Set it and forget it

Saving man hours is just as important in the back office as it is on the jobsite. Keeping schedules, notifying customers of problems, providing clients good information and tracking billing can all be time-consuming tasks, but with the right software, the jobs can almost do themselves.

Ken Hyatt, onwer of Village Green Lawn & Landscape in Garland, Texas, says automation really helps him grow his business by freeing up his time to work on instead of in his business.

Communicate problems.

With the targeted marketing software can provide, it’s easy for Village Green to keep customers aware of any lawn and landscape issue from best practices to water restrictions to problems on their properties.

When a crew member notices something like a broken sprinkler head or grubs in the lawn, he or she can simply select a condition code which automatically sends out an email or letter to notify the property owner.

Hyatt and his team can cherry-pick the market they’re sending emails to, or just a single client. So if the water restrictions have changed in one city, they can simply choose to send a notification to everyone in the zip code telling them how to set their controls.

Educate and cross-sell.

Beyond that, the system allows Hyatt to separate out customers based on the services they use, which he uses for marketing. So if a customer uses the company’s fertilization service but not its aeration program, he can send them an offer via email, postcard or phone call to see if they’re interested in adding it on.

“That’s really the beauty of what a service system does,” Hyatt says. “It’s really in the marketing. It keeps us automated; it keeps us organized, but it allows us to cross-sell so easily. We just go back and forth.”

For Village Green, aeration, grub control and mosquito control have been the most successful cross-selling programs.

The company also sends out Quick Tip emails with two- to three-paragraph articles on a timely issue like what to plant, which weeds to look out for and how long to water.

Village Green is a local company competing against national outfits like TruGreen and Scott’s, so the customized information helps the business stand out.

“The Texas climate is different – the Dallas area in particular. The soil is different; the climate is different than other places and by sending out educational information it helps establish our authority in this area,” Hyatt says. “We provide information that the national companies can’t touch. They just aren’t able to respond to the climate that we have at any given point in time.”

And customers really like them. “I get comments all of the time from people saying, ‘Man, I really enjoy these emails you’re sending out. I find them really helpful,’” Hyatt says.

Keep payments coming.

Automated software also helps Village Green keep up to date on billing without much manpower. Hyatt uses software to send out automated emails when a customer is 30, 60 and 90 days past due. Once an account is 60 days past due, the software will pull the client from the service list.

The system also allows him to pull a list of phone numbers to call after 90 days and will turn the account over to a collection company that will send out letters and then make phone calls on Village Green’s behalf.