Are You a Fit? Ideal Landscape Leadership® Clients

I’ve talked to some incredibly thoughtful lawn care and landscaping company owners in the past. One epic question I have heard is… 

“What does an ideal Landscape Leadership® client look like?”

These business owners understand the value of a mutually beneficial relationship. They have personally been stung by doing work for the wrong type of clients, themselves. 

Shared success is all about finding good fits.

We pick clients carefully. That was one of the points I had made in our previous article, “The Landscape Leadership® Difference: Clearly Explained”. 

Since 2010, we’ve worked with some fantastic clients in the green industry (lawn care, landscaping, tree service, pest control). To learn more about the types of companies we work with and what they spend, check out our Services page. 

(Watch This Video to Hear What Our Clients Have to Say About Us)

This article will identify core characteristics and behaviors we have consistently seen in healthy client engagements.

Keep a score as you read along. If you can check most of these boxes, chances are you’d be a great Landscape Leadership® client.

1. Commitment to the Process

Green industry company owners come to us because what they’re doing isn’t working. Or, they’re just stuck and can’t progress. They know substantial change is needed and are committed to that process. Here are some ways that manifests.

Leadership Buy-In

Commitment starts with the company owner or CEO, who remains involved in our sales process and throughout the entire engagement. They sell the vision to their team, ensuring everyone is aligned while empowering others to make decisions without losing sight of the overall strategy.

(Chase Coates from Outback Landscape, is a great example of a company owner who is fully invested in making his team is onboard with their vision for grown and how we fit into that.)

Owners/CEOs may not be involved with every moving piece, but they’re 100% bought into the process and regularly included in higher-level decisions.

Foundational Emphasis

Clients who value investing in foundational elements early on, such as a well-designed website or high-quality written or visual content, understand these will yield significant long-term benefits. 

They’re not focused solely on short-term returns but on building a strong foundation for future success.

Transformative Marketing

Great clients recognize that a well-executed marketing strategy has the potential to transform their entire company, not just their marketing efforts.

This transformation can influence company culture, shaping how the team communicates both internally and externally. It can also redefine recruiting and sales processes, aligning them more closely with the brand’s messaging and values, and even impact the way services are delivered, ensuring consistency and excellence at every customer touchpoint.

(Level Green Landscaping has used foundational marketing principles to transform many areas of their business, including recruiting and sales.)

Clients who are committed to the process are open to these broader changes and see marketing as a catalyst for comprehensive growth and improvement across their organization.

2. Open Communication

As a green industry professional, you know that communication is a pillar of healthy client relationships. 

These are some common characteristics of great Landscape Leadership® clients:

Responsiveness

Great clients are timely in providing feedback and ensure their team is equally responsive. This keeps projects moving efficiently and prevents delays, ensuring that all parties stay on track.

Process Adoption

Clients who embrace our agency's proven tools and processes, such as project management software and collaborative platforms like Google Docs, contribute to smooth, transparent communication. 

They understand the importance of using these tools to streamline workflows and provide specific feedback where needed.

(Michael Tomaino from Landcrafters is a great example of a client who has seen valuable benefits from adopting our agency's processes and tools.)

Streamlined Feedback

Successful clients provide clear, consolidated, and specific feedback. They avoid vague comments like “I’m not sure I like this” and instead offer actionable insights that reflect their business objectives. 

This ensures that their input is constructive, cohesive, and avoids conflicting directions from multiple stakeholders.

3. Respect for Expertise

Our clients spend time searching for experts, not a marketing vendor that takes orders. 

They want a marketing partner that feels more like an extended part of their organization that they can enthusiastically work with over the years. Here are some of the ways that are illustrated.

Strategic Trust

Great clients are curious and open to new ideas. They ask about what has worked for others, trust our agency’s experience, and are willing to adapt instead of clinging to outdated methods. This openness leads to more innovative and effective strategies.

(Chris O'Bryan from Limbwalker Tree Service is a client who has been eager to find new ways for us to help him improve his organization.)

Staying the Course

Respect is shown by consistently adhering to the agreed-upon strategies and not reverting to old practices that were identified as ineffective. 

Clients who maintain their commitment to the strategy, even when old habits seem tempting, contribute to the overall success of the engagement.

Peer Referrals

We’re frequently surprised by clients passing us referrals of their green industry peers. 

Trust is earned over time but it’s a common hallmark of a great Landscape Leadership® client. This clearly shows their faith in our guidance and their satisfaction with the partnership, as they’re willing to put their reputation on the line by recommending us to others.

(Kevin Manning from KD Landscape frequently introduces our team members to his peers.)

4. Big Picture Focus

There are a lot of details in the overall marketing picture and it can be easy to be bogged down by them. However, we see the following behaviors and perspectives with great clients.

Focused Decisions

Clients who focus on the big picture know that there are subjective details that bring progress to a screeching halt. 

They streamline decision-making by consolidating team feedback and providing it in a cohesive manner. This prevents delays and keeps projects aligned with the overall strategy.

(Krisjan Berzins from Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape is a leader who stays focused on the big picture, delegating details to his talented team.)

Multi-Year Approach

Successful Landscape Leadership® clients recognize that growth is a multi-year journey. They proactively plan for future engagements, revisiting and implementing strategies that may have been deferred due to their initial budget or time constraints. 

This long-term perspective ensures that important objectives aren’t forgotten and are tackled when the time is right.

Organizational Evolution

As their green industry company grows, successful clients understand the need to adapt their internal structure. 

This includes building an internal marketing team to take over certain implementation tasks, allowing Landscape Leadership® to focus on higher-level strategy. 

Clients who are open to evolving their organizational structure are better positioned to sustain growth over time.

(Joshua Malik of Joshua Tree Experts has tactfully built an internal marketing team as his company has grown over the years.)

5. Willingness to Invest & Grow

Our clients are certainly not afraid to invest money or resources. They don’t step over a dollar to pick up a penny. Here are a few ways we see this.

Proactive Investment

Great clients recognize the value of their initial investment and are willing to reinvest and expand their efforts as they see results. 

They are proactive in allocating more resources to strategies that drive growth, whether it’s increasing budgets or committing more team resources to marketing efforts.

(Rob Reindl from Oasis Turf & Tree has always maintained an aggressive marketing budget when he sees his ROI yielding great results.)

Embracing Innovation

Great clients are eager to try new strategies and embrace innovation, understanding that staying on the cutting edge often involves experimentation and a willingness to take calculated risks. 

They’re excited about pushing boundaries and are open to learning from both successes and failures.

Staying Current

Successful clients appreciate the importance of updating and refreshing their brand to remain relevant in a changing market. 

They are proactive about planning for periodic updates, whether it’s a website redesign every 4-6 years, adopting new technologies, or refining their messaging to reflect current trends. This commitment ensures they stay competitive and don’t let their brand become outdated.

(Ryan Empey, owner of Tropical Gardens Landscape is fully committed to continuously improving his written and visual content to stay ahead of his competitors.)

Are You a Great Fit?

We know that Landscape Leadership® isn’t a great fit for all green industry companies and we’re okay with that.

But we also know that finding mutual fits is also about forming relationships with fewer, ideal clients. This is the way to create a lasting impact on the green industry companies we work with. We’d rather leave a lasting legacy than take over the world with a client base that is constantly churning. 

That’s not good for anyone. 

If you have A) read the prior article about what makes Landscape Leadership® different, B) now have a clear understanding of what we value in clients and C) the time is right, reach out to request a consultation.

And if you’re not ready or there isn’t a mutual fit, that’s okay, too. Subscribe to our blog for regular tips on how to grow a profitable green industry business. We want you to succeed even if we never work together.