Foolin' around with the Full Circle gals..

Mikey P

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-Please describe the average company your answer the phones for?
-What percentage of companies turn the phones over 24/7, a few hours a day, a few days per week etc..
-How much time does having to explain per foot pricing add to a phone call?
-Do you ever hand the phone over to Todd to get into detail on a spotting related question?
-What are some of the obstacles you face in growing Full Circle?
-What are the top 5 questions asked by cleaners looking into your services?
-How many employees do you have answering the phones now? And how many calls per day can each employee handle on average?
-Have any men ever applied for the job?
-How long does it take for all the girls to really learn an area for a new client’s routing purposes?
-Do you prefer to handle all the calls for a company, obviously it means more $ for you but does it make it easier to stay on top of the routes?
-Lupe is my personal manager, how many others does she “manage”? And is that the average per girl?
-Does being called a girl offend you?
-Was Kevin Leach a heavy breather?
-What could Service Monster do to make your life easier?
-What could your clients do?
-On average how long does it take to book a repeat and a new customer?
-What percentage of homeowner refuse to give email addresses?
-Has Clint considered branching out to other services that run routes?
-Do you have clients that have less than stellar repeat rate? Do you know they are bad/lazy cleaners and or have not so people pleasing personalities yet you still have to sell them as the best in town?-
-Do you cringe when their phone rings?
-Have you ever “fired” a company?
-Are you at liberty to tell an owner when one of their employees is a f*uck up?
-What would you say is the most important feature on a cleaner’s website to gain them new customers?
-How many trucks does your largest company run on a full time basis?
-Yelp and Kudzu, are there other reviews sites as effective as those two?
- Have you ever had a home owner successfully hit on one of the girls?


Thanks Anne and Cindy!!!
 

dgargan

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706
I've never looked forward to seeing the answers to these more than this one. Great questions and I can't wait to see how they answer.
 

Full_Circle

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So you're looking for the inside scoop on Full Circle are you? Well let's start off with answering a few....

-Please describe the average company your answer the phones for?
We have a variety of customers but I would say the typical Full Circle customer has anywhere from 1-2 trucks. The businesses are mainly owner/operators and range from those who are just starting up their company to businesses who have been in operation for 10 years or more.
-What percentage of companies turn the phones over 24/7, a few hours a day, a few days per week etc..
The percentage is really split down the middle. 50% of our clients are forwarding their phones full time while the other half is part-time. The amount of time can be anywhere from just while they are out in the field, only on Saturdays, or have the forwarding option on standby when their main customer service assistant is out of the office.
-How much time does having to explain per foot pricing add to a phone call?
It’s true. Discussing square foot pricing does take more time than per room pricing. But the time it takes to discuss per foot pricing can vary. Having the right marketing strategy can make all the difference. Businesses need to know their target market. A company should understand what their target market values and what their competitors are doing. We have had companies that do square foot pricing but market to customers who mainly need the cleaning when moving in or moving out, which makes it difficult to compete when competitors give a quick, easy to understand price. On the other side, we have customers who price by the square foot and market to people who value quality and appreciate attention to detail so looking at value in the form of measuring per square foot makes perfect sense to them.
-Do you ever hand the phone over to Todd to get into detail on a spotting related question?
We are so lucky to have Todd right her in our office! If we have a customer on the phone with spotting related questions that we need assistance with, Todd will coach us through it. Our Full Circle members are always welcome to call in with technical questions too.

...More to come from the gals at Full Circle LIKE!
 
Joined
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I'm Rick James
I just signed up with them because of all the good I read on MB. That and I lose way more money per month because of missed calls vs paying the Full Circle girls to make my life easier..
 

Brian R

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Brian Robison
Voicemail is death to a new customer.

Full Circle has helped save my companies on more than a few occasions.

whether full time or just forwarding while the machine is running...Priceless.....No better word to describe them.
 

Full_Circle

Member
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May 20, 2009
Messages
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Before calling it a day we thought we'd answer another quick question!

You wanted to know what percentage of customers refuse to give their email address.

It is actually a very small number of customers! Your success in getting the customers email address is so much more about HOW you ask than anything. If you approach the question already thinking that they are going to refuse - they are going to refuse.

The email request is now considered part of the basics: Name? Address? Phone Number? Email Address?.....the customer will answer the questions just like they are going through the check list with you. If you hesitate before asking for the email address, they will hear it in your voice and then their warning bells start to sound off and they want to know why you need it. A simple solution, and one that will help your business in more ways than one, is to offer them an email that will explain how to prepare for their visit and confirms that appointment day and time. If you're a Service Monster user, you can have that email template already set-up and waiting to be sent with a few clicks.

It's that simple!
 

Mikey P

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The High Chapperal
good greefs KMA! , tell Clint to pay you over time to get to the rest of the questions before we all switch over to Perceptionist.. I've seen Jimmy naked
 

Brian R

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Brian Robison
Doesn't everyone have one email for personal, one email for business and one email to give out for stuff like this?
 

Full_Circle

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Messages
21
Hey there!

Sorry to keep you all waiting - FOREVER! It's about time we wrapped up answering these questions, right?! Let's get to it!

What are the top 5 questions asked by cleaners looking into your services?
Those who are interested want to know: How much will it cost? How well can we book jobs? What are the business hours? How do we handle marketing calls? How do we handle the customers who want to speak to the owner?.....oh, do you want the answers too? Guess you’ll have to call us! (888) 638-1315

How many employees do you have answering the phones now? And how many calls per day can each employee handle on average?
We currently have a fantastic staff of 7 customer service representatives. To qualify for a job with Full Circle, you have to have a love for customer service and helping others - that's why working with us can be so addictive! Who wouldn't enjoy working with a group of happy and helpful people who genuinely want to make your life easier? The average calls in a day vary throughout the year. There are moments when a rep may take about 70-100 calls a day and we have had moments of 200+ calls during a day.

Have any men ever applied for the job?
Of course! CTI is a great place to work. The majority of applicants for any customer service job tend to be women though. When will we have our first Full Circle Guy? We shall see :)

How long does it take for all the girls to really learn an area for a new client’s routing purposes?
That would depend on the actual service area and how many calls we are taking for the new client. If they have a heavy call volume right off the bat, then we will have it down in a few weeks.

Do you prefer to handle all the calls for a company, obviously it means more $ for you but does it make it easier to stay on top of the routes?
Handling your calls full time is great but in any situation, Communication, communication, communication - That is the answer. If we are able to communicate well with you and/your employees, handling your schedule full-time or part-time is smooth sailing.

Regardless of how often you forward, booking and routing your jobs are not a problem for us. When your company's profile is set up, we make sure we have all the details we need to properly handle your calls so we ask that you are as detailed as possible. Problems and frustrations occur quickly if we are completely left out of the loop. Our CSR's have had to pleasantly handle a variety of issues with calls because we were not updated on a technician's delay, a new special that the company ran but didn't mention to Full Circle, a job they committed to but didn't put it on their schedule, and the list can go on.

It's all about teamwork! We want to be on your team, whether we are your 1st string or your 2nd - success is found when we work together.

Lupe is my personal manager, how many others does she “manage”? And is that the average per girl?
The client list can vary based on various factors but a CSR will usually manage 15-20 accounts.

Does being called a girl offend you?
Is being a girl a negative thing? Absolutely not! It sounds like a powerful word to me. LIKE! But I can't speak for everyone. We'll let you know if it's ever a problem.

What could Service Monster do to make your life easier?
Service Monster has been a fan favorite around here without a doubt. It is so easy to use and has a long list of features that make our job a breeze. But we do have a few dreams of our own when it comes to making scheduling easier. Our dream monster would be able to recognize when you are about to schedule a job in a time slot that is too far away from the job right before or after it and give us a warning so we can double check the drive time for our techs. Or how about a feature that will automatically send out a confirmation email when the job is booked and give the user the ability to turn this feature on or off. Our biggest dream, which I know will someday come true, is to be able to log in to Service Monster at the start of our shift, and quickly select which company we are scheduling for all day long with just a click, instead of signing in and out of hundreds of accounts throughout the day.

By the way, we are all looking forward to the newest update! The drag and drop features looks great and being able to quickly manipulate options on the schedule with just a few clicks sounds good! I know the updates will make scheduling even easier for us!

-What could your clients do?
This is a repeat answer from one of the questions above, Communication is the key. The more information we have the better we schedule! We rely on our clients to keep us in the know.

If you are running behind schedule, your customers need to know as soon as you do. Ask one of us to call your other appointments to let them know you are running behind and when they can expect you. Your clients will appreciate you are still thinking of them, even though you are late. If a deal is running, give us the details in advance so that we can be prepared. If there was a problem at a job, let us know so that we don’t get a surprise reaction when your CSR makes a quality check call and is "reminded" that they were ticked off about the way things turned out.

We are customer service experts. So when we are in a bind because we were uninformed, we will handle the situation professionally. But your customers deserve the highest quality of service so let everyone on your team be in the know :)


On average how long does it take to book a repeat and a new customer?
Repeat customers are simple. They know what they want and they usually have a date in mind. These can be as little as 2+ minutes considering we still verify that their information is up to date. New customers can range from 3-6 minutes depending on the company’s personalized profile and the details needed to close the deal.

Has Clint considered branching out to other services that run routes?
Yes we have. There really are other services out there that could benefit from quality scheduling and reception offered by Full Circle. We already do have some clients that are in the cleaning industry but do not have a primary focus on carpet. Things have worked very well so we would be willing to look at other types of services with similar scheduling needs.

Do you have clients that have less than stellar repeat rate? Do you know they are bad/lazy cleaners and or have not so people pleasing personalities yet you still have to sell them as the best in town?-
Hey, we don't judge. Every company is unique in their own way. It's our job to provide excellent customer service and fill our client's schedules. What happens after the job is booked is up to them who cares!

Do you cringe when their phone rings?
That depends on who you're asking :lol: But all of our reps have great attitudes and strong customer service skills so they are up to a challenge if needed.

Have you ever “fired” a company?
Is that a challenge? hey now

Are you at liberty to tell an owner when one of their employees is a f*uck up?
Here's my question - Wouldn't you want to know? We want to be not only your voice to your customers, but also your ears to hear what your customers have to say. So yes, we will give you feedback in a very tactful and professional way.

What would you say is the most important feature on a cleaner’s website to gain them new customers?
That depends on who you want to market to. If your target market is quality: PICTURES!!!! People love to see before and after pictures or even videos of how their areas will be cleaned, especially if it’s something other than steam cleaning. If your goal is to reach out to customers who value the best price, then provide some kind of idea of the cost or a special on a website to lead a prospect to making that call.

How many trucks does your largest company run on a full time basis?
Our largest has 6-7 trucks running full time. If someone wishes to top them, be our guest LIKE!

Yelp and Kudzu, are there other reviews sites as effective as those two?
We see great results from review sites! We have clients who are exceptional in meeting their customer's needs with quality and service and their Yelp and Kudzu leads show it! I wouldn't say it's for everyone because on the flip side, if you haven't dedicated yourself to quality service on the job, Yelp or Kudzu will hurt you more than help. Another site that we've seen work for some is Angie's List.

- Have you ever had a home owner successfully hit on one of the girls?
That's a strange way to end this Barbara Walter's Interview but ok - The keyword here is "successfully." And the answer is no who cares!

Thanks for all the questions and taking the time to get to know more about us! Usually we are the ones with all of the questions so it was fun being on the other side for a change hey now If you have more questions or are just ready to say YES! and join the Full Circle Business Support Team - give us a call! We'd love to hear from you!

Cindy
Full Circle
888.638-1315
support@fullcirclemember.com
 

joey895

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I would argue being put on hold more than about 30 seconds or so is WORSE than voicemail.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 

Brian R

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joey895 said:
I would argue being put on hold more than about 30 seconds or so is WORSE than voicemail.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2



I've seen Jimmy naked

I'm really not sure how to explain why that is wrong.
 

K P

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Nov 11, 2011
Messages
206
Mikey P said:
good greefs KMA! , tell Clint to pay you over time to get to the rest of the questions before we all switch over to Perceptionist.. I've seen Jimmy naked

This guy obviously doesnt know Clint..overtime :lol:

Do you answer the phone for your own carpet cleaning guys?
 

joey895

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Joey J.
Re: Re: Foolin' around with the Full Circle gals..

Brian R said:
joey895 said:
I would argue being put on hold more than about 30 seconds or so is WORSE than voicemail.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2



I've seen Jimmy naked

I'm really not sure how to explain why that is wrong.

That would be because its not wrong.

Two weeks ago I lost a commercial account I've cleaned twice a year for the last three years. They called to schedule and were on hold for just under four minutes before they hung up. At the end of the day they called back again and were asked if they could hold and the customer said they really couldn't because they were about to leave work and they just needed to schedule they were told there were two people ahead so they said OK I'll just call back tomorrow. The next morning they called and were asked to hold and they asked is it going to be a long hold, they were told "oh no she's getting off the phone right now" this time she held for about 2 minutes before hanging up. By the time I found out about what happened I called to try to smooth it out with them and they had already scheduled with Stanley Steemer.

Had she got voicemail she would have left a message like she had the previous couple years and I would not have lost that account.

Granted this is just one example but it is not the only example. For the last 2 weeks I've been answering my own phones and it turns out I'm better on the phone than I was giving myself credit for because after today I will have surpassed what I did the encore month July 2011. And you know what when people are calling because of your reviews or because they were referred or because they are repeat customers they will absolutely leave a voicemail almost always.

Now with all that said. Full Circle is great in a lot of ways overall they have helped my business and they were honestly just what I needed at the time and I intend to stay with them for the times I can't or don't want to be tied to the phone. I ask every customer how their experience was on the phone and everyone says how friendly and helpful they were, literally the only complaint I have ever gotten about the phone service is about being on hold too long and this is just from the people who actually held I have no idea how many I lost because they gave up.

Sent from my Transformer using Tapatalk 2
 

Shane Deubell

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Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
4,052
Full_Circle said:
Before calling it a day we thought we'd answer another quick question!

You wanted to know what percentage of customers refuse to give their email address.

It is actually a very small number of customers! Your success in getting the customers email address is so much more about HOW you ask than anything. If you approach the question already thinking that they are going to refuse - they are going to refuse.

The email request is now considered part of the basics: Name? Address? Phone Number? Email Address?.....the customer will answer the questions just like they are going through the check list with you. If you hesitate before asking for the email address, they will hear it in your voice and then their warning bells start to sound off and they want to know why you need it. A simple solution, and one that will help your business in more ways than one, is to offer them an email that will explain how to prepare for their visit and confirms that appointment day and time. If you're a Service Monster user, you can have that email template already set-up and waiting to be sent with a few clicks.

It's that simple!

I love this part, great advice.
 

AJR

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Mar 7, 2011
Messages
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n Al
Name
Whatshisbutt
The only real complaint I have is hold times. I will say the hold time issue has gotten better but still an issue. But It turns my gut when I see our call log and the same number 2, 3 or even more times in a row with just a few seconds of talk time. I know that the custy just gave up on hold, especially when we are slow and can’t really afford to be loosing jobs or water damage calls for that mater. I do rescue most of those calls by keeping a close eye at the logs. I know they handle a lot of calls and are in the process of training new staff but I just have to vent lol. Honestly over all they are still worth working with they are all very professional and really take the criticism well. They haven’t sent me to *ell yet lol. I always get great compliments on the way my "office took our calls". I think their service is worth using but it is in my honest opinion far from a total solution to answering my phones as some here will swear to.

My advice to Full circle is:
1. Some how figure a way to not have any ones customers on hold. Not sure how other than hire more people or find some way to handle the really busy times with a back up of some sort.
2. If some one hangs up on hold call them back ASAP.
3. And last no mater what, make a work order for every call so at least the business owner can see the call in Sm and deal with it on his own. Sm can add hang up or lost caller to the list of work orders.
4. (some one else make a suggestion)
 

dgargan

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
706
Not to jump on a bashing wagon but i too have had issues with customers being put on hold. I even stopped my service with FC for a few months because of it. Not many of my customers or referral sources have my cell but I was getting calls to my cell on a regular basis because they were being put on hold so often when calling my office number. Made me wonder what the customers that don't have my cell did and how many of them were lost. I still get a few calls to my cell when they can't talk to anyone at the office number, but its rare now, but still happens. Seems mornings is the time it happens most. With me being on the east coast and FC on the west they have too few crs at 9am my time (6am theirs) I try to keep the phones until 10 or 11 when I can. Over all it's a great service with great crs's but I think they are stretched too thin.
 

joeynbgky

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Messages
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Bowling Green
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Joey
Maybe they need to stop being greedy and taking new customers...............stop advertising your service, if you can't handle it.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
 

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