There’s a reason why word of mouth is one of the most common ways lawn and landscape companies get new business. While your traditional marketing efforts can convey what sets your business apart, it is often the recommendation from peers that converts leads into customers.
“In or outside of the industry, a company is going to tell you they’re the best – nothing less – whether that’s true or not,” says Nicole Marsiglia, director of marketing for Borst Landscape & Design, based in Allendale, New Jersey. “A trusted friend or neighbor is going to tell you their truth, no strings attached.”
Earning Referrals
If you want to boost the number of referrals your company receives, you have to first give your clients the best experience possible.
“It’s all about reputation,” says Tim Hawkins, branch manager of Brookstone Landscape & Design, a Sperber company, based in Kirkland, Washington. “If we have a reputation for following through on commitments, doing what we say we’re going to do, delivering on intense deadlines and important things for the clients, it means more to that client. We are going to do whatever is necessary to make sure that the client’s needs are taken care of.”
Hawkins says putting the customer’s interests and needs first should be at the forefront of your business.
“You have to earn that trust, earn that loyalty, earn that respect and earn that referral, and you don’t earn that by showing up and just checking the boxes with the current contract,” Hawkins says. “You earn it by going the extra mile and doing the little extra things that a lot of people would say, ‘That’s not my job.’”
When your clients understand that you have their back and consistently go the extra mile, they will be far more likely to recommend your business to others as well.
Hawkins adds being transparent and setting realistic expectations is another driver behind their strong internal customer referral base.
“They know what they’re going to get with us,” Hawkins says. “They know that we’re professional. They know that we are the same size as any other big company out there. What a lot of other companies don’t have is the ability to handhold and care for the customers the way we can. That’s what drives those referrals. They know if they call Brookstone, they’re going to get taken care of. Their needs will be met, and they’re going to look good in front of their customers.”
Also, don’t be afraid to ask clients for a positive review after a job well done. Jeff Rossen, CEO of Rossen Landscape, based in Great Falls, Virginia, says they send out a request to leave a review as a matter of process after finishing every job.
“If we know that this client is overly happy, we immediately ask them for a Google review, or they’ll provide us feedback unprompted, and we’ll just say, ‘Hey, can you copy and paste that into a Google review?’”
Marsiglia agrees if the timing is right and the client is happy, just ask clients to share their positive experience with your business.
“If we get a compliment from a customer, we ask if they wouldn’t mind taking the time to share the review online,” Marsiglia says.
Methods to Incentivize Client Advocacy
Beyond simply asking for reviews in the moment, another way to encourage word of mouth is to develop incentive programs.
Borst has a client referral program that has evolved over the years. Marsiglia says their team will periodically evaluate it to see how they can improve it for their loyal clients.
“If a client refers us a new lead, and that new lead signs a contract with Borst, our client – the referrer – gets a monetary credit towards their next invoice,” Marsiglia says. “With every five referrals, that monetary bonus increases. There isn’t a limit! The more you refer, the more you earn.”
Rossen says they will occasionally run social media promotions with other local brands, such as a restaurant, where if they like Rossen Landscape’s Facebook page and share the post with someone else, they’ll be entered for a drawing to win a $200 gift card for the restaurant and a Japanese maple.
Hawkins says while they don’t have a formal loyalty program in place, they do make a point to adapt to customer needs if budgets are tight. For instance, one customer’s upcoming project needs to start in October, but their budget can’t be billed until January.
“They’ve been worried that we’re not going to be able to kick this project off,” Hawkins says. “Instead, we’re going to do journal entries internally, and then we’ll bill you come January 1 for what we’ve done for the past couple of months. That broke the tension for everybody, and it showed them, ‘Look, let’s roll our sleeves up, but let’s work on a solution together. Let’s figure this out where it works for both parties.’”
You can also consider hosting customer appreciation events. Hawkins says this is something he’ll start doing with their top customers in 2026.
“I think starting with an activity, an event that encourages and promotes the things that they’re doing, and isn’t a pushy, ‘Hey, give us more opportunities and leads.’ It’s a ‘We just want to say thank you,’” Hawkins says. “Let’s go to a baseball game, or let’s go to dinner or some other type of event that just gives them and us the opportunity to just hang, talk, get to know each other, and they walk away knowing that we are genuinely appreciative of them and what they do for us.”
Marsiglia says they hosted their first client appreciation event in recent years this past summer and it was a success.
“Our clients graciously let us co-host a ‘summer fling’ gathering at their home with their friends, neighbors, and our landscape team,” she says. “Our team designed, installed, and now maintain the property, so it was incredible to spend time in the beautiful space we created. There was a private chef/caterer, live acoustic music, and a bartender – it was a night to enjoy their outdoor living space and say ‘thank you’ for their business, referrals, and overall loyalty.”
Rossen says they have been hosting client appreciation events for the past 10 years. They hold two events during the year. One is a concert they sponsor and hold an open house at their design studio, and the other one rotates as a wine tasting or a potting workshop.
Rossen’s clients are encouraged to bring guests with them to these events. He says these events allow them to build relationships with their customers and make clients more likely to want to refer the company.
All of these different practices can inspire loyalty and continued referrals with your customer base. Marsiglia says you shouldn’t worry about whether offering a reward will impact the authenticity of a client’s word of mouth.
“From the client’s perspective, I don’t think it’s natural to recommend a company or service you don’t believe in, specifically when it’s one that comes at a higher price, such as recurring maintenance or design/build services,” Marsiglia says.
Measuring the Effectiveness Your Advocacy Marketing
No matter what methods you choose to implement to encourage more referrals, it’s important to understand your current percentage of business that comes from word of mouth. This way, you can accurately gauge what’s working and take note if referrals suddenly drop off.
Hawkins says for the first eight years of his business, 100 percent of his leads came from word of mouth.
“That’s how we built our book of business,” Hawkins says. “We did a really good job for a client and then they suddenly refer us to their friends or we’re asking, ‘Hey, do you know of anybody else who could benefit from our services?’ but really, we let our work do our speaking for us. Just recently, we’ve had to branch out a little bit and try to establish additional relationships because of the growth that we’ve had over the past few years.”
Rossen estimates about 30% of their business is from referrals. Marsiglia says they track everything in their CRM. From January to October 2025, 23% of their leads have come from word of mouth. She notes knowing exactly where your leads are coming from is not always black and white, so this percentage could be higher.
“If they don’t tell us naturally, we make sure to ask, ‘How did you hear about us?’ when we’re on the phone,” Marsiglia says. “If it’s a referral, they will let us know the name of their friend, family, or neighbor that has used or still uses our services.”
All three companies say they have repeat referrers, but most of their referrals come from a wide variety of customers. At the end of the day, it all comes back to giving clients an experience they want to tell others about.
“It doesn’t matter to me if you spend a million dollars a year or if you spend $10,000 a year, I am looking for long-term relationships and people who want to invest in us because we want to invest in them,” Hawkins says. “What we’ve seen is that as we’ve done that, as we focused on all of our clients and tried to treat them that way we’ve developed very solid relationships. We have customers that come to us for everything. They oftentimes will come to us and say, ‘Hey, what do you think of this? What are your thoughts?’ It gives us the opportunity to not only collaborate with them, but also be a partner and be a trusted ally and a friend, and that’s been a game changer for us.”
This article was published in the January/February issue of the magazine. To read more stories from The Edge magazine, click here to subscribe to the digital edition.
