Article by Tom Lanza

Copyright © 2003 by ProGardenBiz

In a national survey of small businesses (less than $1,000,000 sales annually) it was found that owner or Chief Executive Officer was a salesperson. Surveys have shown this to be true of landscape contractors and gardeners as well. The most successful landscape and garden businesses were all started by people with strong sales skills. In your own business you have probably realized that you spend a large part of your time selling. You bring in new work, upgrade old work, make new contacts and continue to expand your landscape business. If you are not, you should be.

Many people believe that they just can't sell. They say they just were not born with talent to sell. "I'm just not a salesperson by nature, I'm a gardener. Wasn't born with golden touch like Sam Sellitall over there. If I'd been born with his wit, charisma, and personality, I could tear'em up too. But I wasn't, so I'm never going to make it big in sales, but given chance I can install that landscape and irrigation job better than anybody!"

This is Myth of Natural Born Sales Wonder. It is a destructive idea. It allows us to avoid taking full responsibility for our own performance. This myth will prevent many people from ever reaching their full potential. The myth can also work both ways.

A few individuals believe they're naturals. That's great for confidence, but often it is source of overconfidence. This overconfidence persuades these people that they do not need to learn same sales techniques as us mortals. Sadly, this means that they too will never reach their full potential.

Most of us started in field of landscaping and gardening because of a love of work. Sales and marketing were not our passion. To operate a successful business, though, we need our landscaping- skills, our garden passion, and our sales and marketing drive.

Don't assume that you are entirely free of selling myth. Most people involved in sales that are not successful are suffering from this myth. Let's attack this dangerous idea now and get rid of it.

"Salesmen are not born, they are made." This line is attributed to same man that stated that "A sucker is born every minute." Unfortunately, he was not a successful salesperson (a successful showman, but not a salesperson) because he believed that prospects were suckers. That is a grave mistake, but he was right about salespeople. Salespeople are not born great. Imagine little Johnny one minute after birth in delivery room signing doctor to a long term landscape maintenance contract. Johnny has a long way to go before he is even out of diapers. If he is going to be a great landscape salesperson he has a lot to learn. Psychologists still argue whether it's instinct or learning that causes us to jump at a sudden loud noise, but they agree that everything about selling is learned.

So don't use "myth" as an excuse. Learn craft of selling and learn it well. Professionals work on basics of selling and marketing once every year. That's where we're going to start.

To be Great, Learn Basics

Athletes train constantly to maintain their high degree of success. They practice basics over and over. Successful landscape salespeople do same thing.

Let's review one of common misconceptions that is thrown around by folks touting wonders of selling properties on a lease option:

You won't have any repairs or maintenance.

True, you can certainly have your documents state that tenant/buyer (TBer) is responsible for repairs. In fact, I've seen numerous variations of this ranging from TBer is responsible for all repairs to only those repairs falling within a certain price range. Some investors ask seller to be responsible for repairs up to a certain amount and ask TBer to be responsible for those over that amount. Insurance will theoretically cover major damages so that's not an issue. And I know from several experiences that insurance will and does cover many repair expenses less than $10,000. So far, knock on wood, I haven't had to test going above that amount.

So, what happens when your TBer moves in, sends you back your move-in condition form and two days later A/C, heater, or whatever goes out? You're either ponying up some money or you have one upset TBer. Yes, I know it's wise to have them sign off on an inspection or an inspection waiver prior to move in, and if you're not doing that, I recommend it. However, do you think that's going to matter if TBer just gave you majority of their life savings and they're looking at a large repair bill?

Yes, you can use some of their funds to purchase a home warranty and I also frequently do that. If expense happens to be one that is actually covered under policy on such a short time frame and not classified as a pre-existing condition, then you're fine and TBer can just pay deductible. Wait a minute, didn't you shell out a few hundred for warranty? True, it came from TBer's funds, but that option consideration was supposed to be yours to keep, right?

Other recommendations on addressing issue include asking seller to be responsible for repairs for a certain time period and then passing that "guarantee" on to TBer. Again, it may be one of those "sounds good in theory" type arguments. The few times I've gone that route I've not had to test it, but I wouldn't be surprised if seller is a bit upset if I had to call to ask for money after fact. And what happens if your repair period from seller is only 30 or 60 days and it takes you longer than that to find a decent TBer. Oops.