Here is an actual email I received today:

I am interested in possibly scheduling an appt. with your company. We have a large lot and have been here for about 4 years and the weeds are overwhelming us. I am not sure if you do natural type projects with little to no chemicals, that is what I am looking for. My husband wants to do it all, but does not have the time. . Wondering if you do free estimates as well.

Thanks!
(Name Withheld)

First I should explain. I am no sales guru. You will not find my face on the cover of a book that teaches readers to earn millions in 7 easy steps. I’m a landscape contractor, just like you (most of you, anyway). Probably with truckloads more web experience than you, but still, we’re cut from the same burlap.

Now, let’s dig into why Blake (Alec Baldwin) in Glengarry, Glen Ross would call this lead “dead wood”:

First, you’ll notice no phone number or address is given in the email. That tells you this prospective client is uncertain enough about whether she even wants to hire someone to do this that she is leaving those details out. You’ll have to jump through a few hoops to get those, apparently.

Next, take a look at the second to last sentence “My husband wants to do it all, but does not have the time.” For those unfamiliar with clientspeak, this is code for “We really don’t know how much this is going to cost, but our budget is small enough that we were going to it ourselves.  We thought we’d contact you to see if you’d charge us much more than what it’d cost for us to do it ourselves.” If you’ve been in business for more than 15 minutes, you know that doing a project for the cost of retail materials is just not possible. The only sense they have for costs of the project is what they priced or estimated themselves, which is often several miles away from what it would cost to have the job done professionally.

Lastly, she’s asking about a free estimate. Not that we don’t do it; we do. But when it’s a specific point of inquiry, it’s one more card stacked on the low budget deck.

The likely outcomes for this project? Either they get it priced, fall back in shock and horror, deciding to do it themselves as they curse the landscaping industry for being so profit-crazy, or they just decide to do nothing. It’s too much work for them, but too much money to have done.

In my return email (hey, I’m a giver) I cut to the quick. If this prospective client can’t provide these pieces of information, then this is more than dead wood. This is dead wood covered in gasoline. I think I’ve got a match around here somewhere…

Hi (Name Withheld)-

Thanks for your note. I’m going to need some information from you:

What it is you want done (are you just looking to have your lawn weed-free?)

What your budget is for the project

Your telephone number

Your address

When you need this project completed

Get back to me with that information and I’ll be able to provide more info for you, as well as potentially setting up an initial visit.

Best regards,

Jeff Pozniak

Things were moving along too easily.  We had our initial meeting, where the client had provided copies of two different (self-made) designs for a patio he wanted built.  You know how sometimes you just click right away with clients and other times you clunk?  This was a bit of a clunk.

But even so, after I’d emailed the price for the designs, I got a call back with an indication that we were tentatively a go.  Just send over the paperwork and contract terms.  Cool.

Then I get the email.  The bullet points were as follows:

The following are actual emails between me and a prospective customer over the last week. All personally identifiable information has been removed.

We live in city name and are planning on having built in our back yard a patio with built-in grill and fire pit.

Could you consult for us over here and do an estimate?

Thanks,

*name*

The city where they live is about an hour or more from our office, which for our market is quite a ways away. My reply:

Thanks for your note and your interest. I want to make sure I understand your request - are you looking for a design and estimate to construct the project, or for us to consult on the construction of the project?

Assuming it’s the former, we’d be happy to. Ordinarily, for more local projects we’ll sometimes do a design on spec, but because of the distance (and subsequent time) involved, we’d need to request a design fee. For something of this nature, we’d charge $500 for the design - and should you hire us to build that design, that $500 would be credited toward the installation.

If that sounds reasonable to you, either reply to this email and include your phone number and address, or give me a call at phone number.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To which he replied:

Thanks for the quick reply.

We can understand and do agree with your need to be reimbursed for your time, travel, and knowledge. However, $500 seems like a lot to us for your services. We have no reason to believe that you would not produce a good design and do excellent work. However, we all have different tastes and what if our tastes didn’t match your design?

We’d might risk $250 for your help initially. Could you do it for that?

I went on to explain in more detail than I should have about why the cost was what it was, that a project of this type is likely going to start at $10,000 and go north from there, and that no, I couldn’t do the consult/design for that much. Haven’t heard from him since.

If that client was suffering sticker shock over a $500 design fee that he’d get credit on if he hired us, he certainly wasn’t going to be ready to drop $10,000 or more on the actual project - which is why I gave that ballpark price in the first place. All told it probably saved me 10+ hours in driving, meetings and table time.

Times are tight right now, without a doubt. But it still doesn’t mean chasing down every single lead is a good idea. Some fish are just too scrawny to try to catch.

Check the forums for some discussions about prequalifying clients and pricing landscape design work.

Working in a part of the country where winters serve to define the ending of a landscaping season and the beginning of the next landscaping season, I think we have some advantages. For example, you have the time to take a fine-toothed comb to your financial data to see where you made and lost money and adjust your approach for the following year. The same is true for your marketing spends. And you have time to repair those pieces of equipment you MacGyvered together just to make it through the season.

However, one disadvantage I face each spring is that my sales skills are pretty rusty come spring. Having spent the last 3-4 months sequestered in an office, pounding on a keyboard, squinting at a monitor and having little interpersonal contact, I come off as a bit of a dork on my first 3-4 client meetings in spring. I used to just chalk it up to early season rust and forgave myself those poor performances. But with the economy the way it’s been the last few years in my area, I really can’t afford to just shrug my shoulders when I bomb on my first few sales calls.

So this year I’m trying something new. I’m contacting old or existing clients where there may have been some interest in some other work, either the next spring or some future year. It’s not for me to apply big pressure; it’s just to get in front of clients again so I can knock off the rust. The meetings will be of less consequence and they’ll be with clients that already like our work, so their opinions of us shouldn’t be swayed if I stumble over prices or explanations.

My hope is that by the time I’ve finished those meetings I’ll be close to mid-season form, ready to charm the socks off all the prospective clients that call.