How to Advertise to Wealthy Home Owners

[Sean Adams]

Guys, I don't think we are all on the same page here.

The first picture is a very nice $300,000 home in a very nice neighborhood. It would be easy to assume that this home owner could spend as much as $3,000 to $8,000 in a season.

The next 4 pictures are of a home worth $12,000,000, sits on 5+ acres and has a not-so-easy to manage landscape.

I'm sorry but these are two entirely different types of properties that require two entirely different approaches to every aspect of the relationship:

1.) marketing and advertising
2.) how the work is done
3.) quality and frequency of work
4.) customer support

Like I said in my initial post, can a property like this be picked up randomly from an ad or a referral? Sure. Is it the norm? Absolutely not. And if anyone thinks they can just have a client like this "on their route" with all their other clients and service and treat them the same way, well that's just not the case.

[yardguy28]

Originally Posted by Sean Adams

So you are saying that a client who's lawn you mow for $50 and spends $2,000 a year with your company gets the same treatment and attention as a client who may spend $20,000 a year with your company?

that's EXACTLY what I'm saying.

[Sean Adams]

Originally Posted by yardguy28

that's EXACTLY what I'm saying.

Ok. My assumption is you do not deal with very many multi-million dollar home owners and that is fine. I get the "we are equal" idea - I am not saying one client should be treated like gold and another like dirt. I am simply saying that someone who could potentially spend $20k, $50k or even $100k or more on their landscape maintenance annually is not going to have the same expectations as someone who spends $2,000 a year.

If you don't want to deal with people like that, that is your prereogative - it's your business. I am just saying that if you take the same approach, you will not land many clients who have homes like the pictures I posted above.

[Will P.C.]

That is a good example Sean. My street is around 400-500k and is not an example of wealthy people. Truck drivers, hair stylists, military, teachers, corrections officers, etc. Without throwing my neighbors under the bus, lets just say most people are happy to pay there bills and try to manage debt.

Not much difference between the 'average' homeowner from 250k-1mil. Now you do have exceptions from people living well below there means, but this is America and it is rare.

Million Dollar listings is a good example of people I would consider wealthy. They are able to pay cash on a 5mil house that is likely their second home.

[corey4671]

I think it also depends on what kind of customer are you after? I may catch some flack for this, but I'm content with 35-40 7-10k sq ft residential lots with upper middle class incomes. I have to look at it this way. A property that is going to bring in $50-$100k a year is going to require a lot of TIME. As a solo operator, if I were to ever lose a client like that (death, relocate due to work, divorce etc) I'd be screwed because now I would have to replace all that income. I think as I said, it all depends on your business model and at least for the foreseeable future, my model which is working great for me at this time is as I stated above. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

[ztman]

so, based on the above jousting, lets just say wealty people=high end accounts and in essence they are like commercial accounts. My experience has been wealthy people know what they want, if you give it to them they are happy, if you dissapoint you are out the door. They want a job done with out drama. They dont generally shop if you keep them happy, and you have to give them a reason to give you the boot

[Sean Adams]

Originally Posted by ztman

so, based on the above jousting, lets just say wealty people=high end accounts and in essence they are like commercial accounts. My experience has been wealthy people know what they want, if you give it to them they are happy, if you dissapoint you are out the door. They want a job done with out drama. They dont generally shop if you keep them happy, and you have to give them a reason to give you the boot

Exactly correct on the loyalty part.... high end, wealthy clients will keep you around as long a you make them happy. Sounds logical, right? But happiness is what's most important - not price.

[Florida Gardener]

Originally Posted by Sean Adams

Guys, I don't think we are all on the same page here.

The first picture is a very nice $300,000 home in a very nice neighborhood. It would be easy to assume that this home owner could spend as much as $3,000 to $8,000 in a season.

The next 4 pictures are of a home worth $12,000,000, sits on 5+ acres and has a not-so-easy to manage landscape.

I'm sorry but these are two entirely different types of properties that require two entirely different approaches to every aspect of the relationship:

1.) marketing and advertising
2.) how the work is done
3.) quality and frequency of work
4.) customer support

Like I said in my initial post, can a property like this be picked up randomly from an ad or a referral? Sure. Is it the norm? Absolutely not. And if anyone thinks they can just have a client like this "on their route" with all their other clients and service and treat them the same way, well that's just not the case.

I get exactly what you are saying. In my experience, you need to be vouched for with a word of mouth referral to land wealthy people. I don't charge wealthy people more than their lower counterparts money wise, but they are more than capable of affording my services, will spend thousands in extras every year without complaints. I want to work for all wealthy people.
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[weeze]

well i'll say wealthy where i live is not a 12 million dollar house lol. the biggest house here may be 1 million if that much. most are in the 500k range for the most wealthy neighborhoods. a far greater number of people live in 50k-150k houses. that's the majority of homes around here.

the first pic you posted would be a wealthy person here in my area. i wouldn't even touch a house like you posted in the later pics lol. they would probably hire their own personal gardener full time to work on their yard lol.

[Sensation Man]

Originally Posted by headz77

My personal experience does not match your description. Our high end clients are no more demanding than any other. They treat me and my crews with total respect. They pay much faster than my other clients. Yes, we take good care of them- but all our clients get a high level of service.

In fact, from my experience, young middle class clients are much more challenging. They have not been paying contractors for years and often have unrealistic expectations.

Maybe this is a regional thing?
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My experience has been quite the oposite. Most upperclass customers seam take longer to pay & they have higher expectations of us than the average customer. They tend to be more demanding & want everything done yesterday. They don't appreciate what you do for them & they don't appreciate that you need to get paid. They will often try and bully you when your trying to collect on past due balances.
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