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Navigating Success: Shaping the Future of Landscaping with Heather Dirksen
95 Plays2 years ago
Welcome back to another enlightening episode of "The Better Contractor" podcast! This week we’ll discuss propelling your business to success through business transformation, and the vital role of mentorship, innovation, and data-driven strategies that are shaping the future of the landscaping industry. We’re joined by Heather Dirksen, a seasoned professional from Canopy Service Partners. Heather's journey is as intriguing as it is diverse: from serving in the military as an air traffic controller to piloting aircraft and eventually diving into the world of contracting and tree services.
During our conversation, Heather shares insights from her extensive experiences, including living and working in various countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Dubai. Her transition from military life to civilian contracting offers valuable lessons in adaptability and seizing opportunities.
Heather's role at Canopy Service Partners involves supporting contractors with everything from HR and payroll to marketing and operational software implementation. Through her experiences, she emphasizes the importance of leveraging data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement to drive success in the contracting industry.
Throughout the episode, Heather and our hosts explore topics such as mentorship, the value of systems and processes, and the significance of customer trust in business growth. From discussing the benefits of CRM systems to the power of 360-degree feedback, Heather's insights provide a roadmap for leaders looking to thrive in today's competitive landscape.
So whether you're a seasoned professional seeking new perspectives or a newcomer navigating the industry, tune in to "The Better Contractor" podcast for actionable advice and inspiring stories to help you excel in your journey ahead. Don't forget to connect with Heather on LinkedIn for more valuable insights and updates on her consulting ventures.
#treecare #landscaping #leadership #mentorship #Innovation #lawncare #veteran
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Transcript
Introduction to Heather Dirksen
00:00:11
Speaker
All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of The Better Contractor. Today, we have Heather Dirksen with Canopy Surface Partners. Very impressive resume as I look through this. An interesting one. So Army Vet, pilot, company president, and I have Nomad wrote down, which is, I just find it interesting. So Heather, tell us a little bit, go back in time a little ways and tell us a little bit about you.
00:00:38
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Um, thanks for having me on your show. You guys listened to your last episode about value. And I thought that was really cool. Very helpful.
Transition to Tree Industry
00:00:47
Speaker
Um, so I was in the military for five years, served as an air traffic controller in the army, did aviation after that contract control lane, and then some flying. And I fell in love to, with a pilot at, uh, an airport that I ran and he owned a landscape company. And then I,
00:01:07
Speaker
We sold our business and I got into the tree industry and absolutely loved it. I love the industry because it's a lot of like the military. Everybody helps each other out. They don't withhold information. They actually lift each other up.
00:01:23
Speaker
That's why I love this industry. And, um, so I was, I ran a multi-location tree company in the Midwest for about five years. And then I joined as the VP of ops at single ops. They're a, um, tree industry, uh, CRM and did that for a year and a half. And then I joined canopy service partners and now I'm the head of plant healthcare and I'm helping them grow a plant healthcare program nationally. Very nice.
Military Experiences Abroad
00:01:52
Speaker
Where all of you lived back when you were in the army and stuff? Well, in the army and as a contractor, I lived in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, Kosovo, Dubai, and then Arizona. That's basically the standard
00:02:12
Speaker
natural progression of a career for where you're at 1115 countries. Yeah, yeah, I've really enjoyed living and working overseas living in Dubai was tremendous just because I was I had the ability to travel quite a bit very easily. So I
00:02:33
Speaker
I went to South Africa, Australia, Indonesia, just all throughout Europe, just a lot of great opportunities to travel. And I always tried to fly my parents over whenever I could to get them the experience too. So they've actually spent some time in Kosovo with me and Australia and in Europe. So that was pretty neat. Do you guys still fly much now?
Flying Adventures and Airplane Sale
00:03:01
Speaker
My husband and I, we just sold our airplane, but we had a little four-seater airplane and we flew all over the US the last two years just working with single ops. I worked remotely, so it allowed me to do a lot of traveling.
00:03:17
Speaker
for the company and then just for fun as well. And we shared a lot of cool experiences with people who have never been flying or they have the bug and they just want to do some more flying. We always try to share just our passions with other people and hopefully ignite something within them. Is there a next plane on the horizon or are you done with owning the plane for a while?
00:03:45
Speaker
Well, if I had the money to buy a jet, it would probably be a jet because right now with Canopy service partners, I'm traveling all over the US. So right now they have locations in Philadelphia and then out in California and our partners have those locations. And so it requires a lot of coast to coast travel, which we wouldn't be able to do in our small little airplane effectively.
00:04:10
Speaker
Do you hear this, Canopy partners? This is a pitch that Heather needs a jet. So tell us a little bit more about what you're doing now with Canopy service.
Role at Canopy Service Partners
00:04:23
Speaker
With Canopy service partners, I serve as the head of plant health care growth. So I partner with business owners that have partnered with us and I just support them to build out their vision. So, you know, a lot of our partners have high end residential customers and we pretty much all share the same philosophy, you know, in the way that we're approaching tree service and plant health care. And it's that we provide just a high caliber of customer service.
00:04:52
Speaker
And instead of removing a tree, we treat a tree to save it. And with plant health care, we do as little impact to the environment as we possibly can. And we also provide a preventative care instead of just waiting for a tree to get sick, making sure that the soil health is where it needs to be in order to fight off disease. We lived in Missouri.
00:05:20
Speaker
pretty mature trees and things that are on our property and a bunch of variety.
Customer Service in Tree Industry
00:05:24
Speaker
I've had people out and for various things, but I don't think anybody's ever gone into the depth of that. I don't think anybody was talking about treating the soil, making it healthy. It was more, I'll treat the specific issue, but not preventative in the sense of, hey, we're going to look at it holistically because that sounds very new. Is anybody
00:05:45
Speaker
really doing that right now in a major way, or is Canopy Service kind of ushering that in? There's a few industry leaders that are doing that. I would say that there's a couple of high-caliber
00:06:02
Speaker
companies that do that. But I would say that their customer service probably doesn't have the greatest reputation. So it's hard to do both. It's hard to provide that level of service.
00:06:18
Speaker
and have great customer service and not become you know just a company that applies something at a rate that you're supposed to but the people aren't trained in order to do it the right way or and the results are mediocre. Yeah so I would say we're the industry leaders in our approach to this and that's why I'm so excited.
Supporting Partner Companies
00:06:43
Speaker
And you basically partner with the company and you
00:06:47
Speaker
essentially give them a training package and something they almost like a little mini franchise program where it gives them turnkey. They learn some skills techniques and then go out and resell it. Yeah. So it's, it's different with every company because some of these owners have implemented plant health care. So their team is, is robust. They've been doing it for a little while and they just want to build upon what they have.
00:07:15
Speaker
So my role with them would just be supporting as needed, offering some, you know, maybe some different products that they could try to enhance their organic program. And also providing, it could be they need a job description built as quickly as possible because they just lost a team member, you know. So it's really,
00:07:38
Speaker
just all encompassing for whatever they need and being there as a support. Whereas there's some other companies that they sub out all of their plant health care. And now we have to strategically figure out how we're going to bring it back in house without fully cutting off our sub. Like we want to be a partner with our sub and we just want to help each other grow and get better. And so it takes a really good strategic approach, you know, a relational approach with everybody on the team. And some people have,
00:08:08
Speaker
very strong values when it comes to plant health care. And so everything is different. There's no cookie cutter model. Um, there will be more of a model that will build out over time. Whereas like, this is what we want our texts to say and do when they get to the property, we'll get to that. But right now we're in our infancy. You know, we've been in business for about a year now and, um,
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, we're doing great. I really love the people that I work with. And I can honestly say like, I've never worked with some better people before since the military, you know, just that that will do anything for you. Go to bat for each other. I'm really enjoying it. Nice. How does that partnership work?
Partnership Mechanics
00:08:56
Speaker
How does the partnership work? Yeah, between Canopy Service and, you know, the three companies.
00:09:02
Speaker
Yeah. So we don't come in and try to change everything like other acquisitions, you know, like other companies out there that acquire companies. So we, they keep their branding and all we do is just help them, you know, reach their goals that they've been wanting to reach for a long time. So we partner with them, educate them on what is possible. And they're like, you know, we wouldn't, we would not,
00:09:28
Speaker
Acquire a company that didn't align with our values. So we already know that they want to grow. We know what their goals are. And then we've already established this is where we can get to. Are you ready to go? And, you know, do you want to stay with us? Some, some people, they don't, you know, they want to exit out. This is their retirement plan, you know, and some people, they want to stay in the company and then continue to help on a larger scale.
00:09:56
Speaker
Like on the East Coast, we have an owner who joined our team and he's been very, very involved in all of, you know, a lot of our strategic decisions that would impact other owners company-wide. So it's a great way for a lot of different tree business owners out there to just create an exit plan and cash in once or cash in twice and then build value. Yeah.
Comprehensive Partner Support
00:10:26
Speaker
Just curious, how many of the owners stay on? Do you think? Um, almost all of them so far. I just kind of curious how many are using it as kind of more of an exit strategy or if they're feeling, Hey, I've kind of capped my business from what I can do. Now I need some expertise or some other people to kind of take this thing to the next level type thing.
00:10:50
Speaker
Yeah. So the idea for us is just to, and I, I think it's that way because we have a conversation with them about like, what do you want to do if you could do anything? And a lot of these owners, like they don't want to retire, but they're just overwhelmed and just sick of taking on the operational piece of the company. That's so draining to them. You know, some people just want to do sales and that's a great position for them to be in because they get to continue their relationships that they've built for several years.
00:11:18
Speaker
and just do what is really fun to them. And I do think that's so neat. Are you guys helping out with a lot of the systems and processes as well, all throughout the company?
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah, so we support them in a lot of ways, you know, with their HR, their payroll, IT, their marketing, you know, all of that we're helping them with. And, you know, like I said, it's, you know, we've been in business for a year now, but we are growing very quickly.
Evaluating Systems and Processes
00:11:50
Speaker
It's neat to see a new person come on board pretty much every week or every other week to the Canopy team.
00:11:58
Speaker
And those people are there primarily just to support our partners. For instance, we had a new marketing person come on about a week and a half ago and he's just done such big things since he's come on board. And that is to just figure out where everybody's at, you know, what some people have marketing programs and some people don't. And one person had an internal marketing person.
00:12:21
Speaker
who has been working with him for a week and a half. And she's like, this is the best time I've ever had in my position because I finally have somebody that can like teach me what I've always wanted to learn about marketing. And then she can help support our other partners as well. I like that. There was a podcast, I don't know which number it was Travis, but we had talked about the value of systems and processes. That's basically what you guys are doing is helping these people, you know, lean up in a way, but also perform at a high level. So
00:12:51
Speaker
Everything evolves around us. Nature doesn't allow us to stand still. We're either getting better or worse at almost everything. And then everything around us is evolving and changing as well. And so if you have anything that's in your system or organization, whether it's a process of technology, equipment for more than six months, it seems like now, but for a year that hasn't been evaluated, is this still appropriate? You're probably having huge efficiency, operational or monetary loss there in the sense that
00:13:21
Speaker
You might, and I would anytime that I've run teams in a variety of different organizations, we'd always come in and look at everything at least six months or a year.
Adapting to Change and Technology
00:13:31
Speaker
And it wasn't meant to get rid of things. It's just to evaluate it. The process that we're doing now or the technology or the vendor or the partnership that we have, is it still the best thing based on all the factors that we're dealing with? Is it still, and it might be, it might be, yes, that that's legitimately the best process. So that's the best solution.
00:13:51
Speaker
awesome, we've evaluated it and keep it, or you know what, it's not, it's failing and we're missing ROI or the metrics are off for one, for whatever that was applying to. And then as you're doing kind of post-mortem, we're looking at it, well, we implemented that at a certain time where we didn't have enough budget, it was a band-aid, or we implemented it because these factors were present and they were dictating certain things about our operation, what we're doing.
00:14:18
Speaker
that are no longer there, but now we've got this legacy process or technology in there that's impacting our growth or efficiency. And unless you're evaluating and looking at that, those are things you would absolutely miss and you're potentially going to inhibit you from growing or being successful. And I think there's so many people that we've talked to with through the Better Contractor, whether it was at shows or conversations and some more clients this
00:14:45
Speaker
the world's crazy now. I mean, there's so much change in a variety of different areas. And it's so hard for them to keep up, even even when they do want to change. So I love the idea, but it's also got to be overwhelming for you. Like, what's been your experience as far as coming in, and you're there to help them.
Implementing Change and Overcoming Resistance
00:15:06
Speaker
And I'm and everybody's got a little bit of ego in there, for better or worse, and you can come across and you're calling their baby ugly, like, well, we should
00:15:15
Speaker
Maybe some change a few things. You could ruffle some feathers. But how often are you coming across those who have just completely archaic and you're having to completely transform? And I guess how receptive are they to any of the changes? Are they open to it? And then how much is technology? I guess there's three questions. How much is technology versus innovation and process and procedure?
00:15:42
Speaker
Oh, that's a good question. I've never been... You got five minutes. I've never joined a company where people were so excited for me to be here. So first and foremost, that was so welcoming to me and it made me feel like, okay, they value my opinion and I'm going to give it to them.
00:16:06
Speaker
My opinions are based on facts. So it hasn't been very difficult, actually. The people who've had plant health care programs for a few years
00:16:18
Speaker
I'm able to say this is how we can make it better. And the people that haven't started any plant health care at all, I want their opinion about what they think because I've never started a plant health care program in California before. There's so many regulations out there for a good reason, and I want to know
00:16:37
Speaker
what their customers want so really i wouldn't implement anything that their customers wouldn't value and and they would never approve of so we've aligned on everything in places that we haven't aligned initially we end up aligning in the end and so a lot of it is about you know
00:16:56
Speaker
Product is first. We got to make sure we have the product and the equipment and the people to get it done. And then there's process, yes. But process is built and just reestablished over time. As you said, things are constantly changing. While we're evolving at such a fast pace, we're always redoing our process. But we have to have a standard at the beginning. And so we're developing those standards.
00:17:26
Speaker
And also, you know, we're implementing new software that everybody is going to be using. So that's a big, a big piece to the puzzle, right? So we want to have the right data to know what our customers are valuing. And I think that's a key piece that a lot of tree company owners don't think about or make a priority. And it's just because they're so busy, kind of like starting a plant health care program. It takes so much time.
00:17:55
Speaker
Well, so does implementing a software, operational software and doing it really well and really thinking it through.
Leveraging Data for Business Decisions
00:18:02
Speaker
So I just, I challenge all the listeners to think about the technology that they're leveraging. And if they're thinking about implementing a software and operational software that they take their time to do the due diligence. They put together key stakeholders who are going to make that decision and they test it out.
00:18:23
Speaker
And they talked to other customers and make sure it's the right fit for them at first. And then they put together one heck of a implementation, you know, plan. And that's one thing that I did at single ops is help them with implementation. And I had onboarded single ops prior to that, and I did the wrong way the first time. And that's how I learned. And so we re implemented when I built out plant healthcare at, um,
00:18:50
Speaker
the tree company that I worked for in the Midwest. And it was a total, it was, it was different because we had great data, you know, afterwards and we knew what our customers valued. We knew those top five services that we're selling and we're able to like double click into those and just make it better. You know, why are we selling these? Oh, we're at a lower price in our competitors. Well, if that makes sense, we're going to have to increase price.
00:19:13
Speaker
or we're selling them and we're higher than our competitors, our customers really value this. And we need to look into doing more of similar types of services. We live in a world now that we're able to capture data, but having systems like that that can actually, it's intelligence versus actionable intelligence. So things that you can actually take action on is so important than having, because there's a lot of tools out there that will capture a bunch of stuff for you. But if a business owner or somebody has no idea, okay, cool, what do I do?
00:19:43
Speaker
what do I do with that or what does that mean is the other half of the problem. There's an abundance of data typically results in a poverty of attention in that they get inundated with all that and it just overwhelms them and they're paying for a service that's so critical to have those tools be able to tell them what does this mean for me so that they can take action and see results. So I love seeing that. Yeah, one of the things I'm curious about Heather, and we'll go back to your days at single ops for this one,
00:20:12
Speaker
we've talked in previous episodes, we're huge on continuous improvement, you know, so we've kind of talked about that vein today.
Transformational Impact of Software
00:20:18
Speaker
But I was curious, back in your days at single ops, did you guys have any data or just in your head, how much when a company maybe was not using software at all? And then they said, Hey, let's, let's move forward with single ops or a different outfit. But how much did you see that change transform their business from before to after maybe running it for a year or two? Like, is it
00:20:41
Speaker
hugely transformational kind of or give it give us some thoughts on that. Yeah, I mean, it's been hugely transformational for a lot of people. And then also, they've only I've see instances where they've only leveraged like 10% of the software.
00:20:57
Speaker
And that's where they're failing themselves, you know, their team and their customers because there's so many, you know, the core piece of these operational products are great. Um, and the reporting is awesome if you utilize it the way that it was intended to be utilized. And I see a lot of people resistance to change, not changing their processes and not getting the value out of it that they really could be. So that's why it's important to put together an implementation plan.
00:21:26
Speaker
You will have to change some of your processes, but that's okay. I mean, that's what you're going to do is get so much value, more value out of it if you, if you hadn't changed. And that's something that people, I don't, it's just, it's difficult. Change is difficult for everybody, right? So I get it, but they're really doing themselves a disservice and not getting full value out of the product if they don't do it right.
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree, you know, to the business owners and managers listening, if you're not using your software either to its fullest extent, or you're not using one at all, you're missing out like both of everyone has in this podcast, you're missing out on so much data. That data is what should be driving your business decisions, you know, away from certain models, towards certain models.
00:22:15
Speaker
But if you don't have that data at all, I don't know how you're making decisions inside your company. So if you guys have a growth plan of, hey, we're going to grow 20% per year, you need that data to be able to decide and take these factors and say, okay, we're going to remove this service, add to this one, increase the price here because we're doing it for 5%. That's not worth it to be there doing that. So you've got resources there that you shouldn't be spending on that specific revenue stream.
00:22:45
Speaker
Um, so I like that aspect and I it's hugely important, but I feel like so many people in this industry Are not doing that like they should be but yet they want to grow their company They want to add to employees next year 10 employees, but they're not doing those steps And therefore not getting the result they want That there's a a book machine platform crowd, uh, there's two mit professors andrew McAfee and eric buerson.
Data-Driven Decision Making
00:23:09
Speaker
I think eric's now at stanford
00:23:11
Speaker
But in the book, and they've done some courses on this too. One of the main premises of the book is, well, it's machine platform crowd, but showing that we now live in an age where there is data and there's insights that we've never had before. And historically, we as a species have relied on gut or instinct or intuition or experiences driving what I just feel a certain way. And they refer to the Hippo model that most businesses
00:23:41
Speaker
default to the HIPAA, highest paid person's opinion. Whoever's in the room, whoever's the highest paid person, tell us what to do. And we've defaulted to that and not that there's not value in people having historical knowledge and been through experiences, but now we do have technology and data and things that can augment those decisions and give us a clearer picture than what we ever had before to help us make decisions.
00:24:09
Speaker
and how critical it is for anybody in any industry, including ours, to start adding those components to and the efficiencies and the higher trajectories they're able to achieve, but start to leverage data and technology to give better insights. But even with like what Vern is talking about is the efficiency gains too. It's a human performance augmentation as opposed to necessarily replacement. It allows the people that you do have
00:24:40
Speaker
to be able to do a lot more and maybe more than what they could, just even from a time perspective than what they've ever been able to do before. I mean, just... Yeah, there's so much data there you should be able to collect. Even if you look at like, you know, I know with our industry, with Lanarkorp, you know, your billable time is huge for us. You know, there's a lot of travel time in what we do, but even, you know, long landscape if you're working in your own backyard. It's hugely important to know that, hey,
00:25:07
Speaker
10%, 20%, whatever it is of my week that I pay employees on average, 20% is actually not even billable. You know, so if you have that data, you can start trimming that 20% back to 18, back to 16, back to 14. And that's when you'll see your maximum profit, which is what we're all here for.
Improving Efficiency with Data
00:25:25
Speaker
So I think, you know, bringing on that software, bring on that data is so important. With what you're saying with the software, how long would that have taken without that software?
00:25:35
Speaker
if you're going to try so you could attract that manually. Somebody who has good math skills and organizational skills. But what's the difference between being able to leverage the software and try to get that way versus if you had to do it a manual way, could you even done it? So we did do it that way for a while. But we had a whole lot more back office support doing that. And the data still was not as good as what it is now. So it's
00:26:01
Speaker
It's huge. I mean, if you can take, especially as the company grows, you know, there's times where you can say, okay, I'm going to shave 5%, and then you just simply do the math. Like, hold it out. 5% is this amount of money. You know, 5% doesn't seem like much, but over the course of a year, you know, it's a huge amount. And then you can take that money, reinvest it somewhere else, but then also knowing
00:26:23
Speaker
you know, I know which of our revenue streams or service offerings are making the most money. So in recent years, we've kind of went through and said, okay, this customer or, or this service offering, it just isn't where we need it to be. So at first we will try to get it to where it needs to be. And if there's pushback or whatever from the customer or just in that service line as a whole, then we usually remove it from our service offering, you know, because it's technically, if you can't make money doing it, nobody wants to pay their pricing to charge, then,
00:26:53
Speaker
probably in the wrong line of work. So, you know, so we'll ditch those. And now, you know, we're doing more of what Ashley brings home and pays the bills. So, but you can't do that without data. Very true. Yeah. Yeah. You know, data at all levels, right? I mean, to make us all more effective at what we're doing and what we're concentrating on, you know, on a daily basis. So it could be, you know, you're tracking revenue per man hour.
00:27:22
Speaker
And for your people in the field, because you want to make sure that you're making money on every job and it needs to be in a certain range for whether it be tree removal, tree trimming, or plant health care. Or you're tracking your leads and your close rates and what are the top five services that you're selling and what your close rates are for those top five services. And it's fun.
00:27:52
Speaker
It's a fun thing, you know, for everybody to start looking at on a daily, weekly basis and then celebrating those wins.
Tracking Key Business Metrics
00:28:00
Speaker
So it creates a lot of momentum in the business and allows people just, you know, continue rowing in the same direction and not getting distracted with other things that may be more urgent at the time, but are not as important. But also one thing that I like to say is don't, you know, don't track too many things because you're
00:28:22
Speaker
you're going to distract the main things that are most important, that are most important to your business. I see a lot of people, they got a spreadsheet full of data and I'm just like, why do you have all that information? I would have paralysis by analysis, you know, if I were looking at that. So don't, don't confuse your team by sending them too many signals, you know, give them a few things to focus on and do really well. And then you can grow on top of those.
00:28:50
Speaker
Yeah. And you mentioned, uh, somebody mentioned CRM earlier than you mentioned closing just a minute ago, which made me think too, you know, uh, you see so many companies that fail in just that aspect. So they haven't even solidified that customer yet as a customer. They're still in the prospect stage. And I see so many that fail to follow up. So maybe I didn't reply to one email, you know, whatever, or I didn't take a phone call. They don't have a CRM in place to remind them, Hey, I need to give Heather a call back.
00:29:20
Speaker
It's been two weeks. You know, that's also important too. Cause I've seen that sometimes. And then you have the opposite. You have some companies that I think have you on repeat every single day and then you just get mad and block them. So, you know, having SDRM set up to have a nice follow up after a reasonable period of time is key as well. Yeah, very true. Very true. So I want to tie this in a little bit too.
Offering Recurring Services
00:29:43
Speaker
So we've talked a little bit about like, you know, revenue streams and stuff like that. But then I know for you, like a sustainable income,
00:29:50
Speaker
you know, those recurring revenue is important. Can you tie all that in for us? Yeah. So, I mean, I think that, you know, along with plant healthcare, there's just a miss in the industry when it comes to reoccurring services, like they don't look at themselves as bringing that value to their customers. And I want to challenge them and say like, you really should.
00:30:12
Speaker
You should look at all the services in your company and think about the ways that you can implement them in a reoccurring way, whether it be plant health care or maybe you provide trimming every three years. Talk to your customers and see what they value and see if they'd be willing to do that. You can get information from your customers, from surveys,
00:30:38
Speaker
You can talk to maybe a panel of customers and just say, hey, I'm thinking about doing this. Would you find value in this? Or maybe just testing it, testing the waters and seeing if they bite. And with the data, you're going to know whether or not they're interested in it. And that's the value of measuring it.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, I like that. I know, uh, I'll switch to landscape a little bit because that made me think of a story, uh, for our personal residents. There was, we've had a few different landscape companies over the years, but every time it seems like, or a certain ones, especially I'm always blown away by how many services they've left on the table where I'm going to them and saying, Hey, this really does need done. Even though I signed this full year agreement with you, you guys didn't do this and that could be done.
00:31:28
Speaker
And I'm sitting there thinking, man, this is a missed opportunity for you. That should be in your contract. That should be a reoccurring thing that you do for not just me, but for your other 500 clients that you have. And then my math brain kicks in. It's like, okay, you have 500 clients.
00:31:41
Speaker
That was $100 a service. That's $500,000 in revenue that you just missed out on. So, you know, I like that model of building those types of services in and it gives you, I don't want to use the word guaranteed, but a guaranteed type of income that, Hey, I know this is going to hit every year type of thing too. So.
00:31:59
Speaker
Exactly.
Building Trust with Customers
00:32:00
Speaker
Yeah. We're more of a, we're a renewal society more than we ever have been. You know, I don't even know when my stuff is renewing to be honest until I see it, you know, come out of my bank. So, and I'm okay with that. Like I'm okay with having things set up automatic because that's one less bill I have to think, stop and think about and pay and spend my time doing. And if your customers trust you and they see you as a trusted advisor for their trees or for their, for their lawn or landscape,
00:32:28
Speaker
then they're going to trust you to have their best interests when it comes to these reoccurring services and they will set it and forget it. I've seen it happen in so many ways. And so yeah, look at the services that you're providing and see if there's something that you can start offering as a reoccurring service. There's so many things in the landscape industry that you can do that with. Yeah. And what you said is important to the trust. They have to trust you.
00:32:56
Speaker
For the most part, you know, if, if a customer does trust you and you're providing a good quality service, they're probably going to sign up for, you know, I'll call it a membership almost, you know, or where you're saying, Hey, I got these services I'm going to offer and we'll divide it by 12 months. You pay me a flat amount per month. You have your cashflow a little bit situated better as a company, uh, that way. And the customer knows, Hey, I don't have to worry about whatever tree service, lawn care, landscape, whatever. I don't have to worry best out of sight, out of mind. I know me personally, if it's on like my credit card,
00:33:25
Speaker
And it's reoccurring. I actually forget about it until I get a new credit card number and I get all the emails saying, Hey, this was declined. This is declined. So most people prefer that ease.
00:33:35
Speaker
Definitely. One thing to mention though is when you are testing it out or you're starting to provide that service, make sure you've done your homework to set it up as efficient as possible so that you don't drop the ball with the customer, you don't overcharge them or forget to provide a service because then you've completely ruined your credibility and your whole opportunity to provide a reoccurring service.
Technology in Customer Service
00:34:03
Speaker
So same thing with the CRM is just make sure you do your homework, talk to people who have used it before, test it out. I have a friend who started a company where he
00:34:16
Speaker
Instead of going out to the property, you're actually just sending a video. And the customer can capture the project. They guide the customer to capture the project via video conference. And then they can just video back and forth. And that prevents you from having to drive out there in the first place. And it gives you all the information that you need to get started and qualify that customer. I just think there's so much technology. To me, that was just mind blowing. I was like, oh my gosh, I can think of so many different ways to use that.
00:34:46
Speaker
Or to the drone. Uber is getting into the space. Print the Uber drone to go do a flyover of your property. We've got a drone that does LiDAR and stuff. Maybe that's a whole other service ad for us. We'll have a drone survey company born out of it. One last question I did have Heather.
00:35:11
Speaker
going back in time a little bit, so before single ops, before canopy, when you, I think you mentioned you and your husband had a landscape business at first, and then you were president, I believe, over like a tree care here in the Midwest.
Financial Management Essentials
00:35:25
Speaker
What is something from those days that you think, hey, that was a nugget of information that I learned that you can impart on our audience here today? Know your costs, know your costs, know your costs.
00:35:40
Speaker
I had some friends who taught me that. They're consultants in the landscape industry. They came out and I didn't come from a business background. I was a GM for an airport, but I had never ran my own company or anything.
00:36:01
Speaker
I asked them if they would come out and help my husband and I and just kind of go through her whole company. That was one of the things that really resonated with me because before that, I'd kind of been, okay, I made a profit this month. They're like, no, you have to know exactly what everything is costing you as you go.
00:36:21
Speaker
I, we didn't, you know, we onboarded jobber at that time to understand our costs and we were able to do, to do that. And it was, it was just enlightening to me and it's amazing to me how many business owners do the same, you know, uh, especially in the landscape and the tree industry is they, they don't know their costs, but they know they're making money. So they're good, but it's, it's fun to know your costs and it really helps you make great decisions. And, um, another thing is, you know, have a clean P and L.
00:36:51
Speaker
I, so many people will send me their P&L just to look at and provide them some advice on it. And I'm like, well, we don't really know what's going on. So we got to clean up your P&L so we can help you make some better decisions. Safe to say that knowledge is power. Yeah, for sure. What would be your advice for somebody who's maybe wanting to dive into the industry?
00:37:18
Speaker
who didn't come from the specialization. They didn't live, eat and breathe it in their teens and twenties and thirties. And maybe they're looking for a career pivot or change. What would be your advice to them as far as diving into this industry, not coming from the specialization background?
Value of Mentorship and Networking
00:37:35
Speaker
There's, there's so many people out there that want to mentor you is what I would say is that there's, this is a great industry to be in because it's like, it's like a band of brothers. It's,
00:37:47
Speaker
It's like the military. People want to share information freely and they want to genuinely help you get the information that you need to just support customers like they do. And people aren't doing tree work typically and doing it really well if they don't enjoy it. So find somebody that's doing it really well because chances are they really enjoy it and they want to help you succeed like they have succeeded. And chances are they had a mentor as well.
00:38:16
Speaker
So maybe look on LinkedIn or look at the regional conferences, ISA conferences, TCIA conferences. Those are a great avenue, our lawn and landscape conferences. You know, that's a great avenue to look at, go to some classes, learn what the industry is all about, and then look at, you know, talk to people that are on the trades floor.
00:38:43
Speaker
I meet so many new people every year and I learn something new every time I go. And chances are I learned 10 new things after going. And it's always invigorating after a conference. Another thing is if you're interested in becoming an arborist, you can study. ISA has lots of materials online. They also have apprenticeship programs and internships. If you're really interested in the industry,
00:39:12
Speaker
there's a lot of internship opportunities at local mom and pops even. So it's a great way to get into, get into the industry. Did you have a mentor? I've had so many mentors, you know, um, I, I have people I call every week still, you know, um, one of them,
00:39:34
Speaker
is he owned his own landscape or his own plant health care company down in Dallas and he sold it and he works for the company. He sold it too, but I call him all the time and asked for advice. And he's actually, when I said I wanted to start plant health care at Arbor masters, he is the one who, who really, he just said, look, you need a champion for this. This is too big. It's going to pull you away from you running the company.
00:40:02
Speaker
you need somebody to champion it. And so I found somebody and they took it to the next level like I couldn't have done 100%. They built out our CRM and they made everything scalable. And then they trained our team.
00:40:19
Speaker
So that person was technical, you know, from a CRM perspective, but also they had all the plant health care knowledge that I didn't have that level of knowledge. So it's just, it's, I, to this day, I have lots of mentors. Do you want to be my mentor, Brent? Travis is going to be my mentor.
00:40:41
Speaker
I love it because I love the idea of, you know, it sounds like you've had several, some people have one, some people have eight, whatever, but it's nice to be able to call on that experience because for the most part, if you've got, even if you've got one mentor, but they've got 20 years head start on you in life, automatically there's a very, very good chance that person has walked where you're getting ready to walk already.
Learning from Mentors
00:41:03
Speaker
So if you can take and learn a little bit from their walk and take their advice and apply it to yours,
00:41:09
Speaker
Number one, you're going to be more successful. And number two, you might get there quicker. So. So true. Yeah. I've always looked to people that are 10 steps ahead of me and have picked their brain and they've always been willing to share. I haven't had anybody say no. Love it. Mentors don't always have to be live in a person though, either. We can learn and mentors aren't necessarily always good or positive. You can look at,
00:41:37
Speaker
where somebody has failed miserably and not to write. But I maybe don't want to go down that route. I don't want to do what they did. So for both good and bad. And then I love to read. But even through historical or reading books, you're just constantly feeding yourself knowledge. I mean, that's a form of mentorship, but always growing and expanding. But yeah, nothing replaces the personal mentorship.
00:42:07
Speaker
And I think, I don't know, when I was younger, I never viewed it as a mentor, but I think we've always had kind of a newer term a little bit wrong. Like there, I mean, I look at my career and spend all of the place in a variety and I've had, I didn't consider them mentors. I wouldn't have called them that, but it was people who I relied on or coached me years. Um, and so I guess.
00:42:34
Speaker
putting the label of mentor on it helps us frame it and be more deliberate about it. Yeah. And I think sometimes as you get older, you look back and maybe in that moment you did not realize that person was being a mentor or even pouring into you as much as they were. Then as you get older, you look back like, man, that person really did make an impact in this area of my life or whatever. Maybe my parents were more of a mentor to me than getting older. But it's a good point though that you were making though, as far as
00:43:03
Speaker
You know, obviously most people talk about positive mentors, but you can be observant, learn from other people in your life and like, Hey, this behavior, this whatever. I don't want to repeat that. I like 80% of this person. So let's take the 80% mimic that or harness that and leave the other 20% out or take that 20% and learn from it and say, Hey, I'm not repeating that at all. And see them as humans too. They're going to have faults and flaws. Don't throw their hand.
00:43:29
Speaker
Sometimes we could judge those people, put them up on a pedestal, and as soon as we see the human characteristics come out, we shy away. But the mentors don't have to be perfect. They're not going to be perfect. And I think too, allowing the in-person mentors especially to be brutally honest is also an important aspect. Most people will get their feelings hurt or they don't want that harsher, brutally honest feedback.
00:43:53
Speaker
But in all honesty, that's what we need. We need somebody to tell us, Hey, this is where you messed up. This is where you're not good. I see room for improvement here with you. You know, so some of the younger guys are well, not younger guys, everybody listening. Don't be afraid to have that brutally honest, uh, uh, feedback. And like Travis said, don't look for your mentor to be like a God because they're not a God. They're still a person. Um, but they're still going to pour into you and give you a lot of, a lot of learning moments to take and hopefully harness.
00:44:24
Speaker
Yeah, there's so much value in like 360 reviews. We did those at single ops and it was just, you know, your, what would happen is your, your leader would collect all the information, you know, from your, from your peers and then also from those people that you led and they would provide you with your review.
00:44:43
Speaker
And it just allows, it's anonymous. You don't know who provided one information. It just allows you to have some really great feedback that you can concentrate on in areas of growth for like the next six months. And I do see some people where it's just hard to give them feedback. So make sure you, you know, you challenge yourself to get better by asking people, you know, how you're doing.
Conclusion and LinkedIn Mention
00:45:07
Speaker
asking for feedback. It's yeah, you have to humble yourself every once in a while to grow. That's how it works. Yeah. Well, Heather, it's been a great podcast. Love the insight, love the background, love the story. Thank you so much for being on. Thanks for having me on guys. I'm so excited to listen to the rest of the episodes. Yes. Thank you. And all of you guys listening, check out, uh, well Heather, where can we find you?
00:45:34
Speaker
Oh, I'm on LinkedIn, Heather Dirksen on LinkedIn. And, um, I have a consulting company, but I'm not really doing it right now because I'm working with Canopy service partners. It's called Ascend Tree Business Consulting. Um, I will definitely post on LinkedIn when I start doing it again, but I put that on hold because Canopy is my priority. All right. Well, guys, you know where to find her. If you need services in the future and it sends us back, back in the game, you know where to look.
00:46:01
Speaker
If you found this podcast helpful, please share it. Heather, thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for having me.