sense to begin communication with our clients through an email,” Moore says. “We intentionally waited on creating that email until we really knew what these changes were going to look like for us and that we were in line with all of the regulations. However, in gauging our open rate, only around 20 percent of our clients opened that email. That tells me that we were yet another email among so many others. In the case of many of our larger or strategic clients, we called them — and had conversa- tions about what changes they could anticipate.”
Zellner adds that maintaining relationships with clients has long been something that Oasis has taken pride in — and now it’s paying off. And it’s been rewarding to see how much clients appreciate that their services have continued.
“I think for a lot of people, it’s a bright light — and some sense of normalcy — when their lawn care com- pany shows up,” Zellner says. “They’re quarantined at home but things are still happening — their yard is still being taken care of — and I think that may
be more appreciated than ever before in a time when so much has changed and so many other things have been cancelled in their lives.”
GOVERNMENT FUNDING Many of the lawn and landscape business owners that we spoke with were optimistic about government funding opportunities. “The government’s Paycheck Protec-
tion Program has been a bright spot in this whole thing,” says Fullerton. “I’m not always a positive political person, but I see our government working to keep everyone going. We need to come out on the other side of this without devas- tating businesses — and there’s a lot of effort right now to make that happen. I see companies working together and I see the government working together and that’s all pretty encouraging.” Borst agrees. “The Paycheck Protection Program will be a lifesaver for us,” he says. “Hav- ing just emerged from our worst snow season, we were already taking a hit, but that program could really save a lot of businesses like ours — helping them
get through the worst of this.” At press time, Moore says he had just found out from the bank that he was approved by the program though many other companies didn’t get financing before the cap was reached.. “I spent about a week of my time
researching and getting the paperwork in order for the Paycheck Protection Program,” he adds. “That is honestly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a small business, and you can be sure I was on the phone the minute Chase started taking calls. We didn’t lay any- one off and in fact, we’re trying to hire right now with the intension of invest- ing in the business with that support.”
A CHANGE OF WAYS Certainly, there have been a number of positives to emerge from this forced situation — a key of which has been the necessary adoption of technology and remote working capabilities. Albeit a forced situation, many lawn and landscape business owners say they’ve been pleasantly surprised just how well things are going.
“I’ll be honest that we were not
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