Image is Everything

When you and your employees are out in the field, it's important to look and act professional. Here are some guidelines to give your company the right image.

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"Looks matter. The bottom line is that your image—and that of your crew—will impact your bottom line," says T.J. Walker, a New York-based author and president of Media Training Worldwide. "It's not enough for you to look good. Your team has to also."

"A good appearance becomes a statement about how you run your business," says Dianne Daniels, a Norwich, Ct.-based image consultant. She admits that in some businesses, such as landscaping, staying neat isn't always easy. "It's tougher in jobs where you get dirty doing the work," she says. But the fact that dirt is involved lets a tidy crew stand out.

She adds that a good appearance implies a promise about the quality of the work. "When a crew that is neat shows up, that says that they will leave the job site tidy, too," she says. This just may be all the more important for landscapers because your work, fundamentally, is about image—it's about leaving a place looking sharper than it was." It's all the easier to stand out by following a few, simple concepts for shaping an appearance calculated to win and keep more customers.

Spend Smart
You don't have to break the bank to put forth a good image. The cost of uniforms is a concern that stops some landscapers from laying down a looking-good law for their crews, but know that a winning appearance can be low cost. Think about monochromatic T-shirts, denim pants with no holes or tears, identical work boots—all kept reasonably dirt free—and maybe baseball caps to finish the look. In cooler months, choose parkas all in the same color. While it's not an official uniform, it brings some of the benefits of a uniform (a consistent appearance on the part of all workers) but still allows workers to personalize their clothing choices.

Insist that the clothing fits. Clothes that are too baggy not only look sloppy, they can be dangerous. Clothes that are too snug—or no shirt at all—also should be forbidden.

Next hurdle: Neatness counts. Urge workers to keep their hair cut, beards trimmed, and clothes laundered and ironed.

If you sometimes pick up day laborers to supplement your work crews, Daniels suggests keeping a few T-shirts that match your crew's to help them blend in. Lend them T-shirts for the day, then launder them for the next wearer.

Is looking good worth all the hassle? "If you don't get this right the first time you interact with a customer, it's very hard to make it right later," says Susan Sommers, of New York-based DressZing. Let a crew show up looking bad just once and it's difficult to undo the damage, she says. Keep customers' confidence high by stressing to your workers that how they look will impact everybody's earnings.