The Edge July/August 2025

WE’RE FOR EVERY TREE.

more questions,” Rankin says. “I answered those 20 questions. It asked me 20 more questions, and then I said stop. I think that was huge because it tailored the responses quite a bit better.” The more clarity you provide in a prompt, the more specific the answers will be. For example, Watruba trained his AI to create marketing materials where the customer is the hero, following the StoryBrand framework by Donald Miller. “It’s more than prompts, too,”Watruba says. “You still have to go conferences. You still have to go meet people, still have to read books. You still have to access the brains of other people. If you don’t know who Donald Miller is, never read the book, then you’re not going to teach AI to use that format.” Hartshorn says another element to maximizing the effective ness of AI is to have solid SOPs for it to reference. “Once you have that baseline, you can compare and contrast and make your company better,” Hartshorn says. “But you have to have that pretty good setup to start with for it to pull from so that it’s accurate.” If you choose to use ChatGPT, take advantage of the different customizations. The custom GPTs are designed for specific and repetitive tasks, like pulling plant lists for various projects. Northrup recommends starting small. “Some of our companies have hundreds of locations,” Northrup says. “They will roll out Deep Lawn or products like ours, and they’ll start to utilize AI in maybe one of their locations, one of their markets or one of their routes. Then, based on that feedback and the systems that they build, they can then expand it further. So I would say, definitely look at rolling it out slowly and building good systems around it.” Northrup advises staying up to date on the latest AI innova tions, even if it’s just 30 minutes a week testing out new tools. Rankin says he stays in the loop on AI through industry news outlets and connecting with peers on social media. Hartshorn says she uses TikTok and podcasts, such as The AI Daily Brief, to stay up-to-date on the latest updates. “If you’re not looking for new ones, then you’re not keeping up,” Hartshorn says. “They literally change hourly almost at this point.” Hartshorn encourages landscape professionals to see AI as a tool and figure out where it can help them in their business. “I’ve been saying this since the beginning: AI won’t replace people, but it will replace people who are not using AI,” Harts horn says. “The early adopters win,”Watruba says. “Anything you do, the people who get in first always win. Get in first, master it before everybody else, and you’ll be ahead. The faster you get on the board, then you’re going to be ahead of your competition.” TE  KEY TAKEAWAYS ■ AI is a productivity

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from mundane tasks and improve customer inter actions, like producing quotes faster. ■ Start small and train your AI to produce better outputs. Consistently test new tools to stay com petitive. Those who adapt first gain the most.

The F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company

tool, not a replacement for people. Landscape companies can generate ideas and rough drafts and then customize them with their own knowledge to maintain authenticity. ■ Use AI to free your team

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