Full Circle Feedback..........

[renegade_cowboy]

For the people that made the switch from answering your own phones to having them do it, has it changed your business?

Right now I book 99.999999% of my jobs and I am worried about that going down because I hired an out of state call center. I know they are good at what they do but is it a concern I should be worried about.

Also for those that have switched what pay plan are you on and is it working for you?

Also if a non work related call comes in, do I still pay for that call?

What do the CSR say when the customers asks them if they live around the area?

Any other input?

thanks

 

[Warren Wallace]

If you book 99.9 % of your jobs why would you do any thing else?

 

[renegade_cowboy]

If you book 99.9 % of your jobs why would you do any thing else?

There are many reason and many other things I would rather do than book jobs. Being a one all, do all owner I feel its stopping me from a higher growth curve I would like to achive.

Dont you feel if you free'd up more time in your day with your business you can grow it faster and bigger?

 

[Warren Wallace]

Yes I do train a good lead tech is a great 1st. step.

 

[ruff]

99.9%!
Hm.....
That means that you do not book 1 out of a thousand calls.
Not bad.

Is it the shoes?

With that luck and percentage, you should go more frequently to Vegas.

 

[handdi]

who said if bookin them all
need to raise your prices??

 

[sweendogg]

 

[renegade_cowboy]

99.9%!
Hm.....
That means that you do not book 1 out of a thousand calls.
Not bad.

Is it the shoes?

With that luck and percentage, you should go more frequently to Vegas.

Being alot of my work is referrals, its not so out there. I got a job off craigslist, a lawyer with a new baby. She posted on a parent forum here in Seattle that she used me and how great of a job I did, in 2 months I got 11 jobs from that one comment. I also use doorhangers and CL to market myself and I think I do a good job with my content that they already decided on using me before they call.

My prices are about average for my area, they are going up in march.

 

[sweendogg]

bump

 

[Mikey P]

I actually think I'm gonna give it a go soon.

 

[dgargan]

I have posted many times here how great of a service company they are. To answer some of your questions:

Yes you still pay for all calls including sales people and wrong numbers.

As far as what to say when people ask if they are from out of state... I don't think that has ever come up. We hear all kinds of great comments from our customers about how helpful my office staff is.

Just to stay on top of things we do "secret shop" ourselves to see how they are handling questions and we also do follow up phone calls to customers and survey them on the customer service side.

To me it was a no brainer. before I paid $12 an hour for someone to answer phones. At 40 hours a week $480 x 4 $1920 per month

Full Circle $500 per month. I'm no math wiz but I think it's a better deal. Plus they answer calls on Saturday morning up to 12 and also durning the week up to 7pm. I would never answer the calls on Saturday or after 5 and it's unreal how many calls are booked when answered durning those hours.

We don't book 99.999% of the calls like you. (maybe you should start a call center because I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing that well) Not trying to slam you but if you are closing at that rate you need to raise your prices.
We price by the sq foot and have 3 packages so my script is a tough one for Full Circle but they pull it off well. If you are a room pricer and cheap they will book very well for you.

The time it free's up for you will give you the availabilty to grow your business. I had someone very successful in this business put it to me this way. Stop doing all the $10-$12 per jobs yourself because you'll never earn more than that for your salary. You would be better off going out and getting at $12 job and not have the headaches to deal with. It made sense to me and I started letting go of all the small jobs.

Anyway it works for me and depending on your business model and what you are trying to achieve they are worth looking into.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

We don't book 99.999% of the calls like you. (maybe you should start a call center because I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing that well) Not trying to slam you but if you are closing at that rate you need to raise your prices.
We price by the sq foot and have 3 packages so my script is a tough one for Full Circle but they pull it off well. If you are a room pricer and cheap they will book very well for you.

I think the main reason I have such a high closing is because alot of my work is referrals and the marketing that I do use is very complete as far as info imho or its my sexy voice.

I dont think I am cheap cheap. I think my prices are about average, they are going up to compensate increased business cost. I got a newer van, TM that are paid off, so I have little debt.

The time it free's up for you will give you the availabilty to grow your business. I had someone very successful in this business put it to me this way. Stop doing all the $10-$12 per jobs yourself because you'll never earn more than that for your salary. You would be better off going out and getting at $12 job and not have the headaches to deal with. It made sense to me and I started letting go of all the small jobs.

I like to keep an average price because its more appealing to a bigger demographic. Even a small job can turn into a big job along with potential referrals, not to mention the long term value of said customer.

Anyway it works for me and depending on your business model and what you are trying to achieve they are worth looking into.

I think it fits my model very well. I am going to do it with my new business phone line. Do I get any special deals for being a MB member?

 

[harryhides]

I was just at their offices a couple of days ago and listened to some of the gals taking calls.
Very impressive and positive.
Each CRS has to go work on a truck for a day or two so that know what this business is all about.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I had an awsering service that was full service or just like a personal secretary between the hours of 7 and 5 m-f. They would take messages and read scripts. Any after hours calls were forwarded to a 24 hour service and messages were texted to my phone. I could always answer the phone myself by turning off the call forward feature. They charged so much per message. The price was ridiculously low and the service was pretty good. The problem I had was they would talk to the customer and take their information down and then send it to me. Then I would have to call the customer and waste 10 minutes talking to the customer. It wasn't saving me any time. Sometimes they would connect me directly to the customer while they were still on the line. In theory they could take the customer info down, then keep the customer on the line and contact me and I could say I have this time available etc and then they could relay the info and book the job. I would never have to speak to the customer and my per job would still be pretty low. I would have paid more for the service I wanted. I think I will call them and see if I can make it work.

My math based on a 15 minute call average and each call results in a booked job is 15 dollars per job with full circle. So we can say 10-20 dollars per job depending on your script and how many repeats you have calling. This seems fair to me. The price you pay is fully deductable, and no employment taxes.

Is anyone actually using full circle group? What is your experience with them and the cost structure? How are jobs booked to accomodate your schedule?

My other option was to find a stay at home person to answer my phone and pay per booked job. I could also have this person do a follow up call instead of doing it myself. This would save me even more time. I am leaning towards this route. About 50 percent of my jobs are sent to me via email from repeat customers. All I have to do with them is just confirm a date and time. I feel this option would be best because they would spend the neccessary time to book the job. Eventually I could just pay them a weekly salary plus a bonus for after hours calls etc or use an after hours service.

 

[dgargan]

I worked out a deal with them also to do my customer follow up survey. They will work with you and do what they can to make you look good.