Outside Sales Specialist

Pizzo Native Plant Nursery, LLC; Leland (IL); Hybrid; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Dental insurance

Health insurance

Life insurance

Paid time off

Vision insurance

Employee discount

Job summary

Pizzo Native Plant Nursery, LLC is seeking an Outside Sales Specialist to travel regionally and grow our customer base among landscape architects, contractors, designers, brokers, and nurseries. You will leverage existing relationships and build new connections to promote Deeply Rooted native plugs across midwestern markets.

Ideal candidates bring proven outside sales experience in the green industry, verifiable contacts, and a passion for native plants and ecological landscaping.

Qualifications

• Proven outside sales experience in the green industry (landscape architecture, landscape contracting, nursery wholesale, or closely related).
• Verifiable industry contacts and strong employment references. We will check them.
• Willingness and ability to travel extensively across the Midwest (and potentially beyond) as a true road warrior.
• Self-starter energy, organizational discipline, and personal ownership of results.
• Passion for native plants and ecological landscapes is a major plus; the ability to learn fast and sell with integrity is non-negotiable.

Responsibilities

• Build and expand our customer base with nurseries, brokers, landscape architects, and contractors.
• Forecasting, pipeline management, and clear communication of progress.
• Develop relationships with landscape architects, landscape contractors, designers, and restoration firms.
• Represent high-quality native plugs and ecological design in real projects.

Skills

Outside sales

Relationship building

Midwest travel

Green industry knowledge

Job description

Outside Sales Specialist at Pizzo Native Plant Nursery

We are looking for a true road warrior, someone with a deep love of native plants who enjoys traveling, networking, and sharing their love of native plants while developing deep relationships with customers and potential customers. Bonus points if you already have established relationships within the landscape architecture, landscape contracting, and nursery industries.

Why Pizzo?

We are part of the Pizzo Group, a family of companies focused on habitat restoration and native plants. Our core values are Integrity, Accountability, Passion, Continuous Learning, and Respect for Nature. We mean them. The work is meaningful. The product is excellent. The standards are high.

If you have the relationships, the drive, the accountability, and the desire to sell something that actually improves landscapes and ecosystems, we want to talk to you.

Pizzo Native Plant Nursery is a wholesale grower of high-quality, Deeply Rooted™ native plant plugs grown on 40 acres of restored wetland and prairie habitat in Leland, Illinois. We produce over 2.5 million, plugs per year of native perennials with plans for expansion. We grow only species and no horticultural varieties or cloned plants. Our products have shipped to very state east of the Rockies and 2 Canadian provinces. Our plants go into real ecological restorations and high-performance landscape projects—as well as beautiful biodiverse plantings.

This is an outside sales role. You will be building and expanding our customer base with landscape architects, landscape contractors, designers, restoration firms, brokers, growers, and other nurseries who specify and buy native plugs. You will sell a superior product that performs in the ground and backs up the ecological claims people make on paper.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Competitive starting base salary between $60,000 and $80,000 depending on experience
• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Our Ideal Candidate:

Someone with existing, verifiable relationships in the landscape architecture, landscape contracting, and nursery trades.

A hunter who opens doors, follows through, and closes business; someone who is not afraid to cultivate leads and build relationships.

A professional who treats their word like a contract and their pipeline like their reputation.

Someone who understands (or is hungry to deeply learn) native plants, ecological design, and why deep-rooted plugs outperform seed and conventional nursery stock in real projects.

Requirements:

Proven outside sales experience in the green industry (landscape architecture, landscape contracting, nursery wholesale, or closely related).

Verifiable industry contacts and strong employment references. We will check them.

Willingness and ability to travel extensively across the Midwest (and potentially beyond) as a true road warrior.

Self-starter energy, organizational discipline, and personal ownership of results.

Passion for native plants and ecological landscapes is a major plus; the ability to learn fast and sell with integrity is non-negotiable.

What Success Looks Like:

Consistent face-to-face (and virtual) activity with decision-makers at nurseries, brokers, landscape architecture firms, and landscape contractors.

Growing a book of business through existing contacts and new contacts you develop.

Accurate forecasting, clean pipeline management, and clear communication.

Representing a product and a company that stands for real ecological results—not greenwashing.