Jack Jostes [00:00]
When you write these things down and you put them on your website and they actually become a brand promise, you manage and lead your people to meet that standard.
Monty Theiss [00:08]
I would say our sales process before was nothing that were intentional about. Not being intentional kind of left a lot of room for a lot of mistakes. You know, we wanted him to be able to do the initial on-site consultation, which we now charge for. We weren't doing that before you guys. I think it drives away some of the leads only because it's qualifying them better. You know, our client doesn't feel like they're being sold to, you know, they feel like they're being taken care of.
00:39 – Family Roots in Landscaping: Theiss Story Begins
Jack Jostes [00:39]
Hey everyone. Welcome back to The Landscaper's Guide. Right now I'm in Dallas, Texas, or actually Grapevine, Texas, at the TNLA Hort Forum with Monty and Justin Theiss from Theiss Landscape Works. And we've worked together for several years. Super, super glad to have you guys on the show. So thanks for meeting up with me.
Justin Theiss [00:59]
Thanks for having us, Jack.
Jack Jostes [01:01]
So I was partly curious about your family history. I learned over dinner last night that your dad had a tree farm and you were telling me one of the first dates with your now wife was moving some trees. So tell me a little bit about your background in the green industry.
Monty Theiss [01:17]
Yeah, well, that date was about 36 years ago, probably. We've been married 35 years and I grew up in the industry. My dad actually started the company when I was about three years old. And so we've been doing this, I've been doing it all my life. And now Justin's been able to also grow up in the industry as well. My dad retired in 1999 and that's when I took over the business. So just it's been a lifelong dream of mine to be landscape business owner, I guess.
Jack Jostes [01:53]
That's amazing. What did you think it would be like when you were a kid?
Monty Theiss [01:58]
You know, I think I had a pretty good idea what it was going to be like because I remember my dad having me out there on the job site when the rake was way taller than I was raking a yard. So I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work and I guess that's really. It's all I ever really knew anyway, so I didn't know there was another way, honestly.
Jack Jostes [02:21]
Is running it now like what you thought it would be like, you know?
Monty Theiss [02:26]
No, things have changed tremendously. My dad, the way he ran things, you know, essentially my dad was worried about how he was putting the next meal on the Table. And that's pretty much all he. If you talk about goal setting and stuff like that was his goal, was to have enough food on the table for the family. And that's, you know, pretty literally speaking, I guess. My dad did landscaping. He did cleanup, he did farming, truck farming, and just anything he could get. He did great work. He did everything he could get his hands on. He grew up as a farmer. And so I grew up just kind of with the same mentality.
Monty Theiss [03:12]
But over the years of owning the business and running the business, and then with Justin joined me after he got out of college, we decided, I've learned there's another way and trying to grow and, you know, expand the business and scale it. And so I've learned a lot. Just let me say that Justin has helped me learn a lot and. And hiring consultants and people like Ramblin Jackson to help us with certain things have taught me a lot.
Jack Jostes [03:44]
So what are some of your goals that maybe you're even surprised that you have now? That's something that. I mean, when I started, I actually was focused on next week. Like, when I started my company, it was like, how do I make rent next week? So I didn't necessarily have a lot of goals beyond that. And then as my business grew, I was like, oh, I think I should have goals. And I didn't. You know, I hung out with people who had goals and achieved them, and that inspired me to set bigger goals. I never would have thought that I would run a marketing company in the landscape industry. We have 17 employees. I never thought that would happen, but it did become a goal a few years in.
04:24 – Setting Real Business Goals (That Used to Feel Impossible)
Jack Jostes [04:24]
So I'm just curious, like, when you talk about goals, what are some things that are goals that maybe you're even surprised you have now at this point in your life?
Monty Theiss [04:34]
Well, one thing, you know, we. We have an actionable business plan, and it includes, you know, financial goals. It includes, you know, revenue and profit and things that I never really. Growing up wasn't part of anything that we talked about. You know, we have now we're even looking at starting a new nursery. And we have goals. You know, we set a lot of goals for that new business plan for that as well. Talking about looking towards my retirement. I'm 59 years old, and my dad's 87, and he retired from landscaping in 1999, but just to start another company, another business. So he's still working. At 87 years old, he goes to work. You know, he'll tell you he works Wednesday through Saturday. But the honest truth is he works Monday through Saturday and sometimes Sundays.
Monty Theiss [05:34]
But now I can see a future of possible retirement for myself. And that's a goal that, you know, I never really thought much about, but I do think about it a lot now.
05:44 – From BYU to the Green Industry: Justin’s Journey
Jack Jostes [05:44]
Well, so Justin, tell us a little bit about your background and what did you end up studying in college?
Justin Theiss [05:50]
So I went to college at Brigham Young University in Idaho and ended up getting a business management degree with an emphasis in entrepreneurship. That's kind of always been, you know, grew up in a family of quite a few business owners and grew up around that. So kind of really has been. My passion is just business in general. Obviously growing up in the green industry and around that ended up bringing me in that direction. Wasn't always my plans, that's for sure. But I'm glad I'm here. I'm excited about it.
06:28 – What Theiss Landscape Works Actually Does (and Where)
Jack Jostes [06:28]
Cool. Well, so tell me a little bit for people listening, what all does Theiss Landscape Works do? And where are you based?
Monty Theiss [06:36]
We are based in northwest Houston. Our office is located in Hockley, Texas, which is just between Cypress and Waller. We're a design build firm, emphasis on residential. We are probably 50% new construction, 50% renovation, outdoor living type projects. We've started a new thing that we're calling Tys Care. It's our kind of our foot in the door of maintenance. And that pretty much sums us up. We're just getting into that. We also have currently about a four acre nursery. We're expanding, growing and expanding the nursery. We have pretty big plans with that, maybe even going retail. Our area is exploding in growth right now. There's, I think, 32 subdivisions going in just in the area within, you know, a 20 mile radius of us, I guess something like that. So we're expecting a lot of growth. We're hoping maybe capitalize on that a little bit so.
Jack Jostes [07:43]
Yeah, me too. Yeah, I'm excited about all that growth happening there. And I was just presenting today about all the growth in Texas. And in the last four years, Texas had the largest net population change of any state in the country. So people have been moving a lot since COVID and things have changed. And Texas, and then followed by Florida had the largest population change. And that creates a lot of demand for landscaping and new development and new construction. And you guys are in an awesome location for all that growth.
Monty Theiss [08:15]
Yeah, I believe we are.
08:17 – Our Sales Process Was Broken—Here’s What We Changed
Jack Jostes [08:17]
So I wanted to talk to you about sales process. Tell us a little bit, what was your sales process like before and what were some of the problems that you had with it?
Monty Theiss [08:26]
I would say our sales process before was nothing that were intentional about. It was something that just kind of just the way we did things and not being intentional kind of left a lot of room for a lot of mistakes. A lot of just being haphazard about it. I guess were kind of more along the traditional side of design build companies where we had a designer who was also a salesperson, who also was a project manager and we would hire several of those and it kind of was just. It left for one thing, it wasn't very scalable at all and it didn't really work very well. It worked okay, but not anything like what we've seen now from what the changes that we've been able to make.
Jack Jostes [09:21]
So what were some of the changes that we made together? So we worked together on this and what were some of the. What are you doing now?
Monty Theiss [09:29]
Well, the first thing was just getting you guys in there and helping us be more intentional about what were doing. Y'all helped us work through a few things as far as, you know, what are, how do we operate and what are the things that were working well and what are things that weren't working well. We decided that number one, we had a really good designer, my brother, who is a really top notch designer, and we wanted him to be able to do as much of that as he possibly could and continue to expand our revenue. So we came to the conclusion that we wanted him to be able to do the initial on site consultation which we now charge for. We weren't doing that before you guys.
Monty Theiss [10:25]
Matter of fact, we didn't think that was something that we would ever do because we didn't feel like it would. We thought it may drive away clients, which I think it drives away some of the leads only because it's qualifying them better, which is something that is, helps us with our scalability. But now we have a customer success manager who handles the client. It's more of a. I guess he's more of a salesperson. You know, our client doesn't feel like they're being sold to. You know, they feel like they're being taken care of and the design is their design because they're working directly with my brother, who is an awesome designer and the customer success representative. All he's doing is helping that client be successful in their journey with us.
Monty Theiss [11:19]
And so there's some things that Justin may want to elaborate a little more on the details of it. But that's kind of sums up, I think, what we've come up with as far as our sales process.
11:29 – Standing Out With a Real Value Proposition
Jack Jostes [11:29]
Love it. Yeah. Justin, what do you want to add?
Justin Theiss [11:31]
Well, as far as some of the things that you guys helped us learn and kind of develop was one of the first things was actually our kind of our value proposition. You know, what sets us apart from our competition. We were always kind of on the side of, oh, you know, quality and we just work hard, you know, and you know, tons of experience, you know, lots of in the office, you know, between four different people, there's probably 100 years of experience, you know, so that was. Oh yeah, that's what we sell on. But it really helped us to dig deep and figure out who our ideal customer is and what it is that they're looking for. What do they want and how do we provide that and market that, you know, so we kind of came up with our honest agreement guarantee.
Justin Theiss [12:22]
We came up with our, you know, industry leading warranties and it gives us something to live by, it gives us something to market and it really does help us set us apart from the competition.
12:37 – Do Customers Notice the Difference? (Yes, and Here’s How)
Jack Jostes [12:37]
So do customers actually notice it or is it just marketing stuff that we made up together? Do you really see a result, a change in how your customers perceive you and ultimately in sales?
Justin Theiss [12:51]
That's a great question. I would say we do. I would say if we didn't do it right, then we probably wouldn't. It'd be easy to come up with these things and put it on the wall and it's wallpaper there, you know, but we really do, we talk about it every day. Our customer success managers talk about it with the clients and different conversations that they have with them throughout the sales process. And then obviously, you know, talking about it, we've got to meet the expectations that we're setting. Otherwise we have who knows what, tons of bad reviews, unhappy clients.
Jack Jostes [13:32]
Well, I like that part of it because when you put these things, when you write these things down and you put them on your website and they actually become a brand promise, you manage and lead your people to meet that standard. And that I think elevates that. And then it is real and it does differentiate you from your competition. I was curious, Monty, what are some of the results that you've noticed?
Monty Theiss [13:53]
Well, I definitely. We have several reviews that where the clients, they specifically praise our process and how communicative we are and just the fact that they can really tell that we put a lot of effort and work into that process and making them making their buyer's journey something that is easy, that's not stressful. We have certain goals that we've set and Those are part of it. We want to make sure that it's an enjoyable process. Getting your yard tore up and that whole journey sometimes can be. And getting it put back together again can be stressful. We want to make sure that they understand what's about to happen, when it's about to happen, how long it's going to take, and then they have confidence in us that when it's done that they're going to be happy with it.
Monty Theiss [14:53]
And so we've had a lot of good reviews based on just that, just the process itself.
15:00 – Internal Wins: Happier Staff, Scalable Systems, and Real Growth
Jack Jostes [15:00]
Could you comment on what are some of the. So you got some reviews from customers. What are some of the business results that you've noticed internally, like increased sales or close rate or how do your people feel now? I mean, I mean. Cause when we got together, I think, I don't know, you were feeling pretty stressed with sales and like it wasn't a process. How are you feeling? How is your team feeling about it now?
Monty Theiss [15:25]
We definitely have seen a great improvement with our internally as far as anytime you change, make a change, you know, especially in processes or whatever. I think initially you're going to get a little bit of pushback. And we did a little bit. But it didn't take very long for everyone to sort of realize how much benefit we're gaining from the changes. And then it makes their. It makes it easier for them too. It makes their job easier. And we're definitely in a place now where we're scalable. You know, we're. We don't see a problem with doubling our size, you know, and staying within the processes that we have in place right now, so.
Jack Jostes [16:15]
Well, one of the things I have to commend you on in the project together was that you bought into it as the owner. Because sometimes I work with people and the owner doesn't buy into it. And they. And they say, oh, you manage Ramblin Jackson and they're gonna go do this, and you manage them. And what happens is when there isn't owner buy in, the rest of the company doesn't buy in. And sometimes I have actually, we've worked with people where what they write on their website isn't actually how they operate. So I wanted to thank you guys for actually pulling your end of the deal. I mean, we work together, but you guys are really doing it. And then from a leadership standpoint, you're in on it.
16:54 – Scripted Sales Calls That Actually Work
Jack Jostes [16:54]
And one of the things that worked in the project was getting buy in from the other people. You brought them not to every meeting, but there have Been a few key meetings where some of your people came in and they had a little bit of say in it and I got to work with them. And then we got as specific as we have scripts now for the first phone call when the phone is answered. So how has that been for the person answering the phone?
Monty Theiss [17:22]
It's been great. You know, one of our, you know, our person answering the phone, she had a little bit of pushback when it came to the charging for the consult, the initial consultation, but with the script and just a little bit more practice, she's very comfortable with it now there's not. She doesn't have an issue at all with it. She understands it and she sees the importance of it. And we loved working with you guys when it came to, you know, trying to develop that process, the actual sales process and the scripts. We needed that. And it's, you know, and it's also helped us see now what type of customer success managers we need and how they need to react to the, you know, to the client and how we're going to better serve our client by using them.
Monty Theiss [18:17]
You know, it was new to us.
Jack Jostes [18:20]
Great.
18:21 – Big Goals: $10M Revenue, New Nursery, and More
Jack Jostes [18:21]
Well, so what are some of your goals with the company next? Where are you guys taking the company?
Monty Theiss [18:27]
We're definitely, you know, pushing for a lot of growth. Three years ago, four years ago, if you would have said, you know, have set a goal of reaching 10 million a year in revenue, I would have just never would have even dreamed of it. Now it's actually a dream that we have. You know, that's kind of where we're wanting to go. We're expanding. We're looking at the retail nursery. You know, we're growing our own, a lot of our own plants and trees and shrubs that we use in the landscaping. We're trying to expand that. So we really, we feel really good about our future. We feel good about what's going to happen, you know, especially this next year with the economy, especially in our area. So I don't think we're going to be held back by that at all. So.
Jack Jostes [19:19]
Great. How are you feeling about the future, Justin?
Justin Theiss [19:22]
I'm super excited, you know, I mean, for one, just the sentiment in general for the economy has been good and, you know, things are looking good for our company. Honestly, you know, before we made changes to our website, not sure I'm sure I've told you this before, but you know, we, six months before we started working with you guys with Random Jackson, we had gotten a brand new website built because we had kind of antiquated website that was made in 19 or 2000. You know, something like that.
Jack Jostes [19:57]
Right.
19:58 – Why the “Nice” Website You Just Paid For Might Still Suck
Justin Theiss [19:58]
Never been updated. And anyway, so I got it updated and, you know, searching for price, you know, I was trying to be conscious when it came to that and went with somebody. The website looked great, but. And I didn't even really realize it then, but I realized now that it was not working at all. Not doing what it should be doing and not doing the results that we're seeing now. We've recently seen, you know, one of the biggest issues that green industry in general, a problem or, you know, challenge that we sometimes face is the seasonality of the work that we have. And it's still there, but we've never had. We've had our biggest December that we've ever had in the history of the whole company. Matter of fact, December was one of our biggest months.
Justin Theiss [20:51]
I mean, it was right along with the biggest months of the rest of the whole year. And then January is looking pretty decent. And a lot of it is leads that are coming in through our website. And just seeing that and knowing what's coming, you know, in the springtime when normally things are very busy, you know, it's pretty exciting.
Jack Jostes [21:17]
Well, that's amazing. I had forgotten that story. I didn't realize the website was that new. But now that you say that, I remember I was making a video about your website and I had to tread lightly because I knew that. But it's been a few years now since we did that. But yeah, I was like, oh, they just redid this. Bad news, guys. So that's never fun to hear that. But I appreciate the trust and working with us, and I'm excited for all the growth you guys have going on. And, you know, the seasonality thing, I mean, we can't make it go away. But what happens is when your Internet presence grows, the gap between the peaks gets shorter.
Jack Jostes [21:56]
Meaning, like, if you were getting most of your stuff, word of mouth before and you're not getting referrals that time of year, now you have this second source of lead generation that's working for you. It can make those winter months a little more tolerable.
22:12 – Final Thoughts + What We Learned About Charging for Consultations
Jack Jostes [22:12]
All right, well, Monty, Justin, thank you guys for coming on the show. We'll put a link to theisslandscapeworks.com in the show notes. Is that the best place if people want to network with you who are in the industry? What's the best way of reaching out to you guys?
Monty Theiss [22:27]
That's a great way. Yeah, just our office numbers there. Call Carla. She'll give them any information they want.
Jack Jostes [22:35]
Yeah, Carla's awesome. And so we're doing a marketing campaign that I'm excited about this, where we're telling people you're gonna have a call with Carla. I'm like, hey, let's include Carla in this because you guys run. One of the things I wanted to comment on before we end the show is that you were hesitant about charging for the consultation. You weren't sure if people would do it. One, you did it and then two, you have a customer success manager. I like that job title because as a customer who doesn't want a customer success manager. But you also said, and he does sales. But when you give somebody the sales title, it puts up resistance from the customer, whereas they're paying. And now they have a customer success manager. And they, like you said, they feel like they're taken care of.
Jack Jostes [23:20]
That's how it should feel when you have your sales process dialed in for the customer. So you guys are doing a lot of things right. And thanks again for coming on the show.
Jack Jostes [23:31]
Hey, everyone. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast and definitely check out theisslandscapeworks.com, they are doing so many things well. See our show notes if you'd like to have a conversation with me and my team about how you can improve your sales process to increase your close rate and attract more of your Hell Yes Customers, let's have a 15-Minute Marketing Brainstorm Call, go ahead and book one at landscapersguide.com/brainstorm. See our show notes for a link to that. My name is Jack Jostes and I look forward to talking with you next week on The Landscaper's Guide.
Show Notes:
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https://theisslandscapeworks.com
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