperson
The best salespeople are:
• Knowledgeable, competent
• Honest
• A good teacher
• A good listener
• Enthusiastically aggressive
• Articulate
• Professional in their manner
Hopefully you have found this useful for your upcoming landscape design sales presentations. Remember that a presentation starts the moment the clients calls you up till the day the final payment has been received for the landscaping work.
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