I was standing at the intersection of two really busy streets in town yesterday, a torrent of pedestrians rushing past in all directions. I was waiting for someone I’d never met, to have a chat about their business over coffee.

As I was standing there, a number of people stopped at the corner and waited as well, each of us in limbo, pacing and pausing, one stopping to look at her watch, another furiously faking an important task on his phone.

Of course I was constantly wondering whether any of these people was Robin, the guy.. no.. wait! What if Robin’s a woman?! This could be tricky.

Have you ever been in that position? It feels pretty weird right? Almost, a state ofactive confusion. “Is that her?.. Did he just look at, oh no he’s looking past me at her..I’m so sure this is where we said to meet, I’d better check.. 12.30 right?”.

If only we’d given each other some brief guidance about one another, perhaps what I’d be wearing, that I’m the tall guy, his hair colour or some sort of distinguishing feature.

Looking for the short older guy with the red feather in his hat would have helped me to relax, I would have known instantly when he came along and could have casually walked over and introduced myself.

Instead, I’m dead certain I had all the hallmarks of a shifty con artist, eyes darting around, hopeful yet simultaneously suspicious of anyone who came along.

I reckon this scenario is a great analogy for finding your ideal customer.

Even if you haven’t met them yet, if you don’t know who you’re looking for, how are you going to spot them in the crowd or know it’s them when they’re literally standing in front of you?

Likewise, your ideal customers are constantly looking for you. How will they know you’re the one, amongst the thousands of others passing by, if you don’t give them a sign?

To attract your ideal customer you really should be identifying not only who they are but develop an instinctive understanding of what they’re looking for. In my opinion, this step is too frequently overlooked by landscapers under the guise of a competitive market; I speak to too many business owners whose ideal client is basically anyone with a backyard and some cash to spend.

Ask the CEO of any hyper successful business and you’ll soon realise they’re able to describe their ideal customer in much greater detail; what they want, what they fear, what their hopes are, their biggest challenges, where they shop, the kinds of clothes they wear, places they hang out, how much money they’ve got and what they like spending it on.

In the context of running a residential landscape company, you should be able to describe your your ideal client (those wonderful people you wish you could work with on every project you ever do) in immense detail.

A brief exercise: Focus your attention for 60 seconds describe what it’s like to walk up their house. What kind of car is in the driveway? What’s the style of architecture of the house they chose? Why do they like that? When the door opens, what are they wearing today? Will they offer you a coffee or a beer? Is their dog well trained? Do they have a dog or do they have multiple cats (warning!)? Is the house lived in or clinically tidy? Do they have artwork or a huge plasma? How many kids have they got? How old are they? Does he call the shots or is she wearing the trousers? I think you get what I’m saying.

The reason this is important, no, crucial, is that by knowing who your ideal customer is, by putting yourself into their shoes so vividly, you can start to build signals into your business designed to attract the exact people you want to work with into absolutely everything you and your business says and does.

You’ll speak their language, appeal to their desires, their tastes, you’ll quickly console their fears. These signals will shine through in your logo, the appearance of your vehicles, the voice you use every time you write something on your website, the way you greet people, the way you deliver your projects, the way you thank them afterwards for the opportunity to work together.

Do this and your ideal customer will find you. You’ll recognise each other the instant you see each other, whether online or offline.

What’s more, every time you connect with an ideal customer, they start putting out the very same signals to others. They’ll help the people they know who are looking for someone just like you to see and recognise you too.

Knowing your ideal customer and integrating their values and their language into everything you do is key to cultivating a referral mindset, and at the core of a strong referral strategy.

Imagine you’re standing on that busy corner like I was, waiting for someone you’dnever met before. All of a sudden you see someone really familiar standing on the the opposite side pointing their finger right at you and telling the person next to them, “That’s him, right there!”


Simply send us a sketch of your ideas  and in just three days you’ll have it back as an awesome digital sales presentation with 3D fly-through, screenshots and a scaled plan that’s ready to print and present.

What’s more, we can build and host the entire presentation for you on it’s own web page featuring your logo and branding so you’ll look awesome and simply need to email your clients the link!

Sound interesting? Click the button below to see real customer samples now.