Taming our urban forests using Kickserv

Service is built into the name – Kickserv. The Kickserv tool could be thought of as the main trunk of your growing service business. From Kickserv you can reach out to your broader customer markets using reminders and integrating with our partners.

This story is about a young man that wanted to branch out and help people. Graduating from the legendary University of Texas A&M with a degree in forestry thinking he was going to work somewhere within the paper industry. Grant made a quick stop in Australia to do some ministry work in 2003 helping teach people and lending a hand. Grant returned to Houston Texas to figure out how to apply his skills and degree to serve others. Little did he know he would come full circle and become one of the larger urban foresters in Houston Texas.

He earned his arborist “tree spikes” working at another tree service initially until they merged with a bigger company. Grant learned that he really did love all things trees. He witnessed the tree service company expand to a great size, yet they were all on paper.

He explained that old tree service company had the field crew bring their paper time cards into the office, locate the file cabinet for that week, then find the folder for that day and file the timecard. Then, the foreman would bring all timecards down the hallway to the payroll lady every week. Oh, so 1990!

The modern tree crew

Grant knew he could do this better and he was not going to do it using paper.

Here is how the spotlight typically goes:

1. The Pain

2. The Resolution

3. And The Fix

The Pain – what pain?

Speaking with Grant you discover quickly he is very pragmatic. He avoided some of those typical business pains. Upon strategizing for his business start-up, he reflected on those mental notes from the earlier tree service and figured out how to bypass some of those hurdles that other businesses endure. When Grant sprouted The Urban Foresters he insisted on implementing a Field Service Management (FSM) software immediately.

By starting out with an FSM what Granted avoided was creating a large paper process of moving paper, filing paper, storing paper, losing papers, and purchasing paper.

The Resolution – automate it!

The task was given to his business consultant Jane. Jane scoured the world wide web back in 2010 and used the following criteria for her search:

• flexibility,

• mobile

• easy to use interface,

• automation of job scheduling

• a custom flowline to keep track of customer data and follow-up

• and great customer support.

Not surprisingly, she landed on Kickserv.

The Fix – mobile automation

Using Kickserv as the main hub of their tree service business. Grant and his crew can now head out to their job sites with their mobile phones and tablets knowing they have all the data they need to get the job done. The fact that The Urban Foresters schedules can change throughout the day and they can be notified via the mobile app makes Grant’s team efficient and dynamic.

Grant has stories of having to drive to job sites to simply update the scope of the job or re-assign crews to new jobs – no more!

Plus, the crew can take pictures during the job to document their progress and securely attach photos to the job.

Grant has taken his tree service business from operating from his living room to a $5 million dollar per year and growing, business. He has been able to remove himself from the day-to-day operations but keeps tabs on delivery of service remotely using Kickserv’s web interface.

His plans for the near future are to expand the company to Dallas Texas and then take it national. He says he is confident he is going to take Kickserv along with him.

The Early days circa 2010 (everyone starts from the living room – right?)

Ten years later – serious man cave

The Wrap-up

What are your favorite business books?

· Good to Great – Jim Collins

· The Advantage – Patrick Lencioni

· The Leadership pipeline – Ram Charan/Steve Drotter/Jim Noel

What do you do when you are not working on your business?

· Remodeling my house

· Playing with my four children ages 9,7,6, and 3.

What are you focused on today regarding your business?

· We are expanding into Dallas Texas and taking Kickserv with us

· Marketing – learning the tactics to reach more B2B as well as expanding our marketing skills to grow the residential side of our services. Residential is a different game.

· Working on a succession plan. As we grow, I will need to be focused more on the company.

How can people reach you if they wanted to contact you?

· Calling the office (855)255-5212

· Or the website www.theurbanforesters.com

and visit their Facebooks page for more excellent pictures