Your next two hires and your sales process, ready to use today
You got to a million by being the best climber, the best closer and the one who answers the phone. The next million comes from handing those jobs to other people. This kit gives you the hiring ads, the scripts and the order to do it in.
Hire an office managerThe Facebook hiring ad, the job post, 10 interview questions and her first-week checklist.
Hire an estimatorThe hiring ad, the job post, a two-week ride-along plan and a one-page scorecard.
The sales processWhat to text, say and send from the first call to the day-14 follow-up, word for word.
Your next steps from $1MWhat to fix and hire, in order, and the number that tells you when to move on.
The text packSeven texts to copy and send: slow weeks, quiet leads, the cheaper guy, reviews.
Type your details once. Every template fills in with your company name.
OPEN MY KITBuilt from hundreds of recorded calls with tree company owners. No PDF, nothing to download.
Hire an office manager
If you only ever make one hire, make it this one. She answers every call, books the estimates, follows up the ones that didn't close, and marks finished jobs off so the review request goes out. That's four jobs off your plate with one person.
Do the math before you say you can't afford it
Count the calls you missed last month. Multiply by your close rate and your average job. For most owners that number is bigger than her pay.
The hiring ad
Your crew working
Your crew facing the camera
- In Ads Manager, pick the Employment category. Meta requires it for any job ad.
- Aim it at your own county. You can't pick ages on a job ad, so leave that alone.
- Use two photos: your crew working on top, your crew looking at the camera on the bottom. Real people, real trucks.
- Put the pay in the first line. Ads with a real pay range get better applicants.
- Use a short form: name, phone, and "tell us about your last office job."
- Turn it off when you have enough people to call.
What to expect
Tree companies we've run this for have typically seen 5 to 7 good applicants within a day, for about $30 in ad spend. Your market will vary.
The job post
10 interview questions
- Tell me about the busiest phone you've ever worked. What did a normal day look like?
- A customer calls angry that the crew is late. Talk me through what you say.
- You have three callbacks to make and the phone rings. What do you do first?
- How do you keep track of people who said "let me think about it"?
- What software have you used to schedule or track customers?
- A lead asks "how much to take down a tree?" and you don't know. What do you say?
- Tell me about a time you caught something that was about to fall through the cracks.
- What would you do in the first hour of a normal morning here?
- How do you feel about asking happy customers for a review?
- Call my cell right now and book me for an estimate, like I'm a homeowner.
Number 10 is the one that tells you the most. You're hiring the voice your customers hear first.
Her first week
We build and run this hiring ad for our clients at no charge. Want us to check if your market is open?
BOOK A CALLHire an estimator
You probably close more than anyone else in your company. That's the ceiling: every estimate you drive to is an hour you aren't running the business. The way you sell can be taught, and this is how you hire and train the person who learns it.
The hiring ad
A big job in progress
You and the crew by the trucks
- Someone who sounds like a neighbor, not a salesman.
- Has sold in a truck before: tree work, landscaping, roofing, fencing.
- Writes things down. Follow-up dies with people who keep it in their head.
- Tree knowledge can be taught on ride-alongs. Being good with people can't.
Six interview questions
- Walk me through the last job you sold, start to finish.
- The homeowner says "the other guy is $600 cheaper." What do you say?
- How many of your quotes turned into jobs at your last place? How do you know?
- What do you do the day after someone says "let me think about it"?
- Here's a photo of a tree over a roof. Tell me what you'd want to know before pricing it.
- Sell me this job: I'll play the homeowner.
The two-week ride-along plan
| When | What happens | What you're watching for |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 3 | He rides with you and says nothing. After each stop, he tells you what he heard you ask and how you gave the price. | Does he notice how you explain what they're buying? |
| Days 4 to 5 | He prices each job in his head before you say your number. Compare in the truck. | Is he within about 10% of you on a standard removal? |
| Week 2, days 1 to 3 | He runs the estimate. You stand back and only step in on price. | Does he ask questions before he talks price? |
| Week 2, days 4 to 5 | He goes alone on the standard jobs. You keep the big and tricky ones. | Did he book the follow-up date before leaving the driveway? |
| Every week after | One hour together listening to one of his calls and one of yours. | The gap between his close rate and yours getting smaller. |
His one-page scorecard
| Each week, write down | How to work it out | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Estimates given | Count the ones he ran himself. | Enough to fill his week without you. |
| Jobs won | Of those estimates, how many said yes. | Climbing week over week. |
| Close rate | Jobs won divided by estimates given. | Within about 10 points of yours. |
| Average job | His sold dollars divided by jobs won. | Close to yours. If it's lower, he's discounting. |
| Open estimates | Quotes with no yes, no "no", and no next date. | Zero. Every open one has a follow-up date. |
We run estimator hiring ads for our clients too, in their market, before they spend a dollar on leads there.
BOOK A CALLThe sales process, word for word
Five steps from the moment a lead comes in to the day you call it lost. Hand this to whoever quotes for you. None of it costs a dollar in ads.
Find your gap first
Example numbers. Slide them to yours. The math: (your close rate minus theirs) times their estimates times your average job.
The five steps
Text first, then call from the same number
A lead who gets a call from a number they don't know lets it ring. Tell them it's you before the phone rings.
- Call within five minutes, not "when I'm off this job".
- No answer: text, then try again inside the hour.
More than 20 miles away? Get photos first
Ask for three photos, text back a price range, and only drive out to people who are already okay with it. Set the visit for a day you're in that area.
Same price, different job
Don't just say the number. Say what they're buying and why.
| Flat | Better |
|---|---|
| "The removal would be twenty four hundred dollars." | "For that oak, because of how close it is to the roof line, we'd rope it down in sections rather than drop it. That puts you at twenty four hundred, and that includes hauling everything out and grinding the stump." |
Before you leave the driveway, tell them when you'll check back: "I'll text you Thursday in case you have questions."
Three follow-ups before a job is called lost
| When | How | What to say |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | Text | "Just checking in on that tree. Any questions I can answer?" |
| Day 7 | Call | "Hey, it's Mike from Mike's Tree Service, we came out for the oak in the back. No pressure at all. We've got a crew working your street Thursday, and if we can do yours the same trip I can do better on the price than what I quoted you." |
| Day 14 | Text | "Last check on your tree. Should I keep your quote open, or close it out for now?" |
Who does it: the office, not the estimator. He's driving all day, and follow-up is the first thing he pushes to tomorrow.
Don't drop your price. Change what they're comparing
If they still want the cheaper guy: "No problem. If it doesn't work out, call me." Then spend that day on a job that pays.
One hour a week that trains your closer
- Listen to three of your own calls. Two you won, one you lost.
- Write down what you actually say. The questions you ask, in order, and how you give the price. One page.
- Sit together once a week. Play one of his calls and one of yours on the same kind of job.
- Give the follow-up to the office. Not the estimator.
Our clients' calls are recorded, so this training library builds itself. Want us to check if your market is open?
BOOK A CALLYour next steps from $1M
Most owners at a million try to grow by buying more leads. The ones who get to three fix these in order, because each one pays for the next. Tick them off as you go.
| Step | What to do | Move on when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Know your five numbers | Leads, how many you spoke to, estimates booked, close rate, average job. Once a month, on one page. | You can say all five without looking them up. |
| 2 · Cover the phone | Hire the office manager. Every call answered, every lead called in five minutes. | Zero calls go to voicemail in working hours. |
| 3 · Follow up every estimate | Day 2, day 7, day 14. The office owns it. | No open quote sits without a next date. |
| 4 · Turn on the reviews | One named person marks every finished job complete, so the review text goes out while the truck is still on the street. | About 3 in 10 finished jobs leave a review. |
| 5 · Hire and train the estimator | Ride-alongs, the scorecard, one hour a week on calls. | He closes within about 10 points of you. |
| 6 · Add a foreman, then crew | Now you have the work and the office to keep another crew busy. | You can take a week off and jobs still get quoted and done. |
| 7 · Add a service or a market | A service in the counties you already cover is usually faster than a new county. In a new market, hire the people there before you turn on leads. | The new crew is booked two weeks out. |
| 8 · Raise your price | Raise your standard removal 10% and watch your close rate for a month. | If it barely moves, keep it. If it falls off, put it back. |
Where are you today?
Tick the ones that are true today. Your first unticked box is your next step.
Two things that fool owners at this size
- Storm money. Put storm work on its own line. Your real growth is everything else, and that's the number to plan on. Don't hire permanent crew on a storm year.
- Winning every quote. If you close almost everything, your price is too low. Losing a few on price is what a right number looks like.
Steps 2 to 4 are where we work with our clients every week: the leads, the phone, the follow-up and the reviews.
BOOK A CALLThe text pack
Seven texts, already filled in with your name. Tap copy, paste it into your phone, send it.
A new lead just came in
Send before you call, then call two minutes later from the same number.
They didn't pick up
Right after the missed call.
The job is far away
More than 20 miles out. Get photos before you drive.
You sent a price and heard nothing
Two days after the estimate.
"The other guy is cheaper"
Don't drop your price. Send this.
The job is done and they're happy
Before you leave the driveway, with a photo of the clean yard. Put your Google review link under it.
It's a slow week
Pick 20 past customers on the same side of town. Text them one at a time, never as a group.
These texts close the work. We bring the leads: Facebook, Google and Local Service Ads for tree companies, one company per market.
BOOK A CALL