Editor’s Note: Mark Carlson offers this rebuttal to Jody’s Shilan’s March 2014 Profiting from Design column: “When do you disclose design fees?” I agree with Shilan’s general sequence of steps toward meeting with a prospective customer, but I don’t agree with how limited this approach is when it comes to charging a fee for services. First, I believe that as... read more
In the March 2014 issue of Landscape Management, The Benchmark columnist Jeff Harkness covered online advertising methods, including Google AdWords and Bing Ads. Here’s more from him on Facebook and LinkedIn advertising tips. Facebook Did you know more than 1 billion people use Facebook? If you’re not using Facebook to advertise, you’re missing out on a huge, untapped audience for... read more
Roscoe and Brook Klausing, the subjects of the Landscape Management March 2014 cover story, met Jim Paluch in the late 1990s, around the time they became involved in the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET, it was ALCA at the time). He had just started his consulting business, J.P. Horizons. Paluch recalls their meeting: “Roscoe was this tall, very formal,... read more
Glance at Darwin Webb’s Porch profile and the number 371 might pop out to you. That’s how many project photos he has uploaded to the site. “Having pictures of projects is more valuable than descriptions,” says the president of Darwin Webb Landscape Architects in Isaaquah, Wash. He was featured in “Word-of-web referrals” story in the March 2014 issue of Landscape Management. “Images... read more
With some signs in Congress that immigration reform may happen this year, Landscape Management and the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) partnered on an immigration sentiments survey among members of the landscape and lawn care industry. The survey was fielded online in February and March, garnering 536 responses with a +/-5 percent margin of error and a 95 percent confidence interval.... read more
What makes the difference between you and your competitors? You may think you know, and you may have an answer you give to customers and prospects who ask, but do you really know? Of course, this is a rhetorical question because no one could actually account for all the variances. It was interesting, though, to hear one firm’s take on what... read more
