How Lawn Doctor’s Internal Onboarding System and Soft Roll Out Program Prepares Franchisees for Success

In many parts of the country the first signs of spring are finally here, and no one is more prepared to take on this busy season than Lawn Doctor franchisees, who have already spent months preparing to deliver the best service possible. Being a great Lawn Doctor franchisee doesn’t happen overnight—that’s why many of the brand’s new owners spend months before a busy season preparing to deliver the best-in-class customer service and industry-leading lawn care solutions that Lawn Doctor has built its name on. These kinds of preparedness and training measures have earned Lawn Doctor the highest customer retention rate in the $78-billion-a-year lawn and landscape services industry.

Lawn Doctor has seen exponential growth in the past year and earned several industry accolades, including a spot at No. 58 in the Franchise 500. With so much good buzz comes many new franchisees, but the Lawn Doctor executive team has the onboarding process down to a science. A good number of new Lawn Doctor franchisees, including Josh and Shannon Stewart, Joe Ramirez and Chris Clark, participated in the brand’s training session in the fall of 2019 to prepare for 2020.

Lawn Doctor franchisees hit the ground running every spring. “If they do what we call the ‘soft rollout,’ then they have that time to gear up and really prepare themselves for that moment when they start getting heavy lead flow,” says one of the company’s franchise business advisors, Maria Candelaria. “Basically, giving them that longer lead time prior to the busy season gives owners time to not only learn the equipment but learn the system.”

Kim Cacace, onboarding specialist at Lawn Doctor’s parent company Happinest, explained the onboarding and training process and its myriad benefits. “The onboarding process is streamlined and very user friendly,” said Cacace. “This is valuable because it uses a standardized, internal automated system and software that allows our franchisees to keep all their information in one place.”

Cacace went on to explain that the internal onboarding system isn’t just for newcomers. It is used by all franchisees as a resource throughout the duration of their ownership tenure. “It pretty much gives them an automated checklist of items that they need to complete to get their business up and running and keep their business on task,” said Cacace.

“It also houses training and marketing materials that they and their local teams can use. We have streamlined the process to ensure there are never any stones left unturned and to help our owners stay on track regardless if where they are in their business.”