How we helped Earthscape Landscapes grow to a $10 Million Annual Revenue Company

Andrew Jackson:
Okay. So firstly, introduce yourself and your company and services.

Sam Bauman:
Sure. My name’s Sam Bauman. I am the CEO of Earthscape. We’re a landscape design, build and maintenance firm based out of Elmira and an operation in Toronto. We’ve been in business for about 17 years and we’re just going to hit the 10 million mark this year for revenues. And yeah, every year is sweeter than the last.

Andrew Jackson:
I like it. Congratulations. You’ve got a lot of pedigree that you’ve developed over the years and that’s a big milestone: 10 million.

Sam Bauman:
Yeah.

Andrew Jackson:
Are you going to do something to celebrate?

Sam Bauman:
I haven’t thought that far yet. We have to do it first and then we can plan on a celebration. But we had a big celebration last year with a profit goal that we had.

Andrew Jackson:
Nice.

Sam Bauman:
We try to celebrate, even if we’re not hitting our goals. So we’re going to a Blue Jay’s game and we went tubing together. So we try to work hard and play hard together.

Andrew Jackson:
Yeah. I love your company culture and it comes across in your videos and your website and the people that we’ve interacted with. You obviously have got an awesome company there.

Sam Bauman:
Thank you.

Andrew Jackson:
How did you get involved with North Shore Digital?

Sam Bauman:
I believe North Shore Digital sent an email and it ended up in my email box. So I responded and the rest, as they say, is history. So it was a program that intrigued me. I know we’ve tried Google ads a couple times with ad hoc programs that we did in-house and they weren’t generating quality leads. We actually gave up on it. But after talking with a few other members in a peer group I’m heavily involved in, some of them have had great success with it. So I knew I needed to take one more kick of the can. And so you were the can that we kicked.

Andrew Jackson:
Well, a lovely can, I hope we are. Were there other aspects of online marketing that you were looking for help with or was it purely lead generation and generating more revenues?

Sam Bauman:
Yeah. I think that was about it. We have a maintenance division that we’re really trying to grow and we didn’t have other really great avenues on how to get more leads and get more revenues from that. So Google ads was kind of the next step and yeah, it’s actually been… We are really happy with the results. Our revenues from Google as a lead source are up 300% year over year. So last year we were just doing it, like I said, ad hoc. We actually weren’t even doing any Google ads. It was just organic searches. And so we’re about 300% up this year. And we’re just kind of getting started, because we’ve only been on board with you guys for about six months. And I know that it’s not like you just flip a switch and things happen. So I’m excited where it’ll take us in the next couple years.

Andrew Jackson:
Cool. So in terms of number of inquiries and revenues, what did that look like last year as a rough estimate?

Sam Bauman:
Last year, I believe year end, we only got about half a million dollars from Google as the lead source. So that would be Google ads and organic searches. This year, we’re going to end up between 1.5 and 2 million, it looks like.

Andrew Jackson:
That’s great.

Sam Bauman:
Yeah.

Andrew Jackson:
And like you mentioned before, it’s not really the number of inquiries, it’s the quality and whether they’re the right fit for you. So that’s been obviously part of the process, learning what that fit is and getting better at that as we go.

Sam Bauman:
Yeah. And you guys were actually, North Shore was really helpful with even the pre-qualification process. So it’s not something we were necessarily expecting from your team, but you were able to help us change some questions and make some revisions to how we were prequalifying clients. Because that’s the other thing is when you start paying for ads and adjusting your SEO, you’re going to have a larger volume of leads coming in. So that was something that always kind of scared me is like, ut oh, I don’t want to have more leads because then we have to prequalify. And if we’re not prequalifying right, we’re just going to have a bunch of bad leads in our pipeline that we have to deal with.

So you guys were able to help with that. And it actually hasn’t been… I think we’re at about 900 leads now from you guys just since February. And that to me is a scary number, but it’s not like we actually have to visit 900 clients. We’re able to pre-qualify a lot of them and not even meet a good portion that weren’t a good fit. So it actually it hasn’t bogged down our sales team by adding that volume to our pipeline.

Andrew Jackson:
Yeah. That’s great. Sometimes when you shine a spotlight, you’ve got to be ready for it. Yeah.

Sam Bauman:
Sure.

Andrew Jackson:
How has this impacted on your business and you personally?

Sam Bauman:
Well obviously the business, like I talked about the numbers, we’re getting more work. So that’s good because we’re a company that wants to grow. And so that’s given us more leads, which has turned into more work, which hopefully generates more profit. And so that’s how it’s impacted the business. Me personally, I would say, it’s taken a weight off my shoulders knowing that I’ve got a company I can work with and trust. And you guys are carrying some of the burden now for generating leads instead of it just being on me or the design team. So it’s like we brought in a specialized subcontractor and you guys have made us look smarter. Personally my life has gotten easier and the results have gotten better. So it’s like a win, win. You can make your life easier and it might not get better, but here it was easier and better.

Andrew Jackson:
What can we do to improve? How do we make results get better for you and have more of an impact?

Sam Bauman:
I think North Shore is very data driven. So you’re able to have lots of data and then also be able to translate it to simple landscaper like me. And then with that data, we can make informed decisions. Does that answer your question?

Andrew Jackson:

Yeah. That’s great. And then final one. If someone was considering working with us, what would you say?

Sam Bauman:
I’d say talk to them. You guys are very easy to work with and it’s not like you’re a one employee company. I think I’ve talked to four or five of your other co-workers. So you’re very team focused, but also a team of smart people. So if I get five people from a marketing company that all have different skill sets, it just automatically makes us a lot smarter. So I would strongly recommend working with you guys as a good Canadian based company and you’re starting to really understand our market as well.

Andrew Jackson:
Thanks really appreciate it, Sam. And I look forward to continued success and really appreciate your feedback and kind words. Awesome. Onwards and upwards.

Sam Bauman:
You got it. You’re welcome.