We had a really great turnout last week at our Annual ProGreen VIP Dinner. We had mezcal tasting and we did a referral drive where we raised money for the NALP Industry Growth Initiative. Now, the Industry Growth Initiative funds scholarships to help people get started in the green industry. I have to give a shout out to Shannon from YardHopp for us slaying it and winning the contest. The YardHopp app is launching soon and these guys are up to some really cool things where they're creating an app where you can order lawn and landscape services online.
As we know there's a shortage of labor and there's a shortage of people entering the industry. So this is a really cool scholarship. And what we did was we did a referral contest where we were just looking for introductions essentially to other landscape companies in the United States. And for every referral that we got, Ramblin Jackson donated $100 to the Industry Growth Initiative. Now, my original goal was to get 25 referrals, but I was blown away. We started counting and when you get a bunch of contractors in a room for a contest, they get competitive. We ended up with 31! So we're going to donate $3,100 to the Industry Growth Initiative. And another big shout out to Troy Sibelius from Buckner. He's a commercial insurance agent. He studied landscape architecture with one of my clients, Rich Leeman from Landscape Technology Group.
Troy was super generous. I gave him a prize of a $1,000 gift card to the Broadmoor Hotel and he gave that to Shannon. So that was just awesome. It was so much fun to see people and all the giving. And I realized something last night. I got hang out with my clients and one of the really exciting things was meeting Adam Suckle who works for Rich at the Landscape Technology Group up in Vail. Adam came to them as a result of the NALP, not through the Industry Growth Initiative, but through their career connections.
He's worked here for several years. He's growing his career and it was so exciting to see that and meet him and I realized, man, I wouldn't want to be hanging out with anybody else, but the people who were at this party who are landscapers and gardeners and arborists and, and garden center owners and nursery people and horticulturalists. And man, I'm just so fascinated by the green industry.
The sales and marketing tip I want to share with you is that I knew a long time ago that I wanted to go all in with Ramblin Jackson working in the green industry, but I was afraid. I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough work or that my other clients wouldn't work with me anymore. So for a couple of years we kind of dipped our toe in and we started working with landscaping and home services clients.
Then recently, we went all in with our marketing on the landscape industry. And it's been amazing. We have clients all over the country. And the funny thing is that I'm still working with my other clients. And in fact, in January we got two old customers who left us that came back! And they were not in the green industry. I talk about this with my clients all the time. Who is your "Hell Yes Customer?" So many businesses are generically marketing for everything that they do. They haven't really clarified who is their, what I call, the "Hell Yes Customer." These are people that you really enjoy working with. You make a profit, you're making a difference. They enjoy working with you. And what if you got really clear on your marketing about that?
Maybe there's a certain type of project that you do that you really want to do more of. Why not focus on that on your homepage, on your website, and in your messaging? I was talking with one of my landscape clients who also does lawn mowing. He actually loves the lawn mowing side, but he also does hardscaping. The hardscaping is really challenging for him and he's afraid to let it go. But what if you just went for it and went all in and started getting referrals? You'd gain momentum.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the party who helped raise money and played the stump game. It was so much fun to hang out with you guys. If you don't have a copy of my book, Get FOUND Online yet, I'd love to send you a free copy. You can order one at ramblinjackson.com and for every book that's ordered there, all I ask is that you pay shipping, and I donate $10 to the Industry Growth Initiative. This is my way of giving back to the industry and giving you value in the book.
Thanks,
Jack Jostes
CEO
Ramblin Jackson
