The feature article in the Weekend Journal section of the WSJ this last Friday is entitled, "Growing Celebrity". The gist of the article is that US homeowners are spending a lot more on their yards, gardens and landscaping these days. The National Gardening Association reports that in 2004, consumers spent $38.4 billion, up from $30.2 billion in 1999.
The piece begins with an anecdote about Jim Clark, the founder of Netscape, who was looking for a landscape architect for his new six-acre estate in Palm Beach. The total bill for this project ended up exceeding $2 million. Top landscape architects charge $15,000 for a blueprint and $250 per hour.
The downside to networking/prospecting this group now is that they are just entering their busy season. Most contractors of any industry are notoriously difficult to reach during spring/summer...and landscape architects can be among the busiest.
However, here are a number of resources for the financial advisor who wants to begin a networking campaign within these industries:
- The National Gardening Association is a good place to start. They have a Buyers Guide too, although it is not very comprehensive.
- TheAmerican Nursery and Landscape Association is the national association for the nursery industry. The website has a pretty good member directory, where you will find listings of the nurseries in your area. American Nurseryman is one of the trade journals that serves the industry, and provides an overview of some of the topics of general concern.
- The American Society of Landscape Architects is the national association for landscape architects. The online member directory is a good one, and the magazine, "Landscape Architecture" can be accessed from the site. The Dirt is the Landscape Architecture News Digest, and is a great site for interesting daily nuggets and comings/goings in the industry. By the way, April is National Landscape Architecture Month.
One final point, industries like landscape architects are good places to form Strategic Alliances. With a Strategic Alliance the advisor forms a bilateral referring relationship with another referring source (CPA, attorney, landscape architect, etc.). The advisor positions themselves, in the eyes of the landscape architect, as someone whose clients parallel the clients of the architect. Strategic Alliances are best formed when the advisor is prepared to "give" a referral before they "get" one.
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