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Brian Boase and his wife, Kristy, mowed their first property as MIL-SPEC Landscaping in the spring of 2017. They were both military veterans who wanted to maintain healthy, active lifestyles in the outdoors after their 20 years of service.
By the fall of that same year, MIL-SPEC was maintaining 60 lawns a week—and got so busy that they had to give jobs away to their competitors.
MIL-SPEC won their first few customers by advertising on social media and driving around with branding on their trailer. Then they won over dozens more by using lawn care business software to manage jobs efficiently and offering an outstanding customer experience.
Here’s how Jobber helped MIL-SPEC improve their scheduling, invoicing, payments, and customer service so they could run a fast-growing business.
“We save a lot of fuel and time”
To spend more time helping clients, MIL-SPEC tries to minimize their time on the road. The route optimization feature in Jobber maps out efficient driving routes for Brian and Kristy that require the least amount of travel time possible.
“We can pull into a neighborhood, drop the trailer and do five properties,” said Brian. “We’re not driving from place, to place, to place. We save a lot of money.”
When it rains, Kristy can easily reschedule a visit to a new date and time using the drag and drop calendar in Jobber.
“If it rained really hard, I move people’s jobs two days over,” said Kristy. “I go straight in the mobile app, or I can log into the desktop version and just start switching them over. It’s an easy click-and-drag to move visits over to another day.”
READ MORE: How do landscapers work in the rain?
“We can send invoices immediately”
MIL-SPEC uses Jobber to create and send invoices online. In just one click, Kristy can convert a client’s job into an invoice. Then, she can send that invoice by email or text as soon as the job is done.
“Everything happens in real-time. I’m literally finishing a job, closing the gate to the trailer, and Kristy’s already sending the invoice,” said Brian.
A faster invoicing process means MIL-SPEC can get paid throughout the workday. “A lot of the time, the payment comes in before we leave for the next property,” said Brian.
“Halfway through our day, 75% of our clients have already paid us”
Brian and Kristy never liked getting cash under the doormat and checks in the mail. By accepting online payments with Jobber, MIL-SPEC has made it easier for customers to pay.
Jobber Payments lets Brian and Kristy collect payment in the field at the end of every job. They can take credit and debit card payments in person with Jobber’s Card Reader, or automatically charge their customers’ credit cards saved on file.
“Customers don’t have to go get cash or write a check,” said Brian. “And I don’t have to go over, pick it up and then deposit it.”
By the fall of 2017, MIL-SPEC only had two clients that paid with cash or check. Every other client paid through Jobber.
“Clients get really excited that they can pay me immediately after receiving the email with their invoice,” said Kristy. “Their phones will ding and they’ll pay us right on the spot.”
“Our clients enjoy getting text messages”
Having great customer communication leads to better customer relationships—which made it easier for MIL-SPEC to grow. With Jobber, Kristy and Brian can keep clients informed through automated email and text messaging.
Kristy uses Jobber to send out automated text and email reminders that let customers know about upcoming visits. She can also send a quick ‘on my way’ text before leaving for a visit, at the click of a button.
Keeping important job updates in writing helps set customer expectations and protects MIL-SPEC from customer disputes.
“We’ve never had a client say, ‘you said you were going to do this and you didn’t do that,’” said Brian, “because all our communication leaves a digital trail. That protects both us and our clients.”
Customers are sent details about upcoming visits directly to their phones and can access the information they need at any time.
“It’s like having an office manager in the back of your truck, working all day long”
When MIL-SPEC’s client list got bigger than Brian and Kristy could manage, they continued using Jobber to stay organized, efficient, and to provide excellent customer service.
“It’s all about efficiency,” said Brian. “For a mom-and-pop type operation like ours, we want to be able to come home at the end of the day and be done. We don’t want to be doing paperwork at the end of the day, or on the weekend.”
Thanks to Jobber, MIL-SPEC can do everything they need to from a phone or tablet while they’re on the job site or driving to the next one.
“It’s like having an office manager sitting in the back of your truck working all day long and then even working while you’re sleeping,” said Brian.
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