WHY PARTNER WITH CLIENTS? Rather than seeing customers as merely a means to an end, partnering with clients allows landscape companies to focus on a shared investment and work together. “They’re investing a lot in us, and in turn,
there’s a lot that we have to invest in order to meet our obligation to the client,” says Joseph Barnes, marketing director for Yellowstone Landscape, headquartered in Bunnell, Florida. “It’s not purely transactional because there’s good faith involved on both sides of the part- nership.” Barnes notes that having this outlook helps them fight the trap of commod- itization. Loren McIrvin, owner of Allied Landscape, based in Livermore, California, says while client partnerships have been a core belief of his company from inception, during the earlier years, they had more of a transactional focus. “We realized that true success comes
from aligning our objectives with those of our customers,” McIrvin says. “Their success leads to our success, which led to our commitment to partnerships.” Niwar Nasim, president of Nasim Land-
scape, based in Puyallup, Washington, says they adopted this mindset in 2019 as they started to focus on commercial landscape management. “We are very deliberate with our choice
of words when referring to our custom- ers as partners,” Nasim says. “The idea behind this is to eliminate the stigma of a transactional relationship. The term partner is warmer and has a long-term effect to it, which is what we ultimately want: long-lasting relationships.” Partnering with clients not only helps with improved retention rates but also brings in additional enhancement projects and referrals. Nasim says they’ve had multiple
scenarios where they have effectively communicated and delivered services to a partner who started investing more in their company and referred them to other locations or peers. “The key is sticking with that mindset
even when other priorities creep in such as sales goals, margin expectations, opera- tions, people, etc.,” says Joe Weintraub, se- nior vice president of the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, and Texas for Monarch Land- scape Companies, based in Los Angeles, California. “It never works out when you
stray away from it, and it always works out when you stay focused on people and customers. In the past few years, we had wonderful successes that came from staying completely focused on the customer’s need and then crafting a solution around that.”
Chase Farris, president of NexGen Land-
scaping, based in Phoenix, Arizona, says focusing on building relationships with clients fosters trust in their company and their recommendations. “Seeing how repeat clients invested in our expertise and saw our guidance rein- forced that partnership-driven relationship led to better outcomes for both sides,” Farris says.
WHY PARTNER WITH VENDORS? Similarly, partnering with vendors can boost the overall success of your projects. From providing better pricing and availability of materials to going the extra mile with supply chain issues, vendors can vastly improve the outcome of your work. “During a large-scale commercial instal-
lation, we faced supply delays on essential plant material,” McIrvin says. “Because of our strong relationship with a nursery vendor, they prioritized our order and even sourced backup material from another region, keeping our project on schedule.” Justin Stewart, vice president of Colo-
rado for Monarch Landscape Companies, says during a blizzard, when the supply chain wasn’t functioning, they were able to go directly to the source for materials instead of waiting for their vendor’s supply to come through. Nasim says they have a strong partner-
ship with an irrigation supplier, 2M, and their customer service has been excep- tional. “They routinely will place job materials
on a larger project for us, and provide a storage container, set up the inventory, and organize everything to ensure that production is running smoothly,” Nasim says. “This really helps improve the overall project outcome.” Farris says having strong relationships
with vendors gives them another resource in their corner when they encounter challenges. “When issues arise and our trusted part-
ners have our back, they make sure to get us through with troubleshooting, training, and all those things,” Farris says. McIrvin says they treat their vendors as strategic partners by collaborating on
“A partnership implies a common goal and working together for a shared outcome. You approach the work with an understanding of the desired results rather than just delivering on a defined scope. The scope is not always exactly what the client wants, and with a true partnership, you can adjust it to better meet their needs. A transactional approach doesn’t build long-term relationships — partnership does.” – Justin Stewart with Monarch Landscape Companies
National Association of Landscape Professionals 21
Photos: Yellowstone Landscape
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