9 Ways Tree Care Companies Can Improve Customer Service Without Additional Cost

Working with trees is a rewarding business, and a big part of that reward is the clients you work with. Providing top-tier customer service is crucial in competitive fields like landscaping and lawn care. It can be difficult to find the right balance without breaking the bank on brand management and advertising.

At Arborgold, we work with landscaping businesses across North America and are constantly working to improve our software to better serve you. Here, we’ve compiled some tips on how to improve your customer service without additional costs.

1. Online Accessibility Through a Customer Portal

The modern consumer is smart and engaged. They are looking for ways to get connected and self-serve when possible. Convenience is a big deal. Offering online accessibility through a reliable customer portal is a huge benefit for landscaping businesses looking to get ahead.

Customer portals allow clients to login in, view orders and services, pay bills, check invoices and engage with your company. Not only are these tools helpful to your customers, but they save you time and money when your clients are able to find information without calling to ask.

If you have landscaping business software, you can likely create a streamlined customer portal that links to your own CRM without spending extra to design and implement new website features.

2. Professional Proposals

As a field-based business, a big part of your income comes from successful bids. This means your proposals need to be top-notch. Professional proposals reflect your company’s organizational skills, but they also help potential clients better understand the project, design, price, and schedule you are suggesting to them.

Customers are more likely to react positively to a proposal that offers visuals and well-organized data.

3. Organization and Deadline Adherence

Landscaping customers aren’t looking for much more than a job well done and adherence to the proposed deadline. When you go into a client’s property, whether it’s a home or a commercial property, the work being done disrupts daily life. For homeowners, this means postponing events and changing routines. For business owners, this could mean money lost and inaccessibility to customers. When you are organized and maintain schedule adherence, it shows your clients that you are dedicated, loyal, and reliable.

4. Consistency in Performance

Forget the bells and whistles, focusing on consistency is the key to customer service success. Your clients chose you for a reason. Maybe they got a referral from a past client singing your praises, or they saw your work online. Whatever the case, your new client is probably hoping for similar results.

When you perform consistently, putting your best foot forward on every job, your customers will appreciate the work you do and the attitude you keep.

5. Up to Date Inventory Tracking

Your inventory is your bread and butter. Your clients want the best trees, flowers, shrubs, and water features money can buy, and if you don’t have the right tools, equipment, and inventory in stock, it only delays deadlines and increases wait times. Fortunately, up-to-date inventory tracking is easier than ever before with Arborgold landscaping business software.

Monitor your current inventory, make updates, and view every change in real-time, ensuring you and your customers know the score in terms of product availability.

6. More Relevant Engagement

Times have changed in the marketing and customer engagement area. More consumers are looking for real, relevant engagement over forced marketing jargon. It doesn’t cost extra to take a little time in your social media posts, e-mail messages, and phone calls to make each customer feel like they matter.

A great way to improve customer engagement and customer service without breaking the bank is to upload a few pieces of relatable content each month to your social media accounts. This gives customers a chance to chat with other clients, leave comments, share their most recent news, and more.

7. Smooth Out Scheduling Errors

There are a lot of moving pieces involved in any field-based business. Tree companies have employees in the office, in the field, on route to a job site, and multiple clients across the city. Scheduling errors can be extremely problematic, causing timing delays and inconveniencing your customers. A huge boon to your customer service efforts comes in the form of streamlined scheduling.

Using scheduling software, you can reduce scheduling delays by implementing electronic time-clocking, GPS map access, and other useful tools. This will help ditch scheduling issues and optimize invoicing and payroll.

8. Better Analytics

Your customers may leave you plenty of feedback through online sources, but there’s one other place you can look for these details – your analytics. Data can be drawn from various sources including traffic statistics, e-mail responses, new client acquisitions, and customer engagement. All of these analytics help you read your customer base and see how you’re doing compared to previous quarters.

The better your analytics reporting, the better you respond to your customer’s needs. Again, you can find all of this information, and request daily, weekly, or monthly reports through your tree company business software.

9. Automate with Purpose

Automation can be a blessing or a curse. Your customers aren’t looking for generic repetitive e-mails, but they are looking for convenience and quick responses. Automation helps reduce wait times, improves ROI, and gives you more time to focus on running your company.

When you use automation, choose carefully. Ensure there is a purpose for everything you automate and that your customer is always getting the best experience, whether manual or automated.

Take the Arborgold Tour

At Arborgold, we pride ourselves on understanding the intricacies of landscaping and other field-based businesses. We are constantly striving to ensure that our business software meets the unique needs of your industry.

Interested in learning more about Arborgold customer service management software? We invite you to take a tour and see what we’re all about.