Behind the Bark
Most tree service owners treat marketing like a light switch, either on or off, instead of treating it like their chipper, knowing parts will need servicing.
The hard truth: visibility without a conversion path is wasted money, and leads without follow-up are lost profit. This week’s myth-busting: more leads don’t always equal more booked jobs. More often than not, the bottleneck is how you handle the leads you already get.
How to apply it: start by asking three simple questions and answer them honestly:
Where do my leads come from? (calls, Google, Facebook, referrals)
What happens the moment a lead shows interest? (script, scheduler, SMS)
What’s my follow-up for no-shows or slow decisions? (texts, callbacks, email sequences)
If you can’t answer those clearly, your marketing machine has missing parts.
Limb of the Week
Treat marketing as a machine you can service, not a magic trick. Small process improvements often beat big ad spend. Try this four-step micro-audit this week:
Track inbound: For one week, note the source of every inquiry.
Map the flow: Write the exact path from first contact to booking (who answers, what they say, what software you use).
Time metrics: How long does it take from first contact to schedule? Aim to cut that by half.
Follow-up plan: Do you follow up to ensure they choose you? If not, create a 3-step follow-up process (day 1 text, day 3 call, day 7 check-in) for leads that don’t book.
Sawdust
Quick tools and approaches worth checking in your shop:
Two-minute response rule: If a new inquiry takes longer than two minutes to reach a human, your close rate drops. Decide who replies first and how.
Google Business Profile basics: Ensure your hours, phone, and service areas are correct and the business name, address, and phone number all match, down to the letter and capitalization. If you haven’t updated these in months, do it today.
Kickback
Stop treating Facebook and Google like an ad lottery. Spending more without checking whether your phone is answered, your scheduler is open, or staff can handle extra jobs is just burning cash. Fix the backend first. Would you buy more seed if your irrigation system were broken? It’s the same idea.
Practical next step (no fluff): Pick one workflow, lead intake or follow-up, and document it. Then run that workflow for 7 days and collect the numbers (how many leads, how many booked, how many dropped). You don’t need fancy tools, just notes and discipline.
Want us to look at your marketing and see if our systems could help you get an extra 3-5 jobs per week? Book a $100 consult. Refundable if it's not worth 10x that. All you have to do is ask.
Written by Jacob Hastings
Head of Growth & Client Strategy at Growth Ring Media
