What landscape type are you?

So, what type of landscape are you looking for, this is what we have to determine first, define the what you really desire In your yard to make your house truly a home.

Hello, my name is Jonathan, and I am with As The Sod Turns Landscaping & Design, where I ask these very questions both to you and me so that we can determine what avenues you might like to pursue to make your house personal familiar, inviting, and a place that you want to come home too. It is where I start every time, asking questions getting to know you as a customer, and finding out what will have the most impact and what will make you feel like this is your house.

A lot of the questions I ask depend on you, in the initial answers that you give me to questions and the reactions that you have on your face when I ask further questions. It's a give and take where I ask silly questions sometimes about colours of flowers and plants that evoke warm thoughts of places that hold emotional memories that make you feel good. Now what I'm trying to do here is bring some of that emotional response to your new yard to make your landscape fit in with how you feel about it, based on some history and some memories in your past that made you feel loved and a part of something. It is part of my process to make sure that you the customer is not only involved in your landscape, but you are the key to making your landscape come true. And that's really why I ask so many questions.

The picture at the beginning was a start of a landscape, the customer knew what they wanted basically. All i had to do was ask questions about it so that we could flesh it out and make it more their own and it expanded a bit from there. So, we started with the pergola and in this case they had a design the lady of the house head pulled off of Pinterest, then he asked me could I build it the way that they did on Pinterest? Now this is not the way most people do things. The customer asked for basically a copy of a design that they sent to me, and this is where you have to rely a bit on the landscaper who hopefully knows something and will again put forward his knowledge or her knowledge to make sure that this is something you can do and that I would be willing to do. In this case the design was made for an extremely warm climate, and it was not stabilized for a Nova Scotian winter, so I told them as it stood, I would not be able to do what they wished.

They were a little upset with me at first until I explained why. The four original posts in the picture were simple 4 by 4 uprights with a crisscrossing canopy over top. This structure was unsafe in any snow load that was going to eventually make itself known and as I plan for the future and do not always listen to every wish that my customers have, that is why I said no. So I explained this and they understood and then I explained to them what we could do to make this a reality more than little strong then the picture that was presented, and we went from there. They also wanted stone steps in back and a fire pit that you can't see on the picture and then we extended the patio again conferring with the customer as things evolved.

No landscape plan ever goes as planned. While a customer did want a pergola it changed for the better that winter was one of the worst winters in Nova Scotia history and it went through with flying colours. Many of the other things that we included in as extras of course, they knew they wanted something, but they weren't quite sure yet and that's why all the questions are pertinent and for what we do it's as much as a given a take as you can have and any landscape relationship and what I term is a relationship for life. You will always have questions, you will always want answers from somebody who has been at it so long they really don't know what else to do and that's what we offer. I teach my people that landscaping is a vocation, and I've had the pleasure of training many long-term landscapers over the years. In the end they gave us a glowing review, they also listed the pergola and fire pit is the main reasons for getting their full price and the quick sale when they did go to sell their home.

Another landscape that evolved with time. The same process I use every time which is to question what will make the customer feel more at home with their landscape to again evoke feelings make them feel comfortable in their surroundings.

So, a recurring theme with a lot of customers is to have a landscape pose Unitarian, beautiful and useful, but without weeds and of course the Holy Grail, minimal upkeep. Now the year after we did this landscape in Calgary with extensive retaining walls at front of the house and this is the backyard. All the plants that we had planted for her, not in pots, had survived the winter Anne flourished even in a rocky landscape. This is not only planting to ensure survival by giving them bone meal and the best of available soils that are mixes, but by also in these rocky landscapes giving them instead of landscape fabric are tarps underlying treatment that ensures less competition and overall better water retention.

So when we find out what the customer is actually hoping for we do try to extend our knowledge so that they may have the best chance is possible of having that landscape become a reality and we always want to be available for any questions after the fact. This is a sad reality that most landscape companies do not try to facilitate. The ongoing customer service, to be there for the customer with answers to the questions that they will inevitably have about their landscape and especially the plants in their landscape.

In the end the customer ends up having a relationship of trust with us knowing that we will try our best to find the answers they are looking for, and as I tell my guys, if you don't know the answer tell them that and then will call you back later with the answer. This is the customer service I was brought up with when my first years of horticulture and landscaping or being put under my belt. I see no reason to change this lifelong learning and endeavour, as I find in this day and age it's more necessary than ever. That is why to me that having a good relationship of customer service with my landscape customers, asking the right questions and getting answers is so important. They learn that I have the answers, and I learn more about what the customers really hope to achieve.

Learning on both ends is what makes this job worth while. The same way that I ask questions about the customers needs and concerns can be applied to anything in the landscape. The same emotional responses to colours and shapes in pavers as well as textures certain plants and types that evoke memories Are important to me as there to the customer.

In more blogs in the future, I will go over my belief system for customer service and why I think it's important. How we really don't have a good customer service ethic anymore, where we attempt to help the customer with any questions or concerns that they may have. Of course this doesn't always lend itself to cheaper, but it does lend itself to having educated customers about their landscape and a place where they can always get answers if they can't remember.