How Velvet Green Increased Customers by Almost 240% Using RealGreen and Slingshot
About Velvet Green
Wakefield, MA-based Velvet Green specializes in organic lawn care. They are committed to growing healthy, green, and sustainable lawns. They were founded in 2015 and have been a RealGreen customer since 2018.
The Challenge
Growth is good! When you can manage it
Velvet Green was on a growth path – a good problem to have, but one that was creating some issues as they tried to scale. Plenty of calls were coming in, but the company didn’t have the staff to handle all of them in a timely manner. What’s more, “we couldn’t really afford to hire a whole new body to be in the office full time,” says Tom Johnson, Business Operations. “I used to come in on a Monday morning and we would have 15 to 20 voicemails.” Spending hours catching up with customer service issues, requests for estimates and more became time-consuming and difficult to manage. According to Johnson, “with the influx of calls we were getting during our busy hours, we were actually missing a lot of opportunities for new sales.”
The Solution
RealGreen’s SA5 + Slingshot = a winning team
Velvet Green was already using RealGreen when Johnson joined the company, “but if they hadn’t, I probably would have recommended it myself,” he says. “They needed something that put their entire business in one spot – a single CRM system that could handle everything. They were doing so many different things with scheduling, financing, and customer service – I think that’s why they chose RealGreen.” Johnson was tasked with finding a solution that would help them provide good customer service while managing the influx of calls, without having to hire additional staff. Ultimately he decided on Slingshot’s call center services. Because it’s integrated with RealGreen, all customer information gathered by Slingshot’s customer service representatives is automatically input into the system. “Being able to come in and have zero voicemails and having all the messaging in their accounts in the RealGreen system has been amazing,” according to Johnson.
The Results
More than triple the customers in three years
The results were swift – and significant. In 2019, Velvet Green had around 250 customers; just three years later in 2022, they were up to nearly 900 customers. The results speak for themselves.
The Value
The right solutions mean great customer service – which adds up to growth
Johnson notes that having the Slingshot reps well-versed in Velvet Green’s offerings and in RealGreen’s Service Assistant 5 has been invaluable. “Slingshot’s reps have direct access to our SA5 system. They can look someone up, put a note in their account, and then it shows up for us. That access is amazing because they are not just taking notes and then sending us an email. All the notes they take, and any calls they answer, are all in Service Assistant. So we’re able to look back on what was said and go back and make adjustments,” he says.
The winning combination of RealGreen and Slingshot has helped improve operations and growth at Velvet Green, adds Johnson, saying that the solutions have helped reduce both stress and workload during the busy season. “Having that kind of constant thought in the back of your head, reminding yourself that yes, you can go out on that sales call and you won’t be overwhelmed when you get back to the office. Because someone will pick up the phone and they will take a message and they will get that information. They will gather emails, phone numbers, and contacts.”
“RealGreen has been very helpful with organizing everything and maintaining everything,” continues Johnson. “A big part of my job is customer service, and our rule of thumb is if you treat your customers right, they’ll come back to you for the next season. Without RealGreen, we wouldn’t really have an opportunity to do that.”
Industry
Organic Lawn Care
The Challenge:
– Growth without ability to hire full-time office staff
– Too many voicemails and missed calls on Monday mornings
– Missed calls and missed opportunities
The Solution:
– Service Assistant® Centralized Customer Information
– Slingshot 24/7 call center services
– Seamless integration
The Results:
– Grew from 250 to almost 900 customers in three years
– Went from 15-20 voicemails on a Monday morning to zero
– Increased sales, customer satisfaction and employee retention
