P R E S I D E N T ’ S
Massachusetts Arborists Association, Inc.
M E S S A G E
Board of Directors
President
Trumbull Barrett, MCA
Barrett Tree Service East
Medford, MA
Vice President
Ray Rose, MCA
Town of Wrentham
Wrentham, MA
Secretary/Treasurer
Neal Reilly, MCA
The Reilly Tree Company
Plainville, MA
Past President
Natascha Batchelor, MCA
Davey Tree Expert Company
East Falmouth, MA
MCA Representative
Brandon Maltby, MCA
Maltby & Co., Inc.
Stoughton, MA
Trumbull Barrett, MCA was elected the MAA’s new president at the association’s annual meeting
on November 19, 2019. He thanked outgoing president, Natascha Batchelor, MCA and the
MAA’s management team. He also welcomed Max Ford-Diamond, MCA to the board of
directors. The following is an excerpt from his speech that evening.
“When Barrett Tree Service East joined the MAA 12 years ago, we were a one-
person operation looking to connect with peers and mentors. Since then, thanks
to the sometimes painfully candid advice we received from many of you, our
company has been able to grow with direction and purpose. Perhaps most
importantly, the Association has fostered in us a pride in, and appreciation of,
our status as professionals. That’s what I’d like to talk about tonight.
Over the last year or so, several coworkers and friends have purchased homes.
As many of you know, with home ownership comes the need to hire skilled trades-
people like plumbers, electricians and so on for the first time. These new home-
owners don’t have pre-existing relationships, they’re calling tradespeople as pro-
spective clients. What I learned from them is that most skilled professionals won’t
come out to their properties for free, rather they require an initial site visit fee.
So it got me thinking, why? Why do other skilled trades require a site visit fee to
meet with prospects?
In thinking about it, it became clear that the answer is pretty simple: these pro-
fessionals value their time and knowledge. They know the value in what they
provide during those site visits: diagnoses & solutions based on ability, skill and
experience.
Directors
Kevin Cleveland, MCA
Tree Tech
Foxboro, MA
Russell Holman, MCA , CTSP
Hartney Greymont
Concord, MA
Max Ford-Diamond, MCA
City of Boston
Boston, MA
Executive Director
M. Virginia Wood, CMP
Membership & Certification Manager
Carrie Martin
Management Team
Peggy Benjamin
Kristen Dreyer
Charissa Sharkey
MASSACHUSETTS ARBORISTS
ASSOCIATION, INC.
8-D Pleasant Street South
Natick, MA 01760
(508) 653-3320
FAX: (508) 653-4112
[email protected]
MassArbor.org
2 MAA NEWS / March 2020
Trumbull Barrett, MCA
President, MAA
This begs the question, why don’t we as professional
and credentialed arborists do this? Our time and recom-
mendations are valuable! We are the experts in our field.
Clearly, we value each other’s time: we pay to come to
these meetings just to talk to one another! I challenge
you to try and convince the person sitting next to you at
dinner tonight that their time, advice and experience
should be given - for free - to whoever asks for it. Ever
hear of a lawyer or accountant who does that? They are
service professionals just like we are. They have educa-
tion, training, credentials and experience just like we
do. And most of them don’t need to buy a half million
dollars of equipment to do their jobs – rather they sell
their knowledge and experience.
I think it’s time as members of the MAA that we cement our position as true pro-
fessionals and value our time accordingly. If someone calls and wants your rec-
ommendations, that’s great – go provide it and get paid to do that. A prospective
client will respect you more for it, they’ll value your time because they’re paying
for it, and they will treat you like the professional that you are.
To make this shift is a risk, and when our team at Barrett Tree Service East was
considering it this Spring it was a hard decision. We’ve only been at it for six
months now, but so far the data reveals that we are on track to collect around
1,500 initial visit fees per year from meeting with prospective clients: people who
found us online, saw us driving by, heard about us on the neighborhood group,
and paid us to meet with them.”