Local Roots Landscaping, based
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, created a custom app to communicate with their design/build customers. Kenneth Deemer, co-founder of Local Roots Landscaping, says previously, they were struggling with siloed information and client requests not reaching the neces- sary parties. With their Local Roots app, this serves as the primary communication chan- nel for clients and passes the baton to team member during the design/build process. Deemer says anyone can get looped back into the conversation as needed, but there’s one stream of con- sciousness that everybody has access to. “The point of contact is the app rather than a person,” Deemer says. When clients sign their contract with
Local Roots, they agree that all commu- nication will run through the app. It has e-sign capabilities for any change orders the client makes and they can also mark up photos when messaging the company. “As they sign up on the app, they immediately get assigned a project manager, they immediately get these checklists they have to go through,” Deemer says. “Stuff like, I verify my yard will be clear, that cars will be out of the driveway, I recognize this will happen. Just giving them an overall here’s what you should expect for your project, and they sign off on it.” On the maintenance side of things,
Yardnique, based in Morrisville, North Carolina, created their own proprietary software, Syncscape, and has been roll- ing it out over the past year to provide a more robust user experience. Every time a crew services a property, they generate an Orange Report that covers the work they did that day and the property’s irrigation system health. Customers can share their copy of the Orange Report with interested parties, such as HOA board members. “As customers provide us with direc-
tion for technology, as we roll this out, there are going to be enhancements, and since we own the product, it’s easy for us to make enhancements, but primarily, it’s just tracing growing-season activities, as well as irrigation inspections and repair,” says Eric Hayes, a business developer with Yardnique. Through Syncscape, Yardnique can send out proactive quarterly plans for the property and regularly gauge cus- tomer sentiment.
“If at any time our customer senti-
ment drops below four stars, it prompts them to tell us why,” Hayes says. “Then they submit it, and we get an instant notification.” Customers can also send direct messag-
es through Syncscape, which notifies the branch manager and the account manag- er so they can react instantaneously. “Our opinion is that it improves the
quality of the service and expectations that the property manager has with us as well as just communication,” Hayes says. “They don’t have to chase us down. They have the ability to log an issue or log a message, and multiple people within our company are notified instantly via text.”
BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY All three types of technology feature improved communication, which is essential to positive customer relations. “We are able to show them exactly what they need to see when we are dic- tating the video,” Goldman says. “For the most part, it builds trust with the client. When they realize we are answering their questions before they ask, they know they are in good hands and appreciate
“Keep it simple and commit. Don’t try to implement everything at one time. At the end of the day, your technology is only as good as your systems. Focus on consistency and building trust with your customers.” - Claire Goldman, R&R Landscaping
the level of detail.” Hayes says a common complaint is how many landscape companies don’t communicate well or in a timely manner, so they wanted a tool that would be consistent across their 30 markets in the Southeast. “We wanted something different that was instantaneous; that was not one-to-one, it was one-to-many,” Hayes says. “For example, if a tree falls in one of my communities, and it’s serious, that service request will go to a number of people within our organization. It’s not just to one set of eyes. It’s multiple sets of eyes that get that and we can respond quickly.” Proactive communication via technol- ogy also cuts down on the number of customer complaints.
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