My early sales experience in the petroleum and chemical industry proved valuable for my success as a landscape contractor.
My clients purchased our refined chemicals as intermediary products to make their end products, which ranged from waterless hand cleaners to food-grade lubricants.
Most of my clients were also producers and, therefore, competitors. So, they often knew as much about our products as I did. For this reason, the greatest value I offered them as a salesperson was me.
My biggest challenge was working with our legal department to structure contracts that protected our mutual interests. They often resisted my efforts to accomplish that with clear language aligning with our handshake agreements.
Communication tools
It is true that contracts should hold people accountable. However, as a landscape contractor, I learned the legal process should be the last resort for resolving disagreements with clients.
Instead, we redesigned our contracts to make them communication tools that clients embraced, adding value rather than obstacles to the sales process.
The right agreements can help you:
- Improve your cash flow.
- Simplify change orders.
- Hold clients accountable.
- Streamline communications.
- Encourage upsells.
When we closed a sale, our team reviewed the contract to show the client that we listened to them. We highlighted key takeaways from our meetings in the agreement. This helped to humanize the contracts by softening the necessary legal clauses.
Designated agent
Our business was predominantly residential design/build. It was not uncommon for one of the partners to remove themselves from the picture after the contract was signed, only to reenter late in the construction phase to say they didn’t like how it came together.
We solved this problem by having a signatory to the contract and a designated agent. We explained that the agent was our contact person. He or she had the final say in all matters, which simplified our communications and minimized costly last-minute delays.
We also used the agreement to communicate a 2.5 to 5 percent premium for contracting work in two or three phases. We explained the extra charge was for remobilization costs for each additional phase. This motivated many clients to increase their budget to complete the entire project at once — which was usually in everyone’s best interest.
