The Surprising Skill That Will Set You Apart in Hardscaping: Making a Phone Call!
If you’re looking to break into the hardscaping industry, you might have been focused on learning the technical skills, such as how to lay pavers, build retaining walls, operate equipment, or studying materials or sales techniques.
But there’s one skill that could set you apart from other job candidates and make you incredibly valuable to potential employers from day one – the ability to pick up the phone and actually talk to people.
Why This Skill Makes You Instantly Valuable
According to Vanessa McQuade, a marketing expert who works extensively with landscape and hardscaping professionals, “It seems super basic. But that is a huge thing. People are scared of the phone.”
McQuade has access to extensive call tracking data across the hardscaping industry, and what she’s discovered should get your attention.
“One of the biggest things for landscapers and hardscapers is they’re not picking up their phone,” she said.
Business owners are literally losing money because they can’t or won’t handle incoming calls properly.
Even when many professionals do answer their phones, they can miss crucial opportunities.
“If they do pick it up, just answering with a really nice voice makes all the difference,” McQuade said.
That first interaction sets the tone for everything that follows.
Standing Out in the Hiring Process
As a marketer, when McQuade asks hardscaping professionals what makes them different from their competitors, she’s looking for unique selling points.
One response that doesn’t come up nearly often enough? “We pick up our phone.”
“It honestly, is a huge difference,” she says. “It can be a good way to stand out among the crowd.”
As a job seeker, you can use this same principle.
When you’re interviewing for hardscaping positions, most candidates will talk about their physical abilities, their willingness to work hard, or their basic knowledge of the industry.
But imagine being able to tell a potential employer, “I understand that phone communication is crucial to your business success. I’m comfortable speaking with customers, I can represent your company professionally, and I know that every call could be worth thousands of dollars to your bottom line.”
If you can position yourself as someone who understands these challenges and has the skills to help solve them, you become much more than just another hire.
How to Develop This Skill Now
Particularly for Gen Z job seekers, there has not been as much opportunity to practice making and receiving telephone calls. It’s no longer the main function of phones. While people can do basically anything on their phone, the default is texting or voice notes or online chats.
Before you even have a job in hardscaping, you can work on developing your phone communication skills by doing the following:
- Practice professional phone etiquette. Encourage friends or family to call you and work on answering calls with enthusiasm and clarity. Your greeting should immediately convey professionalism and helpfulness.
- Learn to ask good questions. Practice gathering information over the phone. You’ll need this if you need to ask about projects, timelines, and customer needs in your hardscaping role.
- Understand the business impact. Study how customer communication affects hardscaping business success so you can speak intelligently about it during interviews.
- Role-play customer scenarios. Practice handling different types of calls – initial inquiries, follow-ups, scheduling, and problem-solving – with friends, family members, or other job seekers.
Your comfort with this skill can be a game-changer. When you walk into an interview, you’re offering to solve a real business problem that’s costing hardscaping companies money every day.
Your technical skills will develop with experience, but your ability to communicate professionally with customers is something you can master right now. It might just be the skill that gets you hired!
