How to Grow Your Green Industry Company by 100% Every Year

When Joshua Marotta started Atlanta Arbor 5 years ago, his goal was to establish a different kind of tree service company, devoted to transparency and professionalism. “There is so much more to the tree care industry than just cutting trees,” says Marotta.

“When I first started doing tree work back in 2011, I had no idea what it involved…  I didn’t know the arboriculture side of managing and maintaining trees.”

His passion for the tree care industry wasn’t always this steadfast. Recalling his early years working in the industry, Joshua admits that he didn’t think there was much to tree work. “When I first started doing tree work back in 2011, I had no idea what it involved. I just thought you went out and cut down dead or hazardous trees. I didn’t know the arboriculture side of managing and maintaining trees,” he explains.

In 2014, Marotta became a member of the Georgia Arborist Associate, which opened his eyes to a new side of tree work. He realized that he could offer more to his employees and clients by becoming a certified specialist.

He started working with the city of Atlanta on ways to improve the standards and practices in tree work. That passion has led Marotta and other area industry leaders to establish a PAC to push for legislation that keeps everybody safe and accountable in the industry.

“You have to be the knowledge base for the client.”

Within his own businesses, Joshua has been able to build one of the most reputable teams in arboriculture in the southeast and on top of that, Atlanta Arbor has consistently grown 100% every year they’ve been in operation. What makes Atlanta Arbor different is their overall devotion to excellence and their unique approach to tree sales.

Morotta explains his sales philosophy, “Trees are a necessity, so the best way to sell them is to be as informative and knowledgeable as possible because most people don’t know much about trees. They think they’re pretty to look at or they’re very dangerous, but there isn’t much in between. So, you have to be the knowledge base for the client.”

In order to be a knowledge base for his clients, Joshua has dedicated a lot of time into getting his team trained and certified. Now, Atlanta Arbor has four ISA Certified Arborists on staff, with two more taking the test by the end of 2019. Joshua beams, “Two of those Arborists will be taking the Master Arborist test within the next couple of months– there are only a handful of those in the state of Georgia. We also have certified tree care safety professionals on staff.”

“There was no way we could continue to grow beyond two crews using the system we had. So, I knew something had to change.”

Joshua’s philosophy worked. Atlanta Arbor grew so much within the first year of business that they needed to look for a CRM system to keep up with the customers, the leads coming in, and the follow-ups that needed to be made. He explained, “There was no way we could continue to grow beyond two crews using the system we had. So, I knew something had to change.”

Atlanta Arbor began using SingleOps at the beginning of 2016 in order to streamline operations and achieve more diversified growth. Now, with SingleOps in place, Atlanta Arbor has been able to support its rapid growth and also provide better customer service.

Each year, Marotta holds a sales competition with his team, and after crushing last year’s growth competition, they are now focused on plant health care and aim to add $500,000 in sales in 2019. He is confident that his team will be able to easily reach this goal.

“I’m trying to slow down right now, so I can focus on core fundamentals and have everybody at 110%. I want to build up what we have.”

He also plans to continue educating his employees in arboriculture and safety, “I want to take everybody in the company through an aerial rescue training course so that they can learn how to rescue someone in a tree. There have been too many local safety issues and accidents this year that have resulted in death or near-death, and I don’t want any of my guys to be a part of those statistics.” To Marotta, having safe crews is just as important, if not more, than running big sales numbers. “As long as everyone runs safely, then they will run efficiently.”

All in all, the future looks very bright for Atlanta Arbor. When asked about his experience with the company overall, Marotta responded, “It’s been good. It’s been fun, with just a little bit of stress. I’m trying to slow down right now, so I can focus on core fundamentals and have everybody at 110%. I want to build up what we have.”

For more information about Atlanta Arbor and SingleOps, read our company case study.