What’s the Best Marketing Move You Made That Actually Brought in Customers? 🚀
There’s a lot of advice out there about marketing, but every business is different. What’s one marketing strategy, idea, or change you made that actually helped bring in real customers? Was it social media, referrals, networking, ads, reviews, partnerships, or something unexpected? Share what worked (and what didn’t) your experience could help another business owner.Should You Let Your Employees Take Their Work Vehicles Home?
I'd love everyone's input on this and their why behind it! My coworkers usually use their own vehicles but I have a couple that use company vehicles. It started because my first real employee had his truck repo-ed and I needed him to stay working so I let him use my burner car. Then my mom blessed me with her old vehicle so I could let him use an actual work truck. Then I got another Van that I was using until another employee had an issue with his wife's car now he uses the Van so his family can use his truck for their personal stuff. He never uses it for personal stuff but it lives at home. Now the set up is we have a big Van that's used but always gets left at the shop. But the small van is being taken home by an employee. Seemed fine until it got broken in to and then of course I'm footing the bill to get it fixed. Especially when your vehicles are wrapped, you become a target. BUT the drawbacks are - when someone parks at the shop, that means as soon as they get to the shop every day, they have to clock in (california law). So every day, you are paying for up to an hour of lost time from them going to te shop to get their vehicle, then going to the job instead of going straight to the job site. Now my employees use their own tools so if the car gets broken in to, it's their stuff being stolen so the cost is damage to your property/ potential lost income if you have to decommission the vehicle for a few days. What is your opinion on this?Strategies for Explaining Your Contract to Your Client
Contracts are a tough subject. First of all, that word in of itself elicits a negative chemical reaction in the brain so don't call it the contract to your customers. It's called an agreement. But just because you have something in the agreement, doesn't mean that you are completely off the hook and they customer reads and understands it. The reason I'm even writing this is every once in a while, a customer approves a time and materials job then our technician shows up and the conditions the customer presented make it impossible to perform the service. In our agreement, we have a "failed job" clause where they get charged $150. Our technician planned their day around the job, we did our best to assess it ahead of time but sometimes the customer doesn't know or hides details. This is clearly stated in our contract. I've tried to "enforce" this a few times but it always leaves a negative taste in their mouth. This also applies to leaving pets out while we are working, change orders and all sorts of things we have written out in a policies and procedures contract. I don't think it's enough to just put it in the contract. Try these things: If the job is big enough, go over all the most important items with them in person. Have a landing page telling them what happens next and who to contact Make a fun video going over some of the items Check This Out Main thing is don't assume they read it because they probably didn't. If you do it in person, use a Plaud unit and send them a summary of the convo after. Don't be that person that tries to just say "well it was in the contract". What is everyone's experience with describing contracts to customers?How early is too early to start servicing a customer?
This came up for me because summer routes can get brutal. When temperatures are pushing 95 to 100 degrees, I don’t want my team out in the hottest part of the day if it can be avoided. In our line of work, the job is outside. It’s physical. There’s no shade in a lot of backyards. The heat wears people down fast. So my general opinion is this: If the sun is up, visibility is good, and the technician can clearly see the yard, then it’s reasonable to start service. For pet waste removal, that means we can see the ground, see the waste, safely walk the property, check gates, read yard conditions, and do the job to our standard. I don’t think the clock alone should decide whether it’s “too early.” The bigger question is whether the customer has been properly prepared for how your service operates. If a customer thinks you’re coming between 10 AM and noon, and you show up at 6:30 AM, that’s going to feel wrong to them. If your onboarding explains that service may begin early during summer months, especially to protect technicians from extreme heat, then the expectation is different. Communication is what makes the difference. For us, this is why customer expectations matter so much. You can’t surprise people with an early arrival and then act like they should have known. They need to know upfront: what your service window is whether you give exact arrival times how much notice they get before arrival what happens if dogs are outside what happens if gates are locked why summer routes may start earlier how you handle extreme heat days I’m a big believer in the on-the-way message. If the customer gets a reasonable heads-up before arrival, they can bring dogs inside, unlock the gate, or prepare for the visit. That message matters even more when service starts early. The goal is not to sneak onto a property before people are awake. It is to run the route safely, protect the team, and still give customers enough communication to feel respected. There’s also a real operations side to this. If you wait until late morning to start every summer route, the team may end up doing the hardest part of the day in the worst heat. That can affect: speed morale safety quality callbacks employee retention A customer may prefer a later visit. But the business also has to protect the people doing the work. If we can safely complete a yard at 7 AM instead of 2 PM on a 100-degree day, that’s usually better for the technician and the route. The key is making sure your policy is clear before it becomes a problem. For example: “During summer months, our team may begin routes earlier in the day to avoid extreme heat. You’ll still receive an on-the-way message before arrival so dogs can be secured and gates can be accessible.” That one line can prevent a lot of confusion. This is another example of something that feels small until the business grows. When you’re solo, you can adjust everything manually. Once you have a team, policies matter more. You need a standard that protects the customer, the technician, and the route. How early is too early for your team to start work? And do your customers know your summer service window before the appointment happens?
Multiple jobs approved and scheduled at the same time, crew, and address
We sometimes have clients who ask for items to be quoted out separately instead of as an optional line on one quote. Then they are approving them all and I am putting all of them on the same dates since all the work for them is being completed at the same time. Is there any way or maybe it can be added in the future for combining them together into one calendar item? Kind of like when you have multiple things to invoice for a client it lets you select and invoice them together. I feel like it will help my calendar look a little cleaner and might be a bit easier on the crew if they can see everything at once instead of looking into 2 or 3 job scopes of work.Should customers get credits when service is skipped for weather, holidays, or access issues?
This is always an interesting debate for recurring service businesses. I think a lot of the confusion comes from how customers view recurring billing versus how route-based businesses have to operate. A customer may think: “I pay monthly, so if you skipped one visit, I should get a credit.” From their perspective, that makes sense. But from the business side, monthly pricing is usually averaged out over the year. Some months have 5 service days. Some months have 4. Some weeks take longer because of weather, extra growth, heavier debris, snow melt, backed-up yards, or delayed access. For us, the monthly price is built around keeping the service consistent over time, not charging each individual visit like a separate transaction. Weather makes this more complicated. If there’s heavy snow, lightning, unsafe roads, extreme heat, or conditions that make the job unsafe, we may have to skip or adjust routes. Access issues are another one. If a gate is locked, an aggressive dog is outside, or the yard is not safely accessible, the technician still drove there, lost time on the route, and may have to communicate with the customer before moving on. That skipped service still costs the business something. Holidays can create the same problem. If you try to reschedule every skipped holiday visit, the rest of the week can get overloaded fast. Then one holiday affects: route timing employee hours customer communication payroll job quality the next day’s schedule This is why I think the policy matters more than the individual situation. Customers should know upfront: what happens when weather prevents service what happens when the gate is locked what happens when a dog is out which holidays are observed whether skipped visits are credited, rescheduled, or built into averaged pricing how communication will be handled In our business, I don’t want technicians making case-by-case judgment calls in the field while the customer is upset. That creates inconsistency. The policy needs to be clear enough that the customer understands it before the issue happens. That said, I also think there’s room for judgment. If we make a mistake, that’s different. If we miss a yard because of something on our end, we need to make it right. But if service is skipped because the yard is inaccessible, unsafe, or affected by a policy the customer already agreed to, that should be handled differently than a company error. Do you give credits when service is skipped for weather, holidays, or access issues? Or do you build those situations into your monthly pricing and service terms from the start?
