Marketing for a Growing Landscaping Company (When You’re Still Wearing All the Hats)
For those running small-to-mid size landscaping companies (especially maintenance-heavy businesses), how are you handling marketing as you grow? I’ve been managing ours in-house due to my convenient design background, but between operations and crew management it’s becoming unsustainable—especially when it comes to SEO and lead generation for higher-value projects (which I have less experience with) Are you outsourcing to a freelancer/agency, or hiring in-house? And at what point did that investment start to make sense for you? Do you have any recommendations for Canadian companies?Is a Salesperson Different from the Person Who Makes The Quotes?
I had an interesting discussion with my mentor lately. Some background: I promoted a team member from carpenter to operations manager. I gave a base salary plus a percentage of gross profit above a certain mark. We didn't hit that mark so he basically just got his base salary for the quarter and was really disappointed, came in and just asked for a really high base instead. I was talking to my mentor about how our sales flow is structured and he mentioned I need to be thinking of the sales person as a lead generator, then the person who would be managing the execution as the person who needs to put the estimates together. That kind of blew my mind a little bit but the more he talked about it, the more it made sense. Keep in mind our projects are all custom essentially so there's different details for everyone, even if it's kind of the same thing. If I go and make the job walk, make the estimate then sell to the team, but then try to incentivize it based on a budget, it's not necessarily fair because the production staff had no part in making that budget. BUT if I'm able to create the "at bats", the foreman walks it with the client then assigns the amount of time and material it will take. Then there's less opportunity to miss details or something get lost in communication. I can give him a plaud unit to make sure to summarize everything. This would also solve the problem of clients treating me like the project manager even though I'm not supposed to be the project manager. I was the one that shook their hand and took their deposit so why wouldn't they send me the grout selections right? Anyway, if you read through all that - I'm curious what your opinion on this is.Are You Selling Your Service… or Selling the Experience?
Customers have more choices than ever. Sometimes the difference isn’t just the service you provide, but how you make people feel from the first interaction to the final follow-up. What are some ways your business creates an experience that keeps customers coming back?
Can Jobber automatically stop follow-up messages when a client replies?
We started using automated follow ups for quotes, reviews, etc. but the automated messages wouldn't stop once we heard back from them. A lot people got mad and thought we were just pestering them. Is there a way for the automation to stop once we receive a message back from the client? I think it only stops once they approve a quote. I have found this to be very counterintuitive as it is a broken way for automation to work with following up. I could be missing a setting and be completely wrong but what as the experience been with everyone else?What Marketing Actually Works for Outdoor Service Businesses During Slow Seasons?
I run a small land clearing/brush clearing business in Ohio, and with how wet it’s been in our area lately, things are starting to slow down a bit. I’m trying to be proactive and focus on marketing so I can keep work coming in and continue growing the business. For those of you who’ve been in a similar spot, what marketing has actually worked best for you to bring in more customers and keep jobs lined up? Facebook ads, Google ads, yard signs, referrals, local networking, something else? I’d especially love to hear what’s worked well for seasonal or outdoor service businesses when weather starts affecting the schedule. Appreciate any advice or ideas you’re willing to share.Dial In Your SEO without an Agency
Hey team! i wanted to share a really good episode of the Waste No Day podcast. I just listened to it today and it had some really good tips on what things are important, things you can do, etc to organically strengthen your google business profile. One thing I learned that's it's ok to have an agency but you want to approach them after you already have the basics covered. If you try to completely hand off your marketing, you are asking for disappointment. When you take responsibility for this part of your business, you will understand how to measure success with an agency, and the value they provide will be like putting gas on the fire instead of trying to start the fire. Check this episode out, it's definitely worth the hour. Waste No Day Podcast - Lorne SederoffFor those who offer monthly services, do you ever start with a trial period?
I have recently been pushing my monthly exterior rodent control services to my customers and wonder if trying to get them set up for a whole year right away is a good tactic. I created a Checklist in Jobber for the service so I can document and show the client the amount of feeding in each station monthly. Rather than getting pushback right away when I propose the service, I have had success in telling a customer I will leave the stations today, then check the activity next month. Then they can see the feeding level and get an idea of how many rodents are actually around their home. I feel like this has worked really well for me and wonder if anyone else has tried this approach at selling ongoing services?
