how to get work

thanx bro, scumbag was harsh
The goodnews is that I had no groundman.
The even better news is that I will be learning the art of storm damage from the Woodland crew hopefully as soon as next Wed.
I hope I can hang!
ROAD TRIP AGAIN WOOHOO!
 
MTC, I could not agree with you more. Consistently getting the work and mainaining a client base that suits your business is an achievement. My brother, who is my only steady employee, expressed to me one day that he thought he was not getting his fair share (I had a climber and him working on a time-sensitive job while I was out of town... rare occurrence), so I showed him the books, plus my time put in on sales. Haven't heard a peep since. He makes about $30/hr (and earns it), just to give you some perspective.

-Tom
 
For the last 2 years, I have only worked with the crews on a sporadic basis, just whenever I could or felt like I needed to blow off some steam. This year I am committed to working with the crew 1 day a week, usually Wednesday. I am and will be happier, healthier, a better estimator, a better climber, and more respected by my guys.

There is a "however" here, though. I can do this because we maintain a backlog of work. If we are running out of work, I have no business working with the crew, I should be out hustling jobs, putting together a new radio ad, sending out postcards to my clients, or calling back all my unconfirmed jobs and offering them a 20% winter discount. My guys came to appreciate me a little more last week, when we heard that several of our competitors are completely out of work, while they got overtime last week. It felt rewarding for me for them to understand the importance of sales.
 
"I am and will be happier, healthier, a better estimator"

You will definitely be all if not only the latter of those. There is no substitute for getting up there and doing the work! Very well stated.

-Tom
 
[ QUOTE ]
I will be learning the art of storm damage from the Woodland crew hopefully as soon as next Wed.
I hope I can hang!
ROAD TRIP AGAIN WOOHOO!

[/ QUOTE ]
Does this mean that your going to be in my neck of the woods (KY)?
How awesome would that be.....When your done with Woodland and if your interested in extending your stay......? I know some one with a load of extra work piling up...
 
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[ QUOTE ]
I will be learning the art of storm damage from the Woodland crew hopefully as soon as next Wed.
I hope I can hang!
ROAD TRIP AGAIN WOOHOO!

[/ QUOTE ]
Does this mean that your going to be in my neck of the woods (KY)?
How awesome would that be.....When your done with Woodland and if your interested in extending your stay......? I know some one with a load of extra work piling up...

[/ QUOTE ]

or at least a rec climb with you!
Right on. I forgot you were in that neck of the woods.
I got your card right here bro. Ill call ya when I am close by.
 
How to keep a good climber?:

Respect him, challenge him, value him, reward him and include him.

On another note, don't you just love a guy that thinks it's impossible for you to succeed without him?

I get a great deal of satisfaction by giving him this response,
wavzing.gif
(bye-bye!)
 
Agreed. There is a fine line there. You want to take well care of the guy but he still needs to know the company would survive without him.
 
"I get a great deal of satisfaction by giving him this response, (bye-bye!)"

...I have had this satisfaction more than once. Good stuff. Success is good revenge (not that I necessarily believe in revenge!).

-Tom
 
This might sound kinda corney, but every year I send Christmas cards to all of my customers with a refigerator magnet business card. As a result I think I have alot off repeat business. It really helps in January when it is slow. I will get several calls, saying thanks for the card, can you come look at this.
 
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This might sound kinda corney, but every year I send Christmas cards to all of my customers with a refigerator magnet business card. As a result I think I have alot off repeat business. It really helps in January when it is slow. I will get several calls, saying thanks for the card, can you come look at this.

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I usually go a step further and call them to see if I can come out to check on the trees. It costs them nothing and it's one more thing they don't have to worry about doing. Many times they don't need a thing done and I think they respect the fact that you're not just out there hounding them for work.
 
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How do "Do not call lists" affect "Door-knocking"? I got yelled at last week for that, almost cried...in my afterwork beer!

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Don. Can you elaborate a little more on the conversation you had with the customer?

If I go door-to-door. I make sure they actually have a need. For example, I see a dead tree. I simply identify myself, let them know I have a tree service business in town, and that "I could not help, but notice the dead tree." Then, I ask, "Can I give you a free estimate to have the tree removed?" Typically, they say yes. And when I give them the estimate I make sure they have my secret weapon... An estimate packet.

One guy. Only one, has told me. "No! It is taken care of!" I responded back, "Hmmm... You don't want another estimate for free?" "No! I have it taken care of!"

What did I do? I took his address down. Put together my handy estimate packet and mailed him the bid that same day. I put the price of the bid on the envelope (as well as inside). This way he would see the price and consider without throwing away the bid. The key with my packet is building credibility right away. I have a copy of my Tree Trimmer's License, Gen Liab. Ins., Workman's Comp, and photo illustrations as to how I dismantle trees with rigging techniques. I show professional memberships, certification, and the BBB helps too.

The guy called the same evening he got the mail. He said he was going to have his friend's friend "take care of it, but he doesn't have insurance."

And when all said and done. That customer was totally impressed with the whole procedure from the beginning to end. I put a crane on it and he was like a kid in a candy show watching every moment!
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And like Noel said. Look back at old bids. I have a file titled "Pending." These are my follow up calls if I haven't heard from the person in a while. I too have offered a discount for a "winter rate." Do I like to give a discount? Absolutely not, but when there is no work, then something is better than nothing.

I also looked at my address book of current customers. I find the repeat customers, find a possible need, and simply call them to see if they would like me to do anything for them. And since we had some significantly high wind in December break all sorts of stuff around here, I ask how their trees held up. That too has been successful.

Working with current customers is the most cost effective approach. All it takes is a phone call to ask.
 
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And like Noel said. Look back at old bids. I have a file titled "Pending." These are my follow up calls if I haven't heard from the person in a while. I too have offered a discount for a "winter rate." Do I like to give a discount? Absolutely not, but when there is no work, then something is better than nothing.

I also looked at my address book of current customers. I find the repeat customers, find a possible need, and simply call them to see if they would like me to do anything for them. And since we had some significantly high wind in December break all sorts of stuff around here, I ask how their trees held up. That too has been successful.

Working with current customers is the most cost effective approach. All it takes is a phone call to ask.

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I have found emailing is a very good way to keep in touch, and remind people of seasonal tree related items to do. Over the years, I have expanded my client list to about 1500. On this list, I have almost 1000 email addresses, although some may be bad. A few weeks back, I sent out an email addressing some seasonal things to think about, and that night I had over 30 emails/calls from the email. Quite a bit of worked churned out of it. The best part? Instead of making tedious phone calls, I contacted a majority of my clients in only a few minutes.

I think most of the clients appreciate this email. Just add something informative in it, not just looking like your trying to hustle up work. For instance, I pointed out to folks that we are in our 3rd year of drought, so they should start to think about deep watering their important trees this year, and included a PDF file on how to do this. They loved it, and many also said, hey, thanks... I have been meaning to call you.

Keep in contact with your clients. You are around to manage their trees, so frequent reminders to let them know you are still around goes a long way.
 
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And like Noel said. Look back at old bids. I have a file titled "Pending." These are my follow up calls if I haven't heard from the person in a while. I too have offered a discount for a "winter rate." Do I like to give a discount? Absolutely not, but when there is no work, then something is better than nothing.

I also looked at my address book of current customers. I find the repeat customers, find a possible need, and simply call them to see if they would like me to do anything for them. And since we had some significantly high wind in December break all sorts of stuff around here, I ask how their trees held up. That too has been successful.

Working with current customers is the most cost effective approach. All it takes is a phone call to ask.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have found emailing is a very good way to keep in touch, and remind people of seasonal tree related items to do. Over the years, I have expanded my client list to about 1500. On this list, I have almost 1000 email addresses, although some may be bad. A few weeks back, I sent out an email addressing some seasonal things to think about, and that night I had over 30 emails/calls from the email. Quite a bit of worked churned out of it. The best part? Instead of making tedious phone calls, I contacted a majority of my clients in only a few minutes.

I think most of the clients appreciate this email. Just add something informative in it, not just looking like your trying to hustle up work. For instance, I pointed out to folks that we are in our 3rd year of drought, so they should start to think about deep watering their important trees this year, and included a PDF file on how to do this. They loved it, and many also said, hey, thanks... I have been meaning to call you.

Keep in contact with your clients. You are around to manage their trees, so frequent reminders to let them know you are still around goes a long way.

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Wow. This is a great thread, lotta great posts. What Noel said re not working on the crew most of the time, and his co. is still busy, while others are laid off, hit home with me as I work on the crew full time, and I'm laid off now.

MTC, killer idea on the email list. I have not one customer email address but I'm going to start one now. I'm sending out 1000 mailers tomorrow, and its been a rather huge time consuming project... the email is different than a mailer but still, the ease and speed with which it can be issued is HUGE.
 
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MTC, check out Constant Contact!

-Tom

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Tom,

I just checked it out. Is it easy to use? Can I plug in from my own address book ( i use a mac)?


Seems pretty slick. Thanks for the tip
 
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