When you’re the president of a thriving full-service landscape and design company, there’s a lot of pressure on you to serve your high-end residential and commercial customers well. What you don’t need is high-pressure salespeople contacting you daily. Stetson Hickman, Vermeer Texas-Louisiana sales rep, knows this so he employed his laid-back, friendly approach when meeting Matt Knick, president and founder of Willowgrove Landscape of Covington, Louisiana. Over just a few short months, Hickman, Knick and Knick’s landscape and design team have forged a rock-solid business relationship as well as a friendship.
Knick has been in the industry for more than 15 years and founded Willowgrove Landscape in the spring of 2017. Late last summer, Hickman introduced himself to Knick and asked if there was any help he could offer as an equipment specialist in the tree care and landscape space. Knick talked to Hickman, but he was pretty satisfied with his current equipment fleet that included many of Vermeer’s direct competitors. He told Stetson he really needed to sell one machine before he could take on any other major investments. Hickman responded respectfully, and he periodically checked in with Knick.
Knick noted, “Stetson wasn’t pushy, and he wasn’t trying to sell right away. He also had good follow-up.” True to his word, Hickman really did help out Willowgrove. Because of his established relationships in southern Louisiana, Hickman was able to provide some warm leads to help Knick sell the machine he no longer needed. “He really just wanted to help me out. It wasn’t like he was helping me sell the machine to buy a Vermeer,” said Knick.
