You want to utilize automation to scale your landscaping business but you may not know what to automate, which tools to use, or how to customize it for your specific sales process. And if you invest in the wrong tools and support, your bottom line and customer experience suffer.
Today, more landscaping companies than ever are leaning on automation to grow. Tedious things like prospecting, booking site visits, following up on proposals, and general communication are being automated at a rapid pace. And you may suspect that you are falling behind.
Landscape Leadership has helped dozens of companies like yours modernize communication using the latest technology in a way internal teams and customers find helpful. And our clients have been able to expand their service areas and improve revenue through this automation.
Image Source: Level Green Landscaping
Why Should You Automate?
The goal of automation is to free up time and resources allowing you to focus on more hands-on activities such as site visits and creating proposals. You can probably identify with at least one of the other reasons below.
Faster Response Time
Your response time matters. If a homeowner or property manager fills out a form on your website, you only have a few moments before their attention switches to something else.
Image Source: KD Landscape
What if they got an immediate email with a link to your calendar and a helpful video or case study? Or what if you could ask qualifying questions regarding their budget and timeline without lifting a finger?
Automation can do that.
[RELATED READING: How Landscaping Companies Can Leverage Case Studies for Marketing & Sales]
Consistent Messaging
Have you ever had one of your sales reps go rogue and over-promise? Or miss something in the qualifying stage like not asking if another decision-maker needs to be involved?
There’s room for error every time you manually type up a message. However, if you have an automated email template that everyone uses, it forces consistency.
Scalability
You want to grow your landscape company, but the more leads that come in the more work it creates for your staff. Using automation can free up time-consuming tasks, such as email follow-ups and lead nurturing allowing more focus on activities that drive revenue.
3 Communication Automation Tools
There are a lot of ways to automate your business. Let's take a minute and look at three places you can start to make a big impact. All of these tools are contained in a website, marketing, sales, and service tool called HubSpot.
[RELATED READING: 10 Reasons Why HubSpot is Perfect for the Landscaping Industry]
1. Prospecting Sequences
You’ve found a good-fit lead. How do you keep yourself on track with all the to-dos?
Forget about scribbled sticky notes or relying solely on luck. Consider a well-thought-out sequence of calls, emails, site visits, and other savvy moves, all aimed at nurturing those leads and sealing the deal.
That’s what a HubSpot Sequence can do. HubSpot Sequences is a tool that enables custom, automated steps.
Whether you're reaching out for the first time, re-engaging leads, or touching base after a networking event, you can create a sequence for every occasion.
Finally, once your leads take action – like booking a meeting or shooting you a reply – HubSpot Sequences automatically adjusts, so you're not bombarding them with unnecessary messages.
[RELATED READING: How Landscaping Companies Can Modernize Their Prospecting]
2. Form Follow-Up Emails
After someone fills out a maintenance request form on your website, what are you doing to respond quickly?
One of the things you could do is send them a video of what to expect. Or provide more pricing information. Perhaps even allow them to book a discovery call. This can all be done through a form follow-up.
Some of your salespeople may be better at writing emails than others. Perhaps they’ve been in the industry longer, or just have a knack for words. Having these people craft the form follow-ups helps everyone on the team succeed.
3. New Client Workflows
So, we’ve talked about prospecting sequences and form follow-ups, but other communication types can also be automated. What about sending a proposal or onboarding a new client?
Image Source: Monarch Landscape Management
When a job is marked as won, an email workflow can automatically send an email welcoming them and providing an expected start date. Then you can set a delay and ask them later for feedback on their experience.
Automation Partners Who Know the Landscape Industry
Having an automation tool like HubSpot is fantastic. But the tool isn’t going to do the work for you.
You need a partner who understands your process and can customize the tool in a way that makes sense for you and your customers. Landscape Leadership has worked with thousands of landscaping clients and understands the unique intricacies of the landscaping industry. We keep tabs on the latest technology and continually fine-tune our strategies to help companies like yours grow.
If you like regular insights like these, subscribe to our blog. If you’re interested in automating your communication, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to request a consultation.
