The Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales & Marketing

Brian Middleton didn’t start his career in the green industry. For more than 20 years, he was a well-known radio DJ in one of the biggest markets in the country. Today, he’s the Head of Technical Support at PermaGreen, helping lawn and landscape companies keep their crews productive, profitable, and moving. In this episode, Brian and Jack talk about what really happens when equipment goes down in...

https://landscapersguide.com/brand-your-sales-process-to-get-the-owner-out-of-sales-with-jack-jostes-and-robert-felton/ Brand Your Sales Process To Get The Owner Out of Sales - with Jack Jostes and Robert Felton Date: Thursday, January 29, 2026, 10:00 to 11:00 AM MT Location: Virtual on Zoom Investment: FREE In this workshop, Ramblin Jackson CEO Jack Jostes and Director of Client Strategy Robert F...

In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast , Jack Jostes sits down with Abe Faria, General Manager of CMS Landscape (Chris Mark and Sons) in Massachusetts, a multi-generation landscape company that’s been operating since 1973. Abe shares how CMS has grown to over 50 employees by making hard—but strategic—decisions about who they serve and how they protect their team. You’ll hear a candid co...

What actually separates high-performing landscape companies from everyone else isn’t luck, leads, or even talent — it’s how they handle sales, pricing, and client qualification. In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast , Jack Jostes sits down in the Ramblin Jackson studio with the three finalists for the 2025 Landscape Leader Of The Year Award. These owners flew in from across the country...

Pam Berrios has spent nearly three decades in the green industry—and she’s on a mission to elevate the people who power it. In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast , Jack Jostes sits down with Pam to talk about career pathways, leadership development, and why investing in field-level team members is the single most important move landscape companies can make. Pam shares her experience as...

Selling premium landscape services means hearing “no” more often—and waiting longer for the right “yes.” In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast, Jack Jostes sits down with Chris James of Perfect Cut Landscaping to talk candidly about rejection, long HOA sales cycles, and how top sales professionals stay confident through it all. Chris shares real-world lessons from selling residential,...

In this solo episode of The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast , host Jack Jostes reflects on the hardest leadership lessons he learned last year—particularly around letting the wrong people stay too long, dealing with toxic behavior, and the personal toll poor people decisions can take on business owners. Jack shares real stories from his own company and from client conversations, offering an honest look...

As the year winds down, landscape and snow business owners face important decisions around renewals, pricing adjustments, and profitability. In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast , Jack Jostes is joined by Maggie Wymore from ServiceTitan to discuss what service businesses should be reviewing at year-end to finish strong and plan confidently for the year ahead. Maggie shares practical i...

In this episode, Jack Jostes sits down with Vania Mickos of Mullin Landscape to explore her remarkable journey from growing vegetables on her family’s farm in Brazil to becoming an account manager in Baton Rouge. Vania shares how grit, agronomy expertise, and a deep commitment to kindness shaped her leadership style and career path. We discuss her early start in agriculture at age 11, her transiti...

After five years, 300 episodes, more than 75,000 audio downloads, and over 110,000 YouTube views, Jack Jostes shares the biggest lessons he’s learned from producing The Landscaper’s Guide. In this milestone solo episode, Jack breaks down the marketing mindset that has helped hundreds of landscape and snow companies grow with social media, storytelling, consistency, and simple video production. You...

In this episode, Jack interviews Edward Morales, second-generation owner of Tropical Landscaping Services in Buckeye, Arizona. After years of the company relying on hard work and word-of-mouth without a clear sales process, Edward stepped back into the business and realized it needed structure, clarity, and consistency. He rebuilt their sales process from scratch and discovered how communication a...

In this episode, Jack Jostes breaks down one of the simplest and most profitable sales activities any landscape company can run: the Call Jam. Jack shares why calling customers still outperforms every other marketing channel, how to structure a winning Call Jam with your team, and how to prioritize your leads so you focus on the prospects most likely to buy. He also explains the Hopper Dropper met...

In today’s episode, Jack sits down with Jeff Riddle, founder of Alterra Landscape Design in Dallas, to talk about what it really takes to keep a landscape company growing—even when the market softens. Jeff shares how Dallas is seeing more competition than ever before, why lead volume has dipped, and the surprising reasons many landscape firms are feeling anxious even in a still-healthy market. Yet...

In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide , Jack Jostes interviews Stacey Hinson, Director of Sales at Snow Systems, one of the nation’s leading commercial snow removal companies. Stacey shares her inspiring journey from starting as an office manager to selling over $50 million in commercial snow contracts while helping grow Snow Systems from a Chicago-based operation to a national service provide...

When you start a landscape company, you wear every hat — salesperson, account manager, and operations lead. But as your business grows, scaling becomes harder without a defined process. In this episode, 2025 Landscape Leader of the Year Stuart Ward of Buckhead Landscape & Design shares how his Atlanta-based company created a clear and repeatable sales process that drives consistent growth, imp...

Most landscape companies lose sales because their follow-up is too slow and too inconsistent. In this short video, Jack Jostes — CEO of Ramblin Jackson and host of The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast — shares how one simple ChatGPT prompt can help your entire sales team follow up faster, sound more professional, and keep CRM notes consistent across your company. See Jack LIVE at NALP ELEVATE 2025 Date:...

Are you a multiplier or a diminisher in your company’s leadership? In this episode, Landscaper’s Guide podcast host Jack Jostes reviews Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman. Jack shares key insights from the book and from his Wild Frontier Mastermind discussion — including how to identify people’s native genius , when to move team members into new seats, and why g...

How do you go from teaching middle school science to running a thriving landscape and industrial maintenance company? In this week’s episode of The Landscaper’s Guide , Jack Jostes talks with Ryan Robinson, owner of Turf Concepts Landscaping in Michigan, about his journey from part-time mower to full-time business owner, and how discipline, learning marketing, and embracing video helped him grow f...

Most landscape owners dream of a business that runs without them. George Urvari has actually done it. After nearly 40 years of building Oriole Landscaping into one of Toronto’s top design-build firms, George now helps other owners create systems, train leaders, and reclaim their time through Knowledge Tree Consulting. In this episode, George shares practical steps to remove yourself from daily cha...

Selling commercial snow and landscape work isn’t the same as residential. Budgets, long sales cycles, and high expectations make it tough to stand out. In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide , Jack Jostes hosts a panel of three leaders who have each scaled $10M+ companies to share what’s actually working in commercial sales today. You’ll hear from Robert Clinkenbeard (Wilson360), Nick Klotz (EP...

Most landscapers think residential snow and lawn care can’t scale profitably. Summit Lawns in Lincoln, Nebraska, is proving otherwise. With 4,000 clients and five profit centers, owner Ted Glaser has built one of the Midwest’s fastest-growing lawn and landscape companies. In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide, Jack Jostes talks with Ted about the painful “Summer of Diamonds” when he lost half...

What does it take to scale a landscape company from scratch to $20M and 350 employees—and then build one of the industry’s most respected coaching and peer group businesses? In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide, Jack Jostes interviews Robert Clinkenbeard, CEO of Wilson360, Ironman competitor, and host of The Commercial Landscaper Podcast. Robert shares his journey from Scotland to Phoenix, wh...

What keeps a landscape company strong after six decades, and what has to change to keep growing? In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide , Jack Jostes visits Grand Rapids to talk with Jeremy Miller, owner of Miller Landscape, as the company approaches 60 years in business. Jeremy shares how a family-first culture, EOS, and clear roles helped the team move past a revenue plateau and build a scala...

Hiring, leading, and keeping your team focused is one of the toughest parts of growing a landscaping company. Add in the unique challenges of ADHD and neurodivergence, and it can feel overwhelming.  But what if those differences could actually be a strength in your company? In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide, Jack Jostes interviews LeanScaper Chief Customer Experience Officer Kristen Kiely....

Hiring a Marketing Coordinator might sound like a luxury — but for growing landscape companies, it could be the smartest move you make (besides ordering cheese curds in Wisconsin). In this episode of The Landscaper’s Guide , Jack Jostes sits down with Ramblin Jackson’s Marketing Coordinator, Hayden Storms, who started as an apprentice and now leads podcast editing, video production, and marketing...