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Your landscape shouldn’t be boring, and neither should your next garden club meeting or professional seminar! Dave Marciniak’s presentations weave history, science, design theory, and a healthy dose of humor to make learning about all things landscaping fun.

PRESENTATIONS FOR HOMEOWNER & ENTHUSIAST GROUPS

Top 10 Landscaping Myths BUSTED

The gardening world is full of techniques and practices that really need to go away. In this talk, I identify and debunk 10 common misconceptions I hear from homeowners, contractors, and people who should know better.

 

Get out and play! Tips and projects to unplug your family

Stop looking at your phone! We’re all guilty, but getting the family outside is all about making it interesting and, dare we say, fun. We’ll discuss both fun projects to do as well as creating “magnet” stations that’ll keep drawing the kids (and you) outside.

 

What makes a great landscape design?

Good landscape design is much more than just drawing circles. As in any design discipline there are principles and elements of design that can turn a good landscape design into a great one. We’ll look at examples of each of these principles and elements and discuss how to work them into the home landscape.

 

PRESENTATIONS FOR TRADE GROUPS

 

Why won’t they say yes? Understanding what your landscape client wants

Isn’t it frustrating when you know that you’re the best fit for what a prospect wants to do and you just can’t seem to get traction in the sales process? As landscape designers we don’t live in the high pressure close world of Glen Garry Glen Ross where “coffee is for closers.” We’re here to act as trusted consultants to our clients – landscape Sherpas, if you will.

I’ll talk about some of the most common psychological principles that drive buyer behavior and how we can use them for good (not evil). We’ll then talk about understanding our market through creating detailed buyer personas.

For the last portion of the talk, we’ll open the floor to some fun sales role playing. It’s a terrific opportunity for newer designers to learn what to do when the inevitable difficult client pops up, and experienced designers love seeing what their peers might do differently.

People, not robots: business automation your clients will love

 

We have a gazillion tools at our disposal today. What we don’t have is more time. In this talk, I’ll walk you through the three main areas of your business that are ripe for automated processes:
Marketing (lead acquisition)
Sales (converting leads to clients)
Process and project management (making the client experience awesome)
Client Relationship Management (make them love you before, during, and well past the sale)
Some of these tools are costly, but many more are quite affordable. Some are even free! I’ll share how I’ve used these tools with success in my sales process, as well as what’s working for some of my consulting clients.

LEARN MORE

Is your group ready to have fun learning more about creating gorgeous landscapes? Contact Dave for details and to reserve your spot.

TESTIMONIALS

“We could hear your audience through the wall the whole hour. You guys were clearly having way more fun than us!” – someone who picked the wrong session, APLD 2015 national conference

It was a fun yet effective session framed in humor and strategic solutions to the real-world challenges our designers face every day.  It is always a pleasure working with you and I hope we work together again soon.” – Tony Harvin, George Washington University, College of Professional Studies