How are you offsetting seasonal churn in your business?
We’re in the part of the year where churn can start creeping up. For us, summer can be weird. People travel more. Kids are home. Budgets get tighter. Some customers pause because they think they’ll “just handle it themselves for a while.” Then a few weeks later the yard gets away from them again. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to reduce that churn before it happens instead of only reacting after someone cancels. A few things we’re working on right now: bulk prepayment offers more customer engagement through our physical newsletter promoting add-on services reactivation campaigns for past clients downselling instead of immediately accepting cancellations The downselling piece has been important. If a customer reaches out to cancel because of finances, I don’t always want the only option to be “stay or leave.” Sometimes there’s a middle option. For example, moving them to a lower frequency for a season may keep the relationship alive and still keep their yard from getting completely out of control. That’s better than losing them entirely and having to reacquire them later. We’re also sending more prepayment offers because it helps with cash flow and gives customers a reason to commit ahead of time. The physical newsletter has helped too. It keeps the relationship warmer. Customers hear from us outside of invoices, appointment reminders, and service texts. That matters because recurring customers are easier to lose when the business only talks to them transactionally. I’m also paying more attention to which customers are most at risk of canceling: price-sensitive customers lower-frequency customers customers who pause seasonally people who have recently had schedule changes customers who haven’t used add-on services past clients who canceled but may still need help This is one of those areas where I think service businesses need more than just new leads. You need a retention plan. What are you doing to offset seasonal churn before customers cancel?How I Create a Landscape Design, 2D Plan, and 3D Rendering Before Leaving the Client's Driveway
To close premium landscape deals on the spot, I use a fast, mobile-and-AI workflow that visualizes the final project before leaving the client's yard. Here's my method, and links to the programs I click on. Map I walk the property with Cam to Plan to instantly generate an accurate 2D layout using augmented reality. Sketch I drop that map into Procreate on my iPad with my Apple Pencil and start listening and observing. As the client shares their vision and seatbacks, I sketch design layers and notes directly over the map layout to build instant trust. This part is where you really design. You're listening to the client and creating solutions based on your breadth of knowlege and your uncanny talent to see the past, present, and future by looking at a plot of dirt. That part is 100% you. It’s about this point that I go sit in the client's driveway for 10 minutes and hash out my design, and when I’m getting close, I turn to AI. Polish I run that rough sketch through my own app that I spent months developing (not a developer) called PlotTwist: GrowingShade, created with Opal. It instantly transforms hand-drawn sketch into a clean 2D landscape plan with legible text, improved symbols, and architectural shading. It’s my design, but presentation ready. I use these glow ups in website and social media posts. Close PlotTwist 3D, another of my Opal apps overlays that finished 2D plan directly onto the original photos of the client's yard. Seeing a realistic 3D concept of their future space layered onto their actual home creates an immediate emotional connection that closes the deal. You do want to emphasize that it is conceptual, because this app isn't as accurate at the previous. Now you know all my secrets! Comment below on the programs and apps that you use! -La MadrinaWhat happened after I changed my marketing to use the exact words from customer reviews?
I recently shared on this post about using customer reviews to improve your marketing: Are you using your customer reviews to improve your marketing? | Home Service Community - 12894 Since then, I’ve been paying even closer attention to the exact words customers use when they describe why they hired us, why they trust us, and why they keep paying for the service. That has changed how I write ads, follow-ups, website copy, and even how we talk to prospects. For us, the reviews kept repeating the same things: “worth every penny” “like clockwork” “one less thing to worry about” “they text before they come” “they send a picture of the closed gate” “they take the waste with them” “I was embarrassed by how bad the yard was” “our last company left the gate open” “there aren’t enough hours in the day” Those phrases matter because they came from real customers. So instead of trying to invent clever marketing language, I started using the language customers were already using to explain the value. And I’ve noticed a difference. Prospects seem to trust us faster. They already feel understood before we even get deep into the sales conversation. When someone sees an ad or follow-up that speaks directly to the thing they’re worried about, the conversation changes. For example, if someone is worried about their dog getting out, talking about gate photos immediately matters. If someone is embarrassed about a winter backlog, telling them we handle those all the time and they’re not the worst yard we’ve seen matters. If someone is comparing price, showing that other customers call us “worth every penny” matters. If someone is busy and overwhelmed, “one less thing to worry about” hits harder than a generic service description. This has helped us close a higher percentage of people because the marketing is doing more of the trust-building before the call or quote. The prospect shows up with a higher willingness to buy because they already see themselves in the message. That’s been one of the biggest lessons for me. Your reviews are not just social proof. They are market research. They tell you: who your best customers are what they were dealing with before they hired you what they value most what they were afraid of what language makes the service feel worth it what separates you from cheaper competitors If you’re only using reviews as a 5-star badge on your website, you’re probably missing the best part. Read them for patterns. Pull the exact phrases. Use those phrases in your ads, emails, quotes, sales scripts, and follow-ups. The best marketing language is often already sitting inside your customer reviews. Have you changed your messaging based on the exact words your customers use?Business Phone Number - Who's Should You Use and How Should You Use it?
When it comes to phone numbers, I treat the Jobber phone number as an “automation line,” not my primary business number. I use it for all the built-in Jobber automations—invoice/receipt texts, appointment reminders, “on my way” notifications, and anything else Jobber sends out automatically. It’s great for consistent system messaging and keeping those operational texts separate from my real day-to-day communication. The reason I don’t use the Jobber number as my main public-facing number (website, trucks, yard signs, etc.) is ownership and portability. The Jobber number can’t be ported out, so if you ever switch systems or change your setup, you don’t truly “own” that number long-term. I’ve made the mistake of putting a non-portable number on marketing before, and it’s a headache when you realize it can’t follow you. Instead, I recommend your primary business number be something you control and can port—either from a carrier, Google Voice (depending on your needs), or another platform where portability is confirmed. Then use tools like Chiirp (and I haven’t personally explored GoHighLevel/Hatch deeply, but they’re in the same category) for your primary communication + higher-level automation, because those platforms typically offer much more robust automation like out-of-office replies, drip campaigns, and automated texting workflows. So my personal setup philosophy is: Jobber number = system/operations messaging only; your “real” business number = portable, owned by you, and used everywhere customer-facing. Then if you need advanced automations like out-of-office replies, I’d build those in a dedicated communication/marketing platform that’s designed for it—not inside the Jobber number.Personal Phone Number Vs. Business Phone Number?
As I continue growing my cleaning business, I’ve been thinking more about whether it’s better to use my personal phone number or set up a separate business line. Right now, I handle most communication directly, which makes things simple—but I’m starting to see how it can blur boundaries between work and personal life, especially with calls and messages coming in at all hours. I’m curious how others have handled this as they’ve grown. Do you use your personal number for your business, or did you switch to a dedicated business line? If you made the switch, at what point did it feel necessary? Have you noticed a difference in professionalism or client trust with a business number? What systems or apps do you recommend for managing calls, texts, and voicemails efficiently? How do you set boundaries with clients regarding response times or after-hours communication? For those managing a team, how do you handle incoming calls—do you delegate or keep it centralized? I want to make sure I’m building systems that will grow with my business while still staying responsive and professional. Would love to hear what’s worked (and what hasn’t) for you!Are you using your customer reviews to improve your marketing?
I recently had Claude scrape and organize all of our Google and Facebook reviews, then I put the findings into ACQ AI to see what needed to change in our business context, avatar, offer, and marketing. It was honestly one of the more useful marketing exercises I’ve done. Because the reviews showed what customers actually care about. For us, the strongest themes were: communication reliability thoroughness gate safety haul-away professionalism being kind to customers and their dogs Some of that I already knew. But seeing it repeated across hundreds of reviews made it a lot harder to ignore. For example, customers mention our text communication constantly. They like knowing when we’re coming. They like the 30-minute heads up. They like the “all done” message. They like getting a picture of the closed gate. That tells me communication is a major part of the service experience. Customers also bring up gate safety a lot. That matters because many of them have either had a dog get out before or they’re afraid it could happen. So if I’m writing ads, emails, or website copy, I probably need to talk about safety and gate photos more often. Another big one was haul-away. We take the waste with us instead of leaving it in the customer’s trash can. I’ve always seen that as part of our service, but the reviews showed customers notice it and care about it. That becomes a marketing point. The review analysis also confirmed something important about price. We are on the higher end in our market. Customers still say things like: worth every penny more than fair I’d pay twice as much That tells me our marketing should not be built around being cheap. It should explain why the service is worth more: better communication safer access cleaner yards less smell less stress more trust I think more home service businesses should do this. Your reviews can show you: Why people hired you in the first place Were they overwhelmed? Burned by another company? Too busy? Embarrassed? Dealing with a life event? Why they stayed Was it communication? Quality? Reliability? The technician? The process? What they say when price is no longer the main issue Those exact phrases should influence your ads, website, emails, and sales scripts. What your unique selling proposition actually is Sometimes the thing customers love most is different than the thing you keep promoting. Where your systems are creating trust or friction One bad review about repeated follow-up texts told us something important too. Automation has to respect opt-outs and avoid making people feel chased. The biggest takeaway for me: Your best marketing language is probably already sitting inside your reviews. You just have to organize it, look for patterns, and let the customer tell you why they chose you. Have you ever gone through your reviews and changed your marketing based on what customers were already saying?
