There’s a perception among consumers and industry professionals that ISA certification offers a benchmark of competency in arboriculture. For partners without a deep bench of certified arborists, there’s an opportunity to grow by gradually ensuring that client-facing sales staff achieves this credential. However, there’s no rush; we see ISA certification as a valuable first step only! If companies don’t emphasize the second, third, and subsequent steps, this credential itself will have very limited value – to the employee as well as the client. We believe in ongoing training and continuous improvement. Let each salesperson get certified when it makes sense for them and their career.

In the meantime, the best way to improve the expertise of staff is to simply provide services as the opportunities present themselves. It works like this: A tree service company salesperson or manager realizes that a client is in need of a consulting service that they don’t currently offer or understand. Instead of passing on the opportunity, they ask their client if they’re open to a proposal from a partner company to perform the work. If this results in a contract to perform work, Vertical Forestry collaborates with the contact person to provide the deliverable for the client, resulting in mutual learning and a positive result for the client.

As companies grow and begin to offer recurring services such as Plant Health Care, the demand for continued expertise and knowledge grows. This is especially true if a company has exposure to construction clients, municipal clients, or institutional clients, which often value the planning phase of arboriculture in equal proportion to the proper execution of the work.

We’re proud to collaborate with professionals from diverse industries – as well as our partner companies – to offer consulting services in accordance with the growing demand. Please see existing programs for more details.