Anchor Tree Service
Anchor Tree Service is a small, privately owned tree care business focusing on trimming, removal, stump grinding, and palm installation services in Naples, Florida.
Challenge
Running a fast growing business while estimating on paper was prone to errors and required an enormous amount of time.
Fixes
- 1‐2 hours per day time savings
- Eliminated double entry
- Increased customer satisfaction
- Increased employee and field technician productivity
It takes a system to create a growing business.
Anchor Tree Service, founded in 1999, used QuickBooks® for accounting and paper for estimating and invoicing. New customer calls were often taken in the field and important customer and job information was scribbled down on the nearest scrap of paper. Transcribing these hurried notes into real estimates and invoices every night took an enormous amount of time and energy.
When the new owner, Erica Williams, purchased the company in October 2007, she knew things had to change. “The old system of paper was a mess and resulted in late nights and loss of important customer information,” she said. At first, Anchor Tree tried using a combination of email and Microsoft Excel to streamline their estimating workflow, but this was time-consuming and error-prone because the information still had to be double-entered into QuickBooks® for final invoicing and accounting.
Kickserv's 6 steps
for growing your business
- 1.Identify the pain points in the business
- 2.Write down and describe the pain points
- 3.Design a system to overcome the pain point
- 4.Implement the system
- 5.Designate a person to own the system
- 6.Measure the results
The pain.
One day a customer called in and asked about an invoice he never received. After realizing a $2,000 job had almost fallen through the cracks, Erica made the decision to find a better system.
The fix.
The QuickBooks® integration… there is no double-entry work…I just click sync, the invoice appears in QuickBooks® and I email it straight to the customer. Kickserv eliminates the room for error because everything is entered once in the computer.
Customers love Kickserv's professionalism."
--Erica Williams,
Anchor Tree Service
Definition of success.
“Our estimator in the field loves the mobile site. He walks around the backyard with a customer and they say, I want a plant here, and he adds it to the estimate right there via mobile phone. After the walkthrough he shows them the estimate total and explains that a full estimate will be emailed to them. Customers love Kickserv’s professionalism.”
From office employees to techs in the field, moving Anchor Tree Service onto Kickserv has increased the productivity of the entire team. Finally, some benefits are hard to quantify. Besides the great time-savings we enjoy, we love the professionalism that Kickserv gives our company and our customers do too.
The resolution.
How did you find Kickserv®?
Erica was a firm believer in the power of the web, and she needed a software solution that would work with QuickBooks®. She started her search in the QuickBooks® Solutions Marketplace, and found Kickserv®. She decided to take it for a spin, signed up for a free trial, and was immediately impressed.
Why did you choose Kickserv®?
I really liked how easy it was to import all my data into Kickserv® from QuickBooks®. The simplicity of the tools offered by Kickserv® and the varied ways to access the same customer and job data continued to excite the team at Anchor Tree.
How many hours does Kickserv® save you each day?
Kickserv® saves us 1‐2 hours a day.
What is your favorite Kickserv® feature?
The QuickBooks® integration.
- Store customer and job records in one place, online
- Use Kickserv's sales tools to follow up and follow through with customers
- Schedule multiple events in Kickserv® for all the different stages of jobs
- Use Kickserv's messaging to keep customers and techs coordinated
