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Speed up operations with software

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Software (Photo: ipopba/ iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Photo: ipopba/ iStock / Getty Images Plus

This has been a good year for Jeremy Nestor’s business, Quality Yard & Home Maintenance in Pataskala, Ohio. The company provides lawn care, maintenance and landscaping, snow and ice removal, home maintenance and pest control for primarily residential clients.

The company switched to Arborgold software about a year ago, and Nestor says his company is already seeing the benefits. “Our net profit percentage has increased by 50 percent from last year,” he says. “Some of that comes from switching over to this new software.”

Nestor; Nick Froio, owner of Froio’s Lawn & Landscape in West Chester, Pa.; and Aaron Darr, business developer and managing partner of A+ Lawn & Landscape in Des Moines, Iowa, share how finding the right software helped boost their companies’ bottom lines.

Nestor says Arborgold’s paperless offerings helped his company reach clients in different ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, using Arborgold’s mobile estimator app, a technician measures the lawn from a tablet using the software’s Google Maps integration. Based on the square footage, the software adds the lawn care program, and pricing populates in the quote.

Froio says a short turnaround between getting a call from a client and giving an estimate means more business. “Our business is able to grow because we are able to give estimates very quickly from either the office or often, while sitting in the customer’s driveway,” he says.

Froio’s Lawn & Landscape provides lawn maintenance and lawn care, hardscape, tree care, irrigation and masonry services for a primarily residential clientele and snow and ice removal for a commercial clientele. It transitioned to Arborgold in February.

More efficient

Darr, whose company uses ServSuite Lawn Care Software by ServicePro, says the intelligent routing made a big impact on his company’s profits.

A+ Lawn & Landscape has been using ServicePro for almost two years.

The company serves both residential and commercial clients in maintenance, lawn care, tree care, pest control, irrigation, landscape design and build, snow removal, holiday lights and landscape lighting. It also has a water division.

Instead of relying on customers to schedule irrigation shut-offs and potentially revisiting the same street several times in the fall, A+ uses software to build the schedule.

“We used to have the entire irrigation staff make these calls and get these slots filled up. Now, these customers simply respond (to a text message) with a ‘C’ with their cellphone, and it confirms that appointment,” Darr says. “It’s increased our profits in that division by more than five points.”

Like Darr, Froio uses software for scheduling.

“Arborgold lets me schedule all of these services out by selecting the frequency and duration,” he says. “This alone saves so much time with scheduling routes.”

Darr says ServicePro’s cloud-based paperless entry system allows a technician to order repairs while on a service call, perform them and bill the customer all in one stop.

Marketing magic

ServicePro’s cancellation marketing modules offer customers a second chance with an offer for a discounted first service. That option has been popular with A+’s clients, Darr says.

“If that person doesn’t reply to a quote, we have it set up to send an email a week later and then another one that says something different two weeks later and one a month later,” he says. “A lot of people respond to it that way.”

Similarly, Nestor says Arborgold’s integrated marketing automatically follows up on quotes.

Whether it’s following up on quotes or cancellations, going the extra step to communicate with clients can make the biggest impact, Darr says.

“When I think about profits, it all rolls into less customer friction, which means happier customers, which means generally, they’re going to say yes to more of your services, which means more money,” he says.

Christina Herrick headshot (Photo: LM Staff)

Christina Herrick

Christina Herrick is a former Editor for Landscape Management. A Journalist graduate from Ohio Northern University, Christina is known for sharing her insightful experiences on the road with her audience.

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