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How Changing One Word Will Make Your Business Explode

by | Sep 4, 2018 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

How Changing One Word Will Make Your Business Explode

By Eric Petersen, CIC

A few years ago, I was attending the Wisconsin Arborist Association’s Annual Conference when I was awe struck during the keynote session. Jim Skiera, former International Society of Arboriculture’s Executive Director, was speaking on the state of the tree care industry.

He asked everyone in attendance to stand up. All three hundred of us, slowly got out of our seats and waited uncomfortably for him to ask us to do something. His direction was straightforward; if you removed more trees last year than you planted, please sit down. I looked around the room and was shocked to see only a handful of people remain standing.

He then asked the rhetorical question; if the vast majority of us in this room are removing more trees than we are planting, what does the future of our industry look like? He then challenged everyone in the room to change one word within their list of services. He said to eliminate the word “removal” and use “replacement” instead.

While the concept was very simple it had a huge impact on me. Imagine if you started doing tree replacements instead of just tree removals. First off, you would definitely stand out from the other tree services that your potential customer has talked to and you immediately open the door for future revenue.  There are many other benefits to this customer experience approach, but three obvious ones that you would realize are:

  • Instantly boost your revenue from the tree plantings.
  • Become the valued professional who is looking to take care of their property long term, not just do a one-time job.
  • Create an easy future revenue stream by offering to prune the young tree and others on their property.

So just like Mr. Skiera did to the WAA crowd years ago, I challenge you to change merely one word within your operation and watch your business grow.

If you need assistance helping your business become extraordinary, reach out to an ArboRisk team member about our Thrive Risk Management Sales & Marketing Package! We can help you address any marketing concerns and take your business to new heights!

5 Ways to Better Your Social Media Marketing

by | Aug 27, 2018 | Marketing | 0 comments

5 Ways to Better Your Social Media Marketing

If you’ve ever found yourself staring at your computer screen, wondering what to post on your social media accounts, you are not alone. Digital marketing success remains elusive to most small business owners. The fact of the matter is, 46 percent of (small) business owners are unsure their marketing strategies work and 17 percent know they aren’t working at all (source). #WHAT. This does not need to be you. While I cannot tell you that there is one simple, fix-all option available for individuals struggling with digital marketing, I can give you 5 strategic ways to better your social media marketing and help your business thrive.

 

Strategy #1: Use Real Photos and Personal Stories

 

Do your followers know who you are? Have you given them a reason to connect personally with you? Spoiler Alert: majority of customers are not impressed by the type of equipment you use.Posting photos of your truck fleet will not gain you more business. But, you can certainly tweak those posts and use them to your advantage. Perhaps you are still using the very first truck that your father bought when he started your tree service. Posting a narrative about that, talking about the history of your company and what your father meant to this company, will give customers a reason to connect with you. It humanizes your business and gives them a trigger to remember you when they need your services.

 

Strategy #2: Shoot (More) Videos

 

Video, video, video. I cannot stress this enough: the future lies in videos. While videos can seem overwhelming, take it step by step. Start off small – use your phone and record a quick video introducing yourself, your company, and share three fun facts about who you are. As you become more comfortable conversing in front of the camera, up your techniques. Have someone else shoot you discussing a common misconception about tree care, like how trees with early leaf drop does not mean they are a lost cause and need to be removed. If you have the funds, invest in a video marketing company, and allow them the opportunity to come in and shoot your work day. By taking what would normally be multiple paragraphs of text and translating that into video form, you are allowing your customer a new avenue to engage and connect with you. Plus, the stats don’t lie: 59% of executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video (source). #VideoForTheWin

 

Strategy #3: Engage and Reward your Followers

 

I’m not sure about you, but my Instagram and Facebook feeds are scattered with individual and company accounts that receive tons of engagement. How are they succeeding at this? By giving their followers a reason to engage with them. Successful digital marketers know that the best way to increase engagement is to incentivize your following:

 

Create a contest for your follows (ex. Upload a photo of yourself with your favorite tree. The best photo receives a $25 credit towards your next service)
Host a giveaway (ex. The first 10 likes on this post receive a $10 Starbucks gift card)
Offer discounts (ex. Like this post and receive 5% off your next tree removal)
Elaborate or superfluous giveaways are unnecessary. Simple, easy offerings are the best way to create a buzz around your company and have your followers watching your page for your next giveaway.

 

Strategy #4: Collaborate with Others in Your Niche

 

We all have people we look up to in our businesses, the individuals or companies that set the bar high, keep us chasing growth, and that every customer seems to know. If you have not used these individuals to your advantage, it is time to start. Reach out to them and propose collaboration on a blog post, a video, or a quick photo on your page. Set-up a lunch and learn with your employees or clients and have this expert come in to teach on a specific topic, all while promoting this on your social media. Business is not always about competition – customers love to see individuals working together to bring them the best possible product. Meeting with others and collaborating with them will not only give you an opportunity to learn something, it will open up your business to a whole new set of followers.

 

Strategy #5: Use Online Tools to Find Top Content for Posts

 

Do you struggle to find relevant content that your followers not only appreciate, but also understand? #beenthere. Many individuals find it difficult to engage with certain companies on social media because they do not equate the relevance of the post to their individual lives. Try one of these content sourcing tools for mainstream articles, on topics that businessmen and stay-at-home moms can both understand.

 

Google News Alerts are a great way to keep yourself informed of headlines that are happening in your industry. Nuzzel connects with your Twitter feed and shows you the most shared content from users you follow. If you follow numerous accounts that are relevant in your industry, the content provided by Nuzzel is invaluable. Mix (formerly StumbleUpon) is a discovery engine that finds and recommends content to users. All you have to do is select a few interests, and hit the ‘Mix’ button and the platform will show you pages relevant to your interests. Finally, Reddit is the hot bed of the Internet, and it’s a great place to find content. Subreddits enable users to browse different topics, where users post and “upvote” the best content. Subscribe to subreddits that are the hottest in your industry so, when you log into Reddit, your front page will be full of content specific to you.

 

Pro Tip: Reddit can also be a great place to share your own unique content. If you’re active on the platform and get familiar with some of the subreddits, submitting links can be a great way to get more traffic to your website (source).

 

These five action items are just a few easy ways to up your social media marketing game and propel your business forward. Doing these things will not only set you apart from the competition, but it will open up your business to an entirely new client base.

Written by: Katie Petersen

3 Simple Ideas to Make Safety Personal

by | Aug 27, 2018 | Safety | 0 comments

3 Simple Ideas to Make Safety Personal

Achieving a top notch safety culture within your organization is best done by making safety personal for each of your team members. I recently had a conversation with John Wayne Farber, Special Projects Manager for Hoppe Tree Service in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He shared with me a couple of ideas he recently learned about that I feel can be a powerful addition to your safety program. Here are three simple ideas that can make safety personal for every employee on your team.

 

1. This is Why I am Safe Patch – Tim Walsh from Davey Resource Group, shared this idea at the 2018 ISA Conference in Columbus, OH. They hand out a fabric sleeve that has a plastic window in it for their employees to slide a picture of someone or something that matters most to them. This sleeve has Velcro on the back so it can be attached to their gear, saddle, bag, etc. so there is a constant visual reminder of why they need to work safe.

 

2. Safety Picture Board – Inside the Columbia Energy Center a power plant located in Portage, Wisconsin, there is a picture board that employees put pictures of loved ones in. This board hangs on the entry way into the power plant. Seeing the faces of family members of all of their co-workers has made a huge impact on safe work practices. Being reminded that you are not only trying to be safe for your family, but also those of your co-workers puts safety even more at the forefront.

 

3. Safety Coins – Total Safety, a safety and compliance company located in Houston, Texas, gives every employee a heavy duty coin to keep in their pocket during the work day. The coin is a little larger than a half dollar and much heavier so the employee can feel it in their pocket as they walk around. You could use this idea by having each employee pick up a coin to start the day and drop it off at the end of the day. Any close calls or near misses can be jotted down when the coin is turned in for the night to help with the next tailgate safety meeting. (To read the article on their coin visit: https:/ /www.ehstoday.com/safety/total-safety-coins-safety-commitment)

 

Getting every employee home safe each night must be a priority for every tree care business. Doing that is easier when all employees feel personally attached to the importance of safety. There are a lot of great ideas out there to help build the safety culture that you desire, these are just three that I wanted to share with you. If you have others that you’ve seen work well, I’d love to have you share those with me and the rest of the tree care world. #untilwereallsafe

Written by: Eric Petersen

Personality Testing for Employers

by | Aug 27, 2018 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Personality Testing For Employers

How many times have you heard someone say, “I hire for personality not skills”? It’s a common theme amongst many owners and managers even in skilled labor industries like tree care world. So what does that mean and why are they doing it?

 

The simple response that you will hear is that skills can be taught, personality cannot. I agree with this thought process and want to give you an article devoted to figuring out what personalities you have currently and what type you’d like to build your team around.

 

Find the Right Tool – Just like using the proper sized saw for a removal job, the first step is to commit to using a tool to help identify key characteristics that you want to see in your team members. There are many personality tests on the market today, however, my favorite one is True Colors. True Colors is a simple personality test that helps highlight how individuals communicate and what they value most which in turn helps create a better team atmosphere within your organization.

 

I first was introduced to the True Colors system while attending a Leadership Workshop for the ISA a few years ago. All of the participants at the workshop took the short test and were split up into groups based on our colors. It was incredible to see how accurate the simple test was at identifying our core personalities. Throughout the workshop, we wore nametags that had our primary color listed. It helped all of us communicate much better and understand where the other party was coming from when discussing certain topics. Because I found it so powerful, I brought it back to the Wisconsin Arborist Association to do with our Board Members and internally for my team at my agency. Knowing how others communicate has been a tremendous help to accomplishing any of our goals.

 

Test Your Current Staff – Once you choose which tool you will use, have your current employees take the profile and discuss the results with each of them individually. What did you learn about your top performers? Are there common traits amongst the best within your team? What skills does your team lack as a whole? Learning from these tests will help you identify what type of person you want to hire next. It also can help you recognize if you have someone in the wrong role. Perhaps, one of your production climbers would be better suited as a sales person because of their personality. Or maybe the opposite, a person on the sales team would be better fit for technical work like consulting or plant health care. Understanding who you have on your team and how they interact with others is an enormous benefit to you as the leader of the organization.

 

Use with Interviewees – Lastly, when you are looking to bring in someone to your team, have them take the same test that the rest of the team has. Make sure that their personality will fit the position that they are applying for. Too often in the tree care industry, owner’s hire anybody with a pulse and a driver’s license. This will only do one thing; set up the business and new employee for future pain and trouble when personalities clash and internal issues arise that would have been prevented if they were never hired.

 

Getting the right person on your team is difficult to do, however, using personality tests can be a great tool for you. And because there always seems to be a shortage of potential employees, check out our article on the 5 Hiring Hotspots to get some ideas on how to start recruiting top notch talent.

 

Written by: Eric Petersen

Effective Delegation

by | Aug 27, 2018 | Employee Management | 0 comments

Effective Delegation

Delegation. A simple concept that is extremely difficult for some, especially for a business owner of a growing tree care company. Perhaps the definition of the word can help those out? Merriam-Webster defines delegation as; the act of empowering to act for another. True leaders do not merely pass off work that they do not want to. They inspire and empower their team to perform tasks that help achieve the overall mission of the organization. Below are my five tips to successful delegation.

 

Understand Your Value to Your Team – As the owner, you obviously have the ultimate responsibility to make sure the business stays afloat and remains profitable. Unfortunately, many times the pressure to keep the doors open makes you think you should be doing everything for the company because no one knows your business quite like you do. Naturally you push yourself into tasks that you are not qualified or passionate about and it has a ripple effect on your organization. The best leaders understand what their value is to the team. Where is your time best spent for the greatest benefit to the entire organization? Take account of your skills and passions. Pay attention to what really gets you excited and remind yourself why you wanted to be an owner. Are you great with numbers and setting goals or is the physical work more to your liking? What value do you add to the organization above and beyond others? I have seen many successful tree care companies where the owner is still in production because his or her passion lies in proper tree care versus the paperwork and management side of things. Define your role for your team so that you can delegate the rest of the tasks.

 

Utilize Your Team Member’s Strengths – Effective delegation occurs when duties are shifted to the appropriate team member. Build your team with people that have the strengths that you need in your organization. Confirm those strengths with each individual so you know that they are on the same page with you. There are plenty of production arborists who are natural sales people. If sales is an area of weakness for you, explore transferring that role to them instead of struggling along just because you are the owner. There will be some training necessary when delegating any task or responsibility so be open and willing to commit to teaching those skills and knowledge to your team.

 

Begin With the Why – Everyone wants to know what’s in it for them. If you are delegating more work to your team, give them the reasons why early and often. If your team members feel they are having work dumped on them without knowing why the morale of your team will suffer dramatically.

 

Inspire Your Team – When people understand why they have been assigned a new task they can accept that extra obligation. However, to truly be a top level delegator, you must inspire your team at the same time. Every one of your team members will find inspiration a little differently. Think about why the goals of the organization would be meaningful to every individual. What do they get excited about? Why did they join your company? Parlay that knowledge of your team members to motivate them not only to accept the task being delegated, but to get them to reach out for more responsibility.

 

Trust Your Team and They Will Trust You – This should go without saying, but when you delegate a task it is imperative that you trust your team to accomplish it. Checking in on the progress of the task, especially if it is new to them, is good to do, however, avoid the most common mistake with delegation; micro-managing. No one wants an assignment handed to them only to be told exactly how to do it. Learning to trust that your team will get the work done can be challenging for some owners. There will most likely be some small mistakes and the outcome of the task may not look exactly like it would have if you did it, however, if you stomp your feet and get upset you can guarantee that you will lose the trust of your employees. Once that is gone, it will take a long time to get it back.

 

Delegation is such a critical part of running a successful business and fortunately it is a skill that can be learned and developed. Use these five tips to begin to consciously think about delegation within your organization and how you can improve on it.

Written by: Eric Petersen