{{first_name}},

Most tree guys can tell me what they pay for a lead.

Almost none can tell me what they pay for a job.

Here is the math, with example numbers:

You pay $65 a lead.
You buy 40 leads a month. That is $2,600.
4 of them turn into paid work.

$2,600 divided by 4 jobs is $650 a job.

The lead was never $65. It was $650, because nine out of ten went nowhere.

We built a simple calculator that does this for you. Put in what you pay, how many leads you get and how many turn into jobs.

Run your numbers

It takes about a minute, and you will look at every lead bill differently after.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Most owners think they need more leads.

Most of the time the problem is somewhere else. There are four numbers, and each one can be the leak.

1. Leads. How many homeowners reach out each month, and where from?

2. Booked estimates. Of those leads, how many do you actually get in front of? If the phone rings and nobody picks up, this number falls first.

3. Jobs won. Of the estimates you give, how many say yes?

4. Average job. A $400 trim and a $6,000 removal take the same phone call.

Write last month's four numbers on one sheet of paper. One of them will look worse than the others. Fix that one first.

More leads into a slow phone just means more missed calls.

If you want a second set of eyes on your four numbers, grab a time and we will go through them with you.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Search "tree service near me" on your phone right now.

The first thing you see is a row of companies with a "Google Verified" badge. Those are Local Services Ads. They sit above the regular ads and above the map.

Three things about them most owners do not know:

You pay per lead, a call or a message. Not per click.

Where you rank comes down to your reviews, how fast you answer, how close you are to the homeowner, and how complete your profile is.

If a lead is spam, a wrong number or outside your area, Google credits it back on its own, usually within about three days.

We built a check that shows where your company ranks in your own town.

See where you rank

If you are not in that top row, your competitor is taking those calls.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Owners in smaller markets tell me the same thing: "There are not enough people here for ads to work."

It is the other way around.

In a big city you are one of sixty tree companies. In a smaller market there are six, and most of them do no marketing at all.

Look at Fresno. Joe at Cut Rite Tree Service runs in one county. Last month he got 90 leads at about $45 each, and he closes around 60% of his estimates.

Here is what Joe said on video:

"I always struggled to keep all our crews busy year-round. Phones were at a standstill at certain times of year. Since I've been dealing with Dave from Home Service Direct, he's always kept our calendar full."

One county. One tree company. That is the whole point of how we work: one tree company per market.

If you want to know whether your market is still open, grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Here is how most tree companies run ads.

Boost a post. Try a coupon. Put up a truck photo. Change everything again two weeks later.

It all goes in one pile, and nobody can tell which piece did anything.

The fix is boring. Change one thing at a time.

Same offer, three different opening lines. See which one gets homeowners to stop.

Take the winner. Now test three pictures or videos under it.

Take that winner. Now test the towns you show it in.

Three rounds like that and you know what works in your market, instead of guessing.

It takes patience, and it takes someone watching the numbers every week. That is what our team does all day for tree companies.

If you would rather hand it off, book a call and we will show you what is working in markets like yours.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Quick story from Oklahoma City.

Before us, the owner of Legacy Tree & Crane had tried the lead sellers. In his words he tried "ConX Pros, Networks Pros, Angie Leads."

Here is where he is now. In one recent 30 day stretch:

112 leads
About $32 a lead
Close rate around 65%

And on video he told us he "cleared a $75,000 job" and that "most of the leads are 2,000 and above."

Same owner. Same city. Same crew. The difference is that every lead came to him only, from a homeowner in his own area who needed real tree work.

Not every market looks like Oklahoma City, and I am not going to tell you yours will. But it shows what happens when the leads are yours alone.

Want to see what the numbers could look like where you are?

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Ask ten tree companies what makes them different and you get the same answer ten times.

"Licensed and insured. Quality work. Fair prices."

If everybody says it, the homeowner hears nothing. So she picks on the only thing left, which is price.

Three things that actually set you apart:

1. Show the job. A 20 second video of your crew taking a big oak down over a roof says more than any slogan.

2. Name what you are best at. Crane removals. Tight backyards. Storm cleanup the same day. Pick one and lead with it.

3. Let customers say it. A review that reads "they took down three pines next to my pool and left the yard cleaner than they found it" beats anything you write.

Do those three and you stop being the cheap quote. You become the company she already wanted.

We build all of this into the ads we run. If you want to see how, grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

If you run Google Ads, you have felt this.

Every year the same click costs more. The big lead sellers bid on "tree service near me" in every town in the country, and they can pay more than you because they sell that lead to several companies.

So what works now? Three things, together:

1. Local Services Ads. The "Google Verified" row at the very top. You pay for a call or a message, not a click.

2. Facebook and Instagram. The homeowner with a dead tree in the backyard is not searching yet. She will stop on a video of a crew taking one down two streets over.

3. Your Google Business Profile. Reviews, photos, and the right service areas. It costs nothing and it is where people check you out before they call.

Search catches the people who are looking today. Facebook reaches the ones who will need you next month.

If you want to see how the three fit together in your market, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

A lot of the owners we talk to have been burned.

They paid a company for six months and got a report full of clicks and no jobs.

So before you hire anybody, us included, ask these five questions:

1. Do you work with another tree company in my area? If yes, walk away.

2. Are the leads mine alone, or do they go to other companies too?

3. Am I locked into a contract?

4. Will I see where every lead came from?

5. Can I talk to tree company owners you work with right now?

Here is how we answer them. One tree company per market. Every lead goes to you only. One flat monthly rate, no contracts, no setup fees. And our client videos are on our site with their names on them.

Victor at TreeEx put it this way on our site: "Hired other agencies and never got the results that Home Service Direct provides."

If you have a question I did not cover, just reply to this email. Or grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Here is a pattern I see every year.

Spring hits. Storms come through. You are booked three weeks out and the phone will not stop.

So you turn the marketing off. Why pay for leads you cannot get to?

Then the work runs out, the phone goes quiet, and you turn it back on. But it takes weeks to build back up. So you sit through a slow month you did not need to have.

Busy, then scrambling, then busy again. Every year.

The way out is to stop treating marketing like a light switch.

When you are booked out, do not turn it off. Turn it toward bigger jobs, or the work you want more of. Book estimates further out. Raise your minimum.

The companies that grow every year keep the phone ringing when they are busy, and get pickier about what they take.

If you want help setting that up, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

No pitch today. Just something worth thinking about.

Most tree companies start the same way. One guy who is very good in a tree, with a truck and a chipper.

Then it grows, and he is still the best climber, the estimator, the salesman, the mechanic and the guy who answers the phone at 9 at night.

The business only works because he does.

If that is you, here is the order most owners hand things off in:

First, the ground work. Then the climbing. Then the scheduling and the phone. Then the marketing. Estimates and sales usually go last, because nobody sells your company like you do.

You do not have to do it all this year. Pick the one job on that list you like least and are worst at, and hand off that one.

Then pick the next.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

You do not need twice the leads to do twice the work.

Three numbers multiply each other.

Booked rate. Out of every 10 leads, how many do you get an estimate in front of? Most of the fix is speed. Call back in minutes, not at the end of the day.

Close rate. Out of every 10 estimates, how many say yes? Most of the fix is follow-up. A text two days later wins jobs.

Average job. Stump grinding, a second tree, the hedge along the fence. Ask on every estimate.

Here is an example. Say you book 5 of 10 leads, close 4 of 10 estimates, and average $1,500. Move each one a little, to 6 of 10, 5 of 10 and $1,800, and the same leads bring in 80% more work.

Example numbers, but the math holds for any company.

Our clients tell us their close rates on our leads. Legacy in Oklahoma City and New Horizon in Nashville both sit around 65%.

If you want to work out your three numbers together, grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Here is something most marketing companies will not tell you.

Many of them sign two or three tree companies in the same town. Then they run ads for all of them to the same homeowners.

You end up bidding against the company's other clients. Your cost goes up and so does theirs. The only one who wins is the marketing company.

We do it differently, and it is simple.

One tree company per market.

When you start with us, your area is yours. We will not take the tree company down the road, even if he calls us with a bigger budget.

It also means some markets are already taken. When an owner calls from one of those, we tell him so and that is the end of it.

If you want to know whether yours is open, reply with the word MARKET and your city, and we will check.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

By the time you pull up for an estimate, the homeowner has already half decided.

She looked you up. She saw your reviews, or saw that you do not have many. She saw your photos, or a blank profile.

You can use that.

Before the estimate, send a short text: your name, a photo of you, and a line like "Looking forward to seeing the oak tomorrow at 10."

Send a link to a 30 second video of your crew on a job like hers.

Show up on time, in a marked truck, in a company shirt.

None of that is about tree work. All of it tells her you are the safe choice before you say a word about price.

Then when your number is $800 higher than the other guy, she has a reason to pay it.

This is the part of the system that happens before you ever meet her. If you want it set up for you, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Slow week? Here are three things you can do today that cost nothing.

1. Call your old estimates. Pull every quote from the last six months that never said yes. Text them: "Still need that tree taken care of? We have an opening next week." Most quotes that went quiet were a "not yet", not a no.

2. Knock the neighbors. Every time you finish a removal, walk to the five houses around it. "We just took down the pine at number 12. While the crew is here, want me to look at anything?" The equipment is already on the street.

3. Call three property managers. They have trees on every property and a storm problem every year. One good relationship can mean steady work.

None of this replaces steady marketing. But it will put work on the board this week.

We wrote a full guide on getting tree customers fast if you want more.

Read the guide

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Short one today.

We take one tree company per market. When a market is taken, it is taken.

If you have been reading these emails and thinking about it, here is the offer in plain words:

We run your ads on Facebook, Instagram and Google.

Every lead comes to you only, from a homeowner in your own area.

60 qualified leads in your first 30 days, or we work for free.

One flat monthly rate. No contracts. No setup fees.

That is it.

The first step is a 10 minute call. We look at your market, your crews and how much more work you can take on. If your area is already taken, we will tell you on that call.

Book your strategy call

Or reply with the word MARKET and your city, and we will check before you book.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Let us put a number on a review.

A homeowner searches for tree service. She sees three companies. One has 14 reviews, one has 60, one has 400.

Who gets the call?

TreeEx in Santa Rosa has more than 430 Google reviews at 5.0 stars. That did not happen by accident. Somebody asked, every single job.

Here is how to get more of them:

1. Ask at the right moment. When the tree is on the ground and the yard is clean and she is smiling. Not three days later.

2. Make it one tap. Text her the review link right there, while you are standing in the driveway.

3. Have the crew lead ask. Not the office.

4. Answer every review, good or bad. People read the answers.

Reviews also decide where you rank in the "Google Verified" row at the top of the page. More reviews, more calls, for the same money.

Go get three this week.

Talk soon,
David

P.S. If you want help turning those reviews into steady calls, book a call here: Book your strategy call

{{first_name}},

Airlines do not charge the same for every seat. A Tuesday in February costs less than the Friday before a holiday.

You can do the same with your calendar.

Every summer you give estimates to people who say "let me think about it." Many of those jobs are not urgent. A pruning. A tree that is ugly but not dangerous.

Offer them a winter slot.

"If you can wait until January, I can do it for 10% less. I just need a deposit to hold the date."

A lot of pruning is better done when the tree is dormant anyway, so it is an honest offer.

Now your slow months have work on the board before they arrive. Your crew stays busy. And you did it with leads you already paid for.

The number is yours to set. The idea is that an empty day in January earns nothing, so a small discount beats a parked truck.

Want help building a steady year? Grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

"We are doing fine. The phone rings."

I hear that a lot. Then I ask where the calls come from, and nobody knows.

That matters, because when a month goes slow you cannot fix what you cannot see.

Here is what seeing it looks like. On our own page we show a 30 day report from Kansas City Tree Care, straight from the ad account:

155 leads
$26.72 a lead
$4,141.42 spent

Every one of those leads has a source. Which ad, which town, which day.

So when a week is slow, the question is not "what happened?" It is "which number moved?"

You can start this today with a notebook. For every call, write down how they found you. Do it for 30 days. You will find one source carrying the whole company, and one you are paying for that brings nothing.

If you want that kind of report for your own company, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Here is something that bothers every good tree guy.

The busiest company in your town is probably not the best one.

You know the outfit. Their cuts are sloppy. They leave stubs. And their trucks are everywhere.

It is not fair, and it is how it works. The homeowner cannot tell a good cut from a bad one. She can tell who she has heard of.

A good tree company that people know about will beat a great one nobody has heard of, every time.

Word of mouth is real and you earned it. But it only reaches the people your customers happen to talk to. It cannot be turned up when you add a crew.

You already did the hard part. You are good at the work.

Getting known is the easier half, and it is the half we do.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Most tree companies do not have a sales problem. They have a follow-up problem.

You drive out. You walk the yard. You give a fair price. She says "let me talk to my husband."

And then nothing. You never hear back, and you never ask.

Most estimates that go quiet are not a no. They are a "not yet." She got busy. The other quote has not come in. She forgot.

Send three texts.

Two days later: "Hi, it is David from the tree company. Any questions on the estimate for the maple?"

A week later: "We have an opening next Thursday if you want that tree handled."

Two weeks later: "Should I close this estimate out, or keep it open for you?"

That last one gets more replies than the first two put together.

Three texts. It takes two minutes, and it wins jobs you already drove out for.

We set this up to run on its own for our clients. If you want it, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

When did you last raise your prices?

Fuel costs more. Insurance costs more. A good climber costs a lot more than he did a few years ago. A chipper costs more to buy and more to fix.

If your removal price has not moved, you are making less on every job than you used to, and working just as hard.

Here is why most owners do not raise prices. Their work comes from referrals and price shoppers. And those people have a number in their head from the last guy.

When most of your leads come from people who only want the cheapest quote, you cannot charge what the job is worth.

The fix is not a speech about value. It is more leads than you can take. When the calendar is full, you can say your price and mean it, because you do not need every job.

A full board is what gives you the room to charge more.

If you want more of the right calls, grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

"The leads are junk."

Sometimes that is true. Sometimes the lead was fine and nobody called her for six hours.

Here is how to tell. Score every lead on four things.

1. Is she in your area, in a house she owns? A renter two counties over is a bad lead. No argument.

2. Does she need it now? A tree on the roof beats "thinking about it next year."

3. Is the info right? A real name and a number that rings.

4. Did she answer? If you called within five minutes and she picked up, it was a real lead.

If a lead fails the first three, that is on whoever sent it.

If it only fails the fourth, look at how fast you called.

Jeremy at Allscape Solutions in Albuquerque told us about our leads: "Out of every five leads I am probably getting about three."

That is what it looks like when the leads are right and the phone gets answered.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

There is a list of people who already trust you, already paid you, and have more trees.

Your past customers.

Most tree companies never talk to them again. The job ends, the invoice is paid, and that is it.

But trees keep growing. The oak you pruned three years ago needs it again. The neighbor asked who did the work. A storm just came through her street.

Here is what to do this month:

Pull every customer from the last three years.

Send one text or email: "It has been a while since we worked on your trees. Want us to take a look before storm season? No charge to stop by."

Then do it again every spring and every fall.

It costs you nothing. These people do not need convincing. They already know your crew.

New leads grow the company. Old customers keep it steady.

If you want both working at the same time, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Last time I told you to call your past customers. Here is the email version, and how to write it.

Split your list in three.

Old estimates that never said yes.
Past customers.
People who called once and never booked.

Write each group a short, plain email. No logo. No pictures. It should look like it came from your phone.

For old estimates:

Subject: still need that tree handled?

"Hi, it is David. We quoted your tree a while back. We have a couple of openings this month. Want me to hold one for you?"

For past customers:

Subject: quick question about your trees

"Hi, it is David. It has been a while. Want us to swing by and look things over before storm season?"

That is the whole email. Short gets answered.

Send it on a weekday morning, and have somebody ready to pick up the phone that afternoon.

Want this set up to run on its own? Book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Something is changing in how people find a tree company.

More homeowners now ask an AI assistant instead of typing a search. "Who is a good tree service near me?" And it answers with two or three names.

Where does it get those names? From what is already written about you online.

So the homework is the same homework that has always worked, done properly:

1. Make your business details match everywhere. Same name, same address, same phone, on Google, Facebook, Yelp and your website.

2. Get reviews in more than one place. Not only Google.

3. Say what you do in plain words on your website. "Crane tree removal in Fresno" beats "full service arbor care solutions."

4. Get mentioned. A local news story after a storm. The chamber of commerce. A neighborhood group.

None of this is a trick. It is being easy to find and easy to trust.

If you want a hand with it, grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

An owner asked me this on a call last week, and it is a fair question.

Here is the honest answer.

We know tree service. It is our main trade. We know the difference between a trim lead and a crane removal, and we build the ads to bring in the second kind.

One tree company per market. Your area is yours.

A team runs your account. Not one guy with forty clients.

You see your numbers. Leads, estimates booked and cost per lead, every month.

No contracts. One flat monthly rate, no setup fees. If we are not earning it, you can leave.

And our clients say it on camera. Troy at New Horizon Tree Service in Nashville:

"Nobody has done what Home Service Direct has done for my business. In less than six months we have scaled, opened another office and acquired more employees."

That is why.

If you want to see whether we are a fit for your company, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

"We tried Facebook. It does not work for tree service."

When I look at what was tried, it is usually one ad. A truck photo, a phone number, "Call for a free estimate." Run for two weeks to everyone within 50 miles.

One ad is a guess, and you cannot learn anything from a single guess.

Here is what works better.

Start with several different ads at once. A crew video. A before and after. The owner talking to the camera. A customer talking.

After a week or two, one or two will be clearly ahead. Turn the rest off.

Now make new versions of the winners. Same idea, new opening line.

Keep doing that. The ads get better every round, and the cost per lead comes down.

It is the same job as sharpening a chain. You do not do it once.

Our team does this every week for tree companies. If you want to see what is winning right now, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

We are not for everyone, and I would rather tell you now.

Do not work with us if:

1. Nobody answers your phone. We can make it ring. If the calls go to voicemail, you are paying for leads your competitor will book.

2. You are already at capacity and do not want to grow. If one crew is all you want, more leads are just more people to disappoint.

3. You want it fixed by Friday. Ads go live fast, but the first month is where we learn your market. It gets better from there.

4. You are just starting out. We do our best work with companies that already have a crew, real reviews and steady work, and want more of it.

If none of those are you, we should talk.

If one of them is, fix that first. I mean it. You will get more out of us, or anyone, once it is handled.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

If you run your own Facebook ads, check these three things today.

1. The area. A 40 mile circle around your shop reaches towns you will never drive to. Pick the towns and zip codes you actually want work in, and leave the rest out.

2. The instant form. Facebook fills in the name and phone for her, so she can send it with one tap without thinking. You get a lot of leads who do not remember asking. Add one question she has to type, like "What tree work do you need?"

3. Telling Facebook what happened. If you never tell it which leads turned into jobs, it keeps finding people who fill in forms. Tell it who booked, and it starts finding more people like them.

That third one is the big one, and it is the hardest to set up yourself.

It is part of what our team builds for every client. If you want it done for you, book a call.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Count them.

Climber. Estimator. Scheduler. Mechanic. Bookkeeper. The one who answers the phone. The one who posts on Facebook when he remembers.

That last hat is the one that slips. Marketing is always the job that gets done "when things slow down." And when things slow down, it is already too late for it to help.

You would not let a guy who climbs twice a year run your crane.

Marketing is the same. It works when somebody does it every day, and it does not when it is your seventh job.

Once you have a crew that can run a day without you, marketing is the next thing to hand off.

We put together a short page that shows how our system works and what our clients are getting.

See how it works

Have a look. If it makes sense, you will know what to do next.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Here is a small thing that brings in work, and almost nobody does it.

When the job is done and the yard is clean, ask the homeowner one question:

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how did we do?"

If she says 9 or 10, ask two more things.

"Would you mind if we took a quick photo of the yard?"

"Could you share it in your neighborhood group and tag us?"

Most people say yes. They are proud of how the yard looks.

Now every neighbor on her street sees a real job, at a house they know, from someone they trust. That is worth more than any ad you could buy.

If she says 7 or 8, ask what would have made it a 10. You will learn something you can fix.

Try it on your next three jobs and tell me how it goes. Just reply to this email.

Talk soon,
David

P.S. If you want steady leads on top of the neighbor work, book a call here: Book your strategy call

{{first_name}},

I want you to hear this one from the owner, not from me.

Troy runs New Horizon Tree Service in Nashville. Before us he had tried the usual things. In his words: "Done the mailers, done the flyers, print ads, Angi."

Here is the rest of what he said on video:

"Nobody has done what Home Service Direct has done for my business. In less than six months we have scaled, opened another office and acquired more employees. It is the best marketing decision I've made for my company."

In one recent 30 day stretch, New Horizon got 120 leads at about $38 a lead, and Troy closes around 65% of his estimates.

The video is about a minute long.

Watch Troy's video

Talk soon,
David

P.S. We take one tree company per market. If you want to know whether yours is open, book a call: Book your strategy call

{{first_name}},

Picture an owner in December.

The year was good. The crews are tired. He looks at the marketing bill and thinks, "We are slow anyway. I will turn it off until spring."

January is quiet, which he expected.

February is quiet too.

By March he has two jobs on the board and three guys asking about hours. He turns the marketing back on. But the homeowner who sees an ad today books an estimate next week and the job the week after.

So April is thin as well.

One decision in December cost him four months.

Tree work has a delay built in. The work you do this month came from the marketing you did two or three months ago.

That means the time to fill spring is winter. And the worst time to stop is right when you feel like stopping.

If you do not want to be in that spot three months from now, grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

When a homeowner scrolls past your ad, you get about three seconds.

If the first line and the first picture do not stop her, nothing else in the ad matters. She never sees your price, your reviews or your phone number.

So that is where most of the work should go.

Compare these two openings.

"ABC Tree Service. Licensed and insured. Call today."

"That dead oak leaning over your roof will not wait for a calm day."

One of them is about you. The other one is about her.

Some openings that work for tree companies:

A question about a problem she has. "Is that tree closer to the house than it was last year?"

A job in her town. "We just took down a 70 foot pine in Clovis."

A crane lifting a tree over a house. She will watch that every time.

We test openings every week across the tree companies we work with, so we know which ones are stopping homeowners right now.

Want to see them?

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Sometimes the right advice is "do not switch."

If your marketing company is bringing you steady leads at a cost that makes sense, and you are closing them, stay where you are. Changing just to change will cost you a slow month.

But here are six signs it is time.

1. You cannot say how many leads you got last month.

2. The report is about clicks and views, not calls and jobs.

3. The leads are trims when you want removals.

4. They also work with a tree company in your area.

5. Nobody has called you in two months.

6. You are locked into a contract and it is the only reason you are still there.

One of those is something to bring up with them. Three or more and you already know what to do.

If you want a straight second opinion on what you are getting now, book a call. If it is working, I will tell you to keep it.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Picture two tree companies in the same town.

The first is run by the best climber in the county. His cuts are perfect. He has been at it twenty years. He gets his work from referrals, and some months are great and some are thin. He has one crew and has had one crew for ten years.

The second is run by a guy who has not been in a tree in years. His crews are good, not great. But every homeowner in town has seen his trucks, his videos and his reviews. He runs four crews and is hiring.

Which one would you rather own?

It is not about who does better work. The first guy does.

It is that the second one decided the phone was his job. He treats getting customers the way the first guy treats a clean cut.

You do not have to choose between them. You can do great work and be known for it too.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Here is what "it worked" sounds like from an owner.

Leonard runs HLI Tree Experts. He has been with us, in his words, "about a year and a half going on two years."

This is what he said on video:

"We're booked out. We almost doubled our equipment and manpower."

That is the part most people skip when they think about leads. More calls is only the start. Steady calls let you buy the second chipper, hire the next climber, and know the work will be there to pay for them.

How it starts for a new client is simple.

A 10 minute call to look at your market and your crews.

We build the ads for your company and your towns only.

Leads come to your phone, and only to yours.

Not every company grows like HLI, and it took Leonard time. But this is what steady work makes possible.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Owners ask me which comes first. Fix the business, or get more leads?

Here is how I would decide.

If calls go to voicemail, nobody follows up on estimates, and you could not tell me your close rate, start there. More leads will only show you the leaks faster, and you will pay for every one.

A simple answering setup and a three text follow-up will do more for you this month than any ad.

If the phone gets answered, the estimates get done, and the crew is good, and the only thing missing is enough of the right calls, that is a marketing problem. That one we can fix.

Most owners I talk to are closer to the second than they think.

Be honest about which one you are. It will save you money either way.

If you are not sure, book a call and we will tell you straight which one it is.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Think of your ten best customers.

Big properties. Mature trees. They said yes to the price, paid on time and sent the neighbor.

What if your ads could find more people like them?

They can. Here is how it works.

You take a list of your best past customers, names and emails or phone numbers. A couple hundred is enough.

That list goes to Facebook. It never shows them to anyone. It looks at what those people have in common, and then it shows your ad to other homeowners in your area who look the same.

So your ad lands in front of people who are likely to own a home with big trees and likely to pay for good work. Not everyone with a phone.

Most tree companies never do this, because it takes a clean list and somebody who knows the setup.

It is one of the first things our team does for a new client.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Jeremy runs Allscape Solutions in Albuquerque. He has been with us four years.

I will let him tell it:

"I've been with you guys for four years now and my business has grown. When I first started it was just me and maybe two other guys. Now I have got about five, six guys and I am building a second crew right now. Out of every five leads I am probably getting about three."

Three out of five.

In one recent 30 day stretch his account brought in 63 leads at about $46 each.

To be clear, that close rate is Jeremy's doing. He answers. He shows up when he says he will. He does good work. We bring the homeowner to the phone. He wins the job.

That is the deal with us. We do our part, and it only works when the owner does his.

If that sounds like you, grab a time.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

If you close nine out of ten estimates, I have bad news.

You are probably too cheap, or almost all your work is referrals.

A referral shows up already sold. Her sister told her to call you. Of course she says yes.

A homeowner who found you through an ad has never heard of you. She is getting two other quotes. She will not say yes nine times out of ten, and that is normal.

Our clients tell us they close around 60 to 65% of the estimates they get from our leads. That is strong for people who had never heard of them a week before.

So do not compare the two. Track them apart:

Referrals and repeat customers in one column.
Ad leads in another.

If your ad leads close at half and your referrals close at 90%, nothing is broken. That is what healthy looks like.

And if everything closes at 90%, raise your prices.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

It used to be simple. Find one ad that works and run it for a year.

That does not hold up now.

Facebook decides who sees your ad by what is in it. A crane video goes to one kind of person. A storm damage photo goes to another. An owner talking to the camera goes to a third.

One ad means you reach one slice of your town, over and over, until they are tired of it.

Several different ads mean you reach all of them.

So a tree company needs a mix running at the same time:

A big removal video.
A before and after.
A customer telling her story.
The owner explaining how an estimate works.
A storm cleanup.

Different ads for different homeowners. Then keep the ones that bring calls and swap out the ones that do not.

It is more work than one ad. It is also why most do-it-yourself ads stop working after a month or two.

Keeping that mix fresh is what our team does every week.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Picture a homeowner on a Monday morning. A big limb came down in the night and it is lying across her driveway.

She searches on her phone and calls the first tree company. Voicemail.

She calls the second. Voicemail.

The third one picks up on the second ring. "Yes ma'am, we can be there at one."

Who gets the job?

Not the best climber. Not the lowest price. The one who answered.

By the time the first two call her back that evening, the limb is gone and the check is written.

This happens in your town every day. And if your phone goes to voicemail while you are in a tree, you are company number one or number two.

A few ways to fix it:

Have someone answer during the day, even part time.

Set up a text that goes out the second you miss a call: "Sorry we missed you. What is going on with your tree?"

Call every new lead back inside five minutes.

We can set that up for you.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

I want to give you something useful with no strings on it.

We wrote a full guide called "How to Get Tree Service Customers Fast." It is on our website and you do not have to give us anything to read it.

It walks through the ways tree companies actually get work, what each one costs, and how fast each one starts to pay.

If your phone has been quiet, start with the part on the fastest ways to get calls this month.

Read the guide

Read it, use what fits, and ignore the rest.

Talk soon,
David

P.S. If you would rather have us do it for you, that is what we are here for. Book your strategy call

{{first_name}},

I am planning what to write and film over the next few months, and I would rather answer your questions than guess.

So what is on your mind?

How to get bigger removal jobs?

What Google's "Verified" row costs and whether it is worth it?

How to keep crews busy in winter?

How to find and keep a good climber?

Whether Facebook really works for tree service?

Hit reply and tell me the one thing you most want an answer to. One line is fine.

I read every reply, and the best questions will turn into emails and videos.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

You find an ad that works. The phone rings for six weeks.

Then it slows down. Nothing changed. Same ad, same budget, same towns.

Here is what happened.

Your town only has so many homeowners. After a few weeks most of them have seen that ad four or five times. The ones who needed a tree guy already called. The rest scroll past it without seeing it.

The ad still looks the same to you. It just has nobody left to reach.

How to spot it: the cost per lead creeps up week after week, and the same people keep seeing it.

How to fix it: do not wait for it to die. Have the next ad ready. Swap the opening line, the video, or the job you are showing, before the old one runs out.

It is like rotating crews before they burn out, not after.

This is the weekly work nobody sees, and it is most of what keeps leads steady.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

One property manager can be worth fifty homeowners.

They look after dozens of properties. Every one has trees. Every storm is their problem. And they would love to have one tree company they can call and forget about.

Here is how to get in the door, and it costs nothing.

1. Make a list. Search for property management companies and HOA managers in your area. Twenty names is plenty.

2. Send a short note. "We are a local tree company. Fully insured. We do storm cleanup, removals and pruning. Can I send you our certificate of insurance and a price sheet so you have us on file?"

3. Have the paperwork ready. Insurance certificate, W-9, and photos of commercial jobs. They need those before they can use you.

4. Follow up after the next storm. That is when they need someone and their usual guy is not answering.

It is slow to start and steady once it does.

We wrote a full guide on getting tree customers fast if you want more ways.

Read the guide

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Here is what most tree companies do with a new lead.

Call once. No answer. Leave a voicemail. Move on.

Here is the problem. She filled in that form on her lunch break. By the time you called, she was back at work with her phone in a drawer.

That lead did nothing wrong. It was called once, at a bad time.

Try this:

Call within five minutes of the lead coming in. That is when she is still thinking about her tree.

If she does not answer, text right away. "Hi, it is David from the tree company. Just tried you about your tree. When is a good time?"

Call again that evening.

Call again the next morning, and the day after.

Five or six tries over three days, with a text each time.

It feels like too much. It is not. She asked you to call.

Most of our clients' booked estimates come from the second, third or fourth try, not the first.

We can set this up so it runs on its own.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

I can tell you all day that this works. It means more when you can see it.

So we put our clients' numbers on one page. Real tree companies, their own accounts, their own words.

You will find:

Legacy Tree & Crane in Oklahoma City. 112 leads in a month at about $32 a lead.

New Horizon Tree Service in Nashville. 120 leads at about $38.

Cut Rite Tree Service in Fresno. 90 leads at about $45.

Allscape Solutions in Albuquerque. 63 leads at about $46.

Each one has a short video from the owner.

See the results

Look for the company closest to your size and your kind of market. That one will tell you the most about what to expect.

Talk soon,
David

P.S. If you want to go through what it could look like in your market, book a call. Book your strategy call

{{first_name}},

No pitch today. One idea you can use this week.

When a customer loves the job, hand her five cards.

Each one says: "$100 off your tree work. From your neighbor." With your name and number.

Tell her: "If you know anyone who needs tree work, give them one of these. And when they book, I will send you a $50 gift card to say thanks."

Now she has a reason to bring you up, and something to hand over when she does.

A few things make it work:

Do it in person, right after the job, while she is happy.

Put her name on the card so you know who sent them.

Actually send the gift card. The same week.

The amounts are yours to set. The point is that a happy customer will send people your way if you make it easy.

Try it on your next five jobs.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Think about the last time you needed something fixed. A truck. A roof. A hydraulic line.

You called a few places. Most did not pick up. One called back two days later.

One answered right away, told you when they could be there, and showed up.

You gave them the work. You probably did not even ask the price first.

Now turn it around.

That is how every homeowner feels when she calls about a tree. She is not looking for the best arborist in the state. She wants someone who will answer and come when he says.

Being that company is not about skill. It is about a phone that gets answered and a call back inside five minutes.

That is all for today. No link.

Go check how long your last three leads waited for a call.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Owners always want to run the nice one.

The drone shot at sunset. The clean logo. The music.

And it loses, again and again, to a shaky phone video of a groundsman saying "watch this" while a crane lifts a tree over a house.

Why? The nice one looks like an ad, so people scroll past it. The phone video looks like something a neighbor posted, so they stop.

That does not mean polished never works. Sometimes it does. It means you do not get to pick. The homeowners in your town pick.

So run both.

A couple of rough videos shot on the job by your crew.

A couple of clean ones.

Let them run for two weeks and see which ones make the phone ring.

Then make more of whatever won, even if it is the one you did not like.

Have your crew film 20 seconds on every big job. That alone will give you more ads than most tree companies ever make.

Want to see which kinds are winning for tree companies right now?

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Some owners do not book a call because they expect a hard sell.

So here is exactly what happens.

It is 10 minutes, on the phone.

We ask about your company. How many crews, what kind of work you want more of, and what towns you cover.

We check whether your market is open. One tree company per market, so sometimes the answer is no and the call ends there.

If it is open, we tell you what we would do and what you could expect.

If it makes sense to keep going, the next step is a longer call where we walk you through the whole plan and the numbers.

The first call is only to see if we are a fit.

Have these ready and you will get more out of it:

Your monthly revenue, roughly.
How many crews you run.
The towns you want work in.
Your average job size.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

David here. Your copy of The Full Calendar is ready.

Open the guide

It is the short version of what we have learned running ads for tree companies: where the good removal jobs come from, what a lead really costs, and how to keep crews busy all year.

If you only do one thing this week, do the old estimate text on page one. Pull every quote from the last six months that never said yes and send them one line:

"Still need that tree handled? We have an opening next week."

It costs nothing and it can put a job on the board by Friday.

Read it. Use it. Then go get busy.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Yesterday I sent you The Full Calendar and asked you to do one thing: text your old estimates.

Did you?

If not, here it is again so you do not have to open anything:

"Hi, it is your name from your company. We quoted your tree a while back. We have a couple of openings this month. Want me to hold one for you?"

Send it to every quote from the last six months that never said yes.

Most quotes that went quiet were a "not yet." People get busy. They forget. One text brings some of them back.

Hit reply and tell me how many answered. I read every one.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Here is the idea from the guide that changes how owners look at marketing.

What you pay for a lead does not matter much. What you pay for a job does.

Example numbers:

A shared lead costs $65. You buy 40. Four turn into work. That is $650 a job.

A lead that comes only to you costs more, say $45 to $50, but more of them turn into work, because nobody else is calling her at the same time.

Our clients tell us what they close. In Nashville, New Horizon Tree Service closes around 65% of the estimates from our leads. In Fresno, Cut Rite closes around 60%.

So the cheap lead is often the expensive one.

Work out your own number. What you spent last month, divided by the jobs you got from it.

Run your numbers

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Most owners who find us have already tried buying leads.

The owner of Legacy Tree & Crane in Oklahoma City had. In his words he tried "ConX Pros, Networks Pros, Angie Leads."

Here is where he is now. In one recent 30 day stretch:

112 leads
About $32 a lead
Close rate around 65%

On video he told us he "cleared a $75,000 job" and that "most of the leads are 2,000 and above."

The difference was not his crew or his prices. Every one of those leads came to him only, from a homeowner in his own area.

He tells it better than I do. It is about a minute.

Watch the video

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

You have had the guide for a week. Here is what we do for the owners who would rather hand this off.

1. We run your ads. Facebook, Instagram and Google, for your company only.

2. Every lead comes to you alone. Homeowners in your own towns who need real tree work.

3. You answer the phone and book the estimate.

A few things to know:

One tree company per market. If your area is taken, we will tell you.

60 qualified leads in your first 30 days, or we work for free.

One flat monthly rate. No contracts. No setup fees.

The first step is a 10 minute call. We look at your market and your crews and tell you straight whether we can help.

Book your strategy call

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Last note from me about the guide.

We take one tree company per market. When an owner in your area starts with us, we stop taking calls from that area.

If you have been thinking about it, the easiest thing is to find out whether your market is open before you decide anything.

Reply to this email with the word MARKET and your city. We will check and write back.

Or grab a time and we will check on the call.

Book your strategy call

Either way, you will keep getting one email a week from me with something you can use. No charge, and you can stop it any time.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Your strategy call is booked. Here is how to get the most out of the 10 minutes.

1. Put it on your phone. The calendar buttons are on the page you just saw, and here again.

Add to my calendar

2. Save this number so you know it is us calling: (714) 410-6150.

3. Have four numbers ready:

Your monthly revenue, roughly
How many crews you run
The towns you want work in
Your average job size

That is all we need to tell you what we could do in your market.

If something comes up and you cannot make it, reply to this email and we will move it. Please do not just skip it. We hold the time for you.

See you on the call,
David

{{first_name}},

We talk tomorrow.

Before we do, take two minutes and hear from the owners we work with. Each video is about a minute.

Troy, New Horizon Tree Service, Nashville: "In less than six months we have scaled, opened another office and acquired more employees."

Jeremy, Allscape Solutions, Albuquerque: "When I first started it was just me and maybe two other guys. Now I have got about five, six guys and I am building a second crew right now."

Joe, Cut Rite Tree Service, Fresno: "Since I've been dealing with Dave from Home Service Direct, he's always kept our calendar full."

Watch the videos

Come with questions. If you want to know what it costs, how long it takes, or whether your town is open, ask. You will get a straight answer.

Talk tomorrow,
David

{{first_name}},

Quick reminder. Your strategy call is today.

We will call you from (714) 410-6150. Please pick up, it is us.

Have these in front of you:

Monthly revenue, roughly
Number of crews
The towns you want work in
Your average job size

It takes 10 minutes. By the end you will know whether your market is open and what we would do in it.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

We called at the time you picked and did not reach you.

No problem. Tree work does not run on a schedule, and I know you may have been in the middle of a job.

Your spot is still open. Pick a new time here and we will call you then.

Pick a new time

Or reply with a day and time that works and we will set it up for you.

One thing to know: we take one tree company per market, so I would not leave it too long if you want yours.

Talk soon,
David

{{first_name}},

Thanks for the call. Here is what we covered, in writing, so you have it.

We run your ads on Facebook, Instagram and Google, for your company only.

Every lead comes to you alone.

60 qualified leads in your first 30 days, or we work for free.

One flat monthly rate. No contracts. No setup fees.

The three things owners ask me after a call:

"What if it does not work in my town?" That is what the guarantee is for.

"I have been burned before." Most of our clients had too. That is why there is no contract.

"Can I handle that many leads?" We set the pace to what your crews can take, and turn it up when you are ready.

If you have a question we did not get to, reply here. I will answer it myself.

And if you are ready, tell me and we will get your market locked in.

Talk soon,
David