Rob’s 5 Rules for Growing a Landscaping Business to $1M

00:30
Rob Murray
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the IM Landscape Growth podcast, where the entire show is dedicated to the idea of what the primary constraint is pulling entrepreneurs back into the green industry. And this is episode number two, where I’m just going to be riffing with you around some of the common issues, opportunities, and things that just work for landscapers. You know, we’ve been working with hundreds and speaking to thousands, and there’s an opportunity to interview hundreds as well. And so today’s theme is about how to grow a landscape company to a million bucks. Now we’re going to focus all this on customer acquisition, referrals, and building a good customer base. Now, how do you go about doing the work? You guys know how to do that better than I do.

01:12
Rob Murray
I’m not going to speak to you, you know, about how you’re using pavers and building patios and hardscape and building walls. All the things that’re just, that’s your stuff. This is our stuff. So we’re, you know, completely dedicated to marketing and helping folks, you know, acquire customers, engage customers, and build revenue. So, the reason I’m bringing this up is because we got a lot of inquiries, you know, at the time of this. Well, I’m wearing a leaf jersey. If you’re watching the video, it’s playoff time in the NHL, April 24, 2025. And we just went through this like, you know, our peak season as a marketing company working with a bunch of landscapers because you’re all planning stuff during say, late fall or winter. And we got, you know, dozens and dozens, maybe even like a hundred.

01:51
Rob Murray
I’d have to go check the numbers, but of sub-million-dollar companies looking for, you know, marketing help. And so the reason I wanted to put this together was just kind of like laying the foundations of what we’ve seen work and reference a couple of examples of other folks that have done similar things. So you can kind of see how we may simplify the approach to getting to a million dollars, assuming you want to, because, you know, not everybody wants to do that. That’s fine. And really, it’s just kind of based on five principles. It’s not a crazy approach, so I wanted to share it with you really quickly, and I’ll go through each one. So the five principles really are simple.

02:28
Rob Murray
So it’s like show up early, smile, and do what you say you’re gonna do when you say you’re gonna do it. Second One’s Marketing 101. Don’t overcomplicate this stuff. Hang out where your customers are, figure out who your kind of customer is, and then go hang out where they hang out. Build relationships. Three is to wrap your truck, and be bold. We’ve seen it a lot with people who have sleek trucks. You know, maybe it’s a white truck with a little black logo. Vice versa, black with a little white logo. It’s tough to stand out. Speak more about it in a second. The fourth one is to get Google reviews. These things are more important than you could ever imagine. It’s the number one way to build trust before someone talks to you, even if it’s word of mouth.

03:05
Rob Murray
So if you’re someone seeing your truck or hearing from somebody else, you’re doing good work. They see your Google reviews, and they know you’re legit. And on that line of thinking, it’s worthwhile investing in a good website. Yes, it’s self-serving. We build websites for landscapers. Just don’t cheap out. People have five seconds to make an impression. If this research says it’s less, it’s like two or three. And so having a kick ass website that shows off your work, that talks about the customer, that’s designed for conversion can go a long way. And this is again, even in reinforcing word of mouth, like if that is the number one thing driving your business, then why don’t you just do whatever you can to take the friction out of the process for them to find you and speak to you.

03:46
Rob Murray
And the last one will be organized. We see and hear all the time, especially around the 4 to $600,000 k mark when peak season hits. Leads come through like crazy. Two weeks go by, you know, we sent an email and we forgot to follow up again. Oh, right, I’ve got to follow up with that person. I did this talk with a group a couple of days ago, and even as I was going through this principle, they’re like, oh man, I gotta follow up with that prospect. And more often than not, you know, they’ve moved on, they found somebody else, it’s too late, and there are some crazy stats around. Follow up and respond quickly so you can. You also have another tool again, serving a little bit.

04:25
Rob Murray
The landscape CRM is something we built to help people stay organized when it comes to, you know, lead and opportunity management, understanding your sales funnel, but it’s really that simple. It’s like, show up early, smile, and do what you say you’re gonna do when you say you’re gonna do it. Two, hang out where your customers are. Marketing 101, don’t overcomplicate this. Three, wrap your trucks and be bold. Fourth, get Google reviews and invest in a solid website. Then, the last one will be organized. You know, use a CRM not only for your sales, lead management, and that kind of stuff, but also, you know, job costing and understanding your numbers. And that’s all there is to how to monitor, measure, and manage your business. So let’s just break them down real quick.

05:02
Rob Murray
The first one is my favorite because if you show up early, smile, and do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it, you’re really in the top 10% of all businesses out of the gate. And this is crazy. And a quick little story about intrigue. This is, you know, 12, 14 years ago, so maybe whatever, 2010, 2011, something like that. We were in a sales training course with this awesome human, and he asked us, Why do your customers work with you? And we’re like, because we’ve got good results, we’ve got great design, because, you know, we’re great at our business, and customers love our business. And he’s like, well, is that what you think is why they work with you, or is that what they told you?

05:45
Rob Murray
And so we were tasked with this idea of going out and asking our customers, you know, why did you decide to work with us, and why do you continue to keep working with us? And it was resounding feedback. It was almost unanimous that we did what we said we would do when we said we would do it. And even when we survey customers now, 2025, the consistency of that feedback, of doing what you say you’re gonna do when you say you’re gonna do it. And this is like showing up when you say you’re going to, sending the invoices when you say you’re going to, getting them a quote when you say you’re going to, and doing the work when you say you’re going to. This isn’t like transforming their Yard. These are the little things all along the way that demonstrate your professionalism.

06:26
Rob Murray
And it’s rare to call people back when you say you’re going to, follow through with an email when you say you’re going to, like these little things, create consistency, and demonstrate to people they can trust what you say. So this is really an opportunity because you control your commitment to these folks. So we’ve seen it time and time again, where people overcommit themselves, and they say they’re going to do something, and they mean they’re going to do it. But then they get smoked. You know, busy things happen, whatever, truck breaks and whatever, there’s no buffer, and then they start falling short on getting them the quote if you don’t even. So, like an on-site visit, you show up early with a smile. You’ve done what you said you’re going to do when you said you’re going to do it.

07:08
Rob Murray
Now you say you’re going to get them a quote. Well, if you can’t get it for two days, tell them it’s going to be two days. And if you can’t, then you probably need a software system that’s going to help you get quotes at the door. Even if it’s a spreadsheet, something maybe like synced up as you’re growing, you know, you can graduate into larger tools. But Synkdup up is a great one. This is a really important piece in just building trust because you can’t say Trust me; you have to demonstrate it. And doing what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it is putting you in the top 10% of businesses. That alone will help you grow and get more reviews and word of mouth. So it’s really simple.

07:42
Rob Murray
The next one, and this is why I get asked this a lot, is, like, you know, where should I prioritize my marketing? And you know, from our perspective, it’s kind of on you to get to a million. You know, once you get to a million, you can work with a company like Intrigue, lead generation, that kind of stuff. You can probably work with us a little bit sooner than that if you’re already on your way and you want to invest in, you know, maybe accelerating your growth. But at least 750k, you know, it’s kind of on your back and a really simple way to do this, and people overcomplicate it, is just figure out what kind of customer you want to hang out with or work with, and hang out with them.

08:18
Rob Murray
And so, for example, if you want to go after some higher-end construction jobs or you want to go after, say, higher-end maintenance, well, where do people with disposable income, with the type of money, hang out? Well, private golf clubs. You, if you like to golf. You know, investing in a club membership is actually a marketing and sales activity and can be a really amazing way to grow your business. Marty Grunder, grow group and grinder Landscape, tells a story about how he felt guilty about golfing. But then, when he got to the country club and he was building these relationships, he’d always come back every year with a couple hundred thousand dollars in deals from customers, and eventually got to a point where his team was telling him, dude, golf. We need to grow revenue.

09:00
Rob Murray
And, if I mean Marty’s legit. If you haven’t had a chance, check him out. Marty Grunder is amazing. If it works for him, I’m pretty sure it’s going to work for you. Charity dinners and fundraisers are a great way for your local hospitals, whatever they might be. You know, yacht clubs, you may not have a boat and maybe that’s a bit one of a stretch, but you might be able to get into a social membership and hang out there, have dinners, take people out for lunch, even like private gyms or you know, even luxury home shows. It’s just, you know, where do these people hang out and go hang out with them? Private golf clubs, charity dinners, and like business golf tournaments are probably really easy. One sponsor a whole, go hang out at the hole, meet everybody.

09:41
Rob Murray
Don’t just put a sign up and hope it works. Marketing 101. Just hang out with your customers and even like us, too, right? Like we want to work with landscapers. What do we do? We go to all the landscape shows and conferences, statewide, nationwide, provincial, and whatever, as well as Canada and the USA. We go hang out. And what’s fascinating is that now we’re at, I don’t know, 25 a year. Our competitions are at like three. It’s amazing how many relationships you can build when your competition’s not around, and the odds are people aren’t doing that in your area. So give it a shot. So yeah, number three is the Raptor truck. There’s a great example of a bold truck wrap. If you’ve ever heard of Oasis Turf, you could check them out. They have an amazing brand. Robert Rindell is an amazing human being and is definitely worth checking out.

10:32
Rob Murray
But they have like a toucan and big, bold orange and green trucks, but they’re still pro. Like, they’re sleek and they stand out. And so, like, having something minimalist, it might look cool, but it’s not necessarily going to get you the results you want. And we hear it all the time, people saying things like, you know, hey, I saw your trucks everywhere. And you might not have a ton of trucks, but you will have one. And if you’re driving around all the time, there’s a chance that people are going to see it. And this is the same thing, too, with trailers. You might spend a couple of extra thousand dollars, and you can get a covered trailer that becomes a billboard.

11:10
Rob Murray
Now, if you have that covered trailer, you might even be able to park it at a job site and keep your stuff there. And so then you’ve got a billboard on a job site, and you’ve got your truck as a billboard everywhere you go. And anyway, check out Oasis Turf and Tree. I bet you if you were to reach out, Robert Rydell might even speak to you. He’s an amazing human being. So that’s just a great example of a big, bold, still stylish wrap for trucks. They also use vans and covered trailers. All right, so the next ones get Google reviews. We all know they’re important as consumers. You know, we use Google reviews to figure out who we should work with. You know, if all else is equal.

11:47
Rob Murray
One person got 20 reviews, the other person got 80, and they probably reached out to 80 first. And so we have just like a kind of measure that you can use. But, like, one third of all your jobs should have a Google review at the very minimum. The number one reason people don’t leave a Google review is that they weren’t asked. The number one reason people don’t write one when they are asked is that they don’t know what to write. So there are a couple of tricks that we’ve seen people do that really help take the friction out of getting a Google review. The first one is to have a QR code or a link on your phone. QR codes are better than when you’re done the job, you can go, hey, let’s do a quick walkthrough. Want to make sure you’re happy with everything.

12:25
Rob Murray
They’re pumped, they’re excited, they appreciate everything you do. And then you just show them your phone, say, hey, it would mean the world to us if you were to just, you know, click this right now and leave Google review. You know, even just starting to read a single sentence. Now, if you’re doing it after the fact and sending emails with links to Google reviews, you can just say, Hey, please answer these three questions. Just like, you know, hey, what city are you in? What work did we do? And what did you like about working? What did you like about working with our company? Those types of tactics really help take the friction. So it’s like, hey, ask right away and then let them know here, ask them three questions so they can just respond to the questions.

12:58
Rob Murray
They don’t figure out what to write for a review. The fifth principle is really to be organized. And so we have the landscape CRM we’ve built for folks because it’s all about, you know, helping you manage all your leads, your pipeline, your sales funnel. You can have automation set up really simply so that if something sits in a stage so it’s like quote sent and it sits there for three days, it can notify you being like, hey, there’s been no activity on this opportunity or if there’s an inquiry, so it’s a new lead and nothing’s happened in terms of email or phone call, it can notify you within a day. Getting back to people is probably the most important thing you can do when it comes to sales.

13:39
Rob Murray
From everything that we’ve studied, if you contact somebody within the first five minutes, you’re 400 times more likely to get a hold of them, and they’re 70% more likely to be qualified. 78% of customers buy from the first company that contacts them. And if you don’t contact them right away, on average, it takes between five and eight follow-ups for someone to get contacted and turn into a customer. So we hear it all the time, where people don’t follow up, or they follow up once, and they don’t get back to them, so they’ve ghosted. Using something like the landscape CRM can really help you automate this a little bit. Not only will it notify you that maybe a call needs to be made, but you can also send a series of emails so that people are being followed up with five to eight times.

14:21
Rob Murray
This is the single most important thing I want to say. I mean, it is a simple and effective way to get more customers through your system. So, like they’ve already contacted you, and so many people are responding days later, sometimes a week or more, and only following up once or twice. And so if you just turn your entire focus on lead management into I’m going to follow up immediately and I’m going to follow up five to eight times, the odds of you growing your customer base, you know, by bringing on 2x, maybe 3x, as many customers per season, is huge. We’re talking like 75, 85% chance you’re going to start growing your company just because you’re following up fast, responding fast. And this is where I think people get a little bit hung up because they’re like, I’m on the job site, it’s difficult for me to do that.

15:10
Rob Murray
Or maybe I’m talking to somebody in a sales call, and I get an inquiry, and I can’t follow up within five minutes. This is where investing in having someone answer your phone and respond to leads can be the most valuable hire or addition you can make to your business. So you’re talking about it, like it could be a three-day, four-day-a-week person. It could be a $45,000 a year, you know, entry-level office manager, and like an admin assistant for you, or EA for the entrepreneur. And their entire primary focus is to respond to every single lead within five minutes, answer every single call that comes through, and follow up five to eight times.

15:46
Rob Murray
If you’re paying somebody $45,000 to do that, and they bring you 10 new customers, and let’s say your average customer is 20 grand because you’re not on the big projects yet, let’s still have $200,000 in projects. And if your gross margin is, let’s say, 40%, then you have a gross margin of $80,000. That job pays for itself. Then, the last piece of being organized, making sure you know your numbers, your job, costing properly with term material labor, and looking at overhead recovery using systems like Lmn and Aspire are definitely helpful. Synced up is a really cool company that you can check out. They’re all about knowing your numbers, and they can design the whole thing around landscape, and they can really help you without costing a ton of money, making sure you’re profitable in all your jobs. So this is not rocket science.

16:38
Rob Murray
A website, a CRM, and a job costing tool are some of the foundational pillars we need to get to a million. But if we get back to the basics, it’s really about showing up early, smiling, and doing what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. Hang out marketing 101. Hang out with your customers, hang out where they are, build those relationships. You know, be bold. Wrap your truck with something that’s bright, sticks out, and is different from competitors in your area. Get Google reviews and invest in a website.

17:08
Rob Murray
Don’t cheap out on something that isn’t going to work because even people that are from word of mouth are going to go to your site, they’re going to Google you, they’re going to see your reviews, they’re going to click, they’re going to look at your website and sometimes even your social. So, you know, I obviously don’t want to eliminate social media. The only thing I want to say about social media, though, is that it’s better to pick one platform and be relevant, timely, and consistent than to try to spread yourself over many. Instagram, I think, for the most part at this time of this recording, is the platform of choice if you’re going to pick one. People check out Instagram profiles when they check out companies.

17:43
Rob Murray
They want to make sure you’re not like, dead and haven’t posted in 10 months or something like that. So once we get to the idea of getting Google reviews and a great website, the last principle is to be organized. You know, get a CRM in place to manage your leads and your sales funnel and make sure you’ve got your job costing, considering all your, like, accurate material labor costs and recovering your overhead. Those are the five principles. Get you a million. If you like the content, you know, give me comments. If you want to hear other stuff, let me know. We have the opportunity to speak to hundreds, if not thousands, of landscapers, and we’re going to do our best to give you as many insights as we can to help you grow, kind of level up the professionalism of this whole industry.

18:24
Rob Murray
Our vision at Intrigue is to, you know, create the gold standard in marketing that landscape entrepreneurs can trust to grow their business. So hope this helps. And yeah, I’m going to keep trying to bring as much value as I can for you. All right, thanks, everybody.