Behind the Bark
Forget the word "automation" for a second.
Instead, answer three questions:
What am I supposed to send that I keep forgetting?
What do I write the same way every single time?
What should happen automatically when a job finishes?
You probably landed on the same three answers most tree service owners do: follow-ups on quotes, review requests, and check-ins with past customers.
And you're already paying for software that can handle all 3. Aspire, Jobber, and most field service platforms have these features built in. You just haven't turned them on.
You don't need to learn code or buy new tech. Your field software already does the boring, repetitive stuff better than you can. Your memory isn't the problem. Your plate is.
One more place this same problem lives: your Google Ads account.
Quotes can die because nobody follows up. Reviews don't get asked for. Past customers drift away because nobody pings them. In all 3 cases, the money leaks quietly and the report doesn't show you that clearly.
Your Google Ads account works the same way.
Budget overruns Google owes you credit for. Keywords with quality scores so low you're paying double per click. Searches you're missing entirely because of budget caps.
We built a free tool called AdGradr that runs the same 15-point audit our team runs internally. It's read-only; the tool can look but not touch.
So if you want to know what’s working so you can do more of it…or what’s wasting money…
Try AdGradr.com now.
Limb of the Week
The three messages your software should be sending without you
1. The Estimate That Won't Die
Most tree services do zero follow-up after sending a quote. The quote doesn't die because the customer said "no." It dies because nobody followed up.
On a $4M company, hundreds of thousands of dollars in quoted work sit in limbo every year. Recovering even 10% of that is real money.
Set this up:
Day 2 after the quote: automatic text. "Just checking, any questions on the estimate?"
Be sure to check and follow the proper laws in your area
Day 5: email with the same quote attached.
Day 10: final text. Last touch.
Again, check the laws.
This is built into Aspire and Jobber natively. A few hours of setup. It compounds on every future quote you send.
When's the last time you checked how many open quotes are sitting in your system right now?
2. The Review Loop
This is probably the single highest-return activity in home services, and most tree companies do it manually, inconsistently, or not at all.
Google Business Profile rankings are heavily driven by review volume and recency. The owner who turns on automatic review requests in 2026 will likely have 10+ more reviews than the owner who doesn't by 2027. That gap is structural. It’s harder to catch up later by trying harder.
So try this: when a job is marked complete, an automatic text fires within the hour.
"Thanks for trusting us with your trees. Could you take 30 seconds to share a quick review? [Link]"
That's it. One message. Triggered by something your crew is already doing in the field software.
3. The Customer You Already Won
Every tree service has a customer list. Almost none have a system to bring those customers back. Existing customers close at roughly 5x the rate of cold leads.
Do you know how many customers you served last year who haven't heard from you since?
When a job is marked complete, tag the customer with service type and date. 12 months later, an automatic email fires:
Pruning job? "We pruned your maples last March. Want us to do a quick inspection before storm season?"
Removal? "Hope everything's been good since the takedown. Anything else needing a look?"
This is found money. The customer already trusts you. The phone call already happened. You just have to remember they exist 12 months from now, and a computer is better at remembering than you are.
Sawdust
Aspire and Jobber both have built-in workflows for follow-ups, review requests, and customer tagging. If you're paying for either, check the settings before you buy something new.
If your current software doesn't support triggered messages, look for a simple tool for review requests. Most integrate with the platforms you already use.
Google's algorithm rewards review recency. A steady drip of reviews per week or every other week beats a batch of 50 once a year. Consistency matters more than volume spikes.
Kickback
How much of your marketing budget goes toward finding new leads, and how much goes toward closing the ones you already have?
That's the cut for this week.
If you're staring at your field software, wondering which of these three to set up first, start with the estimate follow-up. It's the fastest path to recovered revenue, and you'll probably see results within a couple of weeks.
Got questions about how to wire any of this up in your specific software?
Just reply to this email.
See everyone next Saturday!
-Jacob Hastings
