ChatGPT was first launched in November 2022, and it, along with other large language models, has evolved drastically since then.
“Even from a year ago, it’s a much bigger part, not just in the landscape industry, but it’s a much bigger part of our lives, generally speaking,” says Skyler Westergard, learning & development specialist with LandCare.
Westergard, along with Chelsea Hartshorn, co-founder of Threadleaf Designs, will highlight how AI enhances various aspects of business operations during their session “Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Business Success: Tools, Applications, and Strategies” on Monday, Nov. 4, at 11 a.m. at ELEVATE.
Westergard says one feature that has been added since the past year is ChatGPT’s audio conversation abilities. With this feature, landscape companies can roleplay both internal and external conversations.
“For example, let’s say a company is getting ready to do a big presentation with a client,” Westergard says. “You can roleplay that a little bit with AI. You can tell AI, ‘Hey, you are going to be a client that I’m selling a project to,’ and it will pose questions. You can practice answering those questions.”
It is also capable of reviewing uploaded images and providing insights based on the goals you list. Hartshorn will also cover how you can set up customized ChatGPTs so it’s unique to your business situation.
“We’re being very intentional to not have it go over people’s heads or bog them down with all this overwhelming information,” Westergard says. “We really want people to leave our session and immediately be able to apply some tools that we will share with them.”
AI Resources and Strategies
A lot of the session will center around ChatGPT, but they’ll also touch on Gemini and how it differs.
“I just think that these large language models, whether it be Gemini or ChatGPT, there’s just so much power that they can have to really help us think, help us summarize information and take all the data that landscape companies have,” Westergard says.
Westergard says one key usage of AI is having it look at the data available and get useful information out of it. For instance, if you have a fleet tracking system, AI can provide action items based on the data you provide it. He says even passive data like conversations on social media can be snythized by AI. Westergard says it can give you ideas about your target market and what concerns they have.
“Let’s say you have a really, really exciting social media post and there’s a lot of interaction,” Westergard says. “Well, it’s hard for one person to sit down and decipher and read every comment and figure out what the message is. AI can just do that for you.”
AI can also help you understand your target market better and tailor your social media posts or campaigns so they will resonate with them.
“It takes a lot of time to sit down and be like, ‘Okay, I’m going to create a social media campaign for the season or the next several months,’” Westergard says. “Well, in about five seconds, AI could just say, ‘Hey, here’s a whole bunch of ideas for five months that you should do.”
Westergard and Hartshorn will also delve into how AI can help with training material creation, automated document evaluation and brainstorming.
Leveraging AI Effectively
With AI platforms becoming more commonplace, they are now more accessible and intuitive to the average person.
When looking for new ways to utilize AI, Westergard suggests asking AI itself what it recommends. He says the best way to get more comfortable with AI is to simply start using it and ask it questions.
“Just take a little step,” Westergard says. “Don’t try to think you got to wrap your head around the whole thing. Give yourself permission to just do one or two things, and don’t feel like you have to do everything.”
Westergard says you shouldn’t let AI take over tasks like social media posting entirely, but it can definitely get you 80-85% of the way there. He says it can help you save time and better engage with your customers.
Westergard says you can’t replace human interaction with your customers and your people.
“We still want to have human interaction,” Westergard says. “It’s just letting AI do some the stuff that you could do, but much, much faster, so that you and I can, as humans, do what we do very best and maybe have more time and more energy for that personal human interaction.”
Westergard says you can decide how much you want AI to help you.
“I think that a good rule of thumb with AI is to find the balance between how much you’re going to use it and trust it,” Westergard says. “There needs to be some information literacy also.”
Because AI is not perfect, you do need to be careful with the information it provides. He estimates it’s about 90% accurate. For instance, it can help generate plant lists for projects, but this information should always be double-checked.
Ready to unlock AI’s full potential and drive your business to new heights? Register for ELEVATE and we’ll see you in Charlotte, North Carolina!
