Case Studies Show Landscaping and Paving Service Diagrams Boost Sales & Expedite Operations (Part One)

This is the first post in a two-part series.

I’m always surprised when a Go iLawn or Go iPave user tells me they aren’t saving their property photos. Our high resolution property photos not only allow service contractors to obtain accurate measurements, but they can also help them win sales, punch up their marketing materials, and plan out a service strategy for their office staff and field crews.

This is a a win, win, win, win situation! Simply put, if you are only using your landscaping, pavement maintenance and snow removal diagrams for measuring properties, you are overlooking an easy opportunity to gain a huge competitive advantage.

Landscaping and Paving Companies Increase Sales by Using Property Photos

Using property photos (especially high resolution photos) with prospects and customers has been proven to help service contractors close sales time again and time again. Why? Because photos transform a written proposal into a visual diagram making everything crystal clear and tangible for prospective buyers, which ultimately makes it easier to close a sale.

Some ideas and examples of how you can use property photos to enhance your sales and marketing efforts:

• Measure properties while on the phone with prospective customers and email them a photo during the call. If your prospect is looking for a service you can quote over the phone without inspecting the property, run your numbers and close the sale before you hang up.
• Include a color-coded property diagram with every proposal you send to a client no matter if the estimate is solicited or unsolicited.
• Show prospects a side-by-side of their property versus a property that has been serviced to demonstrate how they can benefit from your company’s service offerings. This works great for fertilized vs. non fertilized lawns, and freshly sealcoated lots vs. lots that are visibly in disrepair.

A simple sealcoating and line striping diagram can help clarify estimates and make your proposal tangible. Click to enlarge

Service Contractors Share Their Sales & Marketing Success Stories

We know these techniques are working for landscape, pavement maintenance and snow removal contractors because our users have so generously shared their success stories with us about how they’re using property photos to impress their customers and prospects. Here are a few examples from Go iLawn and Go iPave users:

Turfscape Inc. uses site diagrams to expedite the sales process for their commercial landscaping bids:

“We recently started including the Go iLawn site maps with each site we submit proposals for and have received a lot of positive feedback for doing so. It has helped eliminate some confusion and clarified our bids, ultimately leading to the successful winning bid,” said Bob Martin, estimator at Turfscape, Inc.

Frankie Ippolito, owner of Ippolito Snow Services uses Go iLawn to demonstrate his expertise and impress his snow removal prospects:

“When the call comes into the office we have a dedicated person who talks to the prospect and before the call is finished has a first pass general drawing of the area that is sometimes even shared with the customer via email to see if we have the location correct and initial scope. We typically get the “WOW factor”, or ‘that is amazing, you guys are the real deal’,” said Ippolito. “Bottom line is that customers find Go iLawn drawings very impressive.”

Tony Sorrentino, owner of S&G Asphalt Services used Go iPave to help close a large asphalt overlay, maintenance and sealcoating project for a customer he chased for five years:

“The color-coded map enabled us to show the client a visual of (the property) and they could see how the work was going to progress,” said Sorrentino. “It helps us make the sale more visual so they could see what we were going to seal and what we were going to pave, and when we would do each one.”

Pavement maintenance and scheduling diagram by Go iPave user Associated Paving Contractors, Warminster, PA. Click to enlarge

Expedite Operations with Photos Once a Job is Sold

Using property photos to sell and market pavement maintenance, landscaping or snow removal services clearly provides a competitive advantage to service contractors. But the benefits of using property photos can go way beyond sales and marketing. Once a job is sold, site diagrams can help your company expedite operations and maintain open communication with your clients, which I’ll cover next week in part two of this series.