Looking for the Right client and the Right property to perform the art of landscape lighting

21 Mar Looking for the Right client and the Right property to perform the art of landscape lighting

By Mike Gambino

The client is always right. Except when they are wrong.

Traditional business models tell us that to succeed in our chosen field, we need to cater to the client and do what they like. To a point, this is true. You won’t have much success as a bartender if you refuse to mix drinks for your customers.

Yet in the new social media economy, who you choose to do business with is as important as what you choose to do.

Not everyone should be our client, and learning to turn down potential business can be worry some and seem counter-intuitive. Creating a business that truly inspires my creative abilities depends on doing just that, however, and it starts with knowing our true value in the marketplace.

For me, the attitude shift began at the end of a particularly challenging project. The homeowner was beyond thrilled with the results. As he happily wrote me the final check, he turned to me and said, “You know, you could have charged me 50 percent more for this project and I would have paid it, no question.”

I was stunned.

I thought about what he said on the drive home and realized I had been undervaluing my work, charging what I thought the average property owner would want to pay. Clearly, I was worth much more than I thought; having this pointed out to me by one of my own clients was a light bulb moment if you would pardon the pun.

People were not just buying just my landscape lighting system building skills; they weren’t just buying the fixtures and the transformers and the LED’s and the Controller. They were buying my art and my creativity, the part of the business that feeds my soul and keeps me getting out of bed every morning at 4:30 AM and digging through the soil day after day.

And then it hit me: I didn’t want to work for the average property owner. My work, and especially my prices, would not appeal to them, and that’s totally okay. I’m not looking to be everything to everybody.

My ideal client, I realized, would be the property owner who wants something out of the ordinary, something that could even be considered “magic,” and is willing to give me the artistic leeway to create that vision.

That’s not to say that the client doesn’t have a say in the final outcome; that would be ridiculous. We agree on rough plans and ideas. The leeway I’m talking about is a freedom to modify the plans as inspiration strikes, to choose the right effect for the twisted Pine tree without the client having to obsess over every detail, the ability to deviate from the plan when the inspiration strikes.

With this shift came the understanding that we had to move from the “I’ll take on any project” mentality to being highly selective in who we work with. This did not come easy; turning down someone who is waving money around can seem like a crazy move.

Saying no is a choice, and it’s a decision we don’t take lightly.

How do we decide? Sometimes you just know, so it can be hard to define. Still, if I had to break it down, it comes down to three characteristics:

• Being the right client,
• With the right attitude
• And the right energy.

For me the “right” client is someone who has at least a five figure budget for the entire project and is not afraid to use it to get the end result he wants. They must have a suitable property on which the project will “display” and be looking for something that will add lasting value to that property.

The right attitude means that they recognize the artistry and spontaneity that goes into one of our projects and respect the creative process. They have a basic idea of the kind of environment they want at night and are looking to us to materialize that idea far beyond anything they could have imagined.

Finally, the right energy is key. They should be positive, flexible, trusting and confident in our abilities. The right client is not hung up on the minutia of the day-to-day build but relaxed and accepting that, like any work of art, plans change, things evolve, stuff happens and they are willing to flow with that.

When we meet potential clients with this combination, magic happens from the start and we quickly know whether or not we want to work with them, and they with us, which is really just as important.

If the magic isn’t there, or if something just feels off, we politely but firmly decline. The wrong clients have tried to cajole us and bully us to provide a quote, but if we don’t feel the situation will be successful, why waste everyone’s time?

It’s taken us many years to get to this point, partly because you must hone your craft and know what you’re doing before you can afford to take this approach. Still, if I knew then what I know now, I would have said “no” much more often. For us, it has been a game changer and has brought us some amazing people to work with and stunning results when their project is done. These are what we call our A-list clients.

This landscape lighting blog is published by Mike Gambino of Gambino landscape lighting inc. all rights reserved. Mike is a professional landscape lighting system designer/ builder and has been designing, installing and maintaining landscape lighting systems for more than 20 years. Mike resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 sons. To visit his website go to www.gambinolighting.com . To inquire about hiring Mike please click here .

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