First Click to Proposal: Building Trust and Establishing Rapport as a Lawn, Landscape, and Outdoor Living Business
—
The Content Team,
HALSTEAD.
Table of Contents Click Here to Show
While the ultimate goal is for your target customer to accept your project proposal, it’s what happens between the first click and you handing them over your proposal that influences the outcome the most—even more than pricing. Nurturing trust, understanding, and rapport helps you build a relationship and create a connection that makes the customer want to work with your lawn, landscape, or outdoor living business over your competitor.
86% of consumers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. As a landscape industry business targeting the affluent demographic, whether you provide exceptional customer service isn’t a question. Winning bids and growing your business means going the extra mile to build relationships and establish trust authentically, both digitally and in person, so accepting the proposal is easy.
The Power of a Strategic Website in Prequalifying Leads for Landscape Industry Businesses
In today’s digital world, your website serves as your sales team. It’s a hub for your digital marketing efforts and likely the first interaction a prospect will have with your business. Leading landscape contractors know how critical having a professionally designed and strategic website is and consider it an investment.
Providing a Frictionless User Experience on Your Business Website
To begin building a relationship with a prospect, you’ll need the opportunity to do so. The customer journey begins online, usually through a Google search that brings them to your website, meaning you need to make a great first impression on your site before you ever have a chance to establish trust and present a proposal.
Nearly 85% of mobile internet users will leave a website if it doesn’t load within three seconds, demonstrating how essential it is to have a quickly-loading website. With nearly 60% of internet traffic coming from mobile devices, all businesses should have a mobile-responsive site.
Professional website design considers the user experience in every aspect. Having clear calls-to-action (CTAs) is essential. Top lawn, landscape, and outdoor living businesses have a strategically planned website with well-organized content, so the user does not have to think about what to do next, it’ll be intuitive.
Creating Content That Builds Trust With Prospects
As your prospect peruses your website, they’ll get to know who you are through your content. Professional writers are skilled at creating educational content without being overtly sales-focused to bring value to the reader. This approach helps establish you as an industry leader and build trust.
Nearly all consumers read online reviews before making a purchase, and almost half of consumers trust online reviews as much as they would a recommendation from a friend or family member. Sprinkling in customer reviews helps build essential social proof and trust.
Blog content and articles are an excellent method of creating content to build trust. Since content can be used repeatedly, you can share your website content on social media, marketing emails, and more. Your sales team will also find the content helpful in sharing with their prospects. It’s an investment that continues to build upon itself, especially when optimized.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Your Website
While your content helps establish a connection with your prospects, SEO helps your prospects find the content and your business in the first place. For example, when they perform a Google search for “modern fire pit designs,” your business will be at the top of their search results if the content has effectively targeted the right keywords and your website incorporates local SEO practices. Having effective SEO will help you even have the opportunity to build a relationship that leads to a proposal.
Website Branding to Reach Your Target Audience
To reach the target audience that will accept your proposal, you need to know exactly who your ideal audience is. If you want to attract customers who want to build $150,000 outdoor spaces, then your content (visual and written) needs to reflect that.
For example, businesses that prefer building complete outdoor living spaces with poolscapes, an outdoor kitchen, a lounge area, and an outdoor fireplace won’t want to showcase photos of a single walkway on their website. Such a photo gives the wrong impression about the type of work that these businesses do.
Your website branding helps prequalify your prospects so that once they make the initial contact, you don’t have to do this yourself, resulting in less wasted time for both parties. When the potential customer submits a contact form on your site, you’re already set up for success.
Making a Great Impression at the First Contact as a Lawn, Landscape, and Outdoor Living Business
As your prospect progresses through the customer journey and makes the first contact, it’s important to respond promptly and courteously, setting the tone for your business relationship. Timely responses respect the prospect’s time and interest, while courteous communication demonstrates your commitment to exceptional customer service.
This first contact often happens online for most lawn and landscape contractor businesses, and the early interaction is an opportunity to establish trust further and reinforce the positive impression your website has made. Whether responding via email, text, or a phone call, maintaining professionalism while addressing their questions can solidify the prospect's confidence in your lawn, landscape, or outdoor living business.
Providing Attentive Customer Service
CRM software allows you to automate your email response so that the prospect knows you have received their form submission, along with a myriad of other automated responses you can set up. Automation software can lead to a 14.5% increase in sales productivity, helping you and your sales team do more in less time.
When someone has taken the time to fill out an online form, answer questions about their potential project, and provide important details, it’s discouraging when they’re contacted by the business and the representative seems not to have any of this information. They spend time sharing the information they already provided and will likely move on to another business, meaning a lost sale for the landscape contractor.
Successful landscape industry businesses will address the contact by name and reference any specific details provided in their first communication. Personalizing the response shows you’ve taken the time to understand their needs and preferences, helping build trust. Provide clear expectations from the first contact and follow through, overpromising and undelivering will only break trust.
Ultimately, the goal is to set up an on-site consultation to move towards the proposal stage. A seamless transition from online engagement to personal interaction enhances the likelihood that the prospect will continue down the path to accepting your proposal.
Excellent Customer Service Beats Out Competition
It’s a given that consumers will shop around, especially in a world where retargeting presents online ads for businesses and services similar to the ones they’re already looking at. While this benefits you in reaching your competitor’s prospects, keep in mind that it goes both ways.
Building rapport extends to every touchpoint of your customer's journey but is especially essential at the first contact. While you may invest more in your prospect initially by providing free consultation, for example, it pays off in the long run when you have a loyal customer who saw your dedication from the start.
Many prospects will be turned off by being presented with a series of hoops to jump through before actually meeting with you. You can trust a well-designed website and strategic marketing system to weed out unqualified leads, helping you create a seamless experience for your prospect throughout the entire process—from first click to consultation and beyond.
Cultivating Personal Connections with In-Person Lawn, Landscape, and Outdoor Living Project Consultations
On-site consultations allow you to show your expertise and attention to detail, demonstrating your commitment to creating the perfect outdoor living space for your potential customer. While every prospect is likely to have questions and concerns about their project, you can use them as an opportunity to address their issues and show how your business offers the right solution.
Arriving a few minutes early shows your punctuality and professionalism, and your busy prospects will appreciate that. Use your active listening skills so you are prepared to provide expert advice showcasing your industry knowledge, helping instill confidence in your ability to deliver effective solutions.
Engaging the customer by asking open-ended questions will help you understand their preferences and encourage them to share their thoughts. The collaborative approach helps build rapport as they feel more involved in the decision-making process.
Small Gestures Have a Big Impact on Landing the Sale
You may consider bringing material samples so your prospect can see and feel them and better imagine what they will look like in their outdoor space. If you’ve thought of a design concept based on your previous interactions or have a portfolio for a similar project, bringing these along will show you’ve interested time in preparing for the meeting and that you are genuinely excited about their project. Thoughtfulness always leaves a lasting impression.
While most of the customer journey is online, a physical leave-behind can still be beneficial. In fact, 83% of people are likelier to do business with a company that has given them a promotional product. Whether a luxury sales brochure printed on high-quality paper or a branded item, it helps create psychological ownership and an emotional response, builds your relationship, and leads to landing the sale when the time comes. It’s also a great visual reminder to keep your business top-of-mind after you leave.
After the on-site consultation, follow up with a personalized email that summarizes what you discussed and provides the next steps. This professional gesture reaffirms your commitment and provides them with a written record of the discussion. This is a great opportunity to include links to your relevant website content, portfolio, or other online resources that may help inspire their project, demonstrating your investment beyond your immediate involvement.
