When CRM + Social Media Had a Baby & Named It LawnJobOS.

CRM Met Social Media. Things Escalated.

They had almost nothing in common. One watched the money, kept a calendar and clipped coupons. The other spent freely, collected friends and had absolutely no idea what was happening Tuesday. Somehow, they had LawnJobOS.

There are couples you meet and immediately understand. They dress alike, order the same wine and apparently both enjoy getting up at six in the morning on vacation.

Then there are the couples that make you wonder how they ever ended up in the same room.

CRM and Social Media were very much the second kind.

CRM had always been the responsible one. Not particularly exciting, perhaps, but dependable in a way you learn to appreciate. It knew where the money went. It remembered appointments. It kept customer information organized, followed up on things and never — ever — fell off its calendar.

CRM was also careful with money. It compared prices. It watched expenses. There was probably a drawer somewhere containing coupons that hadn't expired yet.

Social Media found this adorable.

Social Media had a different relationship with money. Money was something that occasionally disappeared over brunch.

There was always somewhere to go, somebody to see and something worth taking a picture of. Social Media collected friends everywhere, knew what everyone was doing and somehow managed to hear about the new place in town before the sign was even installed.

Organization wasn't exactly a strength. Neither was punctuality. But put Social Media in a room full of strangers and, twenty minutes later, nobody was a stranger.

CRM couldn't understand how anyone lived like this.

Social Media couldn't understand why anyone owned a filing cabinet.

Naturally, their eyes locked.

It was probably a terrible idea.

At first, the attraction was mostly curiosity.

Social Media dragged CRM out more often. There were new people to meet, things to see, pictures to take and conversations happening everywhere. CRM was horrified by the lack of structure but couldn't ignore one thing: Social Media knew everybody.

Not just names, either. Social Media knew what people liked, what they were talking about, what they were recommending and, importantly, what they wanted next.

CRM had never seen anything like it.

CRM's world was different. Customers arrived with names, phone numbers, appointments and actual dollar values attached to them. Things had a beginning and an end. Quotes went out. Jobs got scheduled. Payments came in. There was order.

Social Media secretly found that kind of attractive.

For the first time, all those conversations, likes, pictures, followers and recommendations seemed like they might actually lead somewhere.

The relationship became serious surprisingly quickly.

Friends said it wouldn't last.

To be fair, there were warning signs.

CRM wanted to know what the plan was for Saturday.

Social Media wanted to know why Saturday needed a plan.

CRM suggested setting a monthly budget.

Social Media had just discovered a really cute little place downtown.

CRM wanted customers entered properly.

Social Media wanted to show CRM a video.

There were disagreements.

But somewhere between the calendar reminders and the late-night posts, something started working.

Social Media was exceptionally good at attracting people. It could show a landscaper's finished backyard to thousands of homeowners, put a tattoo artist's latest work in front of someone looking for their next piece, or introduce a guitar teacher to a parent who hadn't even started searching for lessons yet.

CRM, meanwhile, knew exactly what to do once those people became interested.

That was the part neither had expected.

One could create attention.

The other could turn attention into business.

Things escalated.

The courtship became something of a whirlwind.

CRM loosened up. Social Media started using a calendar. There were rumours that an expense had actually been recorded.

Then came the big questions.

Why should somebody see a service they want on social media, leave the post, hunt down the business, find a website, search for the service again and eventually arrive at some completely different booking system?

Why couldn't the thing that created the interest be connected to the thing that handled the business?

Why were we keeping the social side of a service business and the operating side of a service business on opposite sides of the internet?

CRM looked at Social Media.

Social Media looked at CRM.

We'll give them some privacy here.

This is still a business publication.

Some time later, there was a nervous wait at the hospital.

CRM had packed three days early.

There was a folder containing all the necessary paperwork, insurance information, identification and, for reasons nobody completely understood, two restaurant coupons.

Social Media had packed that morning.

There were four phone chargers but no socks.

Both were terrified.

And then LawnJobOS arrived.

Healthy.

A little loud.

Surprisingly organized.

And already attracting attention.

They called it a Social Booking Platform.

As ridiculous as our little romance may be, the idea behind it isn't.

Service businesses have spent years operating in two separate digital worlds.

There is the business world: customers, bookings, calendars, quotes, payments, services and revenue.

Then there is the social world: posts, photos, followers, sharing, recommendations, discovery and attention.

Most software chose one side.

LawnJobOS brings the two together.

A business can create a public page, list services, take bookings and payments, manage customers, send quotes, run a calendar and sell relevant products through MyStore.

But that same business can also post its work, build its own feed, share content across social channels and give customers something worth following and sharing.

Most importantly, the two sides aren't strangers anymore.

The work someone discovers can lead to the service they can actually book.

The business page someone shares isn't just a digital brochure. It does something.

The audience isn't sitting in one system while the business lives somewhere else.

Customer. Business. Platform. Connected.

Which, when you think about it, was probably inevitable.

CRM was always good at looking after business.

Social Media was always good at finding people.

One watched the money. The other attracted the crowd. One never missed an appointment. The other could turn a Tuesday afternoon into an event for no apparent reason.

Separately, both were useful.

Together, they make considerably more sense.

We just don't recommend asking too many questions about how LawnJobOS got here.

The parents are very happy.

And frankly, they're exhausted.