In case this is the first time you’ve ever heard of ORB Tree Service Marketing, allow me a brief moment to explain what we do: We partner with tree service companies and provide the marketing services they need to achieve true growth.
Simply put, we help small and medium-sized companies like yours add another zero to their bottom line.
These partnerships all start with an exploratory phone call that gives us the chance to learn about your tree-care business and lay out the ways we can help.
But during these calls, we hear an unfortunate number of tree company owners make the same regrettable mistake; they fail to appreciate the value credentials, certifications, and other “badges” provide.
We’ll explain why this is a mistake and — most importantly — outline some of the credentials you and your staff can earn to help scale your business.
First Things First: Do All Tree-Care Companies Need Credentials and Certifications?
No.
If you’re content running around town fighting for jobs every day and constantly lowering your prices to win sales, you can just keep doing what you’re doing. There are plenty of tree companies that do exactly that.
But you’ll never achieve real growth that way.
To become a leader in your market, to stop engaging in race-to-the-bottom pricing wars, and to add another crew (or two) to your operation, you need to be a professional outfit that provides premium tree-care services.
And professionals earn their credentials.
A Common Contention: “Nobody Asks About Credentials”
We usually ask potential partners if there are ISA-certified arborists on staff during our exploratory calls. Unfortunately, we often hear something along the lines of “Eh, no. Nobody really cares if we’re certified or not.”
But that’s just wrong. At least, it is for companies interested in real growth.
To be clear, many prospective customers don’t care about certifications. A significant portion of homeowners simply care about getting the cheapest removal or pruning work they possibly can. There’s nothing wrong with that — everyone has budgetary limitations, and low- and middle-income homeowners need tree services too.
But that’s not the kind of customer you can rely on when trying to reach the land of seven figures.
To climb that mountain, you need customers who’re not looking for the cheapest option; you need customers looking for the best possible option. And those kinds of customers absolutely do care about credentials.
The Pros and Cons of Helping Your Crew Earn Tree-Care Credentials
The best way to illustrate the value credentials can provide is by weighing the pros and cons of obtaining them. But as you’ll see, it’s not a very close comparison at all.
The Benefits of Helping Your Crew Earn Tree-Care Credentials
There are scads of benefits to obtaining credentials yourself and helping your staff earn them, too. Some of the most noteworthy include:
- A Safer Work Culture: Additional education and training help to reduce accidents, liability, and downtime. And all of these things can help reduce your equipment-replacement costs and keep your insurance premiums manageable.
- Higher Quality Work: Trained and certified staff members know the best industry practices, as well as how to apply them to achieve professional-caliber results. This leads to healthier trees, fewer unforeseen problems, and fewer margin-crushing callbacks.
- Improved Credibility: While bargain-hunting customers may not care about credentials, high-end clients are interested in hiring experts who provide high-quality work. Credentials help in this manner, as they set your company apart in the eyes of homeowners, HOAs, and municipalities.
- Access to Better-Paying Jobs: Many commercial, government, and utility contracts require specific certifications. To be fair, some of these jobs offer relatively low margins, but they can help keep your calendar full and offer indirect marketing opportunities.
- Employee Retention: Hiring reliable crew members is one of the most common challenges we hear from tree-care companies, so it’s always important to retain the high-performing members of your staff. And when you invest in your people and provide them with growth opportunities, they tend to stick around.
- Better Marketing Story: Plastering digital badges and certification logos on your website will immediately help reposition you in your customers’ eyes. And if you can boast advanced credentials, like having a Board-Certified Master Arborist or Registered Consulting Arborist on staff, you’ll instantly rise to the top of the local pile.
- Leadership Pipeline: While employee retention is important, you also have to prepare for crew members to leave, retire, or begin working for themselves. By helping your newer staff members earn certifications, you’ll have new future crew leaders, estimators, and supervisors ready to take their place.
The Drawbacks of Helping Your Crew Earn Tree-Care Credentials
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and there are some drawbacks to helping your crew earn additional credentials. But as you’ll soon see, they’re not anything that should stand in your way.
- Costs: You’ll have to cough up a little cash to earn credentials yourself or pay for your staff members to obtain them. But these kinds of costs are pretty negligible for most certifications, like ISA certification or CPR certification. RSCA and BCMA credentials do entail some significant costs, but they have bigger payoffs too.
- Time: Your staff members may need to take some time off to prepare for exams, attend classes, or obtain CEUs to keep their certifications current. But as with the actual fees you’ll pay, these kinds of investments are pretty easy to make when you consider the value the certifications and credentials will provide.
That’s it — those are the only two reasons you shouldn’t be helping your team earn additional credentials right now.
Certifications and Credentials Tree Care Professionals Should Consider
Hopefully, you now understand the value that credentials can provide to tree-care services. So, review the following list and try to figure out which ones would work best for your organization’s staff.
Arboriculture & Tree Care Specific Credentials
To start, we’ll list some of the most important credentials that apply specifically to arboriculture.
- ISA Certified Arborist: A foundational certification that demonstrates broad professional knowledge of tree biology, care practices, and safety standards, this is the single most important credential to obtain.
- ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ): This credential is a major value-add for anyone conducting inspections, preparing reports, or evaluating hazardous trees.
- ISA Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA): An advanced certification that is primarily appropriate for senior staff, this credential helps position a company as an expert-level authority.
- ISA Certified Arborist Utility Specialist: This credential is helpful for crews performing line-clearance work or municipal contracts around utilities.
- TCIA Certified Treecare Safety Professional (CTSP): This is a widely recognized safety certification that highlights a company’s commitment to accident prevention and establishing a strong culture of safe work practices.
- TCIA Tree Care Specialist Programs: These programs provide focused training in specialized areas such as ground operations, aerial lift work, and crane operations.
- Pesticide and/or Fertilizer Applicator’s License (State-Level): These licenses are required for offering many plant health care services, including fertilization and pest treatments.
- Tree Climbing Specialist Certifications (ISA or TCIA): These certifications help demonstrate that an arborist has learned the climbing techniques necessary to carry out safer and more efficient work in the canopy.
- Municipal Specialist (ISA): This credential is designed for arborists working with municipalities, HOAs, or right-of-way (ROW) contracts, and it demonstrates skills in urban forestry and public tree management.
Safety & Operations Credentials
In addition to credentials that are specifically designed for arborists, there are also a number of safety- and operation-related credentials, which can be helpful for positioning your tree-care service as a local leader.
- CPR / First Aid / AED: These training courses are pretty basic, but they’re absolutely essential for ensuring the safety of your crew members.
- OSHA 10/30 (Construction or General Industry): Even though they’re designed primarily for other industries, these certifications help further build your company’s credibility and foster a stronger safety culture.
- EHAP (Electrical Hazards Awareness Program – TCIA): This program is critical for any crew performing work near energized utilities.
- CDL (Commercial Driver’s License): Mandatory for your employees who operate bucket trucks, chippers, and log trucks, the more CDLs you have on your staff, the more flexibility you’ll enjoy.
- Chainsaw Safety / Felling Certification (Game of Logging or Equivalent): This type of certification develops technical skill and reduces the risk of accidents during felling operations or anytime chainsaws are involved.
- Aerial Rescue Certification: This certification demonstrates that the company takes emergency preparedness seriously and equips its crews to respond effectively in crisis situations.
Specialized Skill Credentials
There are also a few other types of credentials available, which may further elevate your credibility and better position you to dominate your local market.
- Manufacturer Certifications: Many equipment manufacturers, such as Vermeer, offer operator training and certification programs for stump grinders and other heavy machinery.
- AirSpade/Air Knife Training: Several suppliers and distributors provide training or certifications on things like proper root collar excavation, soil decompaction, and safe air-excavation techniques.
- Certified Crane Operator (NCCCO): A nationally recognized certification, this credential is required for employees who operate cranes during large tree removals.
- Drone Pilot License (FAA Part 107): This license allows your employees to legally operate drones for mapping, aerial inspections, and marketing footage.
These Tree-Care Credentials Won’t Market Themselves
By earning some of these credentials yourself (or helping your staff to do the same), you’ll have the chance to reposition your company. You’ll start earning higher-paying jobs and getting calls from an entirely different type of customer in no time.
If, that is, potential customers know that your company has these credentials. You have to adjust your marketing to reap the rewards they provide.
That doesn’t mean you can just slap some badges and icons on your website and call it a day; you have to weave your credentials throughout your messaging efforts, including everything from your visual assets to your web copy to your social media posts.
We can help you do exactly that. We understand the best ways to leverage these new credentials and turn them into the kinds of trust signals that resonate with potential clients. Contact us now to learn more or to set up a discovery call with our CEO.
Sources and References
- TreeFund – Arboricultural Standards and Credentials
Overview of how standards like ANSI A300 and Z133, along with professional credentials, evolved in the tree care industry.
https://www.treefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Building-and-Growing-Professionals-for-Trees.pdf - ISA / Journal of Arboriculture – “Motivations and Barriers of Professional Certification for Tree Workers” (Gordon, 2024)
Qualitative and survey-based research exploring why arborists choose to pursue or avoid credentials.
https://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/early/2024/04/01/jauf.2024.008 - Vermeer ProTips – “Why Certification Is Important for the Tree Care Industry”
Article outlining the business, marketing, and client-trust benefits of arborist credentials.
https://protips.vermeer.com/tree-care-landscape/2013/11/why-certification-is-important-for-the-tree-care-industry-1/ - TCI Magazine – “Tree Care Marketing Solutions: The Value of ‘Marketing for Arborists, by Arborists’”
Highlights how promoting certified arborists adds legitimacy and professional authority in marketing.
https://tcimag.tcia.org/business-strategy/tree-care-marketing-solutions-the-value-of-marketing-for-arborists-by-arborists/ - Indeed – “Arborist Certifications To Consider (With FAQs)”
General public-facing overview of common arborist certifications and their career benefits.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/arborist-certifications
