so, other than post cards, why not use Square Sceduling?

[Mikey P]

https://squareup.com/appointments


It's HCP with out the risk...

 

[jcooper]

Love my credit card reader.

It's only a matter of time until they have even more services for businesses like ours.

 

[Mikey P]

it's here now, I set up my 30 free trail site and linked my yelp page to offer free online booking for NV....

 

[ruff]

Just curious:

1. What's HCP's risk?
2. If you cover a large area, how do you handle rout efficiency via online booking? Meaning not scheduling one client an hour drive from the other.
3. Is that the same credit card Square?

 

[Mikey P]

Just curious:

1. What's HCP's risk?
2. If you cover a large area, how do you handle rout efficiency via online booking? Meaning not scheduling one client an hour drive from the other.
3. Is that the same credit card Square?

1.I dont think HCP was built for the long run. the whole premise is about having home owners use the app to find home service companies and HCP collecting a 10% finders fee. That aint going to happen IMO.

2.All requests are set to be approved before set in stone.

3. yes and it's a very cool program. I have it set up to take a $50 deposit that is non refundable if canceled within 12 hours. Lots of neat features that I suggest you check out along with a free 30 day trial

 

[Mikey P]

 

[jcooper]

Ofer Kolton said: ↑
Just curious:
What's HCP's risk?
If you cover a large area, how do you handle rout efficiency via online booking? Meaning not scheduling one client an hour drive from the other.
Is that the same credit card Square?
1.I dont think HCP was built for the long run. the whole premise is about having home owners use the app to find home service companies and HCP collecting a 10% finders fee. That aint going to happen IMO.
2.All requests are set to be approved before set in stone.
3. yes and it's a very cool program. I have it set up to take a $50 deposit that is non refundable if canceled within 12 hours. Lots of neat features that I suggest you check out along with a free 30 day trial

I believe/hope you can shut off all the "extra" stuff and just use it as a database and reminder program.(like 30$ month).

 

[hogjowl]

I'll have Meg look into it.

 

[jcooper]

I'll have Meg look into it.

Lol, thanks.

 

[BIG WOOD]

Square scheduling is gonna be on my things to do list of research this weekend. I'm really frustrated with service monster's promises of ROI at their cost each month.
I'm getting really frustrated about my 9 and 12 month reminders I'm having them out. First off, let me start by saying that the ROI is not accurate. I've only got 2 jobs recorded on it resulting in 362% ROI. On paper, that's a great number. On reality, that's false. Both of those jobs are from my customers who have been customers of mine religiously every year for the last decade. So, in reality, my ROI is negative. The cards are BUTT UGLY, and the message isn't working. I'm paying a ridiculous amount each month for scheduling and reminders and the only thing I'm feeling I'm getting out of this is convenience of scheduling and recording income. Quickbooks and other scheduling software for a dramatic amount less is starting to sound better for this Owner/Operator. I need to see some action on this matter to bring back my ROI to what they brag about, or I'll be signing off very shortly

 

[hogjowl]

I agree.
But, short of doing it myself, it's still the best option.

 

[BIG WOOD]

I agree.
But, short of doing it myself, it's still the best option.

Are you saying no other company provides this service?

 

[Nomad74]

Matt, Look at TheCostomerFactor and the add on application SendJim. It's what I use and am very happy with it. $35 a month and it does a lot. I'm currently managing 626 customers easily. Then the sendJim is $40 a month and it takes care of all my reminders, thank you cards, and referral request cards. It's totally automated. They immediately get a thank you card, then two days later they get a referral request card and get referral requests every two months for a year, then at 6 months they get a reminder card and also another one at 12 months. When I rebook them, the sequence starts over. If I don't hear from them after a year, they go into a reminder card sequence every two months until they call.

When i'm done with a job, I just make a few clicks and the customer is automatically setup to get my cards for a year. I had my girl design my cards and we loaded them into Sendjim.

Sendjim also has something new called radius bomb. I can pull up a neighborhood on a map and click on the specific houses that I want to send fliers too. For example, if I want to send out a 5-around card that says "I just cleaned your neighbor's house, you need to hire me to keep up with the Jones's" , I can just pull up the house I worked at, then click on all their surrounding neighbors.

I'll post some pics of my cards. These are my Thank You cards and Referral request cards, Front and back.

 

[dealtimeman]

Good work Damon.

 

[Nomad74]

Good work Damon.

Hey thanks man, I appreciate it, especially since I know Marty will tell me I'm an idiot. Lol

 

[Jim Williams]

I'm still in the stone ages as far as scheduling goes. My web designer asked me if I wanted online scheduling and I told her no way. I don't even have my email address on my website because it just over complicates scheduling. I still only use a day planner.

So some of you guys who use online scheduling, how does it work when you are also having customers calling? How do you know what days you have open? Are you able to look at your online schedule while you are on the phone? Help a caveman out.

 

[BIG WOOD]

I'm still in the stone ages as far as scheduling goes. My web designer asked me if I wanted online scheduling and I told her no way. I don't even have my email address on my website because it just over complicates scheduling. I still only use a day planner.

So some of you guys who use online scheduling, how does it work when you are also having customers calling? How do you know what days you have open? Are you able to look at your online schedule while you are on the phone? Help a caveman out.

I switched from the paper/pen day planner last August 2016. I had the same question, so I still use my hand written calendar in my vehicle and enter my schedule planner on my computer at home when I get home from work and on the weekends.

The most benefit that I've been able to see since last August is how easy it is to pull up previous and all past job activities when the data is needed, email invoices, and confirm the correct address because it's linked to GPS software when I enter the job.

 

[Papa John]

I use Service Monster and their Super Agents service. I like what I have.
I'm also lazy and don't like Change too much; so I tend to be a very loyal customer unless a service provider really screws up.

 

[PrimaDonna]

Are you saying no other company provides this service?

He knows other companies do, but it's easier to keep in all in one place since he's using SM. I agree with @Matt Wood when it comes to the actual ROI of SM cards and the design of them. They are quite out dated. Joe keeps alluding/promising that SM will be linked up with Send Jim soon, but no dates/timeline. Just that it's coming. It's anyone's guess how long that will take.

We've significantly scaled back on sending out cards through them. The only think I do like is that they come in an envelope. I like the idea of clients having to open something up, vs. sorting mail over the trashcan and tossing a post card.

 

[Papa John]

I agree with @Matt Wood when it comes to the actual ROI of SM cards and the design of them. They are quite out dated.
I do like is that they come in an envelope. I like the idea of clients having to open something up, vs. sorting mail over the trashcan and tossing a post card.

SM gives you the ability to edit the text inside the cards. SM also has a self service option for the FMS reminder cards.
We switched postcards and changed the discounts. The discounts are greater on the 9 -12 month cards.
These changes, and maybe along with better service, has increased our repeat rate.

 

[PrimaDonna]

SM gives you the ability to edit the text inside the cards.

Yes, we have customized our content in the reminder cards.

We don't do discounts in the cards though. We use SM to email specials to our database. Specials are sent out when things are a bit slower (Jan-Feb/March and July when many people are on vacation). We don't want to discount our services during peak times. If the reminder they get with a discount hits at that time, we'd rather have that spot open for someone willing to pay full price. Those that want to wait for discounts can do so when we promote them during certain times of the year when it makes sense for us.

 

[Wandslinger]

What does a postcard cost through sendjim?

 

[Nomad74]

What does a postcard cost through sendjim?

.69

 

[clean image]

I remember SM introducing send Jim guy on a post.


What's involved to get sendjim the info they need from SM to use it effectively?

 

[Nomad74]

I'm Mr. Skeptical and bitter. I hate people that try to sell me crap and I don't trust vendors. But I will say SendJim kicks ass. Keeps me in touch with my customers and I can also target neighborhoods. Here is an example. I used my house. Lets just say I cleaned a customer's house. My house in this example. I can draw a line around the surrounding neighbors and send them a card saying, "I just cleaned your neighbors house, why don't you book now also.". I can send to individual homes, entire streets, or entire neighborhoods. In this example the neighbors would be getting the following "5-around" card.

 

[Nomad74]

I remember SM introducing send Jim guy on a post.


What's involved to get sendjim the info they need from SM to use it effectively?

I don't use SM, I use TheCustomerFactor. $35 a month and works very well. SendJim integrates with the Factor easily. Just gotta use Google Chrome. @hogjowl , are you getting all this?

 

[Nate The Great]

So basically it pays to be a new customer? What do your old customers get?

I'd always hear the old customers get screwed when I worked at T-Mobile....

 

[Nomad74]

So basically it pays to be a new customer? What do your old customers get?

I'd always hear the old customers get screwed when I worked at T-Mobile....

Yup, they get screwed

 

[BIG WOOD]

I don't use SM, I use TheCustomerFactor. $35 a month and works very well. SendJim integrates with the Factor easily. Just gotta use Google Chrome. @hogjowl , are you getting all this?

I wonder how hard it'll be to export from SM over to TheCustomerFactor? I'll know whether or not I'll stay with SM this August. I feel they need a full year to see if their program really works for my business.

 

[Nomad74]

I wonder how hard it'll be to export from SM over to TheCustomerFactor? I'll know whether or not I'll stay with SM this August. I feel they need a full year to see if their program really works for my business.

Not hard, save everything into a comma delimited excel file then upload it into the factor.