{"id":7853,"date":"2015-08-26T10:41:03","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T14:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newprocontainers.com\/blog\/?p=7853"},"modified":"2026-04-24T23:34:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T03:34:03","slug":"interview-with-a-plant-advocate-mike-senneff-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldm2.newprocontainers.com\/blog\/interview-with-a-plant-advocate-mike-senneff-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with a Plant Advocate: Mike Senneff, Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Senneff serves as Treasurer of Green Plants for Green Buildings<\/a>, a 501c3 that communicates the aesthetic, environmental, productivity and health benefits of plants in the built environment. He was inducted into the PIA Hall of Fame in 2011.<\/p>\n

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What came first, your love of growing plants or growing a business?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Mike

-Mike Senneff<\/p><\/div>\n

Plants. I started growing and propagating plants at home when I was in was in my teens. After high school, I spent 8 months in Hawaii surfing and developing a lifelong appreciation for tropical plants and the environment they create.<\/em><\/p>\n

Back in California, I went to work for Rancho Verde, a tropical plant nursery in Olivenhain, CA, and learned some things about nursery production. Realizing that the horticulture business was a place I wanted to \u201cplant\u201d myself for a while, I formalized my education with a BS degree in Ornamental Horticulture from CalPoly, San Luis Obispo.<\/em><\/p>\n

My love for growing a business<\/a> is an outcome of the way I was raised. My father, who had a law practice, is also a successful entrepreneur. My brothers and I grew up in an environment where discussions about business models were always in the background.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you created your company, what did you envision it to be, and how does that compare to what it is today? <\/strong><\/p>\n

That was a long time ago\u201432 years. I thought it would be more of a boutique business in a local market, and I would be highly involved in horticultural operations. With time came growth. More than I would have wildly expected. Today, Plant Interscapes<\/a> provides horticultural services in seven Texan geographic markets serving over 2000 customer accounts. I find myself focusing on people and business processes to improve our overall customer experience rather than honing in on horticultural practices.<\/em><\/p>\n

What did the first 10 years in business tell you about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I realized I had a passion to grow a business. It was not just executing on my plant knowledge. I became much more aware of the financial aspects of building a company. There is a concept explained by Michael Gerber, who wrote the e-myth. You are either a technician, manager, or entrepreneur. I gravitated towards being an entrepreneur.<\/em><\/p>\n

How do you start your day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first thing I do is read a scripture of the day as soon as I wake up. I get them pushed to me via K-Love Radio and YouVersion, an online bible app. I meditate on those, say a prayer of thankfulness, and get started. It starts with setting my daily #1 priority to accomplish, along with several other secondary priorities. I check in with my executive team for a daily 10-minute huddle. They report on what is new as well as their priorities for the day. If anyone needs anything beyond that, I will take the one-to-one conversation offline so that the others can move on with their activities.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you could start your career over again, what would you do differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not much different than what I\u2019ve done. I\u2019m blessed to have built a tremendously successful company thanks to so many dedicated team members. I want to continually focus on the big picture of who we are\u2014not just coming to work each day, but living out our purpose. For us at Plant Interscapes, that purpose is to improve life and business by enhancing environments. We continually look at our staff and responsibilities towards them. How can we provide resources to enhance their livelihood through fair compensation and great benefits? Some of those are monetary, such as health insurance, 401 (k), and PTO. Other benefits include company chaplains and resources through RightNow Media.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Plant

-Having fun on a Friday morning before work!<\/p><\/div>\n

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If you could go back in time and share some advice with your younger self, what would that advice be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do a better job separating work from home life. As an entrepreneur, work and home conversations tend to blend. I would try to stop the dinner business talk more deliberately and engage more in family conversation. It takes a little discipline, and you have to be willing to NOT have the conversation. I\u2019ve also noticed that in general, the younger generation is a little better at setting business talk aside when the time comes to enjoy personal time.<\/em><\/p>\n

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As a GPGB Registered Trainer, what have you learned from being in a room full of architects and talking to them about plant benefits?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned they are eager to learn. They appreciate having outside resources speak about plant benefits specifically. I also realized many architects are analytical and do not open up readily in conversation. It seems they are calculating everything that is being presented and holding their thoughts tight.<\/em><\/p>\n

Can you say a little more about this? What is the best way you have found to get them to open up and engage with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are some tried and true practices for getting agreement. Architects appreciate the plant benefits data in our presentations, but to get emotional agreement, it is important that I do my homework before I arrive. When I talk to them, I make statements that I know they agree with, and preface those statements with \u201cWould you agree that\u2026\u201d and I nod my head in agreement as I make these statements. I invite them to engage in conversation.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What are you passionate about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Improving the life experience for those who benefit from our horticultural and holiday d\u00e9cor<\/a> services. I enjoy building a business that is sustainable and provides opportunity to the stakeholders (team members) that we\u2019ve chosen to be part of our team, and where they have chosen Plant Interscapes to be an organization where they can develop their careers. We have a 5-step career path, the final step being certification by the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP, formerly PLANET). This is a certification that they have earned as an individual, and should they choose to leave Plant Interscapes, it stays with them as long as they continue to invest in maintaining it.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What is it that makes your heart sing? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing the business. I get excited when we bring new customers on board, especially in competitive situations. I really am pleased when we bring a regional customer on board who has multiple service sites. We make it easy for them to do business with us because they are dealing with a single vendor. It\u2019s very efficient for us to have a single conversation and cover many locations.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s the most fun you\u2019ve had with plants lately?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Probably planting new exterior in-ground and containerized plants at my wife Kim\u2019s and my new lake house. We bought several Asian containers and sub-irrigated them. We also found older plants in our greenhouse<\/a> and incorporated them into the landscape. The result is outstanding! If I could only keep them moist enough in our Texas heat between our weekend visits.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most valued book on your bookshelf?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Too many! As I mentioned earlier, the e-myth is outstanding. I heard the author Michael Gerber speak in person at an ALCA event, and he was incredible! I also like SPIN Selling, Hyper Sales Growth, and the classic, Scaling UP by Verne Harnish.<\/em><\/p>\n

What is your favorite software program or app, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mobile field applications for sure. We have a new app that we are utilizing to capture technician work hours and send them directly to our payroll system. We plan to integrate that into contract job costing in the future. We are beta testing an app that allows us to generate replacement plant work orders from the field, providing faster installs and a shorter cycle time.<\/em><\/p>\n

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We\u2019ve all heard the saying \u201cyou can\u2019t manage what you don\u2019t measure\u201d, the principle being that management success depends a great deal on what you are measuring. What do you measure that may surprise us, and which you feel contributes to your company\u2019s success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We measure a lot. Top of the list in operations is labor gross margin and replacement gross margin. What revenue is received for each against their direct costs? In sales, we measure the number of presentations per week, average contact size, and closing ratio. The number of days in the sales cycle is crucial. Administrative measures include accounts receivable past 60 days. Some of our most important measures are customer care calls exceeding 7 days, and our Net Promoter Score survey results, which we measure every 100 days using a 3rd<\/sup> party survey company.<\/em><\/p>\n

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How do you involve your staff when an important company strategy decision needs to be made?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have off-site strategic planning meetings every 90 days. We bring in our top leadership team, including the CEO, CFO, President, VP of Sales, VP of Operations, Business Development, and Holiday Coordinator. It\u2019s always facilitated, and the outcome involves annual and quarterly priorities to move the company forward to our common goals.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Plant

-Strategic Planning sessions are conducted offsite every 90 days<\/p><\/div>\n

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Where do you see the interiorscape industry going in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a nice emphasis on healthy workplaces. Plants play an integral role in the biophilia requirements of the built environment. I think we will continue to blend our services to include plants in the outdoor spaces as well. Not the extensive landscape, but more in the detailed urban spaces, which are underserved by the larger landscape maintenance contractors.<\/em><\/p>\n

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How do you manage the balance between work and personal life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stop work! Make a conscious decision that at 5:00, 5:30, or 6:00, whatever is right for you, stop. If you can\u2019t get it done during work hours, then you need to look at your overall effectiveness and improve that. Sure, there are special projects that extend beyond these general stops, and there are occasional big project deadlines. But those should be the exception. We need to stop and focus elsewhere to recharge our batteries to be ready for the next day.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What do you think the interiorscape industry will look like in 10 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Plant

-Cultivate’15 Design Award winning installation by Plant Interscapes, Inc.<\/p><\/div>\n

That is a real crystal ball question! I would hope the focus on biophilia continues and plants are recognized to be an integral part of the healthy built environment. The hospitality industry will always recognize plants as part of the ambiance and a component of a \u201csense of arrival\u201d for their guests. In the office environment, we need to continue to show how plants not only look great and have an aesthetic appeal, but also provide a strong return on investment, providing stress-reducing benefits and contributing to productivity improvement for employees<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

What’s your superpower?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus Christ! I hope to have a healthy perspective in setting my mind on the things above, not only on the things that are on earth.<\/em><\/p>\n

What makes your business unique?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve worked on this a lot. Every company needs to know what sets it apart from the competition. How do you answer the question of \u201cWhy should I do business with you?\u201d For us, at the moment, it\u2019s this:<\/em><\/p>\n