A strategic partnership, though it might appear complex, is fundamentally an impressive collaboration. It doesn’t demand strict contracts or official protocols.
It’s just a symbiotic relationship where both you and the other business benefits from using or recommending each other’s services.
These are happening everywhere. Think of Disney and McDonalds, or Caltex and Woolworths.
With the above examples, they both have the same customers and they both benefit from promoting each other’s products or services.
Now taking it back a notch with trades, think of a plasterer recommending a painter after he has finished the plastering job, or a doctor recommending buying your prescription from a local pharmacy or visa versa in both cases.
For arborists, this type of partnership may not be so obvious. So let’s go through who you could potentially partner up with and how you can go about it.
This one is the most obvious one. Our studies in horticulture overlap and we are both working with customers who spend money on their gardens.
But the difference is their customers actually WANT to spend the money 100% of the time.
Half the time our customers NEED to remove a tree and try to save money doing it.
We want their customers!
We spoke in a previous article about using a landscaper as a way to get rid of mulch.
For this one to work, like any of the others, you’ll need to get this relationship going with 5+ landscapers. You’ll be surprised how much direct work you get from him/her AND indirect work you get when they recommend your services…. an all this from a bit of free mulch!
This is how it is done:
The perfect thing about the landscaper relationship is they stand to gain
just as much as you do out of the relationship.
You probably wouldn’t mention you have the same deal with 15 other local operators!
The above script can be loosely used for all your reach-out letters, but some you might be offering a finders fee or cash incentive. The best ones though are free.
The above letter can be copied and pasted or you can write your own.
Either way, there are a few specific things going on in the letter.
Benefits
After a brief introduction, they need to know straight away that if they continue to read the letter they will benefit from it. People have a short attention span these days, so you need to grab their attention fast.
Expectations
This is done in a very subtle manner, but obviously, you are writing a letter so you want something from them, so let them know what you want right after you tell them what they stand to gain from the relationship
“Also if you have a tree too big to handle or a problem stump when excavating, I’d love to help. ”
The Yes Sandwich
Although it sounds a little x-rated the yes sandwich is actually a PR technique large companies teach employees for resolving issues.
But we are using it to sell as it is just as powerful.
For example, if someone calls with a complaint, or they ask you a question and the answer is NO, the idea is you sandwich the no between two yes’s.
Customer: I want it delivered free!
“Yes we do offer delivery, but unfortunately we cannot deliver it free, if you like, I can arrange for the guys to load it all up for you and strap it down if you want to swing by and pick it up?”
This one is bigger than you think. Solar is booming at the moment and will continue to boom while the government is paying for half the system costs via a rebate (for the next 5 to 10 years at least)
How does this help you? Solar installers tell me that around 10% of all customers need trees trimmed or removed because of moving shadows before solar is installed.
Solar needs direct sunlight for a large chunk of the day to work (and be worthwhile)
Most guys will provide a quote for the install, but on the condition they get those trees pruned/removed.
With this one, you will have to provide an incentive like a finders fee (which you know about in advance, so you just add onto the price of the quote)
Before becoming an arborist, I ran a mowing and garden maintenance business call busy bee lawn and gardens.
When doing the rounds the most common complaints from customers were dropping leaves from trees or bare patches of lawns (generally because the lawn is in full shade from trees)
Being a “gardener” and not owning a chainsaw, any requests for a tree trim, canopy lift, or reduction were promptly turned down.
But imagine I knew a friendly arborist who reached out to me personally to help out with any tree work….. and maybe even paid me a 10% finders fee.
Some gardeners really know their stuff, but others are just a regular Joe who mows lawns.
You need to educate all your strategic partners on common practices and terminology when dealing with trees. The knowledge they can pass onto the customer
Things like:
Canopy lift
Reductions
Pollarding etc
This will add value to their business as they sound more knowledgeable to their regular customers, but most importantly it turns them into a salesman for your business.
And since you are paying them a finders fee, they are happy to recommend you.
Even consider a fact sheet like this example by Ryan Lawns
What do you think the primary complaint pool cleaners and gutter cleaners get? You guessed it tree dropping leaves.
I won’t harp on with this one but you get the idea. Your biggest word of mouth advocates is other businesses.
The gutter cleaning service is a good one because you could also recommend their services after you have done that canopy lift.
But of course, another incentive for them to recommend you such as a finders fee.
Start Local
The trick I found to this working is choosing businesses that are local to you.
If you are sending a letter to a landscaper or solar installer just a few blocks over it feels like a warmer relationship right off the bat.
You are just a couple of local tradesmen working together for mutual benefit.
Start with just 10 letters
The reality is not everyone reading this is going to do it. They might be sitting there thinking it’s a great idea and has the best intentions, but we all can get caught up in the day to day business and life.
The same goes for potential strategic partners. You will only get a response from 1 or 2 in 10 letters you send. 5 or 6 might think it’s a great idea, but they forget about it tomorrow.
This is something you build on overtime.
Every week send 10 letters. After 6 months, think of all the landscapers calling you for mulch or solar installers recommending you for tree removal.
Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks… who’s guilty of bumping up the price a bit after catching sight of a shiny Maserati parked up front, am I right?
Jokes aside, this is a serious question I wanted to know the answer to.
I figured this subject would have been covered many times, but upon a quick Google search, I turned up nothing!
Sure there were articles about Amazon and Uber charging more for deliveries and rides to posh areas, but I wanted to know what fellow arborists were doing.
Now for some, this is a moral question. Me personally, I would always charge for the job, not the postcode. That being said, I would also tack a bit more on for travel time if the job was further away.
Tradesmen in general are always happy to give a pensioner discount, but generally dodge the question about charging more at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Chatting to your mates in private about such a subject is always different from online debate. People on social media tend to over-inflate their morals and virtue signal at nauseum.
I put it down to one of the cons of a PC society that self regulates members through social shaming. I want REAL answers!
So how do I get a straight answer?
An anonymous poll is how… see below for poll results
I gave 3 options in the poll
I also allowed arborists to add their own answers. Which they did…. and they also got votes:
Questions added by arborists
I could have based it on a comment based poll, so people could explain why, and I’m sure there are some justifiable answers, but I was after an answer, more than a reason why.
Though after getting the results come in, I kind of wanted to know why?
But instead of having another poll and screwing with my anonyms results, I did some digging online.
I came across a forum thread called “Is it wrong to charge wealthy people more for the same service?”
And some of the answers/reasons there were quite interesting.
Actually I noticed a large difference in the data. People seemed to tip towards charging people more in rich areas. This was a conflicting result to my poll of just arborist.
The difference?
These were not business owners, but consumer’s opinions.
No. Economic discrimination is not wrong on an individual level by an individual running a business. Your goal is to maximize your profits, and if charging the rich guy twice what you charge the other normal guy increases your profits substantially while maintaining your customer base, then it is the right business decision.
Deatheternal
No, it isn’t wrong… it isn’t immoral to put your price at the highest point where someone is willing to pay in exchange for your services.
Kasierith
I would say yes it is morally wrong but how many of those guys got there by charging more than they should have for whatever they are selling.
Vindicators
Well, we really have to ignore what the customers above think and go with what the arborists are saying.
I wanted to find out if arborists were charging customers more in ritzy digs, and the answer, for the most part, is, no.
Well done lads!
Looking for a tree expert to cut down and remove your tree? We’ve got you covered.
It can be a bit hit and miss to just get 3 tree quotes from the local paper or “shoot from the hip” and call the first 3 companies you find on the internet.
A lot are not qualified and just as many are not experienced or insured.
If you want the real deal, use GoTreeQuotes to compare prices of qualified and insured local companies.
There are so many unskilled cowboys in Victoria who buy a chainsaw and try to pass themselves off like an arborist Melbourne to try and cash in on the urban tree management landscape that has proven to be quite a good money-spinner.
The problem is the risk of life and limb doing it. There is a lot of training involved in becoming qualified arborists and a lot of these guys underestimate what it takes to remove a large tree and quickly get themselves in over their heads.
Many would-be arborists have died over the last decade attempting tree removal in Melbourne. It’s something best left to the experts.
The same can be said if you type ‘tree removal Adelaide’ into a search engine and expect to get all qualified and all insured professionals.
The reason we are in business is we have been successfully matching homeowners with local qualified tree services for well over 6 years and with great success.
Customers get a great job done and because we actively seek reviews from customers on who is best priced and who is cheapest, you can be assured we will send you the best priced local contractors local to you to quote the job.
My first discussion with Jason received considerable acclaim from tree service business owners across Australia.
I received so many questions that I thought I might as well get Jason back on for another round of questions.
To get more information on how to win tree maintenance tenders, I sat down with Jason Cooney from The Tender Team and talked in a little more detail about what it takes to win a council tender.
Why do certain customers keep coming back while others disappear as if they were never there? It’s a puzzler that leaves many scratching their heads.
To take the guesswork out of it for you, we have been surveying customers over the last 3 months and asking them “what factors influence you most when selecting a contractor”.
To be honest, we were a little surprised at first, but it really does make sense.
We thought the cost would play more of a roll then the above results indicate.
Our best guess? The industry is pretty competitive these days, so you’ll find most contractors are quoting within about 10-15% of each other.
Looking a the above there are 2 standout factors that play a roll in why a customer will choose you over someone else. They are experienced and reliable.
Although this does, in part, refer to turning up when you say you will, when you look up synonyms or other words related to reliability in the thesaurus you get other words like:
You quickly realize there are actually a number of things you can do and language you can use when talking to a customer which will reliability.
Be accurate with your description of the job and how you plan to carry it out step by step. Talk about the safety measures you will undertake to be sure no person or property is damaged when the tree is being removed or the retaining wall constructed.
Do you give any guarantees? If not, why not?
“We 100% guarantee the safety and quality of our work, and we back that up with 10 million in public liability insurance with ANZ insurance” (Hand over a copy to the customer)
You can see just with this single action you are beginning to tick a few things of the above list. You will show you are authentic, safe and trustworthy.
Now let’s take a look at how to really knock the competition out of the park.
You could just blurt out that you have 15 years experience, but let’s face it, everyone is doing that. You need to explain or convey why your experience is of more value. Having 15 years experience on a navy ship as a kitchen hand does not make you a navy seal.
What is it about your experience you can tell them.
“As a company, we have 15 years experience removing large trees in residential areas, but more importantly our onsite foreman (yourself or other) who would oversee the whole process has been doing this for 20 Years.”
Make sure you lay it on thick…
“We will be utilizing X machinery/ climber to make sure everything happens in a smooth, safe and timely manner”
In just 3 sentences you have given the customers everything they are looking for in a contractor and more than doubled your odds of scoring the job.
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In this contractor’s corner, we take things to the next level with Google Adwords in our endeavour to slash our spend and increase our ROI.
We look at:
Match types – Exact match, phrase match, broad match, and modified broad match.
What to use, when to use them, and what will give you the best bang for your buck.
You don’t want to be in the #1 Spot! – If not in the top spot, then where do you want your ad to place on the page…?
Ad Copy to Maximize CTR & Conversions – There are some key concepts to follow with ad copy.
Features or Benefits? How do you get more clicks? what about conversions.
All will be revealed…
**Reflections on Spending $27,014.79 on Google AdWords Within Six Months** Picture this: allocating a staggering $27,014.79 into Google AdWords in a mere half-year period. That’s the journey I embarked on, and it was enlightening, to say the least! It felt like I was endlessly dropping coins into a greedy slot machine, each time hoping for a big win. This is a fitting metaphor for my AdWords experience, although it’s not entirely a gamble. Here’s an in-depth look at the valuable lessons I gained from this costly adventure. If you’re contemplating diving into AdWords, or if you’re in need of some guidance to rejuvenate your existing campaigns, you’re in exactly the right place. I’m about to reveal the insights from this expensive experience. Wondering about the key takeaway? Keep reading, and you’ll learn how to maximize the value of every click.
No education is free. Over the years, my google Adwords spend has been getting smaller and smaller, yet I manage to be more and more competitive.
In this video (the first of a series) I am going to share with you some of the tricks to literally cut your web advertising spend in half AND actually improve your conversion rate in the process.
We blow the lid on:
If you are an arborist, landscaper, or any tradesmen for that matter this could be the most valuable 15 minutes of 2016… Save thousands a month with these easy to implement tweaks to your Google Adwords account.
Keep your eye out in the coming weeks for more tricks to optimizing your Adwords campaign.
Absolutely, **nailing a council tender feels like striking gold for small enterprises.** Hook one and your operation secures a smooth sail of projects for the upcoming year or longer, catapulting your business into the fast lane for growth, equipping you with additional tools, and positioning you to catch even larger opportunities in the tender market.
To get more information on how to win tree maintenance tenders, I sat down with Jason Cooney from The Tender Team and talked in a little more detail about what it takes to win a council tender.
Ben: Jason thanks again for taking the time to do this, do you want to start off by giving me a little bit of background on yourself and your experience writing tenders?
Jason: Sure, I started off in a job as a tender writer, and for the last 7 years I’ve been running a consultancy called the tender team and the team helps companies in Australia and some in the UK in the United States as well, write tenders and I also run a company called tax consulting, which is the same thing, just a UK brand name and we help people write tenders in the construction industry as well as other professionals.
Ben: Okay. And you’ve had a bit of experience writing for the tree maintenance?
Jason: Sure, yeah, a fair bit. For example, Brisbane City Council, which is one of the largest councils in Australia, we completed the tree maintenance tempo for one of their biggest suppliers that was a current supplier and they didn’t want to lose it. Another one was for other local councils, government, and also private construction companies. And the tree maintenance people and property maintenance as well, basically. So property managers, and that’s where the three maintenance guys would be wanting to be in the contract in five-year periods of designated tree maintenance professionals here.Ben: Tell me what the competition like applying for these tenders is. Is it stiff? Are a lot of people going for it? Or are there only a few of the larger companies that are applying to these tenders?
Jason: The competition is substantial; it’s not only the larger companies, especially for the council or government level. Sometimes for the larger contracts, you need to join up with another company, or where you don’t have the expertise for a specific area. But in general, the small companies do get a chance to win and that’s because some larger companies sometimes can lose out on quality, and get pretty structured in what they do. So you know, if you win the contract, if you haven’t performed in the contract in two years’ time and you call us to say hey, help us win this tender and you’ve got negative feedback KPI that been missed, service levels, things like that then difficult to sort of be reappointed. So that’s a reasonable competition. But you still got a shot at winning it and for some small businesses to win a contract like that is substantial. And for the large companies that take the cash flow up.Ben: Tell me what would you say are the top three things that councils or government would look for when assessing attender? Do you think it’s a plant and equipment, the safety standards, experience? What are they looking at?
Jason: I think your safety, environmental and quality standards that were given. So they have to be right to get a chance to win the tender. Once you’re past that stage and you’ve got a compliant tender response that comes generally comes down to three things. The first is the methodology, so how you’re going to approach the contract and how you’re going to complete it. So it’s convincing them that you have the know-how and the capability and the long term plan to be able to do it. The second one is the experience of course, but also relating that experience to what the tender is asking. That’s key. So there’s no point in talking about how you serve as a whole lot of residential clients when you’re trying to win the council tender or a large construction and property tender. You want to be the right experience. You really need to talk about, okay guys; we haven’t won any having completed any counsel tendered by the way we manage our residential tenders where we’re servicing 3000 homes a week. So there’s no problem. So it’s about new things. The third point is your personnel and equipment. Generally speaking, they don’t mind who is actually doing the work, but you’ve got to put on a solid and comprehensive CV for your key personnel. So yes, your project managers or supervisors and CEOs, they want to know that you know how to manage the contract over the longer term and that you’re going to deliver. And they also, with the equipment, it’s important, but you’ve just got to put forward the fact that if you are going to buy any equipment because you don’t have certain equipment for that tender, then you’ve just got to state that and prove that you’re going to buy it to demonstrate that you’ve had funds and so forth. Really go the extra mile in showing that you’ve done your homework and you’re ready to complete the contract. But what the councils or government one and what the larger companies want is they want you to put their mind at ease at once they award the contract. I don’t have to worry. And you will get done the job of the underwriters to sort of doing that.Ben: You mentioned about methodology, a safety. What sort of things would a company like, just I’m a small business or have been doing is residential at the moment? What sort of things would I need to come to you with the details going to get you to write me a tender or help apply for a tender from the council? What sort of paperwork? What do I need? There’d be a lot of small businesses out there, sort of scratching their head down, get them at the door. What do you mean by what way would they stop?
Jason: That’s pretty with the safety and the quality of it because we’ve got templates and at some point most of the time they can be creative. Then they can fly under the radar of the council so it’ll get passed. It won’t be ISO certified, but that’s not the deal-breaker on council tenders and some large companies may be from very large government tenders for a different story. So templates are the answer that you know, we can sort of develop the safe work method statements, safety plan, site safety plans, and so forth. But with the methodology, what they need to come with, if they need to read the tender document in full and we read it in full, understand what they want done. So whether it’s a rain delay, whether it’s weekend work, whether there are issues around tree maintenance work being undertaken and disrupting other parties or other stakeholders or whatever it may be, other contractors. And they need to be able to plan out what they’re going to do. And then the biggest issue we have is they’ve probably got that plan in their head about how they’re going to do it. They’ve gone out and inspected the site. They have inspected the works that are required, but then it comes back to them. They say, relaying what they know to us in writing, which we usually do face to face or over the phone, we can write it all out for them. That’s the hard part because they’ve got to share all that information. So the methodology is doable. It just takes work basically. So come with a good 10 hours spare to do a good job of it. And then we can definitely be different.Ben: How important is a price to the council? Do they go for the cheapest tender you could charge triple the price of anyone else and you’d still get it, you know, will lead [cross talk]?
Jason: Generally they have rating criteria. So what our rating criteria are that they’ll come out and say, listen, regardless of how good your experience, it’s 40 percent of our decision, so 40 percent of the waiting, we’re going to select you. You’ve put on price right now if you undercut everybody, but you can’t. Deliberate Council still will not award a tendency generally speaking, if they do or the counsel managers or even government or a private organization, I got to know they’ve got the cheapest price and I’m going to be a big hassle for them to manage this with. I don’t know what they’re doing and they haven’t got the experience. So price does matter and they generally do provide a rating criterion. Our advice for all our clients is, look, we look good if we renew the tender, but there’s no point in you winning the tender and looking to make money on it. Yeah. Then you could come up with a big hassle, little profit, and a bad experience in nine months’ time. And when we called you in a year to say how’s it going? You’re not, you’re not going to be happy. So it’s, I think the price is important and it’s important to be competitive, but it’s a balance. Yeah, it’s a balance and you know, you’ve got to be competitive and then win the tender based on your experience, your personal, and a good competitive price yet. But if you’ve been with the council for extended periods, I’m not sure. I’m just focused on councils, it could be a private, could be a big state, whatever it may be if you’ve been with them for an extended period of time and they know you and trust you and you have the right relationships in place. If you do a really good job of attendance and demonstrate that you’re adding value in different ways, then you can sometimes justify a bit of a higher price.Ben: What’s the difference between say someone writing up their own tender or going through a company like you? I’m sure there are companies that have applied for tenders themselves. And obviously, going through, you know, what are some of the benefits of going through a tender writer?
Jason: I generally believed anyone who puts their minds to it, with a decent resource allocation should add and you know, if they’ve got a system that’s working in the office that has all the documentation and all of that, they will generally at least do a 70 to 80 percent job if they have a good charter were there to lift it up to the 100 percent for the nine out of 10 levels. But I mean that’s only because we specialize in it because we know like different strategies, we understand the wording for government, and we demand more of the client. So the advantages that they get us being the bad guys and saying, okay, but I need more. That’s not convincing enough. Do you have any supporting documentation? Here’s your indigenous policy where the certificate from your Labor hire company is to prove that, so we can keep it up, and that’s where they get the benefit from us as a tender writer. But there still isn’t anything wrong with people completely writing their own tenders and they still can win them. So, they just got to put the work in, we are there to sort of get it over the line, so to speak. Yeah, to really increase their chances. That’s the most benefit for us possible. Take the time off their hand. But, yeah, that’s a real benefit.
Ben: Okay and what’s the cost of, you know, what would you charge? Say there’s a tree maintenance tender coming in for my local council. It’s for two years. I’m just trimming street trees I want to apply for it I’ve got the equipment. What would you charge me? You know, if you’ve got to use some templates as well. I’ve got no safety; pretend I’m starting from scratch. What would it cost me for you to help me apply for this tender?
Jason: Probably about six and a half thousand Australian (AUD 6500) or if it is the US person, then it’s going to be probably six and a half thousand (USD 6500). However, if you’ve got some documentation, you’ve got a website; you’ve completed a couple of tenders before, and even though they’re not great, they exist. Then it starts at about 3000 for somewhere between $3000 and $6500.Ben: Okay. So I’ve put a bit of stuff together myself, it will save me some money, but $6500 from scratch.
Jason: Yeah, we taught people, even if you’ve got a sort of like a staff member or you’re talking about a husband and wife team and the wife’s at home managing the business, just a little annoying stuff getting done with ABN, business numbers, insurance documents, those sort of items. If you’re willing to sort of help out with that sort of work. Then, it takes a minimum of $1,500 of the price.Ben: Okay, one last question. What’s the hit rate? Imagine I went for say three or four tenders in a year. What would I get? Obviously, there’s no guarantee, but what do you think the chances of me getting one of those tenders are?
Jason: A great question. The most important point is to qualify the tenders you go for, I mean this is what we tell people a lot because A. You’re going to pay us or B. If you’re going to do it on your own, it’s going to take you a lot of time. There’s an opportunity, but a cost to that time, so if we’ve got two-hit rates, we can tell you one-hit rate is on the ones that we’ve told people to go for, so we’ve said, yep, it’s worth a shot. It’s your local area, you’ve got the contacts, and you’ve got a few previous, you know, you might even be an existing supplier. So on those ones where it’s worth a shot this year, we’re running at 71 percent, but on the ones that we include any and every vendor that we’re going for, even if we sold the client, listen, it’s not worth dying for. You go for it anyway, so you do this kind of approach that’s like you’ve got a type of attitude, which we generally don’t agree with. Then our hit rate taken to attack everything was 32 percent.Ben: Right, Right [cross talk]
Jason: So you can see what I can see that it’s not really worth a shot. We advise everyone to pick their battles. You’re definitely best to pick your battles. There are the tenders aren’t like a silver bullet. If you register pretenders and people start sending me attendance, it doesn’t mean you go from the first one, you see, you fit the ones where you’ve either got contacts, so you know, you might not be servicing them, but it might be the supervisor. There is also a supervisor from the previous tender you wrote, you know like a contract. Be in your area or see your experience, equipment, and so forth align to the requirements of that tender, got it.Ben: Okay, fantastic. That’s been some amazing information. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. If anyone wants to get in touch with you, how do they find you?
Jason: Sure. It’s www.thetenderteam.com.au. Or they can always give me a call. My number is +61410448770. That’s Australian. Your colleagues’ fantastic from a simple email is always best. info@thetenderteam.com.au
As you navigate through the city, have you ever observed certain tree care crews operating with gear that seems aged and used, compared to others that display an array of modern trucks, chippers, elevated work platforms, and traffic control equipment?
Ever wonder how they got that big and wish the same for your business?
Below is the list of things (in order) you need to do to 3 X your business revenue in 2024.
Not only did I use the following list in order to bolster the profits in my own business (the first 4 points only, although I wish I had done #5 and #6), so have countless other tree business owners I have spoken to.
Point #6 will show you how to speed up the learning process so it takes way less time to get you to.
You cannot work ON your business if you are working IN your business.
The best way to do it is to delegate your best most responsible groundsmen as foreman/site manager. They will meet and greet the customer, take the money when the job is done, and ensure a smooth safe work environment.
Take photos of every tree you quote. If you win it, print out job sheets each morning with the address, description, image, and money to be collected. Give this to the foreman and if it’s a trim, explain which limbs have been quoted to remove.
It is important that you are clear with everyone who is a foreman so there is no fighting on-site about how to do things.
It is also possible to have a co-foreman.
Currently, if you are climbing for yourself, you are probably doing some quotes after work, on weekends, or when you get the tree on the ground.
What you need to be doing and driving around all day long quoting jobs and winning work.
So you will need to get out of the tree and hire and a good climber. This will cost you more initially, but it will pay dividends.
Sales is a contact sport! If you are not in front of more potential customers every day, then you will not be winning any more work or making any more money.
For this to work through, you will need more phone calls/job leads.
These days there is more than one way to increase the number of job leads you receive each day. Below are some short, medium, and long-term methods to get the customers calling.
If you have tried this before, you know it can be expensive (see section No. 3 on reducing costs) but it is worth it when done properly. It will take you a lot of work to learn Google Ads and not waste your money, so you are best-getting someone else to manage the account for you, but I would not use an Australian company. Australian companies will charge you between $400 and $1000 per month to manage which is a joke. Use a freelancer from overseas and get it done for $400 per month!
Note: You can do this using upwork.com to find a freelancer to do this.
IMPORTANT: You will need a separate number for paid ads. This is so you know if they are working. Use Callrail.com to get a local number for the ad which will forward to your mobile.
Some of these can be hit-and-miss. I have heard some bad stories about hipages and service seekers being overpriced, and not making it easy to reject leads makes them hard to work with. Also $40 per lead in some cases and sending leads to 10+ contractors to quote. How can you win?
Shameless plug – I obviously back GoTreeQuotes as being the best choice for buying tree work job leads.
At just $18 per lead, easy rejection, no contracts, and leads only being sent to 3 qualified arborists, we are the obvious choice.
Go here to get a 2-week free trial or unlimited leads or give us a call on 1800 252 208.
Job lead services are not for everyone. I have noticed they suit growing businesses that are a husband and wife set up or where the owner is not on the tools and can call the leads and quotes them.
One-man bands don’t seem to be able to make them work as well as they are normally too late to the party quoting.
This is by far the cheapest option and the least utilized. Although you are not going to skyrocket your leads with this approach, it is the most ROI-positive method available so you should be systematically blanketing your service areas with flyers every 3 – 6 months.
Pay service to do this. There are some dodgy ones, but there are also good ones. Get them to do a batch in your area or a friend’s area to see if you actually receive it before ordering more.
Most people these days will use Google search, so local papers are less and less relevant, but you can still get calls from them. They probably have the lowest ROI out of the lot, but you will have to test some different ad creatives to see which works best.
These methods will not give you an instant boost in leads but are worthwhile in the long term as they can get you a constant stream of leads for zero money down.
You will need to pay to have them set up initially, but once done you will reap the rewards for years to come.
If you don’t have a website yet, you really need to sort it out. We are in 2024 after all and 90% of people who look for local services. So, do it online.
Once set up you can switch on paid ads with Google Ads or you can get your website optimized for the search engine so it shows up at the top of results organically.
It’s called Search Engine Optimization or SEO and will cost money on a monthly basis to get your website to the top of results (Should take about 6 months), but once you are there you can fire your SEO company and get free traffic for the next year.
Note: there are some scammers out there, mostly the big companies. Try to find someone local.
Trick: Search “tree services + [city]” and go to the top 10 results. At the bottom of the page, they should show the company that is doing web design and SEO. If they are on the front page, you know the company doing the SEO is legit.
Having signage on your vehicles is great for brand awareness. Other things like A-frame signs, and tarp signs at key points along main roads will score you tons of work.
It will cost you money to have them all set up, but once you get just one job from them, they are paid for and you will keep getting free work.
The more free work you can get from investments like signage and website SEO the better off you will be in the long term. It will get to a point where you can switch off all paid advertising and just rely on your other advertising assets to pull their weight.
This next statement had a very profound effect on the way I view business, advertising, and where I should be spending my money.
I heard it when at a business conference many years ago and it went something like this:
Advertising is like a bank. Imagine every time you walk into a bank and hand over $1000 and they hand you back $7,000. How often would you go to the bank?
Some business owners make the mistake of spending as little as possible on advertising and think they are somehow winning. As the old saying goes “you need to spend money to make money”.
Well, the truth is if you are doing it right, the more money you spend the more you will make!
The trick is to keep a tight spreadsheet on where your advertising spend is going and which is yielding the most calls and conversions. Then do more of that.
I will show you an easy way to do this.
Once you make the decision to get off the tools and grow your business, you are no longer an arborist. You are now a digital marketer. Skip this learning and enjoy the run to the bottom.
For the longest time when I was setting up GoTreeQuotes, I made the mistake of thinking I was in the job leads service for arborists.
When I worked out what was making me the most of my money i.e. publishing articles on my site such as “How much does stump removal cost” and “Is it illegal to trim my neighbor’s trees”, I noticed I would get more traffic over time and make more money.
I now know I am in publishing! Leads are just how I monetize my site.
I publish articles on tree-related topics and monetize the traffic by capturing details and selling leads to local arborists at a great price.
Making the mental shift and knowing I am actually in publishing allowed me to focus on the core task which was making me my money… published articles.
You need to read as many books as you can on business, marketing, and advertising to really make a difference in 2024.
What you DON’T know is a potential risk to you and what you DON’T know is potential profit to you!
….. And I’m positive most of you don’t know how to split test your adverts.
Basically, it means to get two x ads made up that are different. Change the title, background image, etc., and have 2 different numbers on them. At the end of the month count which one gets the most phone calls.
Then take the winner, make up another ad, and try and beat the last one.
How different do they need to be?
Take the below examples: Notice the change in title and subtitle. To bottom one has a 355% increase in conversion rate.
That was just one of many changes that increased conversions.
Control A
Test A
The second design gets 358% more conversions than the first.
Just a small change in the language used and I have just tripled my ROI.
Imagine you spend $500 per month on newspaper ads and getting 3 x the calls as you normally do. No more ad spending just 300% more customers from that ad.
Then think about doing it for your flyers, your website, and your Google Ads campaigns!
You can really skyrocket your profits using Split testing.
Pro Tip: Use Callrail.com which is an awesome service that gives you unlimited local numbers that all forward to your mobile. That way you can get all the calls from your tests to the one place, but go back and see at the end of the month which ads converted best. Then set up another split and try to beat the old one.
Once you have been doing all of the above and are starting to get some real runs on the board, you should really consider stepping up your game and going for private or government tenders.
You will need to pay a tender writer if you want to be successful.
You can wade your way in by just doing parts of tenders you are comfortable with or teaming up with other companies, then stepping up your game as time goes on.
Getting tenders worth $300,000 per year is going to take your business to the next level.
I interviewed Jason from thetenderteam.com.au on a podcast here and got him to spill the beans on what it takes to win tenders for tree services.
I highly recommend you have a listen.
Ask any millionaire about their failures on their way to success and they will have a long list. The biggest failure is not any wrong action you take, it’s inaction that is the killer.
If you what to be right here you are no in 5 years’ time then don’t do anything different, but if you want to be celebrating at Christmas this year instead of making excuses then start making some changes.
If you want to change, it won’t happen by itself…..YOU have to change.
Good luck guys.
Curious about what makes flyers so eye-catching? Picture strolling down a sidewalk when suddenly, a burst of color from a flyer grabs you. Yup, we’re diving into the world of flyers. These aren’t just pieces of paper. They’re magic spells that capture our gaze in seconds, telling us all about the latest eatery in town or the next must-not-miss gig. Flyers wield a secret power to shout messages quickly, turning them into gold mines for shops and event planners. **Here’s the kicker**: Flyers have bravely battled the winds of change, still standing tall in our swipe-left, swipe-right era. And believe it or not, science backs it up: folks tend to stick facts from paper ads in their memory banks more firmly than from their screens. So, if you’re a local biz wizard aiming to cast your promo spells far and wide, or just someone hungry for a tasty tidbit of knowledge, you’ve struck gold. Stick around—by the tail end of this, you’ll never look at flyers the same way again. Promise.
…well they work!
They say the reaction to letterbox marketing is about 1%.
In my experience, 3% plus is easily achievable. That’s 30 phone calls for every 1000 leaflets.
Not bad right?
Generally, it cost about $400 per 10,000 flyers. That $1.30 per job lead!!
But even at the 1% standard response rate, it’s still only about $4 per job lead.
The design of your flyer must be MORE unique, MORE Memorable these days to stand out from the crowd.
You need to stir a reaction. Be funny or shocking, but whatever you do get their attention.
All marketing must have a strong message. This message must be conveyed quickly, creatively and clearly.
In terms of print marketing, a message must be visualised. Depending on the print medium chosen the message must be visualised in different ways.
We have seconds of distracted attention as someone carries your message from the door to their bin. We must grab their eye.
One way to ensure this happens is by adding a simple shape.
Every trick would be pulled out to make sure every flyer, every message is read. This ensures maximum impact and maximum return on investment.
Shaped flyers always grab attention. Subconsciously we see what we want to see.
If the shape of a flyer is like a football, every man will read it, regardless if the shape has anything to do with the message.
But reading our message and making an impact is what we want.
Worshiping customers!
When most businesses advertise they focus on features.
Customers don’t care if you have great customer service or 30 years experience, what can you do for me!
Instead of features, you need to focus on Benefits.
You need to think like your customers. They came to you to solve the problem.
Convey to them how you can be the solution to that problem.
“Did you know that X council allows up to 20% of you trees per year without council approval?”
“Have the best looking garden in the street (benefit) with a perfectly balanced tree, more light coming through to your lawn resulting in a full beautiful coverage (benefit)”
Why is winter the best time to prune?
Because….. benefit….. benefit
You get the idea.
You need to focus on the WHY not who or how. If you give someone a strong enough reason why, they will justify the who and how no matter what the cost.
Teaching something is a great way to show yourself as an authority figure on the subject without selling your services directly, but when they think “tree pruning” they think of you and your company.
When it comes to flyer distribution, you want more than just a ‘Call To Action’. You want ‘An Incentive to Action’.
In 10 seconds, you are trying to convince someone to get in touch with you.
Call Today – Is not going to cut it.
Visit us Instore – will not suffice.
Think about it like this:
You are asking for a chance. You are asking them to trust you. You – a company they have never met or heard of.
You are saying to them, give me one go. I am a local business and I stake my name on this business and the service I offer. Give me one go to prove it.
Discounts on flyers can give customers a nudge in the right direction.
Yes, we are trying to make sales, but more importantly, we are trying to make customers and build a business.
To do this we need a customer base and a loyal one at that.
Personally, when it comes to Flyers ‘Usually’ adding a discount is a good idea. A small nudge to help the recipient get in touch.
I won’t argue the pros and cons of doing so but add a discount “code” they can quote to get a discount of maybe 10%, but be sure to set an expiry date…
…You don’t want to get a call just before Christmas in high season for a removal job at a discount.
To measure is to know
If you can’t monitor the impact of your flyering campaigns, we can’t measure or improve its success the second time around.
The secret behind all great marketing, no matter the medium, is in your ability to measure its impact.
Measuring the impact of your flyers gives your business a great edge.
Can you imagine if every time you sent out a flyer campaign you knew its results? You knew how people were interested, how interested, how many bought or referred, or got in touch.
Of course, the simplest way of doing this is the tactic above – Adding a discount. People citing the code in the next 2 weeks responded. This shows a direct result of your flyer campaign.
Or I personally used to use a second 1800 number that diverts to my regular number. Then all you have to do is log in online and see how many people called that number over a certain period.
You are best doing an AB test. Try a different headline, shape, colour, call to action, benefits and see which one got the best results. Deliver 5000 of 2 different variations.
Whichever gets the best result, use that flyer for the next drop or do another test using the winner and a variation of the winner.
I hope this helps guys.
The original article was: https://www.businessmantotherescue.com/7-ways-increase-sales-flyer-distribution/
Our colleagues over at Business Blueprint have compiled an amazing brief video about the ‘ultimate’ marketing strategy ever!
well worth a look.
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