Top Tree Holidays to Market Your Business Around

by | Nov 21, 2018 | Marketing | 0 comments

Top Tree Holidays to Market Your Business Around

In today’s social media driven universe, there is a day for everything: National Coffee Day, National Dog Day, National Ice Cube Tray Day. (Okay, that last one I made up, but you get the point.) While the world is full of superfluous holidays, there are some that hold significant meaning for the tree care industry! Here are a few of the great holidays centered around trees that you can use in your marketing.

Arbor Day: Seems like a no brainer, right? A holiday dedicated solely to planting trees is DEFINITELY a holiday that your business should be promoting. Pro Tip: Bump up your marketing game on this holiday by holding a tree planting event in partnership with a local park or elementary school. Not only do you get to plant a tree, you have the ability to promote Certified Arborists and gain exposure for your business to potential customers at the same time.

Earth Day: A clean Earth is a happy Earth! Earth Day Every Day. A good planet is hard to find. These are just a couple of examples of the many slogans available for you to utilize on Earth Day. A day entirely dedicated to the preservation of our planet is absolutely a day that you should be using to promote proper tree care. What on Earth will you be doing for Earth Day this year? (See what I did there?)

National Tree Day: Did you even know this day existed? Full disclosure: I had no idea this day existed until I started researching holidays for this article. If I didn’t know this day existed, and maybe some of you didn’t either, how many of your customers are aware of this day? This is a perfect opportunity to promote the care of trees while also introducing potential customers to a new holiday. Take this chance to develop a fun challenge for customers on this day, such as having them identify different types of trees, or promote your business by offering discounts on tree work for this day only. While Arbor Day is a little more established, this is your opportunity to be creative and make this day unique to your business.

NeighborWoods Month: #MayTheForestBeWithYou NeighborWoods Month is an annual campaign begun by the Arbor Day Foundation. For the month of October, the Foundation promotes the planting and care of trees within communities. This is a great month to host giveaways, sponsor a community tree planting event, promote plant healthcare, and connect with customers on what your company can offer them. Plus, this month-long event gives you a reason to continually engage with customers and them a reason to frequently check back in and see what you have going on.

Christmas: Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree! Promote the care of trees around Christmas by providing tips for nourishment for evergreens. Have your employees take photos of their Christmas trees and promote them on social media by having clients select which tree belongs to which employee – and award the winner with a prize! Spoiler Alert: Holiday Ads drive results. According to Social Media Today, 88% of marketers that ran a holiday ad campaign last year marked it as successful. #TistheSeason

Written by: Katie Petersen

The Power of Walking Away

by | Nov 14, 2018 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

The Power of Walking Away

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

How many times have you either worked on project you knew you were going to lose money on or continued to chase a job that didn’t really fit in with your target services? Chances are, you’ve done this more than you want to mention. We all have. Especially in today’s market with so many tree services popping up everywhere, I’m sure there are times you feel pressured to work on an undesirable job. Unfortunately, this begins a cycle of chasing jobs just to pay the bills and almost always ends in burnout for you and your team members.

Of course, we all want more sales, but sometimes your best move to is to say “No” and walk away from a potential job. There are many scenarios that create a walk away situation, let’s look at a few:

1. They Really Don’t Have the Budget

Not every customer can afford your services. Running a professional tree care company takes a lot of overhead and expense that must be reflected in the rates that you charge for your service. Unfortunately, some people will just not be able to pay for your expertise. Recognizing that a prospective customer is on a tight budget is a crucial skill that your salesforce must be proficient at. Believe in your company’s value of professional safe service so that you do not underbid a job just to get it.

2. Too Much Competition

Competing with too many other tree services only does one thing; lowers the cost of the job. If during your sales meeting you uncover that they are getting estimates from three other companies, ask them what the basis for their decision will be on. Most likely, they will say price, so tell them to put price aside; what is the next most important aspect of a tree service that they are looking for. If they cannot come up with something, then it makes your decision easy…walk away! If they give you an answer like, I want the job to be done as quickly as possible, then ask them to quantify that. If you can accommodate whatever their second deciding factor is, you have a chance at earning the job at a fair price.

3. They Believe all Tree Services are the Same

Look, the majority of the general public does not really understand the differences between a TCIA Accredited company and a weekend warrior. Make the goal of each sales meeting to explain your value and why your services cost a little more than other companies. If they still believe that your value is not worth the price that you need to charge, then it is time to move onto a prospect that better aligns with your company.

4. The Services are Not Your Specialty

Your company is not going to be great with every type of service that a tree care company can provide. Know your strengths and stick with them when selling jobs. When companies stretch themselves out of their comfort zone, it opens up a lot of unnecessary risk to your business. This job will most likely take longer to complete and probably will be done for a lower price than what the job deserved as well as increasing the chances of a mistake or accident happening because it is new to your team.

Your willingness to walk away from any of these situations demonstrates your commitment to your company’s excellence and ensures the projects that you work on get your full attention. Remember, not all jobs are good jobs. Be proud of what you do and walk away if a potential customer does not fit with your company.

Click here to obtain a copy of the Sales Sweet Spot worksheet to help you understand which services you offer fit best with your ideal customer.

How can you begin to say “No” more? Start with identifying your ideal customer and the services that you specialize in. Click here to learn more about our New Heights Package and how it can help you identify your ideal customer and services and grow your business!

Top Insurance Agencies for Tree Care Companies

by | Nov 6, 2018 | Risk Management | 0 comments

Top Insurance Agencies for Tree Care Companies

The tree care industry parallels the insurance industry in so many ways. A quick Google search of either results in hundreds of choices for the consumer, however, as you know there are only truly a handful of professional businesses that are the right fit for each situation.

Any arborist who has tried to find insurance for their company knows that most insurance agencies do not understand the tree care world at all. They do not know what the simple difference between an arborist and a tree trimmer is. They certainly have never foot locked up into a tree or been a Past-President of an ISA chapter before. Unfortunately, these general insurance agencies provide the majority of the insurance coverage to the tree care world.

At ArboRisk we pride ourselves on our dedication to the tree care industry. It is because of the in-depth knowledge that our team members have that we are able to help our clients get every one of their arborists home safe each night and make sure there is a job waiting for them in the morning.

However, rather than just selling ourselves to you, I want to give you a few other outstanding agencies that have committed to promoting the professionalism within the tree care world. Just as it is with tree work, the more tree services that utilize the best insurance agencies out there, the healthier the whole industry will be.

When looking at which agency is best for your organization, remember to not fall into the Quoting Trap as described in a recent article (found here). Interview each potential agency and select the one that fits best with you company’s goals and aspirations. Each of the agencies listed below belong to local ISA chapters and the TCIA.

Corcoran & Havlin Insurance Group, Wellesley, MA – (https://www.chinsurance.com/commercial-insurance/tree-care-insurance-risk/)

C&H’s Tree Care Team is led by Rick Weden, a frequent speaker at industry events and contributor to TCIA Magazine. Rick has been a true partner to the tree care industry for many, many years and takes great pride in understanding how accidents happen and helping companies prevent them from occurring.

Georgetown Insurance, Frederick, MD – (https://www.georgetownins.com/business-insurance/specialty-programs/arborists-insurance/ )

Georgetown agent, Matt Simmons, focuses on reducing a tree care companies exposure to risk by helping them implement safety programs, drug testing protocols and toolbox talks. Matt has been a supporter of the TCIA by exhibiting at multiple TCIExpo’s in the past.

Hub International, Santa Barbara, CA

Mark Shipp and the Hub International team have been helping tree care companies for over 20 years now. In addition to the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation, which is equivalent to the ISA’s Certified Arborist credential, Mark also holds his Certified Treecare Safety Professional (CTSP) designation.

Written by: Eric Petersen

Avoid the Insurance Quoting Trap

by | Oct 31, 2018 | Risk Management | 0 comments

Avoid The Insurance Quoting Trap

By Eric Petersen, CIC

Shopping for insurance coverage can be an exhausting task. Starting with your phone ringing off the hook three to four months before your renewal from agents trying to “quote” your policy, to gathering equipment lists and insurance loss runs to listening to final presentations for hours on end, the traditional way to get an insurance quote will leave you frustrated and worn out. And worst of all, at the end of it, you probably will stay with your current agent and insurance company because most quotes will be very similar in price anyway. That my friend, is what I call, the Quoting Trap.

So how do you avoid the Quoting Trap yet still secure the best possible insurance program for your business? You must first start with an understanding of the following facts about the current insurance industry.

Fact #1 – Not Many Options

Unfortunately, there are only a handful of insurance companies that truly have the proper knowledge of the tree care industry to offer the best protection at the lowest price. Because of this you will see agents scramble to submit your information to those insurance companies. The first agent that submits the account is the one that has authority to get the quote from them.

Fact #2 – Prove it

To offer the lowest price, insurance companies need proof of why you will not have an accident or injury. This typically means providing loss runs from your prior policies to the quoting insurance company to show what your incident history has been and answering a few questions regarding your safety program.

Fact #3 – Not all Agencies are Created Equal

I’m sure you are sick of explaining how an arborist is much more than a tree trimmer to insurance agents looking to give you a quote. Because the vast majority of insurance agencies do not specialize in working with tree services, their knowledge of your industry is very basic and therefore they feel their only value is to place coverage and do the minimal amount of work on your account so that you renew your coverage the next year. The good news is that there are agencies that have dedicated themselves to the tree care industry and offer many more services than just insurance policy issuance to help your business.

Considering the above facts, when you allow a few agents to earn your business by giving them the minimal information needed to get a quote, you shortchange yourself. You create a race to see which agent can get the submission to the insurance companies the quickest versus actually showing the insurance company how you will be a profitable account. Many agents skip gathering vital information about your company that would dramatically improve your chances of lowering the insurance cost just so they can be the first agent in. On top of it all, you have done nothing to guarantee that the fastest agent is actually the best agent that can help you well beyond insurance.

The Solution to the Quoting Trap is to select the best agent for your company first and have them find you the best possible insurance program. I know what you are thinking, “Wait, that’s not a competitive situation!” But it is. Instead of asking the agencies to compete for your business based on who can submit the information to the insurance companies the fastest, you are asking them to compete on a much tougher level; “What are you going to do for me?”

It is then the agent of your choice that submits your information to all of the available insurance companies for quotes on your behalf. It is remarkable how much more effective at securing lower insurance premiums it is when only one agent is submitting for quotes. I recently was asked to quote a policy for a tree care service. Since I knew they were using other agents to get quotes, I asked my insurance companies if they have received a submission for this account before. Their response was astounding, “This may be one of the most shopped accounts out there. This year we received it from one agency and had calls from another. Last year it came in from 2 different agencies than this year.” Guess what? The insurance company did not want to spend time quoting this account unless they knew they had a real opportunity to win.

If you need help with your insurance or are interested in a FREE coverage review, contact ArboRisk. Our Thrive Risk Management program, specifically our New Heights Package, can help address some of these pain points and help steer your insurance in the right direction!

The graphic below depicts the Quoting Trap:

How to Get the Most Out of Your Safety Committee

by | Oct 17, 2018 | Safety | 0 comments

How to Get The Most Out Of Your Safety Committee

As you know, having a safety committee is a great way to improve your business. It gives your team members an avenue to discuss close calls or any situations that may concern them on the job site, while also showing insurance companies your dedication to safety. Ultimately, this will help increase your profit margin by limiting the injuries and accidents that occur along with lowering your insurance costs.

But are you really getting the most out of your committee? Here are my four quick tips to maximizing the benefit of your safety committee.

Create Committee Goals and Responsibilities
Have you clearly defined what you want the safety committee to do for your organization? Was your committee established because you had an accident in the past or because you’re scared of an accident in the future, maybe both? Below are some core responsibilities your safety committee should take charge of:

Reviewing your written safety program and implementation of safety policies.
Regular job site and equipment inspections.
Running safety meetings and analyzing incident/near miss data.
Addressing potential risks when providing new services.
Staying abreast of industry regulation and changes.

Involve The Right People
Making sure you have the right team is critical to ensuring the committee stays just that, committed. Diversity in your safety committee is paramount. Aim to have a committee that receives input from all aspects of your business. For example, you may have one foreman, one climber, one grounds crew member, one lift operator and one shop member all included.

Term Limits
Create a term limit for your committee and stick to it. Many times safety committees get stale because the same people have been on the committee for years and years. Establish a rule that each members will only be on the committee for a designated amount of time. This allows a committee member a certain amount of time to create action and provides the opportunity to involve more team members. Stagger the terms so that you always have fresh members joining the current committee. I recommend using two year terms. Two years is long enough to accomplish specific tasks, but short enough to keep it interesting for all members.

Rewards
Give incentives to the safety committee members. Everyone wants to feel rewarded for their hard work and being on a safety committee can add more responsibility and stress than their normal position. Set up a reward system that allows you to praise the committee for the procedural aspect of their role. This could be in a monetary bonus for every safety meeting held or additional time off for every job site inspection performed, get creative on what will motivate your safety committee members to do their absolute best. Remember that OSHA frowns upon safety programs that have an outcome-based incentive tied to them, meaning do not incentivize your team members based on the amount of injuries. Use concrete goals and procedures as your benchmark for the committee’s performance.

There you have it, four tips to get more value out of your safety committee. Remember that the ultimate goal of the safety committee is to strengthen the culture of safety within your organization so you can get every employee home safe each night. Empowering your team members with that goal is the surest way to succeed.

Written by: Eric Petersen