Plantscape Business School

Brad Miller
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to the Plantscape Business School Podcast... the place for growing not just beautiful plants, but thriving plantscape businesses. This is your place to create the plantscape business you've longed for, a business that works, works with excellence, and ultimately works without you! Hosted by longtime plantscape business owner, systems nerd, and small business innovator, Brad Miller, Plantscape Business School is where we simply your business and expand your life!

  1. 7h ago

    Five System Secrets to Positively Impact Profit

    Episode Overview   We've spent this series talking about one central idea: Eliminate the Waste. Elevate the Profit. And we've discovered that systems are one of the most powerful ways to accomplish both. In Part One of our 10 System Secrets, we focused on people: the employee experience, customer experience, and business-owner experience. In Part Two, Brad completes the list by focusing on how systems positively impact the financial value of the business. The big idea: Every system should be intentionally designed to positively impact six areas of your business: Employees, Customers, the Business Owner, Top-Line Revenue, Bottom-Line Profit, and the Future Value of the Business. There is plenty of overlap because great systems improve all six.   Secret #6 — Systems Help You WOW Customers—and Keep Them for Life   Think of yourself as the CXO: Chief Experience Officer. The customer experience begins long before someone becomes a customer. Your website, phone, team, vehicles, responsiveness, sales process, proposals, installation, service, and follow-up all contribute to the experience. The good news? WOW doesn't have to be accidental. You can design it. Systemize it. Train it. Repeat it. And when customers consistently receive an excellent experience, you create something incredibly valuable: Long-term customer relationships. Customer retention isn't simply a customer-service issue. It's a profit strategy.     Secret #7 — Systems Create Order and Stability   Business is chaos. The system is the solution. Systems create order, and order creates stability. Employees know what's expected. Customers know what to expect. And the owner doesn't have to personally control every detail. Predictability isn't boring when what you're predicting is excellence. That stability creates confidence throughout the business—and helps create customers for life.   Secret #8 — Systems Create More Profit    Every defect costs money. Every unnecessary trip, duplicated step, mistake, wasted hour, and piece of rework takes money away from the bottom line. Systems allow you to continually ask: "Can we do this better?" Can we eliminate a step? Reduce labor? Prevent a defect? Increase capacity? Create more customer value with fewer resources? As your systems improve, you begin creating what Brad calls: Process Equity. Your marketing, sales, operations, finance, customer service, people, and leadership systems become assets that make the entire business more valuable. You're no longer simply creating income. You're creating an asset.   Secret #9 — Systems Create Innovation   Systems don't kill creativity. Systems create a platform for innovation. Once you've established The Best Way, you finally have something you can observe, measure, test, and improve. The Best Way never means: "This is the way we've always done it." It means: "This is the best way we know today. How can we make it even better tomorrow?" That's continuous improvement. That's how you eliminate waste, elevate profit, and create a business and customer experience that becomes increasingly difficult for competitors to duplicate.   Secret #10 — Systems Make You a Better Business Owner   This may be the biggest payoff of all. Most small business owners begin by doing the technical work they know and love. Then one day they discover: They didn't create a business. They created themselves a job. Systems change that. As you systemize, document, train, delegate, and improve the work, your role begins to change. You move toward Your Best Work. And Your Best Work as the business owner is not simply working on the product. You go to work on the business. Because eventually: The business IS the product.   Systemize the Work → Systemize the Business   This is The Big Leap. At first, the technician asks: "How can we care for plants better?" "How can we install better?" "How can we do the technical work better?" That's Systemizing the Work. The business owner eventually asks a bigger question: "How can the business work better?" Now you systemize Marketing, Sales, Operations, Finance, Customer Service, People, and Leadership. The technician creates systems so the work works better. The business owner creates systems so the business works better. And eventually: Your systems work so you don't have to do all the work. That's freedom.   Bringing the Entire Series Together   As we close Eliminate the Waste. Elevate the Profit., remember the six areas your systems can positively impact: People: Employees, Customers, Business Owner. Profit: Top-Line Revenue, Bottom-Line Profit, Future Value of the Business. This is why systems are so much bigger than procedures and checklists. You're creating a business where good people can do excellent work, customers want to stay, revenue can grow, waste is reduced, profit improves, and the business becomes increasingly valuable and less dependent upon its owner. Systemize the Work. Then make The Big Leap: Systemize the Business. Because ultimately, the business is the product. And that's a wrap on: Eliminate the Waste. Elevate the Profit.   Next Steps Download the free Plantscape Business Systems Scorecard and assess all seven core systems inside your business: 👉 https://www.plantscapebusinessschool.com     About Plantscape Business School Plantscape Business School is dedicated to helping Plantscape business owners build companies that: Work Work with excellence And ultimately work without you Because the system… is the solution.

  2. 6d ago

    5 System Secrets to Positively Impact People

    Episode Overview We've talked about designing The Best Way, standardizing it, documenting it, training it, and continually improving it. Now comes the payoff: What actually happens when you create and use great systems? Systems don't just improve processes. They positively impact the people who experience your business—your employees, your customers, and ultimately, you, the owner. In Part One, Brad shares the first five secrets of using systems to create a business you—and your people—love.   Secret #1 — Systems Create Better Employees   Years of experience don't necessarily make someone the right employee. Brad would rather hire someone who is nice, loves life, loves people, and has a great attitude—and then teach them The Best Way. Because when you have great systems, you can: Hire attitude and teach ability. Systems give good people the training and clarity they need to become confident and successful at their work. And people enjoy their work when they're good at it.     Secret #2 — Systems Help You Hire the Right People   If your business requires a superstar in every position, it's going to be very difficult to duplicate and grow. Instead: Create extraordinary systems that can be operated by ordinary people. Then continually innovate those systems to eliminate wasted steps, improve tools and methods, increase capacity, and make it easier for good people to succeed. That's leverage. That's a force multiplier.   Secret #3 — Systems Create Loyal Employees and Customers   Beware of MIUAYGA disease: Making It Up As You Go Along! When employees constantly have to figure things out for themselves, you create mistakes, defects, rework, confusion, and frustration. Systems replace confusion with clarity. Employees know what's expected and what excellent work looks like. Customers benefit from that same predictability. They know: "If I come back, I'm going to have that great experience again." Predictability builds trust. Trust creates loyalty.   Secret #4 — Systems Bring You More Customers   Your marketing shouldn't consist of random acts. Create a predictable marketing system—a Marketing Faucet—that generates a steady stream of qualified prospects. Then use your selling system to convert those opportunities into customers. Marketing creates the opportunity. Selling converts the opportunity. And remember: Sales isn't magic. It's a system. When marketing and sales become systems, you stop sitting around hoping the phone rings. You create customers on purpose.   Secret #5 — Systems Bring You Better Customers   More customers isn't necessarily the goal. You want better customers. Because: All business is not good business. Your marketing system begins by defining your Precise Prospect Profile: Who are your best customers? What do they value? Why are they profitable? Why do you enjoy serving them? And most importantly, why do they buy? When you understand your prospect and create the right message-to-market match, your marketing becomes more effective—and you stop wasting time chasing business you shouldn't want.   The Systems Payoff   These first five secrets aren't really about procedures. They're about people. Systems help good employees succeed. They help you serve customers with excellence. They create predictable experiences. And they help you create a business filled with the kind of employees and customers you actually enjoy working with. Systems help you: Eliminate confusion. Eliminate defects. Eliminate rework. Eliminate waste. And ultimately... create a business you love. Next episode: Secrets 6–10—and one of the greatest payoffs of systems: freedom. Eliminate the Waste. Elevate the Profit.   Next Steps Download the free Plantscape Business Systems Scorecard and assess all seven core systems inside your business: 👉 [Download Here]     About Plantscape Business School Plantscape Business School is dedicated to helping Plantscape business owners build companies that: Work Work with excellence And ultimately work without you Because the system… is the solution.

  3. Sep 26

    Design The Best Way

    Episode Overview In this episode of the Plantscape Business School podcast, Brad Miller continues the series Eliminate the Waste. Elevate the Profit. by looking at one of the most important jobs of the business owner: Designing how the work gets done. Every result is the product of a system—good or bad. So when the current system isn't producing the result you want, don't continually fix the same problem. Step back and ask: "What is The Best Way to do this?"   Create Order From Chaos   Business naturally moves toward chaos and disorder. But wherever you see order, there is design behind it. Think about a great hotel experience. The lobby is spotless. The staff is professional. The rooms are ready. The guest is greeted properly. Everything appears effortless. But it isn't effortless. Behind that experience are processes, standards, training, checklists, and systems. The experience looks effortless because someone did the hard work of designing it.     Create a Turnkey Operation   A turnkey operation doesn't happen by accident. A turnkey operation is the result of standards. Someone has intentionally decided: This is how we answer the phone. This is how we qualify a prospect. This is how we conduct discovery and create a proposal. This is how we prepare for and complete an installation. This is how we service an account. This is how we handle replacements. This is how we invoice and collect. Someone has determined: "This is The Best Way."   Create Law and Order   Order requires standards that people understand and agree to follow. Without standards, everyone creates their own way of doing the work. And five people can quickly create five different ways of accomplishing the same task. That's not freedom. That's chaos. Standards aren't about being controlling or mean-spirited. You can be kind and firm. Clear standards help your employees understand what success looks like and help your company consistently keep its promises to customers. Clarity is an expression of caring.   Become the Intelligent Designer   The business owner's role is different from the technician's role. The technician asks: "What do I need to do today?" The business owner asks: "How should this work be done every day?" The technician solves today's problem. The business owner designs a system that prevents tomorrow's problem. That's part of making The Big Leap from self-employed technician to business owner.   Stop Fixing. Start Designing.   Recurring problems create enormous waste: Rework. Extra trips. Extra phone calls. Apologies. Lost time. Frustration. Owner involvement. Instead of repeatedly asking: "How do I fix this?" Ask: "Why does this keep happening?" Then ask: "What is The Best Way to do this?" Don't continually fix the symptom. Design the solution.   Your Best Work — The Best Way   This is where systems connect directly to Your Best Work, The Best Way. Vision determines WHAT. Systems determine HOW. Vision identifies the experience, quality, and business you want to create. Systems answer: "How do we consistently create it?" Without systems, vision can become wishful thinking.   Never Stop Asking, "Is This The Best Way?"   The Best Way does not mean: "The way we've always done it." It means: The best way we know today. Then we keep innovating. Keep improving. Keep eliminating waste. Keep asking: "Is this still The Best Way?" Because the goal isn't simply to create systems. The goal is to create elegant systems that consistently produce excellent results. The Best Way does not just happen. It has to be designed. Eliminate the Waste. Elevate the Profit.   Next Steps Download the free Plantscape Business Systems Scorecard and assess all seven core systems inside your business: 👉 https://www.plantscapebusinessschool.com     About Plantscape Business School Plantscape Business School is dedicated to helping Plantscape business owners build companies that: Work Work with excellence And ultimately work without you Because the system… is the solution.

  4. Sep 19

    The Biggest Waste: Working Without a System

    Episode Overview What if one of the biggest sources of waste in your Plantscape business isn't your people, your customers, or even your expenses? What if it's simply: Doing your work without a system? In this episode of the Plantscape Business School podcast, Brad Miller continues the series Eliminate the Waste. Elevate the Profit. by going upstream to one of the root causes of waste in a small business: poorly designed, inconsistent, or nonexistent systems.   Every Result Is the Product of a System   Look at the results you're getting in your business: Sales. Customer retention. Plant replacements. Installation quality. Accounts receivable. Profitability. Employee performance. Are you happy with those results? Whatever the answer, there is a system producing them. That system may be intentional—or sloppy. It may be documented—or live entirely in someone's head. But something is producing the result. So instead of asking: "Do we have a system?" Ask: "What system is creating the result we're getting?" And if you don't like the result, look at the system.     Is It Really an Employee Problem?   This requires a systems-thinker mindset. When something goes wrong, don't immediately ask: "What's wrong with my people?" Ask: "What's wrong with the system?" Did we make The Best Way clear? Did we standardize it? Did we document it? Did we train it? Sometimes what appears to be an employee problem is really a system problem.   Business Is Chaos. The System Is the Solution.   Business naturally moves toward disorder. Problems appear. Mistakes happen. Work gets repeated. Things fall through the cracks. And without systems, the owner continually steps in and fixes the same problems. That's waste. The distinction is important: Technicians manage chaos. Business owners create order. How? The system is the solution. Instead of solving the same problem repeatedly, create a system that solves it consistently.   You Are the Intelligent Designer   As the business owner, part of Your Best Work is becoming the designer of the business. Your job isn't to personally rescue everyone every day. Your job is to create the environment and systems that allow your people to succeed. Create extraordinary systems that can be operated by ordinary people. Create the clarity. Create the standard. Create The Best Way. Then give your people the opportunity to show up big and serve your customers with excellence. Micromanage Your Business to the Max! Here's the twist: Micromanage your business to the max...NOT your people...your systems. Put tremendous thought and attention into designing, standardizing, documenting, training, and improving how the work gets done. Micromanage your systems development to the max—so you don't have to micromanage your people. That's how you begin eliminating defects, rework, confusion, repeated problems, and waste. And that's how you begin creating a business that works.   This Week's Question   When you see a recurring problem in your business, resist immediately asking: "What's wrong with my people?" Instead ask: "What's wrong with the system?" Then go to work designing The Best Way. Eliminate the Waste. Elevate the Profit.   Next Steps Download the free Plantscape Business Systems Scorecard and assess all seven core systems inside your business: 👉 https://www.plantscapebusinessschool.com     About Plantscape Business School Plantscape Business School is dedicated to helping Plantscape business owners build companies that: Work Work with excellence And ultimately work without you Because the system… is the solution.

  5. Sep 12

    Creating Your Marketing System

    Episode Overview We have spent a lot of episodes talking about marketing for a reason. Because marketing is not an optional activity. It is one of the core systems of your Plantscape business. In this episode of the Plantscape Business School podcast, Brad Miller wraps up the conversation on marketing waste and challenges Plantscape owners to do something important: Create your own marketing system.   You Are a Marketing Company Here is a mindset shift: You are not simply a Plantscape company that occasionally does marketing. You are a marketing company that provides amazing Plantscape services. Lead with marketing. Because one of the worst things that can happen is to become excellent at your work while very few people know about you. Being the "best-kept secret in town" is not a compliment.     Inside Reality vs. Outside Perception Your inside reality may be excellent. You may have: Outstanding service Beautiful installations Great plant care Excellent people Long-term customers But what does the marketplace perceive? If your inside reality is great but your outside perception is weak, the problem may not be your service. The problem may be your marketing. Your job is to make the outside perception accurately reflect the excellence happening inside your company.   Become a Marketing Expert Marketing deserves your attention. Invest your time in it. Invest your money in it. Invest yourself in learning it. Your future growth depends on your ability to consistently create customers. You can get help with marketing. You can hire specialists. You can use outside resources. But do not completely outsource your marketing expertise. You still need to understand your market, your message, your prospect, and your system.   Turn Marketing Into an Asset A working marketing system gives you something incredibly valuable: Consistent lead flow. And lead flow gives you choices. When you have plenty of qualified prospects, you can be selective about who you do business with. Without lead flow, you may feel forced to take whatever business comes along. That is why a repeatable marketing system creates what Brad calls process equity. You are building something the business owns. Something that can be tested. Improved. Innovated. Delegated. Repeated. And when you can consistently create qualified prospects who want to do business with you, you have created one of the most important assets a business can own.   Review: What Should Your Marketing System Include? 1. A Precise Prospect Profile You know exactly who your very best prospect is. You are not marketing to everybody. You are targeting the people and organizations most likely to become great long-term customers. 2. The Marketing Equation Your system knows how to: Interrupt + Engage + Educate + Offer = Close You know how to get attention and move the right prospect toward the next step. 3. Message-to-Market Match You have something good to say. And you know how to say it well. Your message is designed specifically for the prospect you are trying to reach. 4. A Marketing Faucet Your system can consistently produce lead flow. You are not depending entirely on referrals, luck, or whoever happens to find you. You can turn the faucet on. 5. Benefits Instead of Features You do not show up as an annoying pest talking endlessly about yourself. You become a welcomed guest by talking about the things the prospect values. Not just what you do. But what your work does for them. 6. Marketing to the Decision-Maker Your marketing reaches the person who can actually influence or make the decision. You are thinking: Person to person, not simply business to business. You learn about that person. You understand their world. You communicate directly with them. 7. Automation Your system does not rely entirely on someone remembering what to do next. You automate where appropriate. You use people. You use technology. You create consistent follow-up. The system keeps moving. 8. A Marketing Assistant You do not have to personally perform every marketing task. An assistant can help execute the system while you remain responsible for the strategy and expertise. 9. A Delegatable System Your marketing includes clear, testable steps. It can be documented. Measured. Improved. And eventually delegated. That is how extraordinary systems are built. 10. A Definitive Ask Your marketing always has a clear next step. What do you want the prospect to do? Call? Reply? Schedule a meeting? Walk the property with you? Request ideas? Good marketing asks for a response.   The Ultimate Business Asset A great marketing system does more than create leads. It gives you control. You know how to find prospects. You know how to communicate with them. You know how to create customers. And when you combine that with your ability to keep those customers for years, you have built something far more valuable than a job. You have built a real business.   Closing Thought   Do not settle for random acts of marketing. Build the system. Improve it. Innovate it. Automate it. Delegate it. And protect yourself from marketing waste. Because when you can consistently create and keep great customers, you have created one of the most valuable assets your Plantscape business can own.     Next Steps Download the free Plantscape Business Systems Scorecard and assess all seven core systems inside your business: 👉 https://www.plantscapebusinessschool.com   About Plantscape Business School Plantscape Business School is dedicated to helping Plantscape business owners build companies that: Work Work with excellence And ultimately work without you Because the system… is the solution.

  6. Sep 4

    The Marketing Equation — Educate and Offer

    Episode Overview In this episode of the Plantscape Business School podcast, Brad Miller continues the series on Targeted Direct Response Marketing. In the last episode, we introduced the first two steps of the Marketing Equation: Interrupt + Engage + Educate + Offer = Close Interrupt gets attention. Engage creates interest. Now we move to the next two steps: Educate and Offer.   Step Three: Educate Education is one of the most powerful marketing strategies available to you. But only if you have something worth teaching. And Plantscape professionals do. Your prospects may not understand everything professional Plantscaping can do for their space. They may not even know what is possible. So teach them. Help them understand how professional Plantscaping can create: Elegance A perception of quality A stronger guest experience A sense of arrival Warmth Ambiance You are not simply selling plants. You are educating the prospect about the value those plants create.     Your Message Becomes the Education Your message is your WHAT. And this is where your Unique Selling Proposition — your USP — matters. The key word is: Unique. Why you? Why your company? Why your approach? Why is the Plantscape experience you create different from what the prospect could get somewhere else? Your education should help communicate that difference.   Don't Overwhelm Them Education does not mean dumping information on the prospect. More information is not always better marketing. A general manager probably does not want a horticulture lesson. They may not care about everything you know about: Plant varieties Soil Watering Fertilizer Pest management Those things matter to you. But your marketing needs to focus on what matters to them.   Educate Around Benefits Features describe what you do. Benefits explain why it matters. That means your education should focus heavily on benefits. Instead of only explaining the plant service, help the prospect understand the result: A more elegant space. A stronger perception of quality. A more welcoming environment. A better experience for guests, residents, members, tenants, or employees.   Educate the Specific Prospect Remember: Message-to-market match. Different prospects care about different outcomes. For example: Hotels care about guest experience Senior living communities care about warmth, comfort, and a place that feels like home Country clubs care about ambiance, hospitality, and member experience Same service. Different prospect. Different education. That is targeted direct response marketing.   Education Builds Value When you educate well, something important happens: You stop being just another vendor. You begin to become the expert. Instead of saying: "Buy from me." You are saying: "Let me show you something." "Let me help you see an opportunity you may not have noticed." That builds value. It also helps separate you from competitors and moves you toward becoming a category of one.   Step Four: Offer The next step is the offer. And the key word here is: Desire. The offer takes the benefits you have been teaching and helps the prospect imagine enjoying them. In their building. With their guests. With their residents. With their members. With their employees. The offer helps create ownership. The prospect begins mentally experiencing the result before they have actually bought anything.     The Offer Is Not Just Price An offer is not simply: A discount. A special. A lower price. The offer is the opportunity you place in front of the prospect. It answers one important question: What do you want me to do next? Your offer might be: "Let us walk your property and show you what is possible." Or: "Let us create a few ideas for transforming your lobby." Or: "Let's schedule a short discovery meeting to talk about the experience you want to create." The offer moves the prospect from: "That sounds interesting." To: "Yes, I'd like to explore that."     Make the Next Step Easy Your first offer does not have to be: "Sign the contract." Each step simply earns the next step. Make the next action: Clear. Easy. Valuable. That keeps the prospect moving forward.     We Are Creating a System None of this is random. That is the point. We are eliminating random acts of marketing and creating a repeatable process. First: Identify the market Create the precise prospect profile Identify the person Develop the message Then: Interrupt Engage Educate Offer Close That is the Marketing Equation. It is a step-by-step process for turning targeted marketing into a system that creates customers.     Next Steps Download the free Plantscape Business Systems Scorecard and assess all seven core systems inside your business: 👉 https://www.plantscapebusinessschool.com     About Plantscape Business School Plantscape Business School is dedicated to helping Plantscape business owners build companies that: Work Work with excellence And ultimately work without you Because the system… is the solution.

  7. Aug 29

    Marketing to Your Plantscape Lead: Interrupt and Engage

    Episode Overview You've identified your precise Plantscape prospect. You know who the decision-maker is. Now what? In this episode of the Plantscape Business School podcast, Brad Miller introduces a simple framework for marketing directly to that person: The Marketing Equation Interrupt + Engage + Educate + Offer = Close. This episode focuses on the first two steps: Interrupt and Engage.   First: Interrupt Before you can explain your service, educate your prospect, or make an offer, you have to earn something incredibly valuable: Their attention. Your prospect is busy. They have employees, customers, emails, meetings, budgets, vendors, and countless other priorities competing for their attention. Your first marketing job is simply to get noticed. A strong interrupt is: Relevant Interesting Different Important to the specific person you are targeting A headline, email subject line, opening sentence, vehicle graphic, uniform, thoughtful gift, or memorable interaction can all become an interrupt. The goal is not cheap attention. It is relevant attention connected to your work. Because you are competing for attention before you are competing for business.     The Headline Is the Ad for the Ad A strong headline does not have to explain everything. It simply needs to make the right person think: "Wait a minute. What's this?" For example, instead of saying: "We provide professional live plants." Ask a hotel general manager: "What do your guests feel in the first few seconds after entering your lobby?" Now you are talking about their world—their guests, their lobby, and their first impression. That earns attention.   Next: Engage Getting attention is only the beginning. An interrupt may last just a few seconds. Now you need to give the prospect a reason to stay. Interrupt says: "Look over here." Engage says: "Stay with me. This matters to you." Engagement is about the message. And the message must matter to the prospect.   Engage With Their World, Not Yours This is where marketing often goes wrong. We get someone's attention and immediately start talking about ourselves: How long we've been in business How good our plants are How great our service is How experienced we are Those things may matter later. But engagement begins with the prospect. Talk about: Their problems Their opportunities Their priorities Their desired outcomes If you want someone to stay engaged, talk about something they care about.   Create Curiosity Questions are one of the most powerful ways to engage a prospect. A good question gets them thinking. For example: "What would it mean to your team if your entire plant program was completely done for you—and guaranteed?" You are not trying to close the sale yet. You are opening a conversation. That is engagement.   Use the Visual Power of Plantscaping Plantscaping is highly visual. Use before-and-after photographs. Show examples of similar spaces you have transformed. Help your prospect imagine: "What could our space look like?" The more they begin to imagine the result, the more engaged they become.   Earn the Next Step You do not need to make the entire sale from your first marketing contact. You simply need to earn the next step. Interrupt: Get their attention. Engage: Give them a reason to stay. This is very different from passive marketing. You have already identified: The precise prospect The actual person The message that matters to them Now you intentionally communicate directly with that person. That is targeted direct response marketing.     Closing Thought   Before you can educate your prospect... Before you can make an offer... Before you can close the sale... You must first: Interrupt and Engage. Get their attention. Then give them a reason to want to know more. In the next episode, we continue the Marketing Equation with: Educate and Offer.     Next Steps Download the free Plantscape Business Systems Scorecard and assess all seven core systems inside your business: 👉 https://www.plantscapebusinessschool.com     About Plantscape Business School Plantscape Business School is dedicated to helping Plantscape business owners build companies that: Work Work with excellence And ultimately work without you Because the system… is the solution.

  8. Aug 21

    Ditch the SEO Mindset — Stop Waiting. Start Creating.

    Episode Overview In this episode of the Plantscape Business School podcast, Brad Miller continues the series on Targeted Direct Response Marketing. The big idea: SEO can be useful, but it should not be your only source of leads. Why? Because your best Plantscape prospects may never search for you. They may not even know what is possible.   Active vs. Passive Marketing Passive marketing says: "We have a good website." "We rank well." "We post on social media." "Hopefully, the right people will find us." Targeted direct response marketing says: "I know exactly who I want as a customer, and I am going directly to them." That is active marketing.   Five Problems with the SEO Mindset 1. You Assume You assume your best prospects are searching. But they may not be. Instead of assuming, initiate.   2. You Wait You wait for the search. You wait for the inquiry. You wait for the phone to ring. Instead of waiting, create.   3. You Settle When leads come to you, you choose from whoever happens to show up. Targeted marketing lets you choose your precise prospect.   4. You Compete Search puts you next to your competitors. Direct marketing gives you the chance to create the opportunity before the prospect starts comparing providers. Instead of competing, work to become a category of one.   5. You Expect The SEO mindset says: "We expect prospects to find us." Direct response says: Go. Go find them. Go meet them. Go create the opportunity.   The Yellow Pages Mindset The technology has changed, but the mindset can still be the same. The Yellow Pages worked like this: Put your ad in the book and wait for someone to search. SEO can create the same habit. Put yourself in the search engine and wait. But targeted direct response marketing says: Circumvent the search. Bypass it. Go directly to the prospect.     You Are the Search Engine   Here is the mindset shift: You are the search engine. You decide: Who your ideal prospect is Which industries you want Which buildings you want Which decision-makers you want to meet What message you want to deliver How you are going to reach them You do not wait for them to find you. You find them.     From "They'll Find Me" to "I'll Find Them"   This is the shift from passive to active marketing. Instead of saying: "My best prospects will find me." Start saying: "I'm going to find my best prospects." That puts you back in control. You create the lead flow. You choose the prospects. You initiate the relationship.     Closing Thought   SEO is fine. Have a strong website. Be easy to find. Show up well when someone searches. But do not confuse being findable with having a marketing system. Your best prospects may not be searching for you. But you know who they are. You know where they are. And you know the value you can create for them. So stop waiting for them to find you. Go find them. Because powerful marketing does not just wait for opportunity. Powerful marketing creates opportunity.     Next Steps Download the free Plantscape Business Systems Scorecard and assess all seven core systems inside your business: 👉 https://www.plantscapebusinesschool.com     About Plantscape Business School Plantscape Business School is dedicated to helping Plantscape business owners build companies that: Work Work with excellence And ultimately work without you Because the system… is the solution.

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Welcome to the Plantscape Business School Podcast... the place for growing not just beautiful plants, but thriving plantscape businesses. This is your place to create the plantscape business you've longed for, a business that works, works with excellence, and ultimately works without you! Hosted by longtime plantscape business owner, systems nerd, and small business innovator, Brad Miller, Plantscape Business School is where we simply your business and expand your life!

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