[papercutter]

Looking for help, so I don't reinvent the wheel: after reading months of debate, here and elsewhere, about what helps sell a job (CAD plans or hand rendered? 3d modeling or photo imaging?), I think the best way to answer it would be to conduct an actual, scientific survey of "average" landscape buyers. Has anyone seen anything like this already published- trade magazine, marketing magazine, or scholarly journal? So far nothing has turned up on Google or Google Scholar, but that doesn't mean it's not out there.

Dave

[Stonehenge]

I think that'd be really hard to do unless it was a single salesperson doing all the testing. Get a good salesperson with a piece of charcoal and some bark and they'll make the sale, but the tool mix for a bad salesperson to make the sale would really be variable, I think.

I have to wonder if the only valid testing is for you to conduct the test yourself. For me personally, I've found that good pre-screening and enthusiasm for the completed design are two very important ingredients that have nothing to do with the tools used, but have everything to do with making the sale.

I know this wasn't the answer you were looking for, but I hope it helps anyway.

[papercutter]

Nope, totally not what I was after- but you gave me a great opportunity to clarify my intent. "What's a good selling tool" is a little nebulous and not the exact question I want to answer. Rather, my question is "How do different methods of presenting design concepts positively or negatively affect a) a client's understanding of the design intent, b) a client's perception of the skill/talent/knowledge of the designer, and c) a client's likelihood to make a purchasing decision based on the materials presented?"

In effect, I would present the respondent with a variety of images of presentation graphics, and ask them to use a scale to rate certain characteristics that play into answering the primary question.

Does that make more sense? I'm really trying to remove the human variable and make it solely about how a prospective client reacts to a graphic.

[Mac]

Originally posted by papercutter
I'm really trying to remove the human variable and make it solely about how a prospective client reacts to a graphic.

I think you may be trying to over-simplify the process honestly. Yes there are many individuals who respond similarly, but there will never be two people who are moved and respond the same way to anything.

Just think of the last time you did a presentation to a husband and wife (both present). Id imagine that one was easily able to interpret the plan and quite possibly the other had no idea what it would look like - it was just a bunch of lines on paper. What would you do in this situation? present two different plans to the two different individuals? how are you going to know what type of individuals you are going to be presenting to ahead of time?

I really like Jeff's advice. Be confident and enthusiastic and you should be set, if the client has been qualified well and wants YOU.

[spiderlily]

"Based on a double-blind, 7 year study at Cornell University, consumers prefer hand-rendered plans two to one over CAD drawings, and spent 27% more." Hmmmm.

As much as it would be nice to know the one true and scientific answer, without the "human variable", I bet it can't exist. What if our industry's kind of sales is ALL about the individual humans doing the selling and the buying?

I don't think graphics ever sell jobs. And I couldn't describe the "average landscape buyer", but I'll bet s/he never makes a buying decision based on a graphic.

As Stonehenge pointed out, a good salesman can sell with a napkin sketch. We've probably all sold jobs with no design at all. I can imagine a guy who can do a Rembrandt quality sketch, and not sell it.

I don't know about you guys, but I choose what kind of selling tool I use based upon what I think I need for each client as an individual. Some folks get a hand-drawn colored plan--other folks get a photo-rep. Sometimes, I pull out a pencil, tape measure, and graph paper, and sketch out, and then price, my ideas on the spot. Paver work usually means Voodoo does a Pro-Landscape plan. I think I've liked it best when I pull out the can of orange spray paint, and walk around with the client, designing the actual space together as we go.

And the "sell" is separate from that. I don't know about you, but I LOVE the moment (I mean, really, really love it, like get "high" from it) when my client gives me the look, or my clients give each other the look, and I realize that it's sold.

But it's not at all scientific, almost the opposite of scientific.

JMHO.

*BTW, I made up the Cornell study.

[papercutter]

Mac- I can sell a $100K job with a legal pad and a pencil. That's not my motivation. My business is drafting and rendering for contractors, so I'm creating the support materials for someone else to close. I'd like to offer a little more than personal bias or anecdotal evidence for recommending certain presentation materials. For example, I don't typically like most photo imaging results. To me, they're cheesy, and because I can I'd rather do a sketch by hand. But is one better than the other, in a majority of cases?

I think there'll be a demographic component to the results as well. I think a 60 year old and a 35 year old will respond differently. I did a presentation last spring where I designed and modeled a trellis/ arbor in SketchUp. It was a low-dollar design job, so I didn't do anything fancy, just printed the piece in native SU export. The husband looked at it, said "looks like something out of the Sims," and moved on- kind of dismissively. I've had other, older clients absolutely floored by native SU export.

I see what you're saying about different individuals, but I'm not seeking to compare, say, a 2d plan presentation with a 3d model. I'm looking to compare a straight CAD plan with a color rendered plan; or a hand drawn perspective sketch with a manipulated photo or export from a 3d model. In other words, if you could pay roughly the same for me to create one format or the other, then- objectively- where's the money better spent?

[agla]

I think there are way too many variables ranging from the mentallity of the prospective buyer to the knowledge and communication skills of the seller.

The higher you are in the market, the more important portfolio and reputation are and less important is the sales presentation package.

The lower the market, the more important price is and the sales package becomes a way to demonstrate potential while maybe not having a widespread reputation or a strong portfolio. It is a way of gaining an edge on a competitor that may otherwise be seen as an equal. It can also take away some uncertainty that may exist in the job.

The more uncertainty of outcome that can be eliminated, the more likely you are to position yourself to get the job. A good looking plan or photo mock up only goes so far in doing that. Other communication skills cobined with every other thing, good or bad, is going to build or reduce uncertainty despite the quality of the plan or other graphics.

[Stonehenge]

papercutter - In my wife's previous job she spent a good deal of time designing the kinds of studies Agla mentioned (double-blind, etc) for the company she worked for (she still does it a little now), and I think the biggest single thing that you can't account for in this is the money.

You can have focus groups that test for graphical preference, but focus groups never require people to ante up a downpayment for the work represented in the graphics, so at best even a scientific focus group could be anecdotal.

That's not saying it would be impossible to tie the graphics to a buying preference (Company X tried the "new" approach and sales climbed 15%!), but I think the correlation might be loose.

Tell you what. We get a large number of homeowners here looking for advice - if you can put together the graphics for the different options, I'll figure out a way to create a questionnaire that visitors to GTX can fill out. The focus group members in this will be unqualified/unscreened, but it might give you some groundwork.

Let me know if you want to do this. If you do, it'll have to wait until after Xmas, as I'll be up to my eyeballs in coding issues with the site upgrade and server migration until then.

[papercutter]

SH- that could be great. Actually, my wife is a college professor whose research is entirely survey-driven, so she's working with me on this and I'll probably pay one of her RAs to code the survey for me. What would you think about just linking to it? It would free you up to finish off any leftover eggnog... besides, since I don't know how much I'm going to do with the data yet, I'm getting Human Subjects approval for the survey, so that'll take a while.

I think the misperception here is that I'm looking for a magic bullet- not the case at all. I've been selling something or other my entire adult life: landscapes, uniforms, restroom products, jewelry, heck, even Kirby vacuum cleaners. The research is there that there are, in fact, core principles of human behavior that drive our decision-making process. There's a whole branch of social psychology devoted to influence. I love selling, and I love that "magic moment" that spiderlily alluded to. But you know what? It's not magic. Whether we are conscious of what we're doing, or we're just repeating patterns that have been successful for us in the past, we *are* using persuasion tactics to close the deal. What I'm trying to quantify is, IF I've decided to take additional materials with me- what has a better track record?

I feel like this is the part where I laugh maniacally, rub my hands together, and yell "The blind fools! I'll show them!" and dash off to my lab....

[Stonehenge]

So long as I can have access to the results, it sounds like a plan. For reference, there are several free sites out there where you can set up questionnaires - if your wife has coders to do it on a university server, go for it. If not, these other options exist.

[papercutter]

Yeah, I've looked at a variety, but a lot of the freebies are too limited, be it type of question or sample size. Everyone uses surveymonkey, but I'm actually just going to probably move all my domains to the web host my wife uses for survey research- they include a pretty powerful survey capability with their basic hosting.

I can't make any promises regarding the raw data (my guess is I'm really limited to what I do with it post-collection, even with it being anonymous), but the results shouldn't be a problem. I'll let you know when I've worked out all the kinks.

[Stonehenge]

I don't care about the raw data - boring oceans of 1s and 0s to wade through. I'm just thinking that if I can direct traffic to the site to improve your questionnaire results, the GTX community should also benefit from it in some fashion.

[johnkeegan]

If you're trying to decide what sells better- CAD vs. hand-rendered vs. 3D vs. photo imaging... and you also know that the answer will vary from person to person...why not just ask each potential customer during the desgn consultation which they prefer and take all the guess work out of it?
Your OGPA (optimum graphics presentation average) would be 100%...of course, you'll need to become adept at all those design presentation methods.

[papercutter]

Originally posted by johnkeegan

Your OGPA (optimum graphics presentation average) would be 100%...of course, you'll need to become adept at all those design presentation methods.

That's why I'm curious- I'm adept at all of them except photo imaging, which I'm as good at as any of the examples I've ever seen of it.

As to letting the customer choose... would you really do that? That just seems like a recipe for trouble.

[johnkeegan]

Sorry, I'm confused. Asking a customer what type of presentation they prefer "seems like a recipe for trouble?" Isn't that the question your seeking the answer to?
I have certain customers that "say" they prefer photo imaging, others "say" they like the 3D image, others "say" they want me to bring them samples they can touch and personally walk them through the design. When they "say" they prefer these things...I believe them. I don't need to "analyze" their answers. I just need to listen.