Founded in 2008. The Landscape Juice Network (LJN) is the largest and fastest growing professional landscaping and horticultural association in the United Kingdom.
LJN's professional business forum is unrivalled and open to anyone within within the UK landscape industry
LJN's Business Objectives Group (BOG) is for any Pro serious about building their business.
For the researching visitor there's a wealth of landscaping ideas, garden design ideas, lawn advice tips and advice about garden maintenance.
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come when it suits the client - not me (if required)
do what they want - not how i want to do it :(
take all waste required away .........................3 x 16ftx6.6 x4ft trailer fulls of green waste..... :/
take cheques ? / internet payments .
have 'trust' :/ fully insured , cs30 +31 , waste licence,
You are right, that all statements made must be quantified, and verified. It's no good just saying, I'm the best, as someone else will claim to be better.
For ours,
Our plants will be open to see on a website, or better still, in person at the Nursery
All visits to our Nursery will prove our use of peat-free compost
We have dealt with several and many Landscapers and Designers in this way in the past, and are currently speaking with others
Whilst, perhaps these on there own are not unique, added together we think they are.
ROWLY HILL said:
I suspect over the next 10 years your mantra will be more significant than all the corporate jargon and bollocks that currently prevail.
It is very unusual to have a USP much more likely to have strengths which a company plays to.
Our strengths are ideas and flexibility, they are the main things that set us apart from our competitors but they cannot be considered USPs.
But my main strength is reliability,.... If I say I'm going to be there, then they know I will be,
same day, roughly the same time, every week, all year, and if I'm not going to be, then a courteous phone call.
Please discuss further....
It is far easier for a producer of say Plants, Paving, Decking, Garden structures or similar, to offer a unique product, as opposed to say a company mowing a lawn. The product is unique, the lawn is the same, it is just maintained either well or not.
The service element in the care of the lawn is key, as is the relationship with the owner of the lawn. So is Garden Maintenance just another service industry, like say cleaning a house or washing a car. Now to save any misunderstanding here, we do know many in this industry, so we are not talking it down.
In order to claim your own unique status, you cannot be better as someone else will claim to be, or have better tools as someone else will claim to have, or turn up on time as someone will be prompter than you. What additional services do you offer your customer, why are you better?
So who do you compare your unique service against, local, regional or national? Whatever, you need cold hard facts, that you can put in print should you need to, setting you apart from the rest.
As for Designers, each garden that they design is unique, with it's own problems and pitfalls, but how do you sell that skill. Every Designer will offer a client a unique garden, but what makes yours special?
So to Landscapers, building a garden to the Designers specifications, why is your build better? What do you do or offer that is special.
In this day and age, we all need to learn and raise the standard of Horticulture from being viewed as the £5 an hour for the gardeners, to something that is really special for our customers.
We are not wearing a halo here, we do know our faults and failings, but if this network is about anything, it is about raising the standard, and yes perception of Horticulture.
Go ahead, talk yourselves up, and let others listen.
UPB's are unique perceived benefits, i.e you qualify the USP's (ie the what's in it for me factor).
Some of mine are:
A waste transfer licence so that any arisings are disposed of legitimately, plus the customer does not have to spend their time going to the tip or filling their bin.
Payment on satisfactory completion. No outlay until the customer is happy.
Payment via internet banking - no need to write cheques or visit the post office.
Fully insured - if any mishaps occur the customer is covered.
Features are what your product or service has, benefits are what these features do for your client.
So a reliable service is a feature, not having to wait in all day for someone to turn up when they say they will be there first thing is a benefit of that feature.
My products are made from as few components as possible this is a feature, saving time and being easy to assemble are benefits of this feature.
If you try and think of a service as a product and sell the benefits of that product, it could be a clear pricng structure so you know what you are going to pay, no hidden charges. Don't forget the benefits when giving the features.
The customer is not interested in whether you have a Max Strumpling Rolls dugle burger, they are interested in having a well maintained garden at a reasonable cost because you are using one
Paul @ Ashgate Garden Care said: