Garden Coach Sue Goetz gave offered about a zillion bucks worth of garden-coaching advice to garden writers and coach wannabees in Portland, Oregon last week. She's been coaching full-time in Gig Harbor, Washington for 4 years now, since way before there was so much buzz about it, having been a buyer for a large nursery and in the hort biz business one way or another since 1993. She described her work as a combination “coach-mentor-consultant” - take your pick - but "coach" is the most user-friendly of the possible terms. She described coaches as equal parts botanist, plant nerd, soil scientist, marriage counselor, therapist and cheerleader.
Notes from Sue on the Business of Garden Coaching:
WHAT A PROSPECTIVE CLIENT IS LOOKING FOR
Most clients searching for coaches have a vision for their outdoor space but need an expert to flesh it out - maybe simply by adding designer touches, or by providing basic nuts-and-bolts information. Some have moved into a new space and need ID and care guidance. All want the satisfaction on doing the work themselves; they just need some confidence to move forward.
WHAT YOU ARE
Good garden coaches are always learning. Be as well rounded in gardening knowledge as possible. Soil, bugs, plants, pruning, plant identification: be in the know. Pay attention to what trends the public is reading and hearing about in the media - without slavishly following them.
How to distinguish coaches from landscapers? Unlike landscapers, coaches teach homeowners how to nurture and take care of their landscape. Coaches should also set themselves apart from the mow & blow guys and the neighbor who'll help out for free. Garden Coaches have experience and education in all aspects of gardens and should impart their knowledge in a professional manner.
CLIENTS AND HOW TO REACH THEM
Pick your passion and build a business around it. I don’t believe you can truly do good business until you know who you are catering to. It's a basic rule of business; know your market and then you know your target. Niche markets to go after:
- New Home Owners. Offer classes and “house calls” to new homeowners to help them become familiar with their new spaces. Plant ID, care and maintenance, etc. are all a big knowledge base needed for this one. The new homeowner niche is tapped into when you build relationships with realtors. I have gotten to know them by word of mouth and actually been hired by a few realtors for their personal homes and after working with them, they have referred me to people they have sold to. If you don't have realtor contacts, drop a postcard to local real estate firms, target the wording to new homeowners, and offer to do a seminar - if you have experience in speaking.
- Tap into the DIY explosion: Coaching is personalized guidance in their clients' own gardens. Coachees are guided do the work themselves and, with your help, do it successfully.
- You can either be a generalist or you can specialize - in perennial gardens, container gardeners, vegetable & herb, organics…you get the ideas.
WHEN YOU'RE ON THE JOB
Get to know your client. Before my first visit I send clients a questionnaire that asks about their goals for the coaching session ("consultation"), problems, redesign needs, pruning needed, how much work will be done by the client or hired out, clients' level of expertise or interest, time frame, types of plants they like, favorite colors, and special problems, like allergies or deer. Sometimes the clients then include photos of what they have or what they like with their responses. The questionnaire and photos are invaluable in helping me tailor my advice to the individual client, especially how much maintenance they're able to provide.
Upon arriving for the consultation, it's also helpful to see the inside of the house to take note of their style and how tidy or relaxed they are, and to observe the presence of kids, muddy shoes, etc. Take side notes during the garden walk-through (soil needs amending, move that plant, etc.) so that it is a holistic approach, not just what is bugging the client about their garden, but the overall scope of it. Clients love sketches, so take paper with you and sketch, even if it not very artistically done using only stick figures of trees and shrubs, with plant names indicated. Be honest; suggest what work should/could be hired out if needed to implement the bigger aspects of the job - to manual laborers, stone masons, etc. "Let's just get a bid" often leads them down that scary road.
FOLLOW-UP
Coaches get invested in their clients and their gardens, so ask for follow-up photos and emails. Make it a “stay in touch with me” approach. Keep notes and their questionnaire all filed and easy to find if they are on the phone with questions. Remember the details of their gardens so you can ask something like, "Did you correct that drainage problem"? It can lead to follow-ups…good for business and good for the success of the client. It is never a good idea to throw out a bunch of advice, hard work projects and then walk away. You will probably find it didn’t get done. Make yourself accessible. Take emails without charging. If the phone calls and emails are very detailed, however, suggest a follow-up appointment.
IT'S A BIZ
- Get nice business cards printed, and use professional invoices and letterhead.
- Have a website; it is a great calling card/portfolio for new calls that want to see your work.
- To convert your first visit into callbacks, stay in touch - with emails and/or quarterly newsletters. Nurture those clients for follow-ups and referrals.
- Offer a 4-times-a-year package and encourage people who need more help to use it. It can be a fee that is prepaid for one year.
- You are never too small a business to brand yourself. Image is important, so get a tagline and logo and stick with them and use them everywhere.
- Send postcards saying "It's spring; how can I help you?" and so on, ending with "Now scheduling appointments." This keeps your name out there. Sent in the fall, postcards can help book up that slower time of year.
MARKETING
- People still ask what I'll do for them if they hire me as a coach, so it's important to do that PR thing - defining what you do and who you are, get the word out and do it well. As with most businesses, networking & "getting yourself out there" is the best advertising.
- Nurseries and garden centers are great sources of referrals. They know you will send their customers back with plant lists. (and will help keep the plants alive). One nursery offers a 20% off coupon for clients if they're new customers.
- Being active in your community helps new clients find you, so do classes for garden clubs, local community gardens and at schools. The newspapers will typically advertise these as part of a community calendar.
- Avoid paying for advertising – it's too expensive. Just place yourself in the position of local garden authority. It works. One way to do that is by writing, and I write a regular garden column for the local paper and freelance articles for a larger-market newspaper and regional magazine.
- Interior designers are perfect referrers.
- Ditto for landscape contractors. I refer my clients to them and they return the favor. I'm picky, though, referring only to the ones I know will do a great job.
- Existing clients are definitely the best source of referrals. My quarterly emails to clients lead to referrals, as do my good old-fashioned Christmas cards in the mail. Nice, personal touches.
Top photos: before and after views of a part of Linda and Doug Durant's garden. They did ALL the work themselves. Lower photo: Sue Goetz.
