Starting an outdoor lighting business combines creativity, outdoors, and entrepreneurship—making it a great fit for people passionate about transforming outdoor spaces.
Whether commercial or residential, outdoor lighting services are in high-demand. If you’re looking to learn more about starting an outdoor lighting business—here’s a crash course.
Learn the Market
No matter the industry, your first exercise should be a deep-dive into the market. Talk to neighbors who have outdoor lighting, reach out to companies and get quotes for yourself to see the competitors’ process and pricing, spend time researching online to better understand the industry and the trends within your area.
This initial process will provide invaluable information that should guide your strategic decision making about whether to move forward and how to do so efficiently. The demographics, preferences, and competitive landscape you operate within are important factors when starting a landscape lighting business.
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Business Planning and Structure
As you progress in your landscape lighting startup, you’ll want to devote time and resources to develop a business plan and build out the legal and administrative foundation of your business.
Creating a business plan essentially involves creating a roadmap for your outdoor lighting business. It should discuss your broad-stroke plans relating to marketing, target customers, operations, and financial projections. This is important for funding, but more importantly — it’s your north star as you begin operations.
With the business plan put together, you’ll then want to get your other administrative and legal ducks in a row. This involves filing for a business license, setting up your bank accounts, and getting your tax documents in order.
This setup provides a solid foundation that’s needed for any startup.
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Develop Your Skills and Knowledge
Maybe you’re already an expert landscape light installer, but if you’re not — you should take time to familiarize yourself with the technical skills needed to install low-voltage outdoor lighting.
Fortunately, most cities do not require any formal education or licensing to install low-volt landscape lighting, which means you can start installing landscape lighting as soon as you feel comfortable with it. You should still devote a lot of time to researching the different techniques and concepts related to landscape light installation because there is an art to blending the aesthetics of outdoor lighting with the function of a well-lit outdoor space.
Additionally, staying in-the-know and constantly working to better your skills and knowledge will help you gain more credibility with your customer base as well as elevate your ability to talk about your products and deliver exceptional results to your clients. More than that, you will also separate yourself from other, less devoted landscape light installers in your area.
Cohesive Marketing and Sales
Marketing and sales are two areas that can make or break your startup landscape lighting business. If you have a strategic approach to marketing yourself and your business that supports your sales efforts, you’re likely to see better results. There should be a cohesive journey for your customers that leads them from interest to customer.
This journey could be across multiple mediums (social, email, in-person, text, etc.) and may have varying timelines depending on the products, services, and scope of the lighting project. By understanding and preparing for the variety of ways your customers may interact with your business, you can develop a sound and robust marketing strategy that is superior to your competition.
Additionally, keep in mind that when you are on sales calls that your products can separate you from your competition. Consider partnering with reputable outdoor lighting manufacturers like Americana Outdoor Lighting to offer your customers exclusive high-end products that they can’t find at the local Lowes or Home Depot.
These outdoor lights will elevate any outdoor space while also offering lifetime warranties and unmatched light output. And when you want to close these sales calls, offer sunset demonstrations so they can see the noticeable difference of lighting — especially quality lighting.
Project and Customer Management
After launching your landscape lighting startup, you’ll start getting leads and eventually jobs. This may be overwhelming at first, but you’ll need to make project management a focus to avoid bottlenecks, missed deadlines, and dissatisfied customers.
Consider using a project management tool to stay on track with your jobs and avoid any issues in the process. And, keep in mind that despite selling products to your customers, you’re also selling the service of installing these light fixtures — so strive to deliver excellent customer service from start to finish (and beyond).
Excellent products and customer service will help you build lasting relationships which can help you resell the customer down the line or lead to more referrals. Also, encourage your customers to review and share their experiences online to further grow your digital footprint in the local landscape lighting sphere.
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Scaling Your Startup
As your startup matures, you’ll need to look and consider the best strategies for scaling your outdoor lighting business. This could involve hiring and training more sales and installers, expanding to surrounding cities, or offering additional services like RGBW lighting or A/V systems.
The outdoor lighting industry is always evolving, so maintaining an agile and forward-thinking approach will do wonders for the success of your new landscape lighting business.
Start Your Outdoor Lighting Business Today
Launching a successful business in the outdoor lighting space requires some technical skills, strategic planning, and dedication. If you can put these ingredients together, you’ll be well on your way to a rewarding and profitable career in outdoor light installation.
Image by KamranAydinov on Freepik
