*The article transcript herein has been reproduced from an interview orginially published on Greenbeam.com, written and contucted by Todd Davis, NMPro Editior, April 25, 2005. To view the original interview article by NMPro, click here to go to Greenbeam.com.

Fort Worth, TX - April 25, 2005 - The industry has, for the most part, grasped the Internet. Nurseries without at least an antiquated Web site are rare. But are we, as a whole, taking full advantage of the technology? I asked Steve Cissel about the next Internet frontier for the nursery industry.

Q. What's your background in the green industry?

A. I grew up on a turf farm in Central Maryland. I learned the turf business at the dinner table and learned the green industry at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa., with a bachelor's degree in ornamental horticulture.

I currently own the second-generation family business that is a 650-acre sod farm and 150-acre shade and ornamental tree nursery (as well as the Green Industry Yellow Pages).

My father instilled in me the perspective to ask, "Why not?" Hence, my father and I are the co-inventors of Treegator, the trickle irrigation bag that zips around trees. My brother is the brains and the marketing for the product today. He's in Raleigh, N.C.

The "why not" philosophy, mixed with my green-industry background is the catalyst for the Green Industry Yellow Pages.

Q. Is the nursery industry where you thought it would be regarding Internet use, or are we still lagging behind?

A. We are lagging behind, but catching up fast. Most green-industry businesses now understand the need for a Web presence, but I don't think they realize how many of their customers are online searching for products and services.

There are plenty of data out there that describe how the buying process has changed because of the Web. People are doing their homework on the Internet, then contacting the company with their buying decisions already made. Although the decision-making process is happening online, the actual purchase is still being made offline, in a traditional manner.

Q. Did the dot-com fallout of the late 1990s and early 2000s impact growers' views on Internet companies?

A. Without a doubt, the dot-com bomb has had a lasting influence on growers and the green industry. We are just starting to get over it. So many companies dropped a bunch of cash into the dot-com space, wanting to be "in the race," and learned some hard lessons.

The whole industry watched as big investments vanished. Who wouldn't be gun-shy after that?

Those who invested were correct in their assumptions that the Internet would play a huge role in our industry. However, it will come from traditional business models, not new models out of nowhere.

GIYP started in 1999, pre-bubble, and learned some hard lessons ourselves. However, we have been the tortoise in the race. We have not had a penny of [venture capital] money, and have been nimble enough to learn from the industry and change as we crawl forward.

I heard someone say recently that if you want to please 50 customers, make 100 mistakes. I was glad to hear that I was on the right track.

Q. Describe what local search is, and how you think it will be so helpful to our industry.

A. The "search" industry is really in its infancy. Yes. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves and now AOL have placed their huge feet into the search arena, but they are just beginning to address the "local" qualifier when it comes to search.

AOL has chosen to release its AOLSearch product outside their subscriber wall, which is a testament to the opportunity of local search. When you think about it, the yellow pages industry, which is a 127-year-old, proven business model, is and always has been local. Big search is not relevant to most of us with local businesses today, but will be in the near future as it becomes local.

I think local search will be helpful to our industry in a couple of ways. First, I think we have the opportunity to get our message out to the consumer like never before.

Branding is not new to the industry, but the influence of branding cannot be denied, and we are seeing an increased effort from the industry to brand products. Pre-Internet, the message was hard to deliver consistently and effectively.

Now with the Internet, we can deliver a brand message and give specific details about how to and where to purchase the product. The traditional book yellow pages have never been able to get its arms around the green industry because it is extremely fragmented.

The Internet provides a mechanism to overcome the fragmentation and deliver the right message at the right time to the right customer.

Secondly, the green industry is in a growth mode. The desire of the consumer to take the indoors to the outdoors is real. We have a tremendous opportunity to deliver outdoor living spaces that are environmentally friendly and mentally healthy.

This opportunity begins with the grower and ends with the consumer. Local search will deliver the message of the industry in both quantity and quality and provide opportunities like we've never seen before.

The 40-to 50-year-olds who want our products have plenty of money, but have little time. They are connected to the Internet and are searching for us now.

Q. What are some examples outside the green industry of companies successfully using local search?

A. In the yellow pages and newspaper industries, they're called "category killers." These examples are automotive, real estate, classifieds and a few others.

In those spaces you will find the likes of AutoTrader.com and Cars.com. When was the last time you went looking for a new or used car and did not use the Web to research the possibilities?

Every real estate company is on the Web. Taken a virtual tour of a house lately? Classifieds are being addressed by eBay. Would you consider them successful?

Q. How much cooperation will be needed in the nursery trade to fully take advantage of the Internet?

A. This is where GIYP fits in. We could all try to plug into search individually, but we'll never get it done. There are too many nodes to connect to. Can you imagine every newspaper, magazine, yellow pages, television and radio station connecting with us individually? No way.

I draw an analogy to the office network. Imagine having office computers isolated on every desk -- without a central server. To find the information you need to do business you would have to look on each individual computer in the office.

However, let every desk computer plug into a central server, and you have created a central location for business information. Easy to find, easy to update, consistently relevant.

GIYP.com is the central marketing database serving product and service information to the publishing industry. This allows companies to create a marketing campaign and have it distributed broadly with a consistent message.

One example of this can be explained with the GIYP.com brochure. The GIYP.com brochure comes as a standard component of an Enhanced Listing on GIYP.com. We go to great lengths to Search Engine Optimize (SEO) our customer's brochures. Because the search engines recognize GIYP.com as being broad, deep and relevant, our customer brochures score well in the search engines.

It is not uncommon for our customers to show up in search engine results because of their plants list. Often our GIYP brochure shows up ahead of the company's own Web site because of the GIYP factor.

In my humble opinion, I don't think it will take cooperation among members of the industry. I think individually we have to realize that the Internet is here to stay, and that taking advantage of it does not have to be a boardroom decision. It is powerful and effective, but most of all it is affordable.

Reaching out and giving it a try will not be one of your 100 mistakes.