TreeBossPro Blog — Running a Tree Business

Following Up on Tree Estimates to Win More Business

Most tree companies do not lose estimates to competitors. They lose them to silence. The estimate goes out, the customer means to respond, life gets busy, and three weeks later someone else is cutting the tree. Following up is the cheapest way to win more work, because you already did the hard part: the site visit, the measuring, the pricing. Here is how to follow up so more estimates turn into jobs.

Why Estimates Go QuietGetting Paid Faster in a Tree Business: Card on File, Prepayments, and Auto-Billing covers the end of the job. This article is about the start. Customers rarely say no to an estimate. They just stop responding. Sometimes they are getting other bids. Sometimes they are thinking about the price. Often they simply forgot.

Whatever the reason, the company that follows up politely and quickly is usually the one that gets the work.

Tree estimates also tend to involve more than one decision-maker. One spouse met your estimator, the other has to see the price. A clear, well-written estimate that explains the work helps the person who was not there say yes.

Get the Estimate Out Fast Speed matters before follow-up even starts. An estimate delivered the same day as the visit, while the customer still remembers your climber pointing out the deadwood, wins more often than one that arrives a week later. Build estimates in TreeBossPro from the property record, with the tree details and photos right there, and send them before you leave the driveway if you can.

The property record helps the estimate, too. Number of trees, DBH, and height are already there, so you are not rebuilding notes from memory.

Include a photo or two in the estimate where it helps. A picture of the cracked leader or the limb over the roof reminds the customer exactly why the work matters.

Make Saying Yes Easy Every extra step between the customer and yes costs you jobs. Online approval lets the customer accept the estimate from their phone, without calling the office, printing anything, or waiting until business hours. Approved work goes straight to the job board, ready to schedule.

For bigger jobs, consider breaking the estimate into options: the removal, the stump, the pruning on the other trees. Customers who can pick parts often say yes to more than they would to one big number.

Let Automatic Follow-Up Handle the Routine Most estimate follow-up is the same polite reminder sent at the right time. TreeBossPro sends automatic follow-up on estimates that have not been answered, so the nudge happens even when you are up a tree or buried in storm calls.

Automatic follow-up does not replace personal contact. It makes sure no estimate is forgotten while you focus your personal time on the ones that matter most.

Call the Big Ones Yourself For large removals, commercial work, and multi-tree projects, pick up the phone. Ask if they have questions. Ask if anything in the estimate was unclear. Ask about timing. Customers spending serious money want to talk to a person, and a short, friendly call often closes the job.

Do not pressure. Help. Explain why you recommended what you did and what happens if they wait.

Keep notes on what the customer said. If they mentioned waiting for a tax refund or wanting the work done before a family event, that tells you when and how to follow up next.

Track Your Win Rate and Learn From It Keep an eye on how many estimates you send and how many get approved. Look at which kinds of work you win and lose. If you are losing most pruning estimates but winning removals, maybe your pruning pricing or presentation needs work. If you win nearly everything, your prices might be too low.

Use what you learn to adjust. To see how estimates, online approval, and follow-up fit into the rest of the business, visit the tree service business software overview. A few more approved estimates a month adds up to a very different year.

Track where the lead came from, too. Referrals and repeat customers often approve at a much higher rate than cold leads. Knowing that helps you decide where to spend time and marketing money.