Choosing the right software for your company is no easy venture.
“Cost aside, it’s labor intensive, and you need to consider every single facet (of the software) and how it’s going to impact every bit of your business,” says Ted Ventre, owner and general manager of Hively Landscapes in Dover, Pa.
Ventre, along with Greyson Walldorff, CEO of Lawn Capital in Decatur, Ga., and Jonathan Goldsmith, partner and director of sales at Lawn Capital explain their processes for selecting a software.
Alleviating growing pains
Having grown from an $80,000 company in 2016 to a $950,000 operation in 2019, Lawn Capital leans on Jobber to keep its systems in order.
“We have a story of growing fast and putting our heads down, and systems are the most important in making sure you can continue to grow,” Walldorff says.
The company, which provides maintenance, installation and irrigation services to a primarily residential clientele, was founded in early 2017 and chose to move forward with Jobber in fall 2017.
“We realized that the amount of money going in and out of our accounts would not be able to be tracked without a software that would allow us to collect money through invoices and later through credit cards with Jobber’s autopay feature,” Goldsmith says. “Earlier, we weren’t getting paid for 45 days and then running into some tough situations where our payroll was due but the money wasn’t yet collected.”
In addition to helping with cutting down invoicing from one full workday to just a few hours, the software has assisted the company in managing its job calendar and delegating tasks to crew members, which helps when it comes to servicing 240-plus properties a month, Walldorff says.
A big hurdle was getting customers accustomed to using the software to view job statuses and stay updated with payment information. To educate customers, Lawn Capital launched an email campaign that included how-to instructions and screenshots of the interface.
Trust the process
When Ventre purchased Hively Landscapes about 10 years ago, the company relied on an antiquated software that it deemed inadequate. So, the company, which provides 50 percent maintenance and 50 percent design/build services to a 100 percent residential clientele, transitioned to a different software, which Ventre describes as being “cumbersome and lacking in support.”
Ventre began researching other options and after six months, landed on Aspire Software for his 40-employee company.
“I talked to a lot of peers in the industry who were using it and who were happy with it, and I interviewed the software company, too,” Ventre says.
Aspire went live at Hively in March 2018, after more than a year of training staff and onboarding to figure out how to successfully implement the software.
“Aspire guided us through the entire process,” Ventre says. “Our office staff is not so large, so it was impossible for us to dedicate someone solely to the implementation. It took 18 months to get to where we are, using the software instead of learning the software.”
Ventre says the software has helped with production and accountability by being able to dive into job and project data; with operations and financial planning by streamlining how the company does invoicing and payroll; and with overall communication with clients on the status or outcome of jobs.
He advises that everyone in the company should be on the same page in order for the software to be implemented successfully.
