An Interview with Keynote Speaker Jack

Feature Story An Interview with Landscape New Jersey Tradeshow Keynote Speaker Jack Jostes about 2020’s Sales and Marketing Trends for Landscape Contractors

We’re excited to announce landscape marketing author, podcaster, and YouTuber Jack Jostes as the keynote speaker at the Landscape New Jersey Tradeshow & Conference this February. Read the transcript below of NJLCA Executive Director Gail Woolcott interviewing Jack about what audience members can expect from his keynote, plus immediately actionable sales and marketing tactics you can implement right away at your landscape company.

Gail Woolcott: Hi everyone. I’m Gail Woolcott. I’m the executive director of the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association. Today I’m excited to interview Jack Jostes about how you can get found online by new customers at your landscape company or garden center. Jack is the author of the Amazon bestselling book, Get FOUND Online: The Local Business Owner’s Guide to Digital Marketing. He’s an NALP member with his marketing company, Ramblin Jackson, and will be the keynote speaker at our trade show, Landscape New Jersey 2020.

Should Green Industry Businesses Have An Online Presence (Even If They’re Owner Operators)?

Gail Woolcott: Do you think it’s more or as important for these small companies that are owner-operators, as much as the big companies, to have an online presence? Jack Jostes: Well, I think that’s a great question. Do the smaller owner-operator landscape contractors need to have an online presence? And I think it depends on what their goals are. But I will share this. A lot of how much you can charge your customers has to do with how they perceive you in relation to other people in your industry. So if they think that you’re a Chuck in a Truck because you look like one online, you don’t have a website, you have negative reviews, and they check you out and they think, “Oh, this guy’s going to be cheap. Good.” Right? Well what kind of clients are you going to get? You’re going to get clients who want cheap. And there’s nothing wrong with being an owner-operator, right? And I think that most people who end up, if they choose to grow a larger company, at one point start out by themselves.

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February 25th Pre-Con Education February 26th Trade Show and Conference

Jack Jostes: So I do think that having an online presence is important for an owner-operator because it’ll help them charge more and ultimately enjoy a better lifestyle as a result of their business instead of constantly spinning their wheels. It makes you look more legitimate if you do need to hire help if you do decide to grow. So no, do you need the massive online presence of a giant $10 million company? Maybe not as much of a presence. But the cool thing, Gail, is that small businesses can compete online with the big companies if they do these things right. And one of the other cool things is maybe you’re an owneroperator and you take on a limited number of clients, and you do a great job for them. You could become the most reviewed, the highest reviewed landscape contractor in your town. And even though you are an owner-operator, you could be the highest charging of all of them because people perceive you to be the best. Jack Jostes: So if you can’t be the cheapest, second cheapest doesn’t really matter, right? I think in any business it’s better to strive to be the best, and part of that is a perception from your customer. And I want to share a story. I have a client who, a really interesting guy, has been a landscaper for about 20 years. He started out just mowing lawns. That was his summer high school thing. And he’s like, “Hey, I’m going to keep doing this.” He started learning landscaping, started learning construction, eventually

got his general B contractor’s license, and he actually does remodeling. And now he does these big outdoor living, huge projects, and irrigation work, really interesting guy. The problem he was having was he was driving around all over the place and losing on price to Chuck in a Truck contractors, right? And the reason why wasn’t because he doesn’t do good work. He does a great job. He does phenomenal work. And if you look at his photos, it’s like, wow. And it’s so cool that he learned to do those things over the last 20 years. Jack Jostes: But the problem was his website and his photos and his advertisements were all of things that he used to do 10, 15 years ago. And he had offers on there that were essentially coupons. They were discounts. And so one, he’s attracting people for projects he doesn’t even really want to do anymore. And two, he’s leading with a discount, right? And so leading with a discount is going to bring in people who are really price motivated, and if price is their biggest consideration, you probably don’t want them as a client. Jack Jostes: So when we changed that for him, he had a new logo and a headshot, a new website, and he looked really professional, he actually tripled his average project size within a year. And he says that it was because the only thing that changed was the way his potential customers were perceiving him. So that’s really exciting to me, to work with people and to hear those stories. My book is full of interviews. Every chapter has an interview with a real business owner about various things. And one of the things that I’ll be doing at the trade show is I’ll be selling my book and donating to the NJLCA for your scholarship. So if you guys come to the trade show, I’m going to be donating my book profit to that fund. And tell us a little bit about that, Gail. What does that, what does that actually do? Gail Woolcott: Well, first of all, we greatly appreciate that. What our education fund does is we provide up to 10 scholarships a year, currently. Obviously, if we bring in more money, we can give more scholarships. These are to students that are in the landscape industry, horticulture industry, greenhouse gardening, anything having to do with the green industry really, and members’ families as well. So it helps the entire industry. Jack Jostes: Great. Cool. That’s awesome. Well, I’m excited to contribute to that and I’ve done similar things with the NALP. I’m a member there, and I think spreading the word about the green industry and to young people is important. Gail Woolcott: It’s huge. Jack Jostes: And there’s a shortage of people in the industry, and the only way to fix it is to get more people in. Gail Woolcott: Absolutely. Register for the Landscape New Jersey Trade Show and Conference at njlandscapeshow.com

Gail Woolcott: Well thank you so much for doing this interview today. And again, everybody go to njlandscapeshow. com for more info. We can’t wait to see you all there. It’s the Landscape New Jersey 2020 Trade Show and Conference. It’s February 26, with pre-show conferences on the 25th, and again, njlandscapeshow.com. Jack Jostes: Cool. Well Gail, thanks so much for having me today. Can’t wait to see you guys, and I’ll see you in February. Gail Woolcott: Same here, Jack. Thank you so much.

Jack Jostes is the President + CEO of Ramblin Jackson , a digital marketing agency based in Boulder, CO that helps landscaping companies throughout the country increase their lead generation through local SEO and digital branding. The author of the Amazon Best-Selling book, Get FOUND Online: The Local Business Owner’s Guide To Digital Marketing, Jack has been featured in Lawn and Landscape, Colorado Green Magazine, Turf Magazine, INC. Magazine, and other industry publications. He regularly speaks at regional, national, and international businesses conferences including the green industry events like the ProGreen EXPO, the Farwest Show, National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), and the TNLA’s Nursery Landscape EXPO.