Ep 114. Scripts, Systems, and Sexy Proposals: Upgrading Your Sales Process

Summary

---

Green Side Up – Ep 114

Scripts, Systems, and Sexy Proposals: Upgrading Your Sales Process
Hosts: Jason Lee & Jordan Upcavage
Date: March 5, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this episode of Green Side Up, Jason and Jordan dive deep into the nitty-gritty of sales processes for landscaping and tree care businesses — from the first inbound call to sealing the deal. Prompted by a listener's question, the hosts candidly break down their approaches to scripting, proposal writing, vetting clients, and leveraging modern tools and technology. In true Green Side Up style, their advice is delivered with humor, real-world stories, and actionable takeaways for business owners at all stages.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origin Story (Listener Q&A)

• Listener Nick from Irish Landscaping inquires about creating and implementing an effective sales process.
• Jason: “He asked if we had covered… taking our sales process kind of from inbound phone call to close of sale.” (03:10)

2. The ‘Inbound to Sale’ Process – Laying Out the Steps

• Jordan outlines his current (albeit unwritten) sales process, built more out of necessity than formal planning.
• Jordan’s nine-step process (06:38 – 09:58):
  1. Client calls office for a quote (scheduling handled by his sister, Christie).
  2. Arborist calls client before the appointment.
  3. On-site scope of work developed; proposal may be delivered and closed on site or via follow-up.
  4. Automated email follow-ups at 3 and 7 days via SingleOps software.
  5. Client accepts proposal online; automated thank-you email sent.
  6. Job scheduled; client notified.
  7. Crew shows up and performs work.
  8. Post-job quality check call.
  9. Invoice sent and payment processed; receipt delivered by email.

Jordan (on proposals):
“2020 to 2024 made us spoiled and lazy… decreasing the incentive to work a little harder on the sales closing end.” (08:42)

---

3. Scripting the First Call — Role-Play Demo

• Jason and Jordan perform a role-play of a sales call that showcases Sky Frog Landscape’s script and approach (13:20 – 24:25).
  • Key script elements: Asking if the caller is a previous client, where they heard about the company, budget discussions, vetting availability, preliminary screening of project size and client intent.
  • Use of humor and relatable language adds approachability to the process.
  • Questions about irrigation, fertilization, current maintenance provider, and decision-makers are included.

Jordan (as a potential client):
“My in-laws judged me so I wanted to see if you could make me look like I deserve their daughter.” (14:29)

Jason (on minimum project size):
“If we're going to come show up at your house, this is what it's probably going to cost… currently at like $1,500.” (11:45)

• Efficiency Matters: Most “real” calls are much shorter than the demo, with staff like Michelle getting all needed info in under three minutes (25:23).

---

4. Client Vetting, Budgets & Setting Expectations

• Vetting for Fit: Project minimums are stated early to avoid time wasted on “tire kickers”.

• Website Transparency:

  • Displaying rough pricing tiers on the website helps set expectations and reduce mismatches.
  • “You have small landscape projects starting at five grand… you’ve groomed me into… spending 8 grand at a minimum.” (27:47)
  • Benefit: Clients who follow through have already self-selected, leading to higher-quality leads.

• On Handling Budgets:

  • Realistic conversation about clients’ willingness to state a number.
  • Sometimes, early budget ballparks save the company from wasting site visits.

---

5. Design Fees & Managing ‘Free Work’

• Nick’s Dilemma: Did a design before collecting a fee; client ghosted him for another landscaper.
• Best practice: “Get the money before you do the work on the design.” (32:01)
• Design as a Profit Center (or Not): Depending on market and project size, design fees vary from negligible to substantial.
• Jason: Prefers to close small jobs on the spot with minimal sketches—keeping proposals simple unless a full design is warranted.

---

6. Sexy Systems: Proposals & Communication Tools

• Live Switch and AI tools are revolutionizing work order creation, proposals, and internal communication.
• Jordan’s Example:
  • Videotaped walkthroughs and job explanations transcribed into comprehensive work orders (36:25+).
  • For complex, high-touch proposals (e.g., “South Tampa mansion”), meticulously documents client requirements, uploads video, links all equipment used—delivers a “sexy” proposal that justifies the price and sets clear expectations (40:33 – 45:28).

Jordan:
“It is so anal retentively covering my ass… I have captured everything she couldn’t. We can’t lose. We’re either going to make money or I’m not going to do the assignment.” (44:41)

• AI in Sales Ops:
  • Tools like ChatGPT + recording software accelerate proposal development and ensure nothing is missed.

---

7. Scaling, Referrals & Marketing Spend

• Client Story: Andrew (Nebraska arborist) consults Jordan on marketing and sales growth.
  • Spends too much on digital marketing relative to revenue.
  • Recommendation: Focus more on grassroots referrals and direct asks for Google reviews than expensive ad spends.
  • Jordan’s advice: “Don’t make it a gimmick… be honest and genuine.”

Jordan:
"Cut the crap of incentives and gimmicks… if you think I deserve it… I’d appreciate a referral and a hearty thank you." (49:14)

• Technology Differentiation:
  • Being first in your market with video or AI-enhanced proposals creates a sales edge.

---

8. Real Talk on Process Limitations & Future Topics

• The hosts admit:
  • Much left uncovered—deeper dives into later sales stages ahead.
  • Invite further listener questions and feedback (53:46).

Jason:
“If you have anything that you think we should go more in depth on… there’s a lot more that goes into before we close the job that we don’t have time to cover today.” (53:46)

• Plans for the next episode:
  • A possible series on the customer-facing sales process.
  • Focus on refining the client experience post-script.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the importance of scripts:

  • “The ultimate goal is to try to vet the client to some degree to make sure that they’re going to be a right fit for our business. Screen out the tire kickers...” (11:05 – Jason)

• On handling difficult project requirements:

  • “I was pricing the job and I deleted the price and added an extra thousand dollars right when she goes, ‘No, sir, you cannot touch those green branches.’” (40:41 – Jordan)

• On proposal “sexiness”:

  • “Speed kills and sex sells. So get your... proposals done on the spot. Have the robot do it, and bam.” (52:00 – Jordan)

• On harvesting the day:

  • “We are winking and grinning at each other because we have guns on our hips and they're loaded and we're going to go out and kill...we're going to harvest this day. We’re going to thank this day for the energy and the life it gave us.” (55:31 – Jordan)

---

Key Timestamps

• 00:05–04:10: Episode opening, listener context, and topic introduction
• 06:38–09:58: Jordan’s 9-step sales process overview
• 13:20–24:25: Role-play demo of the inbound call script
• 25:23: Efficient call handling and real-world cadence
• 27:47–29:05: Impact and philosophy of transparent pricing online
• 30:33–34:08: Discussion of design fees and Nick's payment dilemma
• 36:25–45:28: Applying AI/video tools to proposals and work orders
• 47:08–52:00: Referrals, scaling operations, grassroots vs. digital marketing, and Live Switch advantage
• 53:46–55:10: Wrapping up, listener Q&A, and teasing future topics
• 55:26–57:32: Inspired sign-off and “harvesting the day” metaphor

---

Takeaways for Listeners

• Have a script and process—even a basic one—to streamline and qualify leads.
• Post project minimums and ballpark prices online to set expectations and filter prospects.
• Collect fees for design work up front—don’t work for free.
• Leverage AI and video tools for clarity, speed, and “sexy” proposals.
• Focus marketing on authentic referrals and reviews before overspending on digital ads.
• Iterate: There’s always another stage to improve in your customer’s experience.

---

Missed the episode? This summary gives you the “real dirt”—but the full banter, stories, and irreverent humor make it even richer for the entrepreneurial soul in landscaping and tree care.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Green side Up, the perfect podcast for small business entrepreneurs looking to cultivate success in the landscaping and tree care industry. Join Jason Lee, a seasoned landscaper, and Jordan Upkavage, a true tree whisperer, as they share their wealth of experience and insights to navigate the challenges of growing your business. Get ready to hear real life stories, practical solutions, and invaluable advice that will empower you to thrive amidst the chaos of entrepreneurship. And now, let's keep the Green side Up with your host, Jason Lee and Jordan Upkevage. Jordan, good morning.

[B]

Did it again. We both win at the same time.

[A]

All right. The rock, paper, scissors short. All right, go.

[B]

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

[A]

Scissors, shoot.

[B]

Did you throw paper?

[A]

I threw. Yeah. Well, I threw her scissors.

[B]

Oh, then I beat you. So I get to go. Buenos tardes, Yakimo Lee.

[A]

Good morning, Jordan.

[B]

That was my first rock, paper, scissors of the day.

[A]

Yeah, me too.

[B]

Well, Jason, it's good to have you. It's good to be had at the same time. The last recording we did was last week, and we debriefed the landscape radio, which was so much fun, wildly successful event. And it's interesting. I've had a number of people in Tampa say hoes landscape rodeo. Whether it was the grassroots talking to the local FNGLA of Tampa, or landscapers and hardscapers in Tampa, or listeners, people have said, how was the landscape radio? I was like, huh? How the hell did you know? Like, you texted me, think about the crawfish boils. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways, that was. That was tons of fun, and it was good to. To debrief it. So, yeah, to kick off our week here, Jason, you had some communication with a listener of ours, someone who we've met at a trade show. So go ahead and butter that toast before we eat it.

[A]

Yeah. So Nick with Irish Landscaping, who is over in the Deland area, Greater Deland area. Imagine, he services. We met him during Rob Murray with Intrigue Media's talk last year at the landscape at the landscape show in Orlando, which is generally around the third week in August at the Orlando Convention Center. And we met Nick after the seminar, and then we talked to him for probably 10 or 15 minutes at the hotel bar later and got to know him a little bit. But he. He and I had been texting about something before the landscape rodeo. And then he called me the other day because he was navigating some. Anyway, some sales issues. What do I charge for landscape designs? How do I approach this scenario, that scenario? And he asked if we had Covered any, I guess, specific episodes of taking our sales process kind of from inbound phone call to close of sale. And I told him we've talked about a lot of different sales things, but probably not covering that. So I figured that'd be a great thing to talk about today.

[B]

Okay, so sales process. I'm going to recap to make sure I got it. The sales process from the time the client calls the office to the time the job's invoiced, is that, I think more like sales end.

[A]

Yeah, the salesy end. Phone call to sale.

[B]

Phone call to sale. Okay,

[A]

well,

[B]

I'm in. I'm very excited is not the right word, but I'm, I'm intrigued to know. I'm. I'm curious to know how you're going to answer this question because you have spent more money on coaching, therefore you likely have set aside more time than I have to do something about it or put something in writing. So I don't have a written sales process or a written script over the phone. Probably should, but I don't in a roundabout way. We have a rough outline of a written script for the inbound phone call. And the reason we have that is we got very busy early last year and the phone volume was too much for one person to manage. So we hired an answering service named Ruby. Ruby advertises on a lot of XM talk radio stations. And I've heard about Ruby for years and I said, screw it, I'm going to hire Ruby. So in the process of onboarding Ruby, we outlined a roug sketch, a rough script, a skeleton of what the person over the phone would do. And my sister Christie helped do a lot of that. So we kind of have a rough script from doing the Ruby deal, but nothing that's like in concrete. And then the, the sales process, I don't have one written down, but we, Jason and I, you, you and I both went to Tony Bass's Profit Builder in January of this year. And as part of Profit Builder, before you go, there's paperwork that you have to fill out. There's some homework assignments, and it's the confidential Profit Builder Business assessment questionnaire prepared by Tony Bass. And I have it right here. And there's a number of questions that you would answer for Tony to get to know your process and get to know you a little bit better. For instance, do you prepare an annual budget? If no, why not? If yes, what month of the year do you do it in? How do you arrive at a price for a job? Describe precisely the entire process and there's a number of questions of what do you expect to receive from a consultant or how do you hope to benefit from hiring a consultant? What topics do you read or study on a regular basis? But the question here that I think pertains to the topic is how often do you communicate with your customers? Describe exactly how you do it. So this kind of touches on that and this is the only time I've written it down and I have nine bullet points and I have one the client calls into the office to get a quote. Christy, my sister schedules the Arborist appointment with the client or they pay the phone or they play the phone call and voicemail game until contact is made. Number two Arborist usually calls the client when on the way to the property. That's the when we're on the way to the scheduled time.

[A]

Hey it's Jordan.

[B]

I just wanted to let you know I'm on the way to your home. It's Tuesday between 10 and 11. Number three tree evaluation and scope of work description is developed either in person with the client or over the phone for a mobile walkthrough. If the client is not present proposal sent via email occasionally, the deal is closed on site verbally with the paperwork to follow. Number four if the job is not closed within three days, the software, which is single ops, sends an automatic follow up email and again a second and final follow up cost. Seven days after proposal submission if not yet accepted. The past six months I have turned up the phone call proposal follow up due to necessity. 2020 to 2024 made us spoiled and lazy with a plethora of work, decreasing the incentive to work a little harder on the sales closing end. Number five Client clicks the accept proposal button on the emailed proposal link. The software then sends an automated thank you message acknowledging the proposal was accepted and informing them the team would follow back with a scheduled work date. Number six Salesman schedules the work in the crew calendar, sends an email to Christy with the job schedule. Christy then emails and calls the client with the job scheduled date and this is not what you asked but I'm going to finish it out. Number seven Cruz shows up at the scheduled time and performs the work. Number eight the day after the work is performed, the salesperson calls the client for quality control and customer satisfaction. Number nine Christy then sends an invoice via email. Once the payment has been processed via check to the PO Box ACH Transfer or online credit card, the customer receives an automated paid invoice via email. So that's the broad picture process that the customer would experience. Maybe that touched on a little bit on what you wanted to talk about. Happy to elaborate more on one of those nine points, but that was just me taking some time to write down the process that we have. Having never written it down before.

[A]

We, and we do not have a fancy lean scaper. Lana created document that lives on the wall of our office of how this works. So prior to working or starting with Jeffrey Scott's peer group, like I didn't put much thought into, you know what happens when we answer the phone. That was one of the first things that we started working through. And I've done Tony's, you know, profit builder questionnaire prior to that also. But once we started analyzing what we wanted to get out of the first phone call for our business and what information we wanted to obtain, that's what we started focusing on. So we have, we do have a deep, pretty detailed phone script that we change, change as needed.

[B]

Do you have it on your computer right there?

[A]

I can look. I doubt it. And our Google Drive is a very scary place. It would all look while we're going here. But we, you know, our ultimate goal is to try to, you know, vet the client to some degree to make sure that they're going to be a right fit for our business. Screen out the tire kickers which we've done a, a pretty good job of. And how do you do that? So we're, we've set project minimums for our business so you know, for new, for new projects and it's not even a minimum. It's just the reality of we, if we're going to come show up at your house, this is what it's probably going to cost for some sort of start of business for us to do. And we've had it at different levels over the years, but we are currently at like 1500 bucks. It's like if we come do anything at your house for a half a day, it's probably going to cost 1500 bucks between labor and whatnot.

[B]

Plan healthcare seems to be all the buzz in the green industry right now. Are you like many business owners that don't know how or where to start or are you looking to add a new tool to your PHC toolbox?

[A]

Mitigrow is an innovative product that focuses on root and stuff soil health. A different approach than loading up the ground with more npk. Mitigro is a blend of mycorrhizae, fungi, bacteria, vitamin B and iba, which is a rooting hormone.

[B]

The concept is simple. More roots equals A healthier and more robust plant. This simple concept is exactly why both Jason and I have incorporated mitigro into our PhD programs. Deep Root applications on my end for mature or struggling trees, soil drenches and spray applications for when Jason installs trees and installs new sod.

[A]

Give Mitigro a shop for yourself. Their product is easy to apply and no special licenses are needed. Visit mitogrowpro.com to learn more. That's M I T O G R-O-W P R O.com okay, I have a script here. I don't know if this is an up to date script.

[B]

Is there a last time it was

[A]

saved date odd looking.

[B]

I don't our last opened date,

[A]

You know. Be a lot cooler if it did. We got so many. This is impressive. Look at all the, look at all the things we've done, Jordan. Where. So listeners can't see this but there's so many things here. I don't know but I'm just going to, I'm going to go through this version of it and that's still, still pretty accurate. So it starts out. Have you hired us before?

[B]

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

[A]

What?

[B]

I did not get out of bed at 4:45 this morning to not have the fun of doing a role playing with you, Jason. All right.

[A]

Good lord.

[B]

Ring ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.

[A]

Sky Frog Landscape, this is Sky Frog Landscape, this is Jason. How may I help you today?

[B]

Hey, good morning Jason. My name's Jordan and I wanted to give you guys a buzz to see if you could help me do a like a clean out and a little overhaul make put some lipstick on my front yard. I'm having a, having a kid's birthday party and my in laws judged me so I wanted to see if you could make me look like I deserve their daughter.

[A]

Sure Jordan, we can definitely help you out with that. Have you ever worked with Sky Frog Landscape before?

[B]

No sir, I have not.

[A]

Awesome. Well, how did you hear about us?

[B]

There was like 30 yard signs on an intersection in Gainesville and I think you were at war with a competitor and I found it pretty funny. So your sense of humor is what drove me to your business. I've done no research other than this guy's got a pile of yard signs and I wanted to give him a call.

[A]

Okay Jordan, so we are about six to eight weeks out on our landscape installation projects currently. When is, when is your birthday party?

[B]

It is on May 9th.

[A]

Okay, well that is, that fits into our design build schedule. Tell me a little bit more about Your project. What level of lipstick do you need to make your front yard great for your in laws buddy?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

What?

[B]

I don't know. You could tell me that we needed to trim the bushes and put some mulch down or we might need to rip out some shrubs and plant some new ones. I think my irrigation works, but I haven't run it in a while, so I don't know what I need. I don't intend on doing a full renovation right now. At least that's not my intention, but I just want it to look nice and I'm tired of dicking with it with myself because it's not working. So I just need somebody that can come to my house and have a vision and tell me what they would do if it was their house.

[A]

Okay, well, we could definitely help you out with that. Do you have a set budget in mind that you're looking to spend on this project?

[B]

I don't know, man. I'm hesitant to give you that answer. I would be very happy spending hundreds of dollars, but we could spend more than 10,000. That could happen. All barring what we talk about and what you see. I. But my intention is not to spend a pile of money, but I still want my stuff to look nice. So that was the best way I can tap to answer on your question.

[A]

Okay. Well, just to give you an idea of range of budget, if you want to look at some projects for the future, we have a pricing page on our website,.com which you can check out. And our project, our projects for this type of work generally start around $1,500. That tends to be the lower range for any project for us to come out for a half a day or more and start to work at your house. And of course it can go up from there with materials and more labor. So the best course of action next would be to get you scheduled with an appointment with our design consultant, Clayton. And he takes generally takes three to four appointments a day. 8, 10, 12 and 2 o'. Clock. He is open this Thursday. Do any of those time frames work for you?

[B]

Yeah, sorry man. I was looking at your website and I wasn't listening to you at all. You said Clayton wants to come to my house, right?

[A]

Yeah. That would be a good next step for Clayton to come out and meet you.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Your website's really pretty and I like how you have it kind of laid out where eight grand is this, five grand is that. So we can, I guess, talk with Clayton and depends on how good of a salesman he is. Is really going to see if I'm getting excited and doing you guys do lighting as well?

[A]

Perfect. We do do landscape lighting.

[B]

Yeah. And all this rocky stuff. Did you guys make these rock circles with the fires?

[A]

We did since the flagstone patio with some epoxy pea gravel and in between the stones.

[B]

Can you. What's your timeline on that? You said you were like six weeks out. Could you pull that thing off too?

[A]

We. We could, yeah. We could meet a May 9 deadline with it.

[B]

All right, and if I need new irrigation, can you do that?

[A]

We absolutely can. So for just a general clean out, we would not be getting into point where we would probably be doing a landscape design in the future. If it does come to that point, there would be a design fee. Clayton's initial consultation is with no charge to come out and take a look at your current project. I do have a few questions on your property to help Clayton wrap his head around what you're. What he's walking into. So if you have just a minute, we'll go over those.

[B]

All right.

[A]

All right. So you already mentioned an irrigation system in your yard. So you do have. You do have an irrigation system. You just don't currently know how operational it is.

[B]

Yeah, it worked when I bought the house. And then, I mean, I think some stuff broke and I just turned it off. So there's one there, but you're gonna have to tell me what can be reused.

[A]

Okay. So do you currently have a company fertilizing your yard?

[B]

I do.

[A]

Are you happy with them?

[B]

Not really.

[A]

Okay, well, Clayton's out on site. He can also give you a quote. We offer full service lawn health package and ornamental package. So if you're interested in that, that's another line item he can give you on his proposal.

[B]

All right, I'm sorry I interrupted you, sir. That was rude of me.

[A]

Do you have a company that provides regular maintenance on your property?

[B]

I wouldn't call it a company. Okay, I have a guy.

[A]

That's fair. Does he take good care of your yard?

[B]

For the trash I have right now, it's perfect. If we end up having nice things, which is what I want to have, then he might not be the right guy.

[A]

Okay, well, we might be able to help you out with that in the future after we make your yard great again for your in laws. All right, do you have any drainage issues on your property?

[B]

No. Well, drained sandy, no clay, no drainage problems. Okay.

[A]

And since you took a brief tour of our website, are there any other things that you'd be Interested in the future with? Sounds like we might end up doing some softscaping and plants and mulch to spruce up before your birthday party. Are you interested in the hardscape projects, landscape, lighting or outdoor audio in the future?

[B]

Perhaps. Right now I need the front of my house to look decent long term. I mean, I want my backyard to be nice and fun and entertaining. So if we could have like a goal for like this pavery thing with the stone circle and there's lights and like, that looks awesome. If I could get an idea of what this thing is going to cost, you know, 6, 10, $22,000, then maybe that gets me a goal to work forward to and I can plan for it for my next, you know, annual bonus type deal. I just, I can't. I probably can't pull that off right now.

[A]

Sure. Well, Clayton will be able to give you some, some thoughts on that while he's out on site looking at your cleanup. Okay. Who is going to be making the final decision on your project?

[B]

You're talking to him, bubba.

[A]

Awesome. Is your wife going to be available to meet with you also?

[B]

Maybe, but we have a lot of kids running around, so if she's there, it would be fantastic. But it's not. Neither of us think. No, if she's not available, that's okay.

[A]

Very good. Well, so this Thursday, what. What time would it work best for you? 8, 10, 12 or 2?

[B]

Ooh, you can do 8:00 clock in the morning.

[A]

We can do 8:00 clock in the morning?

[B]

Yeah, that'd be great.

[A]

Awesome. Well, I'm going to put this into Clayton's calendar and single ops or software program and it will be scheduled and he will see you at 8 o' clock in the morning. If I can just confirm your address. Sure.

[B]

It is 2611 N. Armenia Ave. And that is Tampa, Florida, 33607.

[A]

Okay, wonderful. And I have your cell phone here on our caller id. What is the best email address that Clayton can put into our System?

[B]

It is GreenSideUp PodcastMail.com.

[A]

perfect. Okay, well, I have you entered here. Clayton Will. Clayton may give you a call if he has any questions prior to arrival, but this seems like a pretty simple project for him to come out and take a look at, so expect to see him at 8 o' clock on Thursday.

[B]

Okay, man, do you need. And if I need to cancel or something comes up, do I just call the office number back?

[A]

You can just call this number back and we'll take care of it.

[B]

Okay. And then are these your guys or A bunch of subcontractors that come out that we are.

[A]

It will be our employees that come out to the work.

[B]

Okay. And you guys have insurance?

[A]

We do. Okay. Buckets. Bucket loads of insurance.

[B]

All right, Jason, well, thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing Clayton at 8 o' clock on Thursday.

[A]

Thank you very much, Jordan.

[B]

Bye. Son of a. Jason, you should be. You should answer the phone. That was so well done. It was like, I haven't found it.

[A]

That's. That was painful. I haven't answered the phone in a long time.

[B]

Your questions about drainage.

[A]

Yeah, we're trying to. Yeah. So this is so, I guess for Nick's, For Nick's benefit, like, this is a script that we would go through because we try to figure, I mean, and we, we probably have a more in depth script at this point, but that's, that's pretty much covering. Covering most of it. I mean, we don't want to try to gather. It's also, you know, what Michelle can run through, you know, in however many minutes that was.

[B]

And of course, that was a lot of minutes.

[A]

Yeah. But obviously we're making a few innuendos and jokes as we're doing it that you and I pick up on. But, you know, with Michelle, she's got a little bit faster cadence and pace. So

[B]

I guess the people answer more shortly and less storytelling.

[A]

Yes. Yes. So, yeah, it's all yes or no. It's, you know, it's one word answer. She's probably off the phone in under three minutes.

[B]

Okay. Is that. How does the pray. I like the, the pricing thing on your website. How does that. Like, do you ever get a budget out of somebody?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And what do they say? I got 25 grand

[A]

sometimes. I mean, we'll get, we'll get real budgets. We'll get, you know, I don't want to spend more than five grand. And some of it, you know, we, we screened the customer the other day. You know, he wanted to do an Artscape project and a pirate area and whatnot. You know, only wanted to meet after hours, didn't want to meet during the day, which is generally a red flag for us. And we, we try not to do that anymore when we might break an exception. But it's. We're of the opinion now, you know, if you can't take, if you don't value our service enough to anyway take off of work or meet sometime during that, you know, 8, 10, 12 or 2 or. I think it'll even go up to 4 o' clock as the latest appointment, but definitely we're not doing, we're doing very few. I would consider it a handful of after five o' clock or weekend appointments a year. But when he had somebody that was, you know, requesting and not maybe not demanding, but requesting an after hours consultation. And so, you know, Clayton just, he's like, what's his budget? So, you know, Michelle's like three to seven grand. But he preferred not to spend more than five. So Clayton did a couple of rough. Anyway, rough estimates or rough ballparks to give the guy. So, you know, he told him, hey, this, this size five, you know what area you're looking for? He told him the area. He's like, all right, well, this falls into. He's like, could probably be between 8,500 and 9,000. So I'm pretty sure the guy, you know, decided not to have us come out. Which means, which is great because we just saved the. Yeah, save the trip out with not hitting it. But, you know, a lot of people say between 5 and 10, between 10 and 15. We've had quite a few people, you know, go to the pricing page and say that it was great, you know, to see, see what's there. And then who knows who goes and looks at it and scares them away. But for the people that look at it and see it and then call us, like, those people are vetted, like they've already gone through, you know, before they call us, they've already, they've already gone through the process and made a decision to call us, which means that they're probably not calling anybody else.

[B]

And I like the vagueness of it. It says garden bed, specimen tree, shrubs and ground cover. If you have a large space to play with, we can do a more extensive project putting in a bigger garden, a specimen tree, shrubs, and various types of ground cover. You have small landscape projects starting at five grand, medium landscape project, eight large landscape projects starting at 12 grand. It is reckless, vague with numbers, but it's giving me numbers that it's just something to look at. And then I can fantasize in my head what all that means. And then that's preparing me. What you've groomed me into is spending 5, 8 to 12 grand. And then we go complete landscape, Oasis 10, 16, 35. You've groomed me into. I'm spending 8 grand at a minimum is what this is doing. And it's, I love the vagueness of it.

[A]

And it's, you know, and we had to come up with. And, you know, they're legitimate budget numbers for you know, we went through our sizes of projects and what a lot of the stuff entails, and, you know, we're not selling. If we were selling a package of this many plants in this tree, you're

[B]

gonna get caught in the weeds.

[A]

Yeah, well, yeah, then, then we'd be able to give, like, pretty finite numbers, but with all the variables and what we do, you know, it's. I don't know, we came up with some, I think, budget ranges that are realistic for what we charge. And we're trying to cover, you know, softscapes, hardscapes, lighting. So I think. I think it's a benefit. And I despise the word transparency, but I guess this would be a fit for it if we're being. We have very transparent pricing. So. And with. With one of Nick's questions and I kind of ran through. Obviously we didn't go into all the, all the details of the phone script, but I kind of ran him through that on the call when he called the other day. And. But he was having an issue with, you know, charging for landscape designs, so I guess he had a client that he had done a design for. And Nick, I apologize if I'm not freely giving out your information. And I think it is. Would be a great scenario for everyone to hear. So thank you for sharing that with me and I'm going to share it with the world. But, you know, he had charged a client for landscape design and had not taken the money yet. And then on time of presentation and collecting the money, they informed him they'd gone with someone else. So that was one of his calls to action, to call me just to see how we work through things, you know, on that side of it. And I, I also told him that, you know, we don't. We try not to do landscape designs in our market.

[B]

Hold on, hold on. Let me make sure I understand this.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

You said Nick?

[A]

Yes. Okay.

[B]

Like old Nick.

[A]

No, Kiroshnik.

[B]

Kirosnik. Okay, so Kirosnik did a landscape design for a client they hired, not Nick, to do the work. Did they pay Nick for the design?

[A]

They had not.

[B]

Did they end up paying Nick for the design?

[A]

I think that he was going to settle on some sort of compensation. Probably not the full fee, but a partial fee, which once he laid out the scenario, I told him that's. That's a win if you get some money out of them. So even if it's not your full fee, you know, so they just used

[B]

Nick, come to my house, give me your ideas verbally, then go do Work and put your ideas on paper. And you're just gonna give that to me and I'm gonna say not hiring you, and I'm gonna hire Dingaling down the road and give Nick that design this and put time into it. Nothing.

[A]

He had not given them the design yet. So he was at the point to collect money and then give the design.

[B]

Ah, but he had already done the design.

[A]

Correct.

[B]

So what my suggestion would be is get the money before you do the work on the design.

[A]

Correct, Correct.

[B]

Yeah. And then like how much is a design fee? 350 bucks. 500 bucks?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. For a simple design.

[B]

Okay. So I, I want to know how, what your process is with that. You said you try not to do a design.

[A]

Oh, we try our best. I mean, it's, we put a lot of effort into not, not doing designs. It takes more time. It takes time. You know, especially now we are to the call of action of sell the job. Trying to sell the job on site. You know, if a client requests a design, you know, when Tammy was here, you know, she was using pro landscape for mockup photos. So she'd take a picture of the house, mock up some plants in the picture, kind of give the, give the clients a visual. And if she was having to do more than one mockup photo, you know, we'd charge 100, 200 bucks for something like that. She was having to do a 2D design. Sometimes she was doing them just for her sake, figuring out the job. But then if she's presenting them to the clients, you know, it might be 2, 3, 400 bucks. But it's, it's not a profit center in our business here in Gainesville, Florida for us to draw landscape designs compared to other parts of the other parts of the country. You know, we're also doing small, we're also doing small projects. I mean, a landscape design for a $10,000 job, it's not going to be that much. But you know, some of these guys, like my friend John with Gardens for Living in Asheville, North Carolina, you know, it's a profit center for them. They're charging a real amount of money for real landscape designs and they're also building, you know, very large landscape projects on the side of mountains. So when we went to take a tour of his place, he's having to do engineering and full blown construction documents because they're building things on mountains. So it's like, oh, this is a whole other level of, of landscaping than what we're doing down here, you know?

[B]

Yeah. So the, do you Just verbally describe what you're going to do, or do you even give them a plant for like five grand? Do you even tell them what plants you're going to put in the ground? Or you say, here's some examples of some past work. We're going to do shrubs, we're going to do some ground cover. There's going to be some perennials over to have these things that pop in the spring, and then they're a green leafy plant. And we're going to have this scoopy little bed line here with some mulch down. Like, do you just do it all verbally or is it just chicken scratch, like a white piece of paper and a pencil and just a rough sketch of what you're talking about with species vagueness?

[A]

A lot of it will be. A lot of it will be verbal. If we're trying to speed things up and if it's small enough, you know, Clayton's using company cam and he'll take pictures of company cam and then just mark it up with stylus. Yes. Very, very rudimentary. I mean, it's not rudimentary, but it kind of is. You know, here's the bedline, here's, you know, where the plants are going to go. Just to give like a. Some sort of visual. And especially on jobs that are small enough where he can. He can try to close those on site. It seems pretty effective for him. Yeah. You know, for me, whenever I was doing it in the beginning and I did it out in Cedar Key, it's, you know, hey, let's talk plants. Let's figure out what you want, what do you like, what you don't like. And then like, can I get my paint gun out? Like, that's how I used to do estimates. I mean, I'd. I'd get my paint gun out and I'd paint deadlines and then I'd put a dot where every plant was going to be and then at the end of it, I just go back and count all my dots and plants and I'd have my estimate. And if I had live switch back then I would have just live switched my walkthrough of all my dots and then I would have had a proposal at the end.

[B]

So have you done that yet?

[A]

We did. Not for a proposal, but I did a out in Cedar Key. We're currently midway through that job. We. I did another final. I did a video for the guys for demo day.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

For their final prep and courses action. Because I knew I wasn't going to be there. On the first day and dude, it was great. Like I walked around, it was a three minute video, I think.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then at the end of it it transcribed it and gave a detailed work order and it's just like, oh, this is perfect. It's listing out things that I didn't put in. It's listing out hazards. It saw the water meter, you know, paint on the ground, stuff like that. So it's calling out, you know, AIs. Anyway, AI is helping me read the work order. So that was really, really. The guys liked it and it's like oh yeah, I just watched your video and then read, read the notes.

[B]

Do you want your office phone to ring more and increase service requests to your inbox? Want to push the gas pedal on your lead volume?

[A]

Looking for a marketing company is daunting. And who knows how to select a marketing company that really works? No business owner wants to spend their hard earned money on empty promises.

[B]

Intrigue Media is your solution. Both Jason and I have partnered with Intrigue to help grow our businesses by simply making our phone ring more. Intrigue will build you an up to date website in record time. They had my website live on the Internet start to finish in under seven days. Intrigue will crank up SEO for your business, increase your organic Google ranking and even handle your paid Google Ads.

[A]

Intrigue Media is fast tracking lead volume for both Skyfrog landscape and independent tree service. You should give them a try. For your business. Visit intriguemedia.com if you want to make more money and crush your competitors online.

[B]

That's intriguemedia.com I did a switchy yesterday. Have a very good customer in South Tampa. Lives on Bayshore Boulevard and Bayshore Boulevard is a affluent part of South Tampa where it, it faces the bay and there's like this really renowned long sidewalk. It's like the longest unobstructed sidewalk in wherever Florida, the United States. I don't know. It's the longest sidewalk somewhere and it goes right along the seawall all over. It's actually not Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay is between Hillsborough county and Pinellas County. The Bayshore is a tip just technically on Hillsborough Bay which is in between the peninsula of South Tampa and then Apollo beach to our east that you have the peninsula of South Tampa and then the shipping channel that goes to the port and then you have the main body of the state of Florida which would be like Claremill Apollo beach area. Anyways. So very good repeat client of mine. I've done lots of pruning for this client. I've Done lots of tree removal for this client. I installed a prop for this client. The first prop I ever built and installed was for this client in their front yard tree so it wouldn't fall out of the ground. And then from Hurricane Milton, there were three big sand live oaks growing in a triangle. And all three of them started to like uproot away from each other. And all three of them were going to fall like dry spaghetti in a pot. So I actually cabled upper canopy non dynamic. I did static steel cable with through eye bolts nut and washer on the backside dead and guy splice, I mean static cable on these suckers. And I cabled these three trees together in a mishmash triangle of brilliance so they wouldn't fall out of the ground because they were all like triangulating themselves together.

[A]

It's beautiful.

[B]

So, and this is not my client's only home. This is a mansion on Bayshore amongst their portfolio of mansions throughout out the world. So their neighbor has a Weeping Podocarpus, Podocarpus gracilis.

[A]

Good job.

[B]

Yep, yep. A Weeping podocarpus that is 34 inches in diameter.

[A]

Oh wow.

[B]

Big son of a. And this, the top of this thing has been dead for more than a year. Why it's dying, I don't know. And then now 90% of this thing is dead and it needs to be cut down. So my customer walks me over to the neighbor. The neighbor, although you would assume has a pile of money being in this same area does not have the level of property maintenance that is a custom. Like they have old crappy trees that aren't cut down yet and they have nice potted plants and nice house. I mean the dirt is worth millions of dollars. Just the dirt of the lot. But anyway, so we're looking at this removal and it has to be done via climbing because there's no way to get in there. I have a four foot wide gate that, that I have to get the debris out. And there's adjacent Weeping podocarpus that she doesn't want damaged because it blocks the corner. Why she doesn't want to look at the corner. I was like we can do that. And I said, but you see these low branches that we are having to duck under right now that we looking at this are having to duck under. I would like to raise these branches up and maybe to 8ft so I can get an articulating wheel loader to carry all of the brush out. Oh no, no sir, you can't. No, you cannot do that. You cannot cut Any branches off of this tree. It's like, okay, so we going to duck as we hand carry these branches out. We are going to duck as we move, moving dolly log by log. And then she goes, well, you're going to put plywood down, right? Yes, ma'. Am. We're going to put plywood down across her grass, through the gravel bed, through this little tiny gate. And it was so funny when she said, you can't cut those branches. As I had my notes open in my phone. I was pricing the job and I deleted the price and added an extra thousand dollars right when she goes, no sir, you cannot touch those green branches. Like okay, boop boop, boop, $1,000 more. I see how this is going to go. And she goes, when you send the proposal, can you tell me exactly what equipment you're going to be using, how many guys are going to be here, how long it's going to take? And can you document everything that you told me about the branches being preserved and a plywood Runway and that you have to go through this double gate and you're not scratch the doors? I said, absolutely, I can do that for you. I was, yes, man. And the whole time this call was going on, I'm thinking to myself, I don't want to work for this person. And it's getting progressively more expensive. Like we have almost doubled the cost that I started at after this whole horse and pony show. So I pull up live switch and I videotape. This is the tree of subject. This is how we're going to do it. We're going to climb everything. We're going to descend branches here, this adjacent Podocarpus. We're not going to touch it all. We're going to preserve all of these low branches so it is untouched. When we're done, we're going to build an 18 sheet long plywood Runway through here. We're going to move this potted plant with irrigation that's built in on the bottom. The wheel loader can move logs only. All brush. Hand carried grapple truck in the driveway. Two sheets of plywood under the debris. Grapple zone to not scratch the driveway. Everything recorded and then transcribed into the work order. And then I went and pulled. We're going to use a Nifty Lift. A nifty lift SD64 and pulled the link from the Nifty Lifts website so she could see it. I'm going to use an Avant 528 or a giant G2200 extra. And link, link. And I'm Going to use a Kenworth pack Mac Grapple truck link. And in the proposal was the written work order, links to the video, links to every piece of equipment that I'm going to use on this job. And I sent the proposal same day, which was yesterday. So we'll see if I get it. In a way I don't want to get it but if I do it is so anal retentively covered my ass of I have captured everything she couldn't. We can't lose. We're either going to make money and we're going to I was going to do this job in one day. It just turned into two days just to give myself more room of nice and tiny little branches hand carry it. We're not going to go do this job and kill ourselves. We're going to have a great day or great two days doing this job and we're going to make some money or I'm not going to do the assignment. So thank you Switchy for covering my ass and helping me write a novel of a proposal outlining exactly what would happen.

[A]

Thank you. Lucky, the AI Labrador.

[B]

Oh, paws around.

[A]

I also did two live switch videos yesterday. Once we did plant layout just to send to the customer as a link. I did not use any of the well, hell, I don't know what Lucky said about her walkthrough, I should go back and look at that. But it was mainly just to send send to the customer and have her take a look at it. So I've got a call with her at 9 o' clock this morning and she said she got the video and had a couple questions with everything looked good. So we're looking forward to getting to work today. And if you're out there listening and you do not have any of these sales processes or things in your business or a questionnaire when you answer the phone. You know, we did all this before AI and so now anything that we're doing in our business, plugging it in the chat GPT or if Lucky the lab door can help. I mean it's the technology now will help you with any help speed up any of these processes and development of your business.

[B]

I got a phone call. Well, Edwin, our friend Intrigue, Edwin looped me in a group text and he said hey Jordan, I just got off the phone with Andrew. He's an arborist in Nebraska and he reached out to us. He's a listener of Greenside up. That's how he heard about Intrigue. And so me and Andrew just got off the phone. Would you be Open to connecting with Andrew and just picking his brain or, you know, talking to him.

[A]

Like, sure.

[B]

And so I called Andrew, an arborist in Nebraska, and he and I were shooting the breeze runs a tree service and I was like, dumbfounded. I was like, hey man, like, you listen to Green side Up. Really? He's like, yeah, man. I was like, how the hell did you hear about us? And he goes, I don't know. I was like, listen to a lot of podcasts. I just like fumbling through them, stumbled on you guys and started listening to your show. Like, holy crap. That, that's just, that's pretty cool. Never met you before, you know. So we're talking and he is newer into the business, maybe a couple of years. He has a family member working for him doing some sales. And then Andrew's in the field doing some of the work. Andrew is a certified arborist, which is totally cool. And he's in the, the fun growth stage of hiring people to where he, he would, he needs like a right hand man where he can hand the job off and then leave and go do other things. So right now he's doing that while his family member brother perhaps is doing sales. So he's in the field. But anyways, we just had a super, you know, it was a fun conversation about different stages in business. We were talking about Intrigue Media from a marketing stance and he has a marketing company that he's using now to do Google and Internet SEOs and websitey things. And he told me what his gross revenue was and he told me what his marketing budget was. And her. I don't know a lot about this stuff. I know enough. Let me not dumb myself down. I'm no expert in this field, but the amount of money he was paying

[A]

was

[B]

too much, in my opinion, on what should be the price to pay. It was like, holy schizo. Seriously, dude. I was like, oh my God. Well, if you're paying that much, let's just put it on pause. Like, let's spend half of that amount of money and let's look into other ways of doing things. Like, and we talked all about the Google reviews and if you can get it, the, the crew leader, the sweaty person, we can do, you know, that close the Google review in person. Let's start hammering that. Let's not be afraid to ask for a direct referral. If you have a customer that you did a great job, ask them directly. Hey, I'm starting out my business. I'm trying to grow this business. I'm trying to run A tight budget. I'd really appreciate it if you have a referral for me. A, a neighbor, a family member, anybody that you think we would be a good fit for, please give them my phone number. I'd love to earn their business. And I said, don't make it a gimmick. Don't make it a rebate. And you get a gift card and you get a hundred dollar rebate for your referral. I said, screw that, man. Make it honest and genuine. Give if you think I deserve it. And I'd be a good fit. I'd appreciate a referral and a hearty thank you. And I'm going to be your tree guy forever. And do it because we deserve it. If we don't deserve it, don't give me the referral. And I said, cut the crap of incentives and, and gimmicks. And I was like, your marketing budgets through the fricking roof, dude. I said, I kind of went back to like grassroots of like, let's simmer that shit down and let's find another way, join a fricking Rotary club or something. But it was too high. And I was like, you should spend less money than that and that. I said, if you want to spend the same amount of money, you hire Intrigue. If you want to spend half the amount of money, hire Intrigue and they're going to do a better job for you. But I was like talking them off the ledge on think of a older school, grinding way to do it first if you are in this very new stage of business. Now, maybe I gave him awful advice or maybe I didn't, I don't know. But that was just my personal take on it. And then we talked about software and what software he uses. He knows that we use single ops. And I told him that it works for me. I like it. It integrates payments and he uses whatever software. And then I said, bro, have you heard about Live Switch? And he goes, no, what are you talking about? And then I gave him the whole spiel about it, about how for me, it helps, like the crew, my communication with the crew leader. I don't ever have to go there again. And they don't have to call me. Well, they still need to call me, but it cuts out a lot of descriptive language I would have to use explaining what I want done. When the crew leader watches the video, it's in the crew notes. It makes it so easy. And I said the main thing, Andrew is no other arborist in my area is using Live Switch. So no other people are giving a video link to what's going to be done and how it's going to be done. So that means I am delivering the clearest, most concise, most commutative, the sexiest proposal is going out from my hands and nobody else is using it. It's like, bro, it's going to cost you like 160 bucks a month. So it's a disposable amount of money. For the tens of thousands of dollars that you're spending in marketing, just buy live switch and give it a shot and your stuff will instantly look sexier and speed. Speed kills and sex sells. So get your. Get your proposals done on the spot. Have the robot do it, and bam. So anyways, that was super cool talking to Andrew. And Andrew, I so very much appreciate you listening to us for the 45 minute phone call we had in my backyard on like Monday or Tuesday afternoon. It was super fun. And you have direct cell number. So please give me a call, shoot me a text, because you're in Nebraska and I'm in Florida. I have no secrets and I will tell you everything I possibly can.

[A]

I like it. Yeah. And, and, and Nick with Kos We've covered some topics here today. If you have anything from this specifically that you want to give me a shout about, man, just give me a call, shoot me a text. If you have anything that you think we should go more in depth on. There's a lot more that goes into before we close the job that we don't have time to cover today.

[B]

We didn't even cover the damn topic we were supposed to cover.

[A]

I know. We made it through phone script.

[B]

Well, we bullshitted through it, but I mean, yeah, phone script, that was. I mean, you got to start somewhere.

[A]

Yeah. That's the beginning.

[B]

So what are we. So we did phone script. Nick, talk to Jason. Ask us what you want us to elaborate on next. Maybe we. Okay, we got phone script done. The next thing in the process is the customer facing experience. How that happens? So are we doing a. Do we just make up a series, Jason? We're doing the customer service experience series.

[A]

It can be.

[B]

Okay. So I don't know what we're going to do next week, but maybe we're going to do the customer facing sales process. Do you want to do that, Jason?

[A]

Sure. Okay.

[B]

Unless hits the fan and we have, like, fires to tell you about because.

[A]

Well, it's fire. It's. It's fire. It's fire. We are in a drought and it is fire season here, Jordan. Literally, figurative, figuratively, Literally all the above. Spring is upon us and I know our businesses quickly turning into a firestorm.

[B]

Jason, you and I are going to. We have some fun off air conversations that we can go very descriptive in.

[A]

We do, we do.

[B]

But we will shelve that for another episode because due to the respect of our listeners, we are at 53 minutes and I don't want to take up any more of your time because you business killers out there have important things you need to do. So Jason and I are working here on the back end. We are winking and grinning at each other because we have guns on our hips and they're loaded and we're going to go out and we're going to kill. We're going to. We're not going to kill this day. We are going to harvest this day. And then we are going to kiss the head of the day. We are going to rub blood on the eyebrow of the day. We're going to thank this day for the energy and the life it gave us. And this day is going to nourish our bodies so we can feed our families and we can cultivate our village into the strongest, healthiest, happiest village possible. So that's what we're going to do to the day. We're not going to go kill the day. We're going to enjoy the day. We're going to harvest this day. We're going to thank this day for sacrificing itself for our benefits. And that right there, that's a bunny fly right there, bro.

[A]

That's a bunny fly.

[B]

And look, this day is starting to wake up. The sky is gray with half lit moon. It's not Jason. I don't think it's still, what do you call it, good dark where you can't see your sights through your. Your gunsites. It's good dark. It might not quite be good dark anymore. It's still nowhere near 7am But I think, I think I can see the day through my crosshairs and it's about to get harvested. Birds are flying. It's beautiful. All right, you. What, what stoic can you add to that, buddy?

[A]

I don't have anything to match that, man. I'm ready to go to work, so.

[B]

All right, well, there we go. Let's go. Have a successful day, everybody.

[A]

All right. See you next week, Jordan.

[B]

See you, man.

[A]

As you continue your journey toward entrepreneurial success, let's let Jason and Jordan be your trusted companions on this uphill climb. Don't miss out on future episodes of the Green side Up podcast, make sure to hit that follow button to stay updated. For more ways to connect with the guys, check out the podcast description. Thank you for tuning in. And remember, keep working hard so you can play even harder and keep the green side up.

[B]

Sam.