Texting a business card

southsoundtree

southsoundtree

Been here much more than a while
Location
Olympia, WA
I get a lot of people calling on referral.

If I haven't given them a physical business card and they haven't looked at my website, they don't know all we do.

Someone recently said they didn't know we did climbing jobs and asked us to come handle something as their first choice of contractor.





Is there a slick and easy way you send your cards electronically, in particular, more than a pic of front and back?
 
There is such a thing as an electronic business card, I think my iPhone can send one, but I'm not sure how. I have a fairly elaborate email signature that has our name, contact info, web address, and logo in it. That seems to do it for people. Or they just take a photo of the side of a truck.
 
Most people have an iPhone. You can send a literal picture of the card, front and back. A cropped screen shot would look far better than a picture of a card.

You could make a contact card, picture of a card, and a link to your site, or a specific part of your site (like the bid request form), in a shortcut that you send to each potential customer.
 
Lumberjack said:
Most people have an iPhone. You can send a literal picture of the card, front and back. A cropped screen shot would look far better than a picture of a card.
Click to expand...
Samsung also has a feature to scan an image. This makes a better more professional image. Even if the camera is angled to the card yo avoid a glare, it will square it up in the image with no background around the image.
 
Jehinten said:
Samsung also has a feature to scan an image. This makes a better more professional image. Even if the camera is angled to the card yo avoid a glare, it will square it up in the image with no background around the image.
Click to expand...

A screenshot on the computer/phone of the actual file will always look better.
 
I get what you're saying. Is the problem coming before or after the initial visit?

For example:

The referral call comes in, the estimate gets scheduled, work commences, they didn't understand the full scope of what you can do.

The referral call comes in, they're asking questions and have not much of a clue as to what you do, other than trees or something?

Or something else entirely?

Kay has done well at educating clients prior to me getting there. We push to the site, if and when possible.

There's a company north of us, does incredible work with a really great team. They have a formal referral program that they've initiated.

We do an estimate folder with cards and stuff in it, for most clients. I've debated moving it to an invoice folder. That could have handouts or additional info that they can have so they don't need to explain what you do.
 
If I was getting a smattering of upselling, I’d prefer to get it when I booked the bid and electronically. In general I have no desire for physical paperwork.

“We’ve got your bid booked; we’ll be sending over an introductory packet with our contract information and a bit about us.”

Set it up so it’s a shortcut, click a button, the message/email/whatever populates and off it goes.
 
I'm looking for a good introduction. I get people texting/ calling me because existing clients tell them they should call me for a hazard tree or orchard pruning, or large tree pruning or..., and may not know I prune Japanese maples and orchards or have low-impact options or grinding. They may only find out once I show up to the bid.
They may choose someone else because they have multiple service needs and think we only _______.
 
southsoundtree said:
I'm looking for a good introduction. I get people texting/ calling me because existing clients tell them they should call me for a hazard tree or orchard pruning, or large tree pruning or..., and may not know I prune Japanese maples and orchards or have low-impact options or grinding. They may only find out once I show up to the bid.
They may choose someone else because they have multiple service needs and think we only _______.
Click to expand...
That’s where websites come into play. I’m sure it bugs people but I’ll have a phone chat with them. If it sounds like something in my wheelhouse I’ll end the call and text a link to my website. Granted I use jobber and have a work request form built into the website that populates work requests on to a calendar that I route and schedule from there.
For me removals are the tricky one to articulate, I’m not a take down company but will do some removal work Speaking to a regional tree person it’s easy to articulate but certainly not to the general public. We stick with 50-80ish climbing removals and or precision felling of much larger stuff as site/space allows
 
I use Jobber, too. I don't direct people to my site for work requests, for better and worse.


I think If I ever have time, I should line up my whole fleet of equipment and tools. I forget about some of them, like my log arch.

I've got between 50-60 active wheels (just got 4 more), plus 4 tracks, but sometimes people only see my in my one-ton and a trailer down some tight access driveway.
With blowing chips onsite, people may not realize that I have other equipment.
 
southsoundtree said:
I use Jobber, too. I don't direct people to my site for work requests, for better and worse.


I think If I ever have time, I should line up my whole fleet of equipment and tools. I forget about some of them, like my log arch.

I've got between 50-60 active wheels (just got 4 more), plus 4 tracks, but sometimes people only see my in my one-ton and a trailer down some tight access driveway.
With blowing chips onsite, people may not realize that I have other equipment.
Click to expand...
We encounter this often too. A fleet/capability directory might help
 
Gone 11 yrs without a website, and probably 8yrs of saying I should get a website. Just having a FAQ list to point people to would be nice.
 
Reach said:
People ask us questions all the time as well, about what equipment we have, and I tell them we have everything they need, and if they would like to see pictures of some of it they're welcome to look at our website.
Click to expand...
I've been asked if I have a "cherry picker" (bucket truck, aerial lift) and when I answer in the negative, I've often heard something like - " well, this tree needs one so we'll have to call someone else" assuming that upper canopy access can only be granted via a lift. If I'm quick enough I can talk about climbing, but even then, some people are highly skeptical of that approach due to unfamiliarity and perceived danger.
 
Analog said:
I've been asked if I have a "cherry picker" (bucket truck, aerial lift) and when I answer in the negative, I've often heard something like - " well, this tree needs one so we'll have to call someone else" assuming that upper canopy access can only be granted via a lift. If I'm quick enough I can talk about climbing, but even then, some people are highly skeptical of that approach due to unfamiliarity and perceived danger.
Click to expand...
There are certainly plenty of people who feel that way, which is why we don't give them a "straight" answer. Rather than let them run somewhere else because of something we could do without the machine they feel they need, we just tell them that we have everything they need and leave it at that.
 
Analog said:
I've been asked if I have a "cherry picker" (bucket truck, aerial lift) and when I answer in the negative, I've often heard something like - " well, this tree needs one so we'll have to call someone else" assuming that upper canopy access can only be granted via a lift. If I'm quick enough I can talk about climbing, but even then, some people are highly skeptical of that approach due to unfamiliarity and perceived danger.
Click to expand...
I get that sometimes too. And then when I’m able to convince them over the phone to let me look at the tree it turns out to be a simple job.
 
Analog said:
I've been asked if I have a "cherry picker" (bucket truck, aerial lift) and when I answer in the negative, I've often heard something like - " well, this tree needs one so we'll have to call someone else" assuming that upper canopy access can only be granted via a lift. If I'm quick enough I can talk about climbing, but even then, some people are highly skeptical of that approach due to unfamiliarity and perceived danger.
Click to expand...

I get borderline annoyed when people start asking what equipment I have when the implication is being dubious if I can handle the job. Normally I say something along the lines of "I have access to any equipment we could possibly need to remove your tree."

Granted my business is a mature 23 years old, for being a tiny company, in a rural area, in poor Mississippi we have a silly amount of equipment. I try to set the tone from the start that my profession is removing trees, the question is never if we're capable of doing the job.
 
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