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The Landscaper’s Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Newsletter
OCTOBER 2026
AI IS WATCHING YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION IT CHANGED THE GAME, BUT DIDN’T CHANGE THE FUNDAMENTALS
There’s a good chance you’ve asked me some version of this question lately: “Jack, how do I get my company to show up in ChatGPT?” Fair question. It’s the number one thing on your mind right now, and I get it. The search results page doesn’t look like it used to, and it’s natural to feel like the ground has moved out from under you. But here’s the answer most people don’t want to hear: You don’t need to throw out everything you’ve been doing and chase some shiny new “AI marketing” strategy. In fact, that’s probably the fastest way to waste money. The foundation is still the foundation. If your website is weak, your reviews are thin, your Google Business Profile is neglected, your social media is a ghost town, and nobody else online is talking about your company, AI doesn’t have much to work with. AI is looking at your entire digital footprint: your website, reviews, other websites that mention you, your social media, and your local presence. So, if you’ve been doing the fundamentals well, congratulations, you’re already doing a lot of what AI wants. The big difference is that the destination is changing. For years, the goal of SEO was simple: get found on Google, get the click, get the prospect to your website. Now, somebody can ask ChatGPT or another AI tool, “Who are the best landscapers in my area?” and never visit a search result at all. That means your job isn’t simply to rank. You need to become the company that AI recommends.
Before you spend a dime on some fancy “AI visibility” report promising to tell you exactly where you rank in ChatGPT, pump the brakes. Rand Fishkin, one of the most respected researchers in search, ran a real study on this. He found less than a 1-in-100 chance that the same prompt gives you the same list of businesses twice, and when you look at the order of that list, it’s closer to 1-in-1,000. Why? Personalization. If you and I ask the exact same AI tool the exact same question, we can get completely different answers, because it knows different things about each of us, right down to Google’s Gemini pulling context from someone’s Gmail history. So, before you write a check to a company promising to track your “AI rank,” save your money. The question that’s always worked still works best: Ask every new customer, “How did you hear about us?” That’s your real data. I saw this mindset firsthand when we were shooting a video with Miller Landscape. Their sales manager, Chuck, made a point that stuck with me: Landscapers need to adopt a growth mindset toward AI rather than get defensive about it. Think about what happens when a prospect walks into your office with a competitor’s proposal. You can get defensive. Or you can say, “Great. Let’s compare them.” Miller is taking that idea one step further. They give customers prompts to put competing proposals into AI and compare them fairly. That’s gutsy. But it also sends a powerful message that they’re not afraid to be compared.
The harsh reality is that your prospects are going to use AI whether you like it or not. So, stop complaining about it and learn how to use it.
1. Give prospects better questions to ask.
2. Make sure your online presence gives AI credible information about your company.
3. Keep building the reviews, content, reputation, and local SEO foundation you should have been building all along. I cover this in Chapter 17 of my new book, “The Landscaper’s Guide to Direct Response Sales and Marketing.” If you want to understand where AI and local SEO are headed (and what you should actually be doing about it), you can grab a copy at LandscapersGuide.com/books. Don’t let the latest shiny object distract you from the marketing work that actually moves the needle.
JACK JOSTES, CEO RAMBLIN JACKSON
RamblinJackson.com • 1
Read It in Your Truck on a Rainy Day
RING THE BELL: MILLER LANDSCAPE REELS IN PROSPECTS
Put Your Prices on the Table and Watch What Happens
Miller’s website and looked at the pricing page before they ever speak with him. That changes the conversation. Instead of starting with “How much is this going to cost?” prospects already have a general understanding of what their project might require. They’ve had a chance to think about their budget. They understand that quality landscaping is a significant investment, and they’re more likely to come to the conversation with realistic expectations. That’s pre-selling. The pricing page handles some of the uncomfortable questions before Chuck ever has to. It also does something every busy landscaping company should appreciate: It filters. Chuck doesn’t want to spend his time driving out to meet with someone who hasn’t even looked at the information Miller has already made available. If a prospect hasn’t reviewed the pricing page, they may not be ready for a serious sales conversation. They’re protecting valuable sales time and focusing that time
There’s a marketing move that makes many landscapers nervous: putting your pricing on your website. We understand the hesitation. Landscaping isn’t like buying a pizza. Every project is different, and nobody wants a number taken out of context or used as ammunition by a competitor. But Miller Landscape took the plunge, and its pricing page has become one of its most effective sales tools. We’ve worked with Miller Landscape for several years, helping modernize their website, clean up the messaging, and turn their online presence into something that actually works harder for the business. One of the biggest opportunities was creating a public pricing page.
on prospects who are actually prepared to move forward.
The bigger lesson is confidence. Miller isn’t hiding behind “Call for pricing.” They’re willing to state what their work typically costs and provide potential customers with a realistic starting point. That kind of transparency builds trust before the first meeting ever happens. That’s what good marketing should do. It shouldn’t just make a landscaping company look good. It should make the sales process easier.
Sales manager Chuck was all for it. Owner Jeremy was initially more hesitant.
That’s worth ringing the bell for.
In the end, transparency won, and the results speak for themselves.
Want to see how the Ramblin Jackson team can help your landscaping business turn marketing into a stronger sales tool? Visit RamblinJackson.com/services.
Chuck says roughly 80% to 90% of the prospects he talks to have already visited
After 17 Years, I’ve Learned You Can’t Wait for Business to Calm Down TRAIN FOR THE STRESS, THEN HAVE FUN
Seventeen years in business have taught me plenty about marketing, leadership, and running a company with employees and clients across the country, but one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned has little to do with business. Around year 10 of Ramblin Jackson, I did a coaching exercise called the “Wheel of Life,” where you rate different areas of your life:
business, finances, relationships, physical health, mental health, spirituality, and more. Looking at my scores, I realized some of my personal areas were sitting at a four when they should have been much higher. That was a wake-up call. I started realizing that there will always be problems in business. Something will inevitably go sideways. At this point, I anticipate issues arising each day, keeping me prepared to respond with intention, not emotion. Because, honestly, if you’re waiting for everything to calm down before you take care of yourself, you’re going to be waiting forever. A curveball will always be thrown your way. So I started putting fun on the calendar and treating it like training. Every month, I’ve got something to look forward to: archery hunting trips, camping, skiing, or time with
my boys. I train for those activities, eat well, and stay active.
As a result, when you know you’re going to leave for a week, you have to delegate. You have to develop people. You have to stop believing everything depends on you and trust that your team can handle the curveballs. So, here’s my question for you: What do you wish was on your calendar? A fishing trip? A hunting weekend? A family vacation? A long-overdue adventure? Put it on there. You don’t have to wait until the business is perfect. Build the resilience to handle it, and give yourself something worth working toward.
JACK JOSTES, CEO RAMBLIN JACKSON
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Read It in Your Tru
Schedule a 15-minute Marketing Brainstorm with one of our Landscape Marketing Assistants. In just 15 minutes, they will: • Offer game-changing feedback on your marketing ideas. • Find gaps in your existing campaigns. • Discuss your best marketing strategy. • Share next steps for success! This is a quick, easy, no-pressure call — and we’ll even send you beef jerky or candied almonds for your time. Visit LandscapersGuide.com/brainstorm to schedule your Marketing Brainstorm today. Ready to Level Up Your Marketing and Get More Hell Yes Customers?
UPCOMING EVENTS
Landscaper’s Guide to Direct Response Sales & Marketing — Book Launch Livestream Coming Soon!
Landscape Leader of the Year Livestream Thursday, Oct. 22
NALP ELEVATE Join us in Tampa at the NALP ELEVATE Show! This is one of our favorite green industry events because of its focus on education for business owners and leaders of landscape companies. Nov. 8–11 Tampa, FL LandscapersGuide.com/events
TAKE A BREAK
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uck on a Rainy Day
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PO Box 1429 • Lyons, CO 80540 (303) 544-2125 • RamblinJackson.com
1 Quit Buying AI Snake Oil 2 Ring the Bell: Miller Landscape Lets Its Pricing Page Do the Selling 2 The 17-Year Secret to Staying in Business 3 Upcoming Events 4 Don’t Let Email Kill Your Speed-to-Lead INSIDE
FAST FOLLOW-UP IS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Your Inbox Just Got Superhuman
Email is probably not why you got into the landscaping business. You’d rather be selling, managing crews, talking to customers, and growing the company than staring at an inbox all day. The fact of the matter is, your customers don’t care that you’re busy. When a lead emails asking for an estimate, a client needs an answer. When someone wants to schedule a call, speed matters. A five-minute response can feel completely different from a five-hour response.
for you, so instead of staring at a blank screen trying to figure out how to respond, you can review the AI’s suggestion, tweak it, and hit send. Because it learns your writing style and tone, the responses can sound like you, not like a generic robot wrote them. That’s a big deal when you’re communicating with homeowners and clients. Your truck is your office? Even better. One of the best features is on mobile. You can open the Superhuman app, record what you want to say as a voice memo, and let it turn your truck/office thoughts into a polished, properly formatted email. Think about that. You’re between appointments, walking a property, or sitting in the truck, and instead of thinking, “I’ll answer that when I get back to the office,” you can respond right then.
requests and find times to meet without playing the endless “What works for you?” email game. Faster follow-up wins. When a homeowner is comparing multiple landscaping companies, being the company that responds quickly and professionally can give you a serious advantage. If email and scheduling are eating up too much of your day, check out Superhuman. Head to YouTube and search for Superhuman’s videos to see exactly how it works. Then ask yourself: How much faster could your business move if your inbox stopped slowing you down?
That’s where a tool like Superhuman comes in.
Let AI handle the busywork. Superhuman is an AI-powered email assistant designed to help you move through your inbox faster without sacrificing professionalism. It comes loaded with keyboard shortcuts that make navigating email ridiculously fast. It can also draft replies
JACK JOSTES, CEO RAMBLIN JACKSON
Superhuman can also connect with your calendar, helping you respond to scheduling
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