Connect With Today's Guest
🌳 Rich Green Lawns: https://richgreenlawns.com/
👤 Connect with Eric Lehmann and Courtney Andersen:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ejlehmann/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-andersen-7a6681206/
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https://www.instagram.com/RichGreenLawns
📘 Rich Green Lawns Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RichGreenLawns
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00:00 – Building A Business With The Right Tools
Eric Lehmann
00:00
When you give the technicians in the field the correct tools and tools that are working properly, it just changes the entire dynamic of the company.
Courtney Andersen
00:07
Watching motivational and things like that, it really like drives home a fire inside of you and you want to be a long way.
Eric Lehmann
00:15
We kind of view all of our relationship as partnerships and.
00:18 – Meet Rich Green Lawns
Jack Jostes
00:18
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Landscaper's Guide. Today I'm excited to interview my client, Rich Green Lawns from central New Jersey. And today we're joined by Erick and Cortney. Erick, Cortney, welcome to the Podcast.
Eric Lehmann
00:32
Thanks for having us.
Jack Jostes
00:34
So, for folks listening, tell us just a little bit about your story. I know you're, you know, second generation owners and just tell us. Yeah, tell us a little about where are you? What all do you guys do?
Eric Lehmann
00:47
Yeah, so yeah, we're second generation owners. As you said, the business started in 1986. We're celebrating our 40th anniversary this year. So it's a big deal for us. Over the last, I would say six or seven years, Cortney and I have really dug in and decided to make this our career. And with that, we've streamlined our processes using technology and used the foundation that was created from our father and build off of that to deliver the custom old fashioned customer service that you don't really get nowadays. But introducing technology with that to help scale the business to support all of our families.
Courtney Andersen
01:27
Cool.
Jack Jostes
01:27
And so are you siblings? Tell us a little bit more about that.
Eric Lehmann
01:33
Yeah, Cortney and I are siblings. She's my sister. We're actually triplets.
Jack Jostes
01:38
Really?
Eric Lehmann
01:39
Yeah.
Jack Jostes
01:40
I did not know that.
Eric Lehmann
01:41
Yeah, there's a fun fact. Our brother was involved in the business for a little bit, but ventured out into corporate America and he consults and helps out behind the scenes from time to time. But Cortney and I are here day to day.
Jack Jostes
01:56
Wow, that's so cool. We have a Ramblers who has twins.
Eric Lehmann
02:02
Okay.
Jack Jostes
02:03
That's what we call our people here, the Ramblers. And I have a, I had a friend growing up who was a twin. I was actually, I was friends with him and his sister and he just had twins. His kids. Yeah. So I, I don't think I've met any triplets. Have you. Are there other triplets in the family or not triplets?
Eric Lehmann
02:25
There's are a lot of twins in the. My brother had twins. We have cousins that are twins. My cousin had twins. But yeah, we're the only triplets.
Jack Jostes
02:35
Wow. That. So did you all work in the business growing up?
Eric Lehmann
02:41
Yeah, we all helped out in a roundabout way. We've all touched something in the business and worked here, you know, through high school and whatnot. But you know, when our parents were young, they had three, four little kids at home and growing a business. So it was always hand all hands on deck at all times.
Jack Jostes
02:58
I would think that would be a benefit of triplets that you have three workers.
Eric Lehmann
03:02
Right.
Jack Jostes
03:04
Just built into. Well, good. And so tell me a little bit, what do each of you do in the business now?
Erick Lehmann
03:13
So I'm coo. I oversee just the daily operations of the company as far as, I mean everything from the field to the business from sales and marketing. And that's my primary function.
Jack Jostes
03:26
And what about you, Cortney?
Courtney Andersen
03:27
I primarily I do human resources and I do like office management and inner workings of a company with everyone internally.
Jack Jostes
03:39
That's good, that's great. So before we pressed record, Erick, you were telling me that you guys took over the business. Was it about six years ago?
03:47 – Growing From 1,000 To 3,000 Customers
Eric Lehmann
03:47
Yeah, give or take.
Jack Jostes
03:49
So 40 year old company, you guys took over as second generation owners six years ago. And since then, like, tell me about the growth. What's changed? How many new, how many more clients have you added? Tell me a little bit about that.
Eric Lehmann
04:04
Yeah, so about six years ago we had just about a thousand clients, give or take. And now we've reached about 3,000 clients, active clients. So the growth has been pretty steady and quick and it's been fun because you know, as you're building a business, you're building a team and it's been, it has its challenges, of course, but it's rewarding. Just the most rewarding part is like seeing other people believe in our vision for the company and helping along the way of bringing it to the 20, you know, bringing it to 20, 26 and using the tools available to us. That makes sense.
Jack Jostes
04:46
Yeah. What, what, so you've added 2,000 clients?
Eric Lehmann
04:52
Just about. Yeah. In six years.
Jack Jostes
04:54
Wow, that sounds awesome and really stressful.
Eric Lehmann
04:58
Yeah, I mean it's. Life's a balancing app, right? So it's a little bit of both every day, but as long as the good outweighs the bad, you know, it's worth the ride.
Jack Jostes
05:11
So, so what are some of the, I like asking second generation owners this, what are some of the things that you've kept the same in the business that your dad started 40 years ago? That's just like, this is just part of how you roll. And then what are some of the big changes that you've made since you took over as owners?
05:11
05:11 – Preserving Family Values While Scaling
Eric Lehmann
05:32
I think the biggest thing is the foundation of the customer experience. It's always about people, whether it's our team, whether it's our clients. It's about making sure that everyone has a positive experience. And you know, I feel like customer service nowadays you call something and you always somewhere you get like press 1, press this number to get some. When someone calls our office, you always get a live. And Monday through Friday, 7:30 to 6pm Every day we have somebody in the office and you know, that comes at a cost, but it also comes as an investment to the company because that's why people come to us, you know, they call and the people that work here live here, they understand the area.
05:32
And when my dad started the company, he was working for a national competitor and he was, he left the business for various reasons and his clients found him in the yellow pages at the time and they called him and said, anyway, you'll come to our lawn. We're not getting the same customer service. And so 19 weekends he started doing it and long behold rich Green lawns was started. So to us that's the core of our foundation is just making sure that people are heard and that their challenges are resolved. And we're doing our part to make it a good experience for them. So that's what we've kept is the old fashioned customer service.
Jack Jostes
06:46
How do you scale that though, with 2,000 more customers? Because like when you're, when he's just starting out, it's one thing, it's probably part of what he did and how he was. How, how do you lead a company to deliver that experience when there's just this huge volume of, of clients?
Eric Lehmann
07:07
It's a, to us it's just, it's about chasing like loyalty and results and if you know, as long as you set expectations properly and communicate to the client and you know, communicating changes. So back then it was more face to face. Now it's email and text messages and by and large most people prefer that. So using those avenues has really helped us scale the company because we're still communicating with people and it's still live agents talking to people. It's not, everything's not. I mean we focus on automated processes obviously, but when there's a problem, there's always someone available to handle it. So I think that's that, you know, helps set us apart and allows us to continue that experience for our clients.
Courtney Andersen
07:53
I think internally, like having powwows and talks and having group huddles and just getting on the same page with everyone's Heard and listened to. We value our employees opinions, what they're hearing and learning from their experiences and just going back and forth with everybody and trying to come up with a better process each year. Especially here in New Jersey, we have a downtime when it gets cold and snowy and there's much going on. And we're able to reflect on the previous years and come up with new ways to better our process and implement better feedback and information for our clients.
Jack Jostes
08:36
What, and so what are some of the things that you've changed since taking over six years ago?
08:36 – Technology That Changed The Business
Erick Lehmann
08:44
I think one of the biggest thing is upgrading our software, being able to everything we do now. When I first started working here, everything was still paper and now everything's digital done on tablets or phones and desktops. So I think introducing that technology allows us to collaborate as a team and work in different spots and get the same results. That's our biggest piece of change, I guess I would say, is connecting everybody through, you know, the software that we use.
Jack Jostes
09:25
Have you found any resistance to that? I mean, have you had people who have been here for 40 years or maybe even fewer than that when you're rolling out these changes are resistant one hand or even maybe they just refuse to do it. Have you encountered that?
Erick Lehmann
09:43
Never had anyone refuse. I have people hesitant and you have to handle certain conversations, explain why you're doing it sometimes helps. It's about bringing it back to. It's the bigger picture and about getting our service to more people and delivering the same level of customer service. So yeah, you get resistance from time to time. But I think once people start seeing the results of the processes that we implement or the tools that we have available to us now, I think by and large they get on board and understand that it will make your life easier once you learn how to use it.
Jack Jostes
10:24
What were you gonna add, Cortney?
Courtney Andersen
10:26
Yeah, I would say definitely the older customers don't like change very often, but they're willing to listen and try it out and things like that. I think it's just normal with everyday life with things changing and being automated and things like that. So I just think it's adjustment for some people and I think we streamline some processes faster than other competitors in the area who don't necessarily do what we do. And it's helped us grow and it's helped like the clients just, it's just a stepping stone. It's a learning curve and most of them are open to it. So we don't really have that much Resistance.
Jack Jostes
11:10
What, what about. I meant more with your employees. Do you have team members who maybe they've been rocking their paper form for 20 years and now you're like, hey, we're switching to this form on an iPad. What was that adjustment like?
Erick Lehmann
11:25
I think it was well received. I think it helped. I think they saw the potential for the growth. A lot of, you know, most of our, we have a young staff, relatively, with all the growth we've had, we've added a lot of new positions recently in the last couple years. So I think by and large there really hasn't been much hesitation or pushback.
Jack Jostes
11:45
Well, maybe you could share some nuggets for the folks listening. We have a lot of people who run either landscape companies, some run lawn care companies like yours. What are some of the specific softwares or tools that you're talking about that have been life changing for your business?
Erick Lehmann
12:01
We use Real Green for our CRM. For us, it's been huge. I mean, it's just digitalized. Every process that we have put the field to the office, it's automated our emails. It helps, you know, we can communicate better and faster. Everything's in one place and organized. That's the biggest investment that we've made is, you know, getting that software. But, you know, we have our tracking systems for the trucks to make them more efficient in the field. All these little things work hand in hand to help, you know, the overall processes of the company.
Courtney Andersen
12:43
Yeah, even when they're able to take pictures out in the field and it's all in one place as well internally, everybody, they adapt well to change. They're open to it. They ask their questions, we tell like we give them our reasons for doing things and then they are very open to it. No one's really given us any pushback. I think being that our staff is so young that most of them are used to it.
Jack Jostes
13:17
Do you find, do you communicate this when you're recruiting? Do you think maybe it even attracts people to the company?
13:17
13:17 – Hiring, Retaining, And Growing Great Employees
Erick Lehmann
13:26
Yeah, I do. I think it's always positive when we use the, when we promote the technology that we use. You know, even. Not even just like software, but even like in the field with the equipment and the new equipment that's out, the latest technology that's available. I think it helps recruit employees, definitely, especially from other companies that are using broken equipment or old equipment and they're not necessarily investing in the newest equipment out there, you know, and we made those same mistakes too. And we didn't always invest in equipment when we should have. And we, you know, use the budgets in other places.
13:59
But I feel like when you give the team, the technicians in the field, the correct tools and tools that are working properly, it just changes the entire dynamic of the company because they're happier, they get upset and they have to come in off the road because something's broken. So investing a little bit more in those areas do have helped tremendously, especially with retention, because people want to come to work and they want to do their job in most cases. And when you give them the tools to do that, to succeed, you know, it just that they want to come back. And, you know, that's our goal because without them, you know, you don't have much of a company you need, everyone plays a part and you gotta help the people get the job done.
Jack Jostes
14:38
Absolutely. And you know, the way that you approach your business and these softwares and these things. One of our, one of our ramblers brought up, one of our core values is Grow or Die. So the people working with you know, we feel like you have that value. Does that resonate with you? Do you think you have Grow or die as a value?
Erick Lehmann
14:58
Absolutely. I mean, to us, growth is, I mean, it's everything. Personal growth, professional growth, business growth. I mean, as the business keeps growing, we keep creating different opportunities for our staff and adding new staff. So I mean, growth is the whole thing about business, in my opinion. So to us, it's, it goes hand in hand with delivering best customer service.
15:22 – Personal Growth And Leadership Habits
Jack Jostes
15:22
What are some of the ways you're growing personally? What are you, what are you reading? Are you, what are you thinking about?
Erick Lehmann
15:28
Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I have a young family at home, so time is of a, you know, a valuable treasure. So definitely Podcast, books, reading, trade magazines, a little bit of everything. Not one thing specific. I mean, it's just, Yeah, I, I, I don't know. It's, I don't have a specific thing, but I definitely am out looking, always looking for the next thing, the next greatest Podcast or book or something to read. And I just feel like the more you learn, the better you are as a leader. And it's just, I don't know.
Jack Jostes
16:11
Yeah.
Erick Lehmann
16:12
What about you, Corey?
Courtney Andersen
16:14
Yeah, I feel like also social media platforms, finding those people who post videos on there, listening to them podcasts as well, watching people watching things that other companies are implementing and seeing how it works with our company or how we would be able to change. But just I think watching motivational and things like that it really, like, drives home a fire inside of you, and you want to do it and try to expand your business and be the best for your business. And when you see other people doing it, you're like, why didn't I think of that? So just being aware of what's going on and all the new technology and things that are available to us to help us grow, and just to pick.
Erick Lehmann
17:04
Back off what Cortney just said, I feel like I learned the most from our peers, people in the industries or people in positions relatively similar to ours, and just to see the experiences that they're going through. Sometimes it's just nice to know that you're not alone and that you know the challenges they're having. You're like, okay, so maybe we aren't doing that bad because we're here and they're there and. Or they've already done it that well. Why don't we try what they did? So, like, I just feel like that's the best avenue for me personally is living through other people's lived experiences.
Jack Jostes
17:35
Yeah, I'm with you on that. I listen to podcasts, and I get a lot from social media. My social. I get, like, pretty good stuff from social media, and I read magazines, but I just went to two digital agency conferences in person, and I find that those in person experiences are some of the best places for me to learn because I. I get to see other people speak, and I'm like, wow, this person is really good at this. I spoke at a conference and I'm like, you know what? I guess I'm pretty good. I'm doing pretty well at this part. But it's always, you know, there's always an area that I can learn and improve. I'm curious, you know, so you guys were. You're kind of already killing it. How did you find Ramblin Jackson?
18:18 – Why Rich Green Lawns Chose Ramblin Jackson
Jack Jostes
18:18
So we've had the opportunity to work with you on a lot of different things. Your sales process, your website, SEO. We're doing Google Ads. We're doing some fun marketing. How did you hear of us?
Erick Lehmann
18:32
Actually, I think credit to my dad.
Courtney Andersen
18:34
He.
Erick Lehmann
18:35
I don't know if it was a trade magazine or somewhere or he got some kind of slick in the mail. I honestly don't remember, but I remember him coming into my office and bringing this to me. He's like, you have to call these people and see what's going on. I was like, okay. And I put it off. And I think it was six months to a year later where I was like, all right, I'm finally going to do this. And, you know, we gave a call and we met with Robert and I mean, the rest is history from there.
Jack Jostes
18:59
What are, what are. Yeah, so what are some of the things that are going well for us and working with you is that you actually show up to meetings. Yeah, I know that sounds kind of silly, but we have clients, they don't show up and then they complain about the results. And we're like, we've been trying to meet with you to help you do this thing, but you don't come and you're not getting. So anyways, thanks for showing up. The other thing that you do is you fill out your sales and marketing dashboard. So that gives us really clean insight of like, how did this lead go? What was the quality? Where did it come from? And I feel like we're just continually getting better results because you're collaborating with us in the way that we need in order to get those results.
Erick Lehmann
19:43
Yeah, I mean, I think that's just kind of the rich, Green, long way. We kind of view all of our relationship as partnerships. And so you, what you. And whether it's employees or customers or whatever it is, what you put into it is what you're going to get out of it. And we're investing money into it and we want to make sure we're getting the best results. And with your team, we've been able to get results and it's been rewarding to see that, you know, the local SEO pages that we're creating, we're all of a sudden getting influx in those areas. And like, it's fun to see it full circle and you see the money that you're spending work, it's like, why not show up? Why not be there?
20:14
I mean, if we aren't attending these meetings or putting the effort into it, we're not going to get those results.
Jack Jostes
20:20
What, what are some of the, the results that you've experienced?
20:20
20:20 – Results From Marketing Investments
Jack Jostes
20:20
What, what are some of the, the results that you've experienced?
Erick Lehmann
20:25
Definitely increased leads, quality leads, which is huge website traffic. I mean, before we started with Ramblin Jackson, which I think is a year and a half now, something like that. We've been with you guys. Our, I mean, our website was pitiful. I mean, I created it one winter and it just, that's what it was. And there was no SEO and grow. When the business keeps growing, like, it's like our website didn't match the message that we were, you know, putting out into the world. And now I feel like it's like cohesive to our brand. And it's just an extension of what we're doing.
Jack Jostes
21:05
I mean, it was not bad. It was not that bad, you know, but no, it is an improvement. And we're really grateful that we had the opportunity to work with you guys. Where are we heading? Where are you going? Where are you taking the business? What's next?
Erick Lehmann
21:21
Yeah, I mean, we want to keep growing. We, we like it. It's a lot of fun, you know, and there's challenges, obviously, but giving opportunities to our staff that it's been loyal to us and elevating them, I think has been one of the driving forces because, you know, people spend time, their time here and make a career out of it and we want to give them something to look forward to where there is growth and opportunity for them too, and for ourselves, honestly. I mean, that's why we're all in business. So just, is there an end goal? I don't think so. You know, we're second generations. Our kids love it. You know, hopefully maybe one day it'll be a third generation, you know, with the future is unknown. And that's like the best part.
Jack Jostes
22:11
Do you have triplets?
Erick Lehmann
22:13
No.
Jack Jostes
22:13
No. Okay. Okay. No, I didn't think so, but yeah, that's, that's cool. You know, one thing I, I did want to share with you is a suggestion, if that's all right.
Erick Lehmann
22:25
Absolutely.
22:25 – Marketing Advice: Put Your Team Front And Center
Jack Jostes
22:25
So one thing, I have a lawn care client in Florida, super competitive market and we are killing it. We are getting really good results. One of the things that I think we did well in their marketing was we, we branded the people who work there. So a lot of lawn care websites have photos of lawns. And like we do want to, like we are selling the result of a rich Green lawn, which is your brand name. Right. And I think your advantage is that you are a small business, you're a family owned company. And the thing that we did with this other client was we got photos of their people. And so we have photos of their individual people all over the website. So it's like this is Brian is going to come to your house and do a lawn care estimate.
23:12
And the reason I think that works is because when you're selling against what I call the big box lawn care companies, you already know who they are, right? You're just, you're account number 45 for them. And here's sales rep number five. Right. But when you have that more and you already have this personal approach that you're talking about that would be one thing I'd love to have is some photos of your people. More photos of your people. And maybe you hire a professional. Maybe you like. Do you guys have an iPhone? What do you, what do you have over there?
Erick Lehmann
23:49
IPhones.
Jack Jostes
23:50
Okay, good. You know, go you know, portrait mode. Go, go out in front of the vehicle and you know, take some photos of the people and send them to us. Because I think that's just, it adds a little more to that personality when I get to see the people on there.
Erick Lehmann
24:08
Yeah, I think that's huge. I love that idea.
Jack Jostes
24:13
And otherwise, I mean you're, you're doing amazing with like Google reviews. You guys have 509 Google reviews. So this is another thing that makes my job a lot easier. When clients show up to meetings, they fill out their dashboard. They do like a basic job of like taking care of people, right? Because sometimes I'm like, hey, what happened to this lead? They're like, oh, we haven't gotten back to them yet. I'm like, this is like four days ago. What are you doing? So anyways, you guys are getting max people and getting Google reviews. Like you're kind of cooking with gas. How are you, how did you get five hundred and nine Google reviews? What are you doing?
24:56 – Building Hundreds Of Google Reviews
Erick Lehmann
24:56
I mean I remember when we just had like 20 and it was just like, how are we going to get more and more Google reviews? We used a, previously we used a company that helped us, you know, send out text messages and whatnot to get customers feedback. We realized that still to this day, one of our highest lead generator is customer referrals. And so if customers are recommending our services, it means they're happy. And so we needed to tap into that. And so we started emailing and we started asking them. And you'd be amazed how willing people are when they're getting the results that they're looking for just to give you a review. And sometimes just the simple ask goes a long way.
Jack Jostes
25:39
So how are, how do you. Well, I agree with you. I love it. And you're, what you're doing is you're focusing on individual customers. So you mentioned the software. We're doing Ramblin reviews together. So there is a software component, but that's a, that supports the way I see it being much more of an individual personal request. So because when you, when you ask a customer, hey, would you help me with something? They're like, yeah, Erick, you're my law. Or whatever, whoever is Working with them. Y, I would help you. It's way different than like, please post a review for rich Green Lawns. Like, okay, like I'm helping a person. But something you mentioned that I wanted to dig into is how do you know when you're getting a referral and how do you know who it's from? How do you track that?
Erick Lehmann
26:28
That part is still pretty old school manual. Everyone that calls in and asks for a quote and whatnot, we always ask how they heard about us because, I mean, obviously you need to report that information. And then once they know customer referral, it's always document. You know, my neighbor, my aunt, whoever recommended you. And then we give referral coupons to our clients that do that. So there's, you know, a little give and take there. But yeah, just when we get someone on the phone or they send out, send in a form and we finally connect with them either through email or we ask, how did you hear about us? Who recommended you? We want to thank them for, you know, extending the recommendation because, you know, as a small business owner, that's everything. When someone's happy, it, it is.
Jack Jostes
27:10
Yeah, I, I, I agree. I, I got a referral from a client who actually doesn't even work with me anymore. Not, not because it ended weird. They just like, didn't need me anymore. But I built something that works so well for them over five years ago. They are a concrete staining company. They do like commercial concrete staining. They have these machines that kind of look like a Zamboni machine where they come and like buff the concrete. They actually did the studio that I'm in right now, they did the concrete and sealed it with acrylic. It is like, man, they did an incredible job. So we've just kept in touch and he then met a landscape company and referred them to me and I sent him some stakes. And that was kind of fun, right?
27:59
So I think finding out, hey, how did you hear of us? And like, I made sure to go and thank that person and do something and you know, one opportunity I'm seeing that I could actually improve for you. I'm actually looking at your form right now. So we have a tracking form that when somebody calls your office, they fill it out. The person answering the phone, I can add in a secondary question if you'd like, that says, how did you hear of us? When they say referral, they could ask, who should we thank?
Erick Lehmann
28:33
Yes.
Jack Jostes
28:33
Would you like that?
Erick Lehmann
28:34
Yes.
Jack Jostes
28:35
Okay, so that's a small thing now. I can automate that for you. So we're always finding little ways to like, okay, one more question. And that could go into the field and now that can go into your little spreadsheet so you can, you know, even, even an email. Hey, thanks for, thanks for referring Carl or whoever it is. Right, so I love it. What else are you thinking about right now that we should talk about?
Erick Lehmann
29:04
How did you end up doing lawn care? Like marketing? Like, how did you get.
Jack Jostes
29:09
Yeah, you know, the way I got started in the Green industry was through public speaking. So I, early in my marketing career was a part a public speaker for Constant Contact, the email marketing software. And I became their best selling speaker in Colorado and they started sending me to these events where trade shows would basically get constant contact for free in exchange for having somebody come and be like, hey, constant contact's really good.
29:09
29:09 – How Jack Found The Lawn Care Industry
Jack Jostes
29:09
Yeah, you know, the way I got started in the Green industry was through public speaking. So I, early in my marketing career was a part a public speaker for Constant Contact, the email marketing software. And I became their best selling speaker in Colorado and they started sending me to these events where trade shows would basically get constant contact for free in exchange for having somebody come and be like, hey, constant contact's really good. And I spoke at a, at the Pro Green Expo, which is a garden center and landscape trade show. And I shared the story that in high school and college age I, my spring and summer job was working at a plant nursery and garden center.
29:52
So I worked there for five seasons and it was, I was just an entry level employee, but I learned more and they gave me a little raise every year and I was able to then help people select plants and mulch. And I mainly just help people to their car. And I realized at that Pro Green Expo that I actually know more about the landscape industry than most marketing companies. And one of my first success stories, Erick, was a lawn care company. And he came to me and he said, jack, in April, we're inundated with leads. We have three full time people answering the phone and we still, like, the phone goes to voicemail and half of the people calling want landscaping. We don't do landscaping. We only do lawn care.
30:39
And so I did my audit and I'm like, hey, dude, do you know that your website mentions landscaping on like every page? So he had never actually looked at the SEO settings on his website and his last agency didn't know what he did. His last agency thought, oh, you do lawn care? Yeah, that's landscaping. So I changed that and got him laser focused on lawn care. Lawn fertilization, aeration, like the kind of basic keywords, and he grew 15% and I got a video of that and then I spoke at that trade show again. And then like other people, like, hey, I have that. My marketer doesn't know what I do either. So I kind of ended up here realizing that I, I actually really like the landscape industry. And that was 10 years ago that, that happened.
31:35
So the first half of running my company I was working with all kinds of businesses and then kind of organically landscape industry grew. And then 10 years ago it became like the whole focus. I rebranded the company.
Erick Lehmann
31:51
Do you think going into that single lane of landscaping has helped grown the business?
31:51 – Why Staying In Your Lane Leads To Growth
Jack Jostes
31:56
It's it, yes. Yeah, yeah, it has. And, and I just spoke at an agency conference about this and the obvious benefit is in marketing. You are a guest on the Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Podcast, right? It is not the small business owner's guide. Like wow. Like maybe randomly. Right. So the people listening are my customer. But the real benefit is in operations because we've been able to standardize. How do we onboard a lawn care client? How do we onboard a commercial landscape company? We know what bid build is and like your average marketing company, like, wow, they're going to really need to learn a lot about you to get to the point where they could build a website. Whereas like we have all these repeatable systems that I feel like have allowed me to scale the company.
32:54
And, and then when we have turnover, which stinks. Right. In any business, it's all about people. It's all about people. When there's turnover, it's way easier to say this is how we do a lawn care website instead of figuring out here's how we do all of these different industries. Or right now, after this, I'm going to watch Google I.O. Their, their two hour keynote about all their new products and stuff and I need to figure out, okay, what's relevant for the landscape industry. I don't need to figure out what's relevant for like all of these random clients. So I feel like it makes my job a lot easier.
Erick Lehmann
33:37
Yeah, I mean, I feel like sometimes we get asked to do services that aren't our traditional services and technically we can do them, but I feel like once we go off course, like it just complicates the processes. And as long as we stay centered in our lane, I feel like it's scalable and it's more manageable.
Jack Jostes
33:56
I had a, a client on here and his Podcast title was really good. He said saying yes gets you to 1 million and saying no gets you to 5 million. And so his whole thing was, and I helped this client go from. I can't take full credit for it. He, it was his idea, but I supported him in it. He was doing residential and commercial and we cut off the residential side. He now does hoas only. And he's killing it because a lot of landscape companies are like, yeah, we'll do your hoa, but oh, we're really busy on this design build project for this residence. And so then they miss mowing the lawn, they miss something for that HOA.
34:45
Now you've got 300 unhappy customers, whereas this guy's like, we are ready to come in and knock out 300 lawns in your HOA community today. So I think there's a lot of power in figuring out what you do and saying no. Go ahead.
Erick Lehmann
35:05
I think one of the most beneficial processes of onboarding with Ramblin Jackson was figuring out what our Hell yes customer was. Because before I feel like we said yes to everything. You know, we'll do this, we'll do that to make the sale. But like you said, I feel like there's power in no. And I feel like the more we say no to the one off projects that aren't our typical, it just, it's helping strengthen everything else.
Jack Jostes
35:29
Well, yeah. So to me, that's one of the most important questions in marketing that most website design companies don't ask at all. They're just like, oh great, send us some photos and here, you know, like, we'll put them on your new website. Doesn't it look nice? And we're like, wait a minute, who are you selling to and why? And when you get clear on who your Hell yes customer is, now you can be different and special to that customer and it differentiates you because if we try and sell to everyone and we sell against the everyone companies, then, then you will and should lose on price. Right?
Erick Lehmann
36:11
Right.
Jack Jostes
36:11
If it's just the same thing. So I'm glad to hear you say that. And it's amazing to me, this is what's rewarding about what we do, is we can work with a 35 year old business and help them figure out who is your Hell yes customer now. And it's not an easy question, it's a simple one, but it's not an easy one because I think for me part of my experience was I needed to go through the experience of working with lawyers and dentists and restaurants. And I've worked with a lot of different, you know, commercial concrete staining companies. Like, I did a great job for all those people. But then I realized like, wow, I'm kind of killing it for landscapers and I like it and I make money and I'm, that's all I'm going to Do.
Erick Lehmann
37:05
Yeah, makes sense.
Jack Jostes
37:07
So I also think one kind of note and food for thought on this topic of saying no. Somebody once said to me that in, in the landscape industry that you can add on that extra service when you're able to have a dedicated manager to it. And I don't know. I don't know if that's true or not. I'm sure there are people listening who maybe don't have a full dedicated manager, but I think what the chaos I've seen is when people like, great, we now do landscape maintenance and like, their construction supervisor is the person who's like, trying to do the construction stuff and meanwhile grow this maintenance stuff and it's like a whole different animal.
Erick Lehmann
37:53
Absolutely.
Courtney Andersen
37:54
Yeah.
Jack Jostes
37:54
Yeah, definitely.
Erick Lehmann
37:55
I think that's pretty advice.
Jack Jostes
37:57
Well, and so, like, you know, for Ramblin Jackson, we're doing email marketing with you, and we discontinued that as a service at one point. So there was a period where I was doing all these different things. This was a long time ago. And I'm like, wow, this is so chaotic. And we only did websites and SEO and then it became branding and then video and then email, and were able to scale with it. And I have way more people working for me now that I can now. I can now do that. So.
Erick Lehmann
38:35
Pretty cool when that all. It all clicks and comes together like that.
Jack Jostes
38:39
Well, it's been a real pleasure finally meeting you guys. We've been like, working together and I've worked on some of your audits and reports and things. But it was good to meet you. Thanks for working with us and thanks for coming on the landscapers Guide. And congrats again on 40 years in business. That is so cool.
38:39
38:39 – Final Thoughts And Future Growth Plans
Jack Jostes
38:39
Well, it's been a real pleasure finally meeting you guys. We've been like, working together and I've worked on some of your audits and reports and things. But it was good to meet you. Thanks for working with us and thanks for coming on the landscapers Guide. And congrats again on 40 years in business. That is so cool.
Erick Lehmann
38:58
Yeah, it really is. We're proud of it. And thank you for everything you guys have done for us. It's been, it's been a great partnership.
Jack Jostes
39:03
Well, I'll put a. A link to richgreenlawns.com in the show notes if folks want to listen to it. Where else can people connect with you if they want to network?
Erick Lehmann
39:13
Yeah, I mean, Cortney and I are both on LinkedIn, our social media, so Instagram, Facebook, companies on those sites, that's how they can find us.
Jack Jostes
39:23
All right, I'll put those down below as well.
Erick Lehmann
39:25
Perfect. Thank you. Awesome.
Jack Jostes
39:27
Thank you, guys.
Courtney Andersen
39:28
Thank you.
Jack Jostes
39:29
Hey, it's Jack Justice. You've been listening to the Landscaper's Guide Podcast, and if you run, maybe you're the first generation owner or you're the second generation owner of a successful lawn and landscape company and you're wanting to get better results from your marketing, you'd like to get more of your Hell yes customers? Maybe. Like Erick said, you're not even sure who your Hell yes customer is. We'd love to support you with that. I run Ramblin Jackson. We're the snow and landscape marketing agency and we help snow, lawn and landscape companies get found online by Hell Yes Customers. Getting started is really easy. We have a simple 15 minute marketing brainstorm phone call where we'll call you and talk with you about your customers and what are you doing for marketing and help you figure out how to get better results.
Jack Jostes
40:20
So if that sounds good to you, schedule your call@ landscapersguide.com brainstorm and if you want to see some of our work, check out richgreenlawns.com in the show notes to see today's guest again. My name's Jack and I look forward to talking to you next week on the Landscape Scapers Guide.