If you're not getting clients you want — and the income you need — it's not your competitors' fault. It's yours.

If you're like many industry pros, you don't do a good enough job of telling others how good you are. You're your own best-kept secret.

The most financially successful horticulture professionals today don't necessarily have the best credentials. They're not necessarily the ones with the most experience, affiliations or degrees.

The most financially successful industry professionals are the ones who are the best personal promoters. Maybe that's not right or fair, but it's fact. The landscapers, lawn care contractors and other green industry professionals who are thriving this year are doing the best job of personal salesmanship.

They're the ones who realize that — first and foremost — they're not selling mowing, maintenance or mulch. They realize that they're selling themselves.

Brian Wheat, the CEO of one of Colorado's largest floral and garden centers, is one of those professionals who understands the power of the personal sale. At a time when there are an estimated 16,000 garden centers in America, Wheat realizes he has to sell more than just flowers.

"Now more than ever you have to sell yourself," Wheat says. "I never miss an opportunity to tell people who I am."

The cornerstone of his self-promotion efforts is his personal brand: "The Flower Guy." It's the name of the weekly cartoon he creates online and in a local newspaper, his Pinterest site and his email address.

And it's the identity he has created to gain and maintain attention ("top of the mind awareness," he calls it) during his successful 30-year career in the green industry.

Wheat has gained his expertise over the years through his involvement with such groups as the Society of American Florists (SAF) and Colorado associations for retail florists, nurserymen, greenhouse growers and garden centers. In fact, the SAF named him to its prestigious American Academy of Floriculture.

But it doesn't matter how knowledgeable or skilled you are if you're the only one who knows about it. That's where his self-promotion comes in.

He's past president and an active member of a local Rotary Club and chamber of commerce, a member of three other chambers of commerce, and you're sure to find him at "ribbon cuttings" for new businesses in the area. Stop by Lafayette Florist, and chances are you'll see him conducting tours — for anyone from college floriculture students to garden clubs to kindergarten classes.

Add to that the articles he writes for industry publications, the videos he posts on Facebook and the local radio garden show he sponsors, and you have a self-marketing mix that serves him and his garden center quite well.

The good news about personal marketing is that some of the most powerful promotion costs the least.

Landscaping and other professionals can gain visibility, credibility and a competitive edge by submitting news releases along with their photographs to area media outlets every time they sign a contract, win an award or other recognition, reach a milestone (fifth year in business, 500th customer), hire an employee, contribute to a charity, etc.

Other ways they can make a maximum impact for a minimal investment: through social networking, blogging, submitting articles to local media and speaking to organizations ranging from garden clubs and property management associations to homeowners groups and service clubs.

As a landscape professional, you should do something — anything — to promote yourself every day. That's because 99 percent of your competitors don't — and won't. Remember that first and foremost you're selling yourself, not your lawn and landscape services.

The personal sale is, after all, the most important sale you'll ever make.