The Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales & Marketing

If you run a snow and landscape company or any small business for that matter, it's absolutely essential that you, the owner, have a strong grasp on your finances, your cash flow, and on your profitability. It can totally feel overwhelming. I know it was for me as I was growing and that's why I interviewed Christeen Era on today's podcast, the author of Profit First for Lawn Care an...

Landscape company owners and business people all over the country are talking about culture, how to create a culture. In today's interview with Jim Martin, we share how he's grown beyond just success into significance through creating scholarships for the employees of his company.  Check out today's interview to learn more about how he did that and the one thing Jim always carries w...

With only a few weeks until spring officially starts. I wanted to ask some of the top sales and marketing and operations experts in the green industry, what's your number one tip to get ready for spring in 2023?  Check out today's episode, I'm going to interview some people about sales, marketing, recruiting for office positions with LinkedIn and personality assessments, and a whole...

When it comes to commercial snow removal, which is better, self-performing or working with trade partners? If you go the trade partner route, how do you recruit new subcontractors to your company when nearly everyone with that business model is trying to find them?  Check out today's episode to hear directly from the co-founder of a now $25 million commercial snow and landscape company about...

How can you turn your competition into a referral source? Find out in today's interview with Scott Parker from Parker Landscape Design. Plus, find out which of Scott's pets escaped from his dorm in college and what it ate. It's pretty scary. Find out in the episode! Watch the full episode + see the transcript at: https://landscapersguide.com/podcast/ Subscribe to the podcast at http...

Automate your sales process, retain key employees, save hours from each landscape project by finding, estimating, and obtaining landscape materials more efficiently. Those are three key areas of your business that if you made even a small improvement would have a big impact on the whole year.  That's why I'm excited to announce that on Thursday, March 9th, I'm hosting a half day vir...

Do you ever find yourself struggling to get an appointment on the calendar with a potential customer? Do you find yourself emailing back and forth or playing phone tag to find that weeks go by and you still haven't met with them, or worse, you have a sea of sticky notes to follow up with and now the leads are cold and people are frustrated?  Check out this episode where one of my clients, Kri...

How do increasing interest rates impact the green industry? Who is your Hell Yes Customer, and how might that change in 2023 over the past?  In today’s podcast, I interview Jim Westover, President of LandOpt, about how changes in the economy are impacting the green industry + how to prepare.  Watch the full episode + see the transcript at: https://landscapersguide.com/podcast/ Check out our upcomi...

How is customer experience different from customer service? Find out in today's episode, where I interviewed Clifton Muckenfuss the founder and CEO of Building Raving Fans, including: How to make sure that each of your customers knows all of the services your company offers, hence they can buy them from you, which will maximize their average customer lifetime value. How to implement an excell...

The Tree of Good Fortune audiobook is now live on Audible and the book is available on Amazon! If you run a snow and landscape business and want to know which marketing you should focus on first to get the best results without wasting your time and money on marketing that doesn't work, then check out today's podcast episode where I'm going to share a sample chapter from The Tree of...

Do you ever wonder if you should pay for Facebook advertising while you wait for your website to be launched? Or how do you get started with direct mail? Should you open another office in a different city just for the local SEO benefit of ranking in Google Maps?  If you wonder about these things, you're not alone. Check out today's episode where I'm going to answer those questions p...

Robots are taking over the world and replacing the need for humans doing your job, right?  Maybe they'll replace some jobs, but how could robots help you attract new snow and landscape employees and extend the career of some of your more seasoned staff?  In today's podcast, I interview Ryan Hebel, a snow and landscape contractor who shares, who clears sidewalks better? Humans with small...

What's the close rate at your landscape company, and how does it compare to your competition? What's your marketing budget, and how does it compare to snow and landscape industry standards? Which marketing is working the best for snow and landscape companies in 2022? Check out today’s episode to find out, we surveyed over 160 snow and Landscape companies, and in today's episode, I&a...

If you grow your landscape company from the ground up, chances are you're going to reach a point where you're maxed out. Either you or your team are going to have too many customers. Quality will suffer. And even though you're working a million hours a week, your profit margins and mental health are simply unsustainable.  In today's podcast, Andy McDuff from Landscape America s...

With supply chain challenges and even just in general, finding plant materials for your landscape projects can take a lot of time. But today's podcast guest has created an online marketplace that saves both landscape contractors and suppliers a ton of time and money.  Check out today's podcast interview with LandscapeHub to see how the green industry is evolving in a digital direction, i...

Do you ever “lose on price” to some chuck-in-a-truck, fly-by-night, Karen-in-a-Lebaron, Stan-in-A-Van, the low-ball contractor that you KNOW is cutting corners in their proposal to who SHOULD be your client?  Check out today’s episode, where a highly successful commercial landscape contractor Jim Turcan shares his BEST sales secrets to prevent this from happening, including: The key to rewriting y...

A lot of my landscape design clients are very creative people. And today's guest, Jon LeDuc , is not only really great at landscape design, he's also a talented singer songwriter in a duo called AztroGrizz.   Check out today's episode, we're going to talk about how he has a legitimate, successful band, a business, and babies. He's a busy guy. This is a great conversation b...

There are many design build firms out there, but what is design manage, and could it work for you? In today’s podcast, I interview Josh Gillow, the host of the Outerspaces Podcast, who has been in the outdoor living business for over 25 years. Josh grew from doing a design build model into a design manage model. He’s much happier now, and shares what’s he’s learned with other landscape professiona...

What if you were in the middle of a huge landscape installation or construction project when a hurricane or other natural disaster came and devastated all the work you'd done? You say that you got half of the project installed so far, but your client says otherwise. Now, imagine having professional drone videos and photography taken just before the storm, proving exactly what you had complete...

The words we use with our potential customers in our proposals, in our marketing materials, and absolutely when we're speaking with them, have a huge impact on how they feel about us, which is everything to do with their decision to work with us.  Chances are you're using some language that may be turning people away from working with you. Check out today's podcast to learn seven ke...

Fall is in full swing and it's prime time to close leads that are in your pipeline that maybe didn't convert all the way to a customer during the spring and summer. Many of your customers, your current customers, may not know just how much landscaping you can get done for them over the fall and winter. In today's podcast, I'm going to share with you seven marketing tactics that...

Last week, I invited three of my top clients to present in the What's Working Now Competition at our third annual Landscaper’s Summit. They shared really valuable presentations on sales, marketing, and recruiting.  In today's podcast, I'm going to share a couple clips from the first two presentations, including: The full talk from the winner of the What's Working Now Competitio...

What do landscaping college students look for when they're evaluating potential employers? Could you expand your landscape company with a seed store? How can you quickly calculate what price you need to charge your customer to reach your target gross profit margin, and how to increase upsells with options based proposals? Check out today’s episode where I share valuable conversations I had wi...

Hey, are you coming to the Landscaper Summit on Thursday, October 6th? Early bird tickets end on Friday, September 30th. If you catch this after that, there are still advance tickets.  Still on the fence about coming? Check out today's podcast episode to: See real video clips from my clients about what they'll be sharing in the What's Working Now contest.  Hear directly from our lea...

How does your sales close rate stack up to your competition? Does it vary regionally and by service and number of employees? Are you spending less or more than your competition on marketing?  Check out today's podcast to see just exactly what you'll learn from the 2022 landscapers sales survey! More episodes and Full transcript at: https://landscapersguide.com/podcast/ Complete the surve...