Building Your Business: 3 Great Ways to Present at an Expo

Attending an expo is a great way to learn about your industry and about other businesses. Presenting at an expo is an even better idea, however, if you want to spread the word about your business, educate others, and share ideas. By presenting at an expo, you become the center of attention and get to showcase exactly what makes your company unique. Here are three great ways to promote your business at an expo.

 

Introduce a New Product or Service

The best way to dominate a trade show is offer something that people have never seen before. It may be a new product, a new service, or simply a new way of doing the same old thing. Never underestimate the value of education. If you are good at something, offer to show others how to do it. Chances of creating competitors are actually quite small, but the chances of developing leads and generating positive word-of-mouth are quite high. After all, if people in your industry come to see you as the expert in a particular niche, they are likely to call you when they (or their customers) need your expertise.

 

Make a Presentation

Trades shows often get media coverage, so making a presentation is a great way to get your company in front of an audience. Of course, that means you really have to put some thought and time into your presentation. Think about what you want people to know about your company and what you can offer that others cannot. The more "sharable" the presentation is on social media and the internet, the better.

 

Strengthen Your Brand

Branding is a major aspect of any business. Apple is a great example of how brand is just as important as the products and services a company offers. In an industry that depends heavily on trust and reputation, like landscaping and nursery, there is nothing more important than brand recognition. Use an expo to tell the industry how serious, reliable, professional, and dedicated your company is.

If you can, get a booth next to other top companies to gain prestige by association and help people make the connection between you and established brands. Offering education to anyone who visits your booth is a great way to demonstrate your industrial prowess. Be sure to have a clear message to offer visitors and focus your efforts on making connections. Collect business cards, names, emails, and social media information so that you can follow up with contacts and keep the momentum going after the expo is over.

 

Getting It Right

Getting an expo right is no easy task. You need to prepare well ahead of time and consider every possible angle to ensure your work is a success. To make trade shows work for you, make certain that you attend the right ones (you can't go to them all, so go to the expos that offer the most return for the time you are investing). Don't get lost in the hubbub. Develop a clear message, a clear way to brand your company, and stay calm. Every lead you generate is a potential bonus and even if things don't go perfectly, you've learned a great deal for the next go around.

Why Everyone Landscaper and Nursery Needs a Tree Spade

Tree spades are specialized tools that few landscapers own. After all, tree spades are large, expensive, and it seems like they wouldn't get used all that often. In truth, tree spades can be an invaluable asset to any landscaping business. They expand the size and scope of jobs that you can tackle and improve customer relations. Here is why you might want to consider a tree spade for your landscaping business and why owning one may keep you busier than you ever imagined.

Boost Job Scope

Some trees are simply too large to move by hand. You can probably physically move a large tree with wagons and hand spades, but it would take you so long that you could never turn a profit. With a tree spade, however, you can move everything from large bushes to medium-sized trees with ease. If you have access to a tree spade and know how to use it, your services will be in demand and residential, commercial, and municipal customers will see your business as offering something that few others can.

Better Customer Relationships

Moving big trees may not seem like a big deal, but the only other alternative is to cut them down. Most of your customers do not want to cut down trees if they can help it. People are making every effort to plant new trees and save existing trees in an effort to protect the environment, so being able to move a tree can be very appealing. Remember that it can take decades for a tree to even reach a moderate height, so being able to move a large tree can have a huge impact on aesthetics and how customers feel about their landscape. You can create mature landscape quickly with a tree spade.

Create Inroads

If you own a tree spade, chances are good that other landscapers will come to you when they have a job they can't handle. Simply owning this piece of equipment is a great way to not only get your name out to potential customers, but to potential business partners as well. The landscaping industry is well-suited to collaboration. By owning a tree spade, you can ensure that your company is the "go-to" for other contractors who need your specialized services.

The Bottom Line

Tree spades make it possible to preserve trees and prevent loss when roadways are being expanded, the tree has outgrown its location, the design of a landscape is being altered, or the tree itself needs a better site. Transplanting large trees may seem like it is costlier than simply purchasing container stock, but you must consider the long-term value that large trees provide. Juvenile trees not only require more maintenance than their mature counterparts, they are also more prone to disease and damage (e.g. from mowers) and they simply don't offer the same aesthetic. It is hard to get shade from a 10-foot-tall tree after all.

Purchasing Decisions

Buying a tree spade is a big decision. You will need to consider not only the cost and what you can charge when using the spade, but also how it will impact less tangible aspects of business. Will it boost your status within the industry? Will it improve how customers see you (e.g. more professional, more capable)? Will it expand the scope of jobs you can bid on? When thinking about how a tree spade can benefit your business, take the time to consider multiple angles so that you can make a good decision not only about whether or not to purchase a spade, but which size you ought to purchase as well.

Resources

http://www.extension.umn.edu

How A Professional Landscape Designer Can Benefit Your Business

Having a professional landscape designer on your staff can set you apart for your competition, particularly when it comes time to bid high-value projects for residential and commercial landscapes. You don't have to have a landscape designer working for you fulltime, but you should at least have a go-to person that you can promote as working with you. Offering the services of a professional landscape designer can launch your business into a new league. Here is how to choose the right person for your business.

The Business Benefits of Offering Tree Removal

Tree removal is no longer as difficult as it once was. In the past, you had to have the skills and equipment to not only climb a tree, but to remove the debris once you were done. Today, trucks with buckets and massive portable chippers that can handle just about anything you throw at them have made tree removal a more routine job. If you run a landscaping or lawn care business, you may want to consider adding tree removal to your list of available services. Here is why.

When Evergreens Turn Brown

The beauty of the evergreen is that it provides a hint of springtime even in the dead of winter. There are few things that warm the soul more than the sight of a brilliant green tree against a backdrop of winter majesty. Unfortunately, evergreens seem to be under attack and everywhere you look they are turning brown or losing their needles. What are the causes of browning in evergreens and what can you do about it? More importantly, how can you help your customers do something about it?