It may seem odd, bringing up a subject one could consider to be ‘marketing’, this early into the manual, but networking is about establishing yourself as soon as possible within your neighbourhood or region. I differentiate between Marketing and Public Relations , although I appreciate that some firms put PR & Marketing under the same job description.
Whilst I know many people do not like the idea of joining a Trade Association, as they do not want an ‘outsider poking about in my business’ and therefore do not wish to undergo the process of the necessary vetting procedure, bodies such as the APL welcome non-members at their non-business events (e.g. not committee meetings) and they really are the finest forum for meeting like-minded people. There is no subject that is taboo at these informal meetings. Discuss prices of materials, sources of products, problems with payments, types of equipment for specific projects – if you ask a question, you will get a sensible answer!
Trade Associations are one form of networking. Designers meet contractors, contractors meet suppliers, suppliers meet customers, and so the world goes round.
The Scrabble Network
(With due acknowledgement to the manufacturers of Scrabble)
I have a system, which I call the Scrabble Board. This is where a particular job has a beginning and end, but which forms the centre of a very much larger network of enquiries and contacts, which go on to form other enquiries and contacts ad infinitum.
Visualise a Scrabble board. The job is placed at the centre of the board, and various ‘incidents’ or ‘tentacles’ grow from that central job, going out to the left and right and up and down, in the same manner as the board game (except that you do not need to match letters). Another analogy could perhaps be a ‘Family Tree’ type diagram, but these tend to start out with ‘the great, great grandparents, great grandparents etc, i.e. from top to bottom, spreading sideways. As my Scrabble board goes in all four directions, I prefer my system, but you get the idea.
The Rectory Pillar
This particular project was very interesting to me personally. The garden in question is that shown on the front cover of the manual. I was introduced to the owners by a local florist, who recommended me to transplant some shrubs and herbaceous from their old garden and store them until their new garden was built in Petworth. This recommendation led to me designing and building that new garden, situated in the rear of an old Rectory property, as a complete project. 38
I suppose you could argue that the garden should be at the middle of my Scrabble board – even that the original contact from the florist started the whole game off, but I prefer my pillar as it was the beginning of a wide network as we will see.
The pillar was one of a pair, leading from the public highway, alongside the Catholic Church and into the old Rectory house. It had been badly damaged over the years, with many chips and dents in the stonework. On the site of the rebuilt pillar was a holly tree, some 45cm at the base, which was pushing the pillar to the left thereby narrowing the gap to the driveway. My job was to dismantle the pillar and rebuild it. Accordingly, I ‘boxed’ the pier cap with timber, bolted together to protect the ornate stonework. This ‘box’ was carefully lifted off by the local Builders Merchant who owned a crane lorry. This merchant proved to be the first Scrabble word. Shall we start off the game by going downwards. The merchant had no idea that I, a landscaper, was capable of such work, thinking it could only be carried out by a builder. The merchant duly recommended me for many years after that day for similar works involving rebuilding stone walls and repairing old farm buildings.
I carefully removed the holly tree – next Scrabble word being the local Council tree officer, who I invited along to ensure that he was happy with the work (permission had already been given to the owner). He also, was surprised to see a landscaper handling such work, and he too has recommended me for other delicate tree projects. Let’s keep him going downwards on the board!
The pillar was dismantled stage by stage, lift by lift. You will note that the sections are of different heights. The foundations were laid, and a new base formed using shuttering. The base plinth is formed in concrete, finished in stone dust to appear as stone. Each section was rebuilt using only the materials from that section, re-orientated to offer the neatest corners facing outwards. The pier cap was duly replaced by the builders merchant and the project completed.
During that rebuilding, which took a week as each section had to harden before the next was laid, I asked the priest for contact details of the church architect. (Every church has their ‘own’ approved firm of architects, often small companies, as each building must be inspected, by law, on a regular basis.) It so happened that particular church building was about to celebrate its centenary, and was also due for an inspection.
The architect arrived, and thanked me for inviting him along (it was very close to the church wall), and before I knew it, I was tendering for works on the church building, together with designing and planting a centenary rose garden (all roses available at least 100 years ago), and rebuilding a very large retaining wall to the priest’s house attached to the church! How many Scrabble words is that worth? (Let’s go upwards with those.)
The owner’s personal architect, a local man running a small company, was also duly impressed, and invited me to tender for several excellent projects, including piers, walling and paving, all of which I secured. I even wound up building a York stone fireplace for one of his clients. The Scrabble board words are now travelling to the left.
At the time of the job, I was on the RHS Chelsea Gardens Panel, which sets up the Show Garden aspect of the event. During one of these committee meetings, the subject of widening the main gates at Chelsea Royal Hospital – the Chelsea Garden Show showground – was raised as each year more and more damage was caused by ever larger continental lorries.
I proposed that ‘my’ architect be charged with producing drawings to be shown to The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for their approval. ‘My’ architect was a fantastically skilled artist, and his drawings alone would enthuse anyone. He was duly introduced and won that design contract. Even more words on the board, I’ve lost track of where I’m heading!
I realise this is a convoluted process, and I hope you’ve followed the trail. One basic element to all these Scrabble words, which earned me well over £250k, is that I instigated all of them. I made all of the contacts, having identified a potential network of business and business contacts, or reinforced my ‘street cred’ with others. The one little pillar project, original job value under £2,000 became a quarter of a million pounds worth of work.
Local Networking
Another form of networking involves you and your friends and colleagues in the area. It does not matter if you are in an ‘official’ association or society. Plenty of designers and contractors meet up on an informal basis. Some even form their own gatherings, perhaps under a banner: ‘Surrey Garden Design Group’ or ‘South Ridings Landscapers’ or whatever informal name you choose. Invariably, someone will be in charge, even if only to book a meal or meeting room.
Why not extend that network and make sales at the same time? A number of you could get together – designers and/or contractors, all of whom are respected by their peers – and book an afternoon in a pretty village hall or church hall in a town or city and hold an Open Day, perhaps including a forum or speaker.
I suggest that you do not give yourself a title as such, but present the day as a Garden Design and Advice Forum when leafleting or putting up posters in the area. This general format will enable you to increase the attractions of the event to suit your target audience.
Half a dozen or more (not too many – it can dilute the message) individuals could get together to hold a Garden Design Show, or The Garden Builders Show. Make sure the event sounds friendly to the public.
Each person has an agreed space, and takes along enough items to portray a ‘drawing office’ and display boards showing examples of their work, in much the same way as the design tent at Hampton Court. An open area or group of seats could be set up for a short talk on a particular aspect of gardening, pertinent to your region, e.g. seaside gardening, gardening on chalk or small town gardens. Something catchy!
Get in touch with your local newspaper editor and invite him/her to attend. They will be sure to send along a reporter to sit in on the meeting. Invite the chairman and secretary of other local groups, especially horticultural societies and other targeted groups. (Did you know that there is, for example, a club for American women in Surrey? Also one in Berkshire?) These members are all potential high spenders. You really do not know what you will achieve at these gatherings.
If you live in an area of high density new builds, with a lot of potential design and build work, arrange a leaflet drop – the more selective you are, the better. A small group, acting in a co-ordinated manner could cover a wide area quickly.
Perhaps add another incentive – mulled wine and mince pies, or iced tea and cream cakes, to create the right ambience.
A suggestion – if you charge a small fee, perhaps £5.00 per person, in advance, all proceeds to a local charity, you will both add perceived value to your event and gain a commitment from people to attend.
Even if you do not set the world alight with your first meeting, in any event, make another date for three months hence. This will give the newspapers a chance to cover your last event and publicise the next one without any cost to you. It also gives those who did attend an opportunity to come next time, or to come again for another session. Send a report of the meeting to your local parish magazine editor.
Try holding a question time with a mixed panel – designer, plants-person and a landscaper. A half hour session, timed to avoid parents from rushing off to collect their schoolchildren, is always a lively fun event. Another networking opportunity is to invite a local supplier of specimen shrubs to bring along a few plants to add to the atmosphere of the day, and get them to leave some of their leaflets with you.
There will be other examples of networking opportunities in the chapters on Marketing and Public Relations, and with a little imagination and a willingness to talk openly with your peers, bouncing ideas off each other, never being jealous or protective of your brainwaves, most of which you could never achieve on your own anyway, you will find that you are being sought for your talents.
I hear so much negativity in this world. I confess to getting quite cross with the doom merchants and voices of doom. If you listened to some pundits, or read some of the rubbish on the electronic media, you would not get out of bed!
My war cry has always been ‘The answer’s ‘YES!’ – What’s the question?’ Think positively. I reiterate my comments about retaining information about past contacts and information. These business cards, email addresses and telephone numbers are absolutely invaluable when planning your next networking campaign!