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Fetch-A-Sketch - Perspective Drawings, Construction Plans, Design concepts & sketches for landscapes, pools, spas, outdoor kitchens & BBQ's, ponds, waterfalls, frontyards, backyards, patio covers, woodwork & Iron works.
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Picture Perfect: How to Use Perspective Drawings
to Increase Sales
One of the biggest challenges landscape professionals face is in creating presentations that are powerful enough to convince clients to take the next step. The ideas you have for a property might be truly spectacular. But unless your clients can actually visualize themselves in that beautiful new landscape, your plans could be dead in the water.
Fetch-A-Sketch can help. You can use the high quality, perspective drawings available through Fetch-A-Sketch to enhance your portfolio, create winning presentations, and boost sales. Here are some tips for getting started.
Why should I use perspective drawings?
Sales: The secret of successful sales in pool and landscape design is to effectively communicate the concept to the client. You need the client to dream with you and to see themselves in the landscape you envision for them.
One of the best ways to do this is through perspective drawings. Clients often need a little help to visualize a plan accurately. When you show them a flat plan or a top down view, sometimes they simply cant see it. But with perspectives they can really put themselves into the picture. They can see themselves relaxing in their spa or sitting around the fire and truly enjoying a new lifestyle.
Image: High quality drawings can significantly enhance the professional image of your company. Clients appreciate a high-end presentation. It is a sign that you respect their time and will put that same respect into their property. Perspective drawings make it easier to gain project approval from other key stakeholders as well. For example, when homeowners associations are presented with perspective drawings, they tend to accept a project more readily because they have a much better sense of how good it will look.
Excellence: Good drawings are also an important tool for ensuring quality. During construction, perspectives serve as a visual model for everyone involved in the project. Although workers will always need to refer to the working drawings for complete specifications, having perspectives available will give everyone a sense of what your finished product should look like. This helps ensure a consistent concept from design through completion.
Perspective drawings can also reduce expensive changes during the project by giving your client a clear understanding of the outcome they can expect. This helps make the project a positive experience for both client and contractor.
How Do I Get Started?
Build a portfolio: You can start by choosing a collection of drawings that illustrate the kind of work your company can provide. Browse Fetch-A-Sketch to find drawings geared toward the work you want to do in styles that suit your own taste and the taste and of the communities you serve. You can then download them in a variety of sizes, in either black-and-white or color, to fit your current needs. During your initial sales call, this instant portfolio will give you and the client visual tools to help spark discussion. It will also set a polished, professional for the meeting, ensuring a solid first impression.
Prepare Winning Presentations: While initial sketches and a professional portfolio immediately begin to attract clients, itıs in the actual sales presentation that bold, beautiful perspectives will really capture their imagination. The point here is to get your client into your vision. Show them the Fetch-A-Sketch drawings and ask, Can you picture yourself here? They need to see themselves vacationing in their backyard and swimming in that pool. They need to feel a part of that drawing.
Even when clients are obviously excited about a plan, it is natural for some to be hesitant about this big decision. Perspective drawings can help give clients a chance to fall in love with their new plan and to develop a sense of ownership of their proposed new landscape. This can be a very powerful motivator.
You may want to let clients take a design home for a day or two to think about it and let it meet the family. This gives everyone a chance to imagine what it will be like to enjoy their new space. We all know what happens when you try to decide on a new puppy by taking it home on a trial basis. This approach has the same effect.
Make sure to explain to your client that the loan is temporary and that the plan is yours, not theirs to sell or give away to another contractor. If you have chosen your designs carefully, the plan will return soon along with an eager client asking, When can we start?
What size drawings are best?
This depends on what you are using your images for. For your base portfolio, smaller images are portable and economical. A portfolio can be as simple as two dozen drawings in various sizes that represent pools, spas, barbeques, ponds, and other features you want to highlight. These can be easily carried to initial visits and presented as needed. Images can be rotated in or out depending on the specific interests of each client.
To get the most power from your perspectives during the sales presentation, though, bigger is always better. One or two full-size posters professionally mounted on foam board will make a very compelling case. The larger the drawing, the easier it is for clients to fall into the picture. The bigger the project, the bigger the drawings need to be. Large drawings can be supplemented with smaller ones to highlight particular features and round out the presentation.
Is it best to use full-color?
Color does have a very powerful impact, but there are some cases where black-and-white can actually be a better choice. During an initial presentation, you may want to use black-and-white drawings, especially if you are still discovering a clientıs taste and style. This gives clients a visual frame of reference without committing to a specific color or theme one that could turn them off. You can then doctor the drawings as you learn more about your clients likes and dislikes.
When you are doing a final presentation and you have a solid sense of what the client likes, nothing is more captivating then color. At this point it pays to make the extra investment in large, full-color drawings.
Wouldn't photos be more effective?
While photos have a place, many designers prefer to emphasize perspective drawings for a variety of reasons. Drawings are meant to be conceptual and they offer more license in how the finished project will look. They give the designer a chance to wow the client now and the freedom to tweak details later. Drawings can also work better for conveying ideas. Sometimes clients can be so distracted by poor photography, bad lighting, and other details that they miss the big picture. Photos are also of work that has been done before and generally has less appeal to clients. Finally, drawings simply have more eye appeal for most people. They have the ability to speak to clients emotionally as well as visually.
Will the images fit the space I am designing for?
Again, perspective images are designed to convey concepts, not concrete details. They may convey an attractive fireplace style, an interesting pool shape, or a fun layout for a family play-space. These concepts are generic enough to suit a variety of settings but are specific enough to give clients a clear understanding of the features and style you have in mind for their property. Once the client agrees to an overall design, the contractor can determine the exact specifications to fit the space allowed and match the client's exact style preferences.
When it comes to front yard design, matching and highlighting the home becomes more of a concern and it is helpful for concepts to more closely resemble the home you have to work with. But front yard perspectives can still be effective in rounding out your idea portfolio and illustrating the effects of certain plantings and hardscapes.
How Can I Be Sure of Design Quality?
Because Fetch-A-Sketch only includes drawings that have been pre-screened for quality, users can be sure that the plans they choose are among the best in the industry. Many Fetch-A-Sketch designers have earned regional and national awards for their work and all have earned a reputation for delivering designs with high performance and high style.
Gorgeous, skillfully drawn perspective images representing the best in outdoor design can help take your company to a new level. They can allow you to create stunning outdoor environments and help you create successful, beautiful, and well-executed projects from the initial design stages right up through the completed installation. Take the time to browse Fetch-A-Sketch to learn more about what it can do for you.
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