When was the last time you examined your sales process for meaningful ways to improve consistency, scalability, and customer experience?
Are you someone who waits until leads start slipping through the cracks and revenue dips, or are you proactively keeping a pulse on what industry leaders are doing to streamline growth?
Many of our clients find opportunities for improvement but lean on Landscape Leadership® for guidance on the specific technology and strategies to implement.
In a previous article, we showed you how to "Set Up Slam-Dunk Landscape Consultations" using a tool, HubSpot (which our landscaping clients use). Now we’ll pick up where we left off in the sales pipeline.
We’ll begin our improvement journey after a successful consultation has been completed. Here’s how to optimize your process from consultation to signed proposal. All of these features are in the HubSpot platform or tools that integrate with it.
1. Completed Consultation Emails: Keep the Momentum Going
How do you stay memorable after a landscaping consultation?
Your prospect likely reached out to a handful of your direct competitors and you need to do something to maintain interest and stand out.
For both design and maintenance, residential and commercial projects, try creating a few automated emails that directly relate to the service your prospect inquired about. With HubSpot's workflow tool, it's easy to create branching logic and custom triggers to create great automation.
In your email workflow, you could consider including the following assets.
Relevant Articles
Share project insights on industry trends or tips that may be of specific interest to your client.
(KD Landscape created a great resource, The Commercial Property Manager’s Guide to Landscape Maintenance, which is a great example of valuable content you could include in a follow-up email.)
Video Content
There are all sorts of relevant videos you can create to build trust during the sales process. One great example, comes from Level Green Landscaping, detailing how they ensure smooth transitions from sales to service.
There are all sorts of questions your prospect may have at this stage in the process. Why not add value through video content, automatically sent to them?
Case Studies & Reviews
People love reading and watching stories about winners. Highlight successful projects similar to your prospect to build trust and showcase your expertise.
Tropical Gardens Landscape has some enthusiastic clients and featured one of them in a recent video case study. This video we created sits atop their Testimonials page.
Imagine how excited your prospective client could get if they’re emailed a couple of case studies like this after you complete a consultation.
The strategy here is to create a few follow-up emails for each service that can be triggered when a consultation is complete, with custom delays and logic.
That way you don’t have to individually send out hundreds of emails and can have automation working for you. This approach keeps your prospects engaged and informed while showcasing the value your company provides.
2. Customized Digital Proposals: Make a Lasting Impression
A digital proposal is similar to a webpage because it can include a variety of interactive elements.
When paired with a CRM like HubSpot, a digital proposal can even populate all of the potential customer’s information and project details, which eliminates duplicate entry and transcription errors.
(In the Lawn & Pest Solutions example below, you can see yellow highlighted areas in the template. As the rep collects the info during the sales property and stores it in the HubSpot CRM, it will automatically insert into proposal templates.)
We recommend creating templates for the most common proposals you send. Some of our clients have one for residential maintenance, tree care, design-build, and commercial maintenance. It’s up to you how you want to structure these.
Customizable digital proposals allow you to create a unique experience for each prospect. Here are a couple of examples.
Custom Content Blocks
Add sections that illustrate key points or project benefits. For instance, you can easily insert a specific case study or content block with one click. As you can see in the Limbwalker Tree Service proposal, they can drop in all sorts of content such as an FAQ someone asked during the sales process.
Embed Videos
If you have a video hosted on YouTube, you can copy and paste the video directly into a digital proposal (because it's a page viewed in a browser). This could be anything from a brand video to one that addresses a particular property type or service.
These features not only enhance the presentation but also make it easier for clients to visualize the benefits and value you offer.
[RELATED READING: Ditching Spreadsheets for Better Landscaping Sales Management Tools]
3. Presentation Scheduling Tools: Streamline the Process
For smaller jobs, you can just email over the digital proposal, but for larger design-build or commercial maintenance it’s often necessary to have a presentation where you explain the different line items and answer any questions they have.
In our previous article, Set Up Slam-Dunk Landscape Consultations, we showed you how to use HubSpot Meeting links to eliminate back and forth trying to find a time that works.
These meeting links sync with your Google or Outlook 365 calendar to show your availability and also let you fine-tune time slots based on the type of presentation you are doing.
Creating an email template with your meeting link and a short list of points for the decision makers to consider for their presentation meeting (like who needs to be there, what they need, etc), is a great strategy.
This approach reduces scheduling conflicts and ensures everyone involved is prepared for a productive discussion.
4. Post-Presentation Tools: Manage Revision and Follow-Ups
After presenting your proposal, it’s essential to manage any necessary revisions and follow-ups efficiently. You can use tools like:
Task Reminders
Set reminders for tasks such as revising and resending the proposal. These tasks can be assigned to you or other members of your team.
Email Templates for Additional Resources
Include links to relevant articles or resources that address any points raised during the presentation.
For instance, Monarch Landscape Management has created a lot of great content geared toward sales-related questions.
It’s pretty common for prospects to tell you they’re getting other bids. Imagine sending each of them a helpful resource like this article, 7 Questions to Ask Any Commercial Landscape Maintenance Company.
This shows you are very interested in helping them make a great decision which goes a long way.
Snippets
Creating an entire email template may be suitable for most follow-up emails. But there are times when you want to insert a single sentence, paragraph, or hyperlinked resource. Snippets allow you to use a # with a keyword to insert these (or you can choose from the Snippet menu). No searching for links, and composing this text over and over.
These tools help you stay organized and responsive, increasing your chances of closing the deal.
[RELATED READING: How to Reengage Landscape Leads That Ghost You]
5. Proposal Follow-Up Tools: Automated & Stay Informed
When proposals are sent, there are often delays in approval. There are a few things your landscaping company can do to keep things moving forward.
- Automate Follow-Up Emails: Send automated reminders and follow-up messages based on client actions or timelines. Such as sending an automated reminder to sign every 10 days.
- Receive Notifications: Get alerts when proposals are signed so you can quickly send these notifications to other team members to get them into the production queue.
Streamline Your Sales Process for Greater Success
A manual sales process is tedious for your office staff and doesn’t provide your customers with the best experience. Oftentimes, this results in you wasting time and energy on prospects who ghost you.
When you learn to utilize automation and technology, your sales process becomes a well-oiled machine that enables you to maximize growth.
If you like regular insights like these, subscribe to our blog. We'll send you new articles right to your inbox. If you're ready to streamline and automate your landscaping sales process, feel free to request a consultation.
