Gardeners Club The Gardeners Club is a free to join online club for everyone with an interest in gardening and gardens.
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With around 24 million gardens in the UK, it’s no surprise that the garden maintenance industry is growing at a rate of 2.8% per year. Below we will explore a few ways in which you can improve your gardening business and potentially help you outperform your competitors.
Quality equipment
One obvious way to improve your gardening business is by investing in quality equipment. Not only will high-quality equipment make your job easier, but it will also improve efficiency which means more time can be spent on other areas of the garden or with other customers. For example, using a self-propelled lawnmower, rather than a petrol one, will mean that you aren’t only just saving on fuel, but by not having to push the weight of the mower around the garden it will be more time and energy efficient for you.
Many gardeners end up with back pain and the advice is to not rush or strain to lift. As technology has improved, there are now many very lightweight gardening tools, making them easier on your back which can help you in the long term.
Savvy marketing
Outsourcing your business marketing can be expensive, so it may be advisable to do some of this by yourself. By using social media platforms, like Twitter and Instagram, you can set up a business page for free to keep in touch with your followers and advertise your business. You can advertise your business by posting pictures of your work or offering tips and tricks for gardeners which may help gain public interest in your account.
Word-of-mouth is also a cheap and easy marketing strategy which can be used alongside business cards. You can add your logo and professional details to a business card and give them to previous clients who can pass them to friends and family when recommending you. You may also be able to leave them in local shops in your area, some of which may charge a small fee, but potential customers may see them and take one.
Listen to your customers
Your existing customers may be able to offer an insight into services that you could provide in the future. If there is demand from your customers for something that you don’t currently offer, by expanding your services you are likely to gain new customers, as well as please your existing ones. Any good business is open to constructive criticism and insights, and by doing this you will prove to your customers that you care about what they think. A customer who feels like you respect their custom and take their feedback on board is much more likely to recommend you than one who does not.
Knowledgeable staff
While many hands make light work, hiring staff with knowledge and experience is definitely preferable. The Gardeners Guild notes that the majority of customers will hire you because they can’t physically keep up with the garden maintenance themselves – not because they don’t know how. This means that a customer will quickly notice if you don’t know what you are doing and your work will lose its value.
There are a range of gardening qualifications available both online and in local colleges, and having formal training will mean that you can charge your customers more for your knowledge. At the very least, all staff should be able to answer basic questions that customers may have, otherwise they risk damaging your business’ reputation.
Hopefully, these tips will come in useful for you and your business – good luck!
