The Edge March/April/May 2026

BOOSTING YOUR BUSINESS

Selling Smarter: How Enhancements Can Drive Growth and Retention

By Jill Odom

SELLING ENHANCEMENT WORK isn’t a way to nickel-and-dime your client base; rather, it can serve as a core growth engine that strengthens your customer relationships when approached as a proactive partnership. Tyner Tew, vice president of sales for Bland Landscaping Company, based in Apex, North Carolina, says they’ve sold enhancements since the start of the business 50 years ago, but over the last 10 years, it’s become more of a focus for them. “It helps with growth from a revenue standpoint, and then it also helps us with providing more opportunities for our team to grow within our company as well,”Tew says. WHY YOU SHOULDN’T IGNORE ENHANCEMENTS Brook Haygood, national director of sales for Visterra Landscape Group, based in Rosemont, Illinois, says one major advantage of enhancement work is that it tends to have higher margins than maintenance contracts. “It also is a great way for us to give our field employees more hours because we’re doing higher margin work, but we can pay them on overtime because of that higher margin work,” Haygood says. Clare Munie, a national account man ager with Munie Greencare Professionals, based in Caseyville, Illinois, says by pro viding solutions to clients via enhance ments, they are able to build a portfolio of interesting projects, proven solutions, and happy customers. “We are the experts on grounds – that’s why they hire us,” Munie says. “So, when we can be proactive in solutions, provide solutions to large pain points, or to enhance their property, we are building trust. Our goal is to make our property managers look good. We understand what the little details mean to their brand. An erosion problem that is causing safety and visual eyesores for the customer could turn into a beautiful, tiered retaining wall with an eye-catch

Tew says occasionally, when they take on new business, one complaint they hear is how their previous landscape provider never communicated any rec ommendations to improve their site.

ing assortment of shrubs and perennials.” Montana Barrow, an account manager with Pacific Landscape Management, based in Hillsboro, Oregon, says en hancement work makes up a huge share of their business and they rely on it for growth. She says additionally, by solving problems for their customers, they are able to add another layer of trust to the relationship. “It can also be about beautifying the property, making it look better, which makes them look better as well,” Barrow says. “So I definitely think it adds value there to the relationship.” Haygood agrees that selling enhance ment work is one of the biggest relation ship builders for their customer base. He says project managers particularly appreciate being notified proactively of issues that need to be addressed on the property. “The last thing you want to do is when they’re doing a walkthrough with an owner, and then they discover those issues,” Haygood says.

STANDARDIZING SELLING ENHANCEMENTS

To ensure enhancements aren’t random one-offs, you need to determine which clients you want to focus on, when to propose enhancements, and who is responsible for selling them. Haygood says it’s best to propose enhancements to every client, especially safety-related issues. “I’ve had just as much penetration rate on C properties as I’ve had on A properties,” Haygood says. “It depends on the relationship of the property manager. And are you really providing a solution if you’re just constantly just saying, ‘Hey, let’s do this, let’s do that,’ and there’s really no solution behind it or no problem to begin with? It’s really a waste of everyone’s time.”

This proposed enhancement pictured was sold by Visterra’s first-ever Midwest in tern Tucker Thompson. Photo: Visterra Landscape Group

32 The Edge // March/April/May 2026