Question about this ..."Full Circle"....

[joe harper]

Jerk-off...Going on... :?:

At what GROSS income should these guys consider "surrendering" their PHONES.. :!:

Not that IGAS...But if you guys are NOT grossing At least 175K...per truck..!

HOW THE HELL ARE YOU ....Too busy to answer the DAMN PHONE... :roll:

 

[Mikey P]

Can't argue with that logic.



In Cali anyways


$175k in Montana or Wisconsin could take up all your time and more.



Can any one here hire a well formulated office person to book jobs for what Full Circle charges?


I think not.

 

[joe harper]

I am a DinOsAuR....

But if I was faced with the choice to give either my truck to a STRANGER....

Or my Phone lines to a STRANGER....


I would keep the PHONE.... :!:

Ps All we have to sell in this BIZ. "when we are done"..IS..The phone # & our customer
list..The thought of a stranger having ACESS to both is "FOOLS GOLD"...Any 3rd grader
can "HACK" their system & have controll of your BIZ.. :shock:

And how can you prove your INFO..is NOT sold to the unscrupulous . :wink:

 

[Jay D]

Thats what I was a wonderin... :shock:

 

[joe harper]

"The TRUTH be KNOWN"....

If Mike ...wasn't on the phone ALL DAY..putting fires out on this board.... :roll:

He would still be answering his OWN phones....IMO.. :wink:

ps you have to admitt ..."The price is RiGhT"...for the MikESter....

 

[Mikey P]

I've never answered my phones Joe, my wife did.

 

[Brian R]

I am a DinOsAuR....

But if I was faced with the choice to give either my truck to a STRANGER....

Or my Phone lines to a STRANGER....


I would keep the PHONE.... :!:

Ps All we have to sell in this BIZ. "when we are done"..IS..The phone # & our customer
list..The thought of a stranger having ACESS to both is "FOOLS GOLD"...Any 3rd grader
can "HACK" their system & have controll of your BIZ.. :shock:

And how can you prove your INFO..is NOT sold to the unscrupulous . :wink:

Ok Megasoreass
(cracking knuckles)
First of all if you think your precious customer list is safe on your computer, you are crazy.
Second, if all you have to sell is your phone # number and customer list, then you don't have a buisness.
You need systems in place to be able to really sell your business...other than that you are just liquidating your "assets"
If Full Circle was to participate in selling to the unscrupulous I would think they would have bigger problems than just a bunch of low end CCer's on their tail. It gets Federal when you start scamming the masses.
Don't be afraid old dog, this may be a new trick but I assure you it's the fear that keeps people from getting what they are wanting.

 

[joe harper]

I am a DinOsAuR....

But if I was faced with the choice to give either my truck to a STRANGER....

Or my Phone lines to a STRANGER....


I would keep the PHONE.... :!:

Ps All we have to sell in this BIZ. "when we are done"..IS..The phone # & our customer
list..The thought of a stranger having ACESS to both is "FOOLS GOLD"...Any 3rd grader
can "HACK" their system & have controll of your BIZ.. :shock:

And how can you prove your INFO..is NOT sold to the unscrupulous . :wink:

Ok Megasoreass
(cracking knuckles)


When you GET a Business.."We can talk about ..the FINE ART of operating one.." :roll:

Last I heard...Your "PonZiE SchEmE" is a FEDERAL OFFENSE... :shock:

WELL at least "50%" of it is...

Maybe that is you operate your BIZ ....as a "HaLf TrUtH".... :wink:

Be Careful..there "Shine Boy"... :idea:

Ps..Is this guy your "Marketing GurU.."

 

[Brian R]

I see you are smoking the ganja tonight Harp.
Be right over.

 

[idreadnought]

Running a business through google voice gives you lots of options. If you have a list of loyal customers that you have a relationship with then you wouldn't need full circle. You could add this list to your google voice account and have the calls of regular customers go directly to your cell phone. Other calls from advertising or price shoppers or telemarketers can all go to full circle. On a side note, you better be much more worried about an employee or even a local competitor steeling your customer list way sooner than the very honest company run by Clint Townsend.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Running a business through google voice gives you lots of options. If you have a list of loyal customers that you have a relationship with then you wouldn't need full circle. You could add this list to your google voice account and have the calls of regular customers go directly to your cell phone. Other calls from advertising or price shoppers or telemarketers can all go to full circle. On a side note, you better be much more worried about an employee or even a local competitor steeling your customer list way sooner than the very honest company run by Clint Townsend.

Yes until your google account gets suspended and you can't check your email or have access to your data which aparently is a pretty common occurence based on my research on some IT forums.

 

[joeynbgky]

How does Full circle handle this................ two cleaners from the same town sign up........ Then when people are price shopping they get the same girl on the phone. Let alone it would be ethical to do that would it? competing against themselves?

 

[joe harper]

How does Full circle handle this................ two cleaners from the same town sign up........ Then when people are price shopping they get the same girl on the phone. Let alone it would be ethical to do that would it? competing against themselves?

They would then give the LEED to...SERVICE MAJIC...Who would then text the INFO
to 32 other cleaners in the same market area...for 7 days...at 30 minute intervals..
until they have PRODUCED...$3279.93...from ONE initial phone call... !gotcha!

 

[Guest]

Re: Question about this ..."Full Circle"....-asked by joeynbgky

Actually some people may misunderstand what Full Circle does. Totally understandable question as to what if 2 companies use it in the same area, but actually, Full Circle doesn't "compete" at all. We use them and all they do is give out your prices for a potential customer. They don't compare or suggest anyone at all. I agree that it may sometimes become costly, but if I'm cleaning, there is no way I'm going to stop, answer my cell in a customers house, and try to sell a job- it's just plain RUDE. I actually have visited the Full Circle offices in California (part of CTI) and have never been treated better in my life. Actually, the 4 girls answering the phone MUST be on sugar diets because there is no way in hell, I could EVER be so nice to customers all day every day like they are. Yes, I wish teh cost was lower, but without it I would loose jobs daily.

 

[Brian R]

This is how it works

Customer calls your number, Full Circle answers. They see what number the customer is calling and the corresponding company's info pops up along with Service Monster. They give all the information to the customer the way YOU want them to.
If that same customer calls another company that is handled by Full Circle, same thing happens with that one except THEIR company info and Service Monster pops up and they give the info to the customer the way THEY want them too.
Full Circle does not come up with their own prices nor do they chose what company to send a customer to when they call.
They become part of whatever company the customer is calling.
If one is a low baller and the other is high end, the customer hears all about it and gets to chose.
Does that help?

 

[Jay D]

David or a David, 1 post and no profile to speak of gives great credibility. No offense, But Completely anonymous don't cut it. Clint Townsend IS a good guy tho.

 

[Guest]

I actually used Full Circle for about 1 1/2 years. They were small and gave great service. BUTTTTTTTTTT, they hired new people and the new girls DID NOT treat cusomters the same. I am a small company who doesn't NOT believe in taking calls while I am in a customers house cleaning. It's just plain rude. So, I tried the Full Circle service and learned that I began to be charged for calls they could not explain. In one month I have 32 calls that had NO name, NO request for a quote, and NO job booked. I was being charged for outgoing calls from Full Circle for no reason. My account was set up for incoming only, yet they decided on their own to call my customers for whatever reason. I was also set up for ONLY 2 appointments a day (NO nights). Surprise, surprise!!! Full Circle began scheduling me night appointments. At that point I was forced to call the customer and explain to them that the service made a mistake and wasn't authorized to book nights for me (I already have a FULL schedule of restaurants not related to Full Circle bookings.) No surprise to me, Full Circle apologized, yet DID NOT refund ANY of the charges for the night bookings, the outgoing calls they made themselves, nor the 32 "unknown" calls in one month.

ONLY, after I cancelled the service did they offer one months free service to keep me. HELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- why not simply bill me correctly to begin with and there would be NO problems.

So, needless to say, I am paying more when I need to use a local answering service, BUT, at least I am being treated fairly and not like another number!

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Jerk-off...Going on... :?:

At what GROSS income should these guys consider "surrendering" their PHONES.. :!:

Not that IGAS...But if you guys are NOT grossing At least 175K...per truck..!

HOW THE HELL ARE YOU ....Too busy to answer the DAMN PHONE... :roll:

I dont look at it as surrendering their phones but getting help on the many times you are not able to get to the phone. Like many said, being an O/O its impossible to always answer your phone. It is rude to chat with clients when you are working in another clients house or if you are on vacation, the list can go on how FC can benefit the O/O out there.

It only takes 1 missed call to lose a hugh job that would pay for FC for the next 6 months. That is why FC works for so many businesses.

 

[Brian R]

Like any company or employee...you have to be involved with the day to day stuff.

Nothing is perfect...except answering the phones yourself...and even that isn't perfect for most guys.


If you're an O/O answering the phones yourself...you need something as a back up besides a voicemail.

FC has been good to me.

Have I lost jobs?.... Yes, I know I have....I've saved some myself after they lost them.

But they are not me....nobody is as good as I am at explaining or selling my service....that's just life

But the jobs they lost and the money spent on them is far less than the jobs I would have lost letting the phones go to voicemail

YOU KNOW IT.......I KNOW IT......THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNOW IT.

Seldom do you have anyone but yourself to blame....ever.

This has been a moment with Brian

 

[dgargan]

Lately I have been going over my allotted minutes with FC by almost double what is allowed in the plan and paying the overage charges. It sucks big time but it's still cheaper than hiring someone to sit at a desk all day. I was kind of ticked when they took away the roll over minutes, just didn't seem fair. In time I see myself going to a fulltime office person and having them do other office duties inbetween phone calls to make it worthwhile.

 

[Brian R]

FC costs about $800.00 bucks per month maybe...depending on how many calls. I think the minimum is $600 or something

An office person is going to be $2000.00 per month and that's just pay and payroll taxes....not including all the crap that comes along with having an employee.

I can see getting someone in the office to help me as well.....Like Dave said......but they will earn their keep.


And I will still have Full Circle on the payroll because just one person can't answer every call.

 

[Mikey P]

always cracks me up when I get the other side of the story from the Girls...

 

[daniel@procarpet]

They should charge a flat rate for booked jobs and a flat rate per message. That would simplify everything.

 

[KevinL]

I'm paying between 3-$500 a month,so $600 is not their minimum.

 

[Brian R]

I know they have a lower level. I was talking about the minimum charge for the highest level. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Marc Imbesi]

FC costs about $800.00 bucks per month maybe...depending on how many calls. I think the minimum is $600 or something

An office person is going to be $2000.00 per month and that's just pay and payroll taxes....not including all the crap that comes along with having an employee.

I can see getting someone in the office to help me as well.....Like Dave said......but they will earn their keep.....

Hiring the right local person will strengthen your position in the community by becoming an employer. The exposure your employee gives you, out and about, in their own world, should mean more referrals, thus indirectly paying for themselves accidentally.

I LOL! at some of you that use online printers and such. Keeping the business local helps the economy and extends your referral sources. So go out and pay that extra $20 for your business cards, you're sure to get it back and then some.

 

[Brian R]

Full Circle is in the Sacramento area. Does that count? lol.

 

[dgargan]

Marc as far as printers I tried to stay local. I called several in my area showed them the post cards I needed showed the the price I was getting from Gotprint.com and none could come come close. I can get 500 quality post cards from GP for around $55 including shipping. The printers here were quoting me $300-$400. I want to stay local but not that bad.

 

[ruff]

Harper,
The safety of the data (client list) in my book will be much less of a concern than about quality (not just friendliness) and how well informed is the person who answers the phone. After all, I know that you offer exceptional service and it will be close to impossible to steal your clients from you.
I get many new clients because I know how to answer difficult questions that other cleaners don't. And no matter how well trained the girls are, they will not be able to do it.

Even if I take it as a given that they are exceptionally well trained and from all the feedback here they are, they are still an answering service.

If they can answer the phone better than the owner operator, that owner needs to have his head checked.
And if it's true, hurray to that owner operator for at least recognizing his deficiencies- by all means hire Full Circle.

I've been answering my phone for over 20 years and at clients homes and they understand. I apologize and make it short; or if needed take the potential client number and tell them that I will call them back later, so far works fine.

Do I lose some clients?
Yes!
And so would any answering service no matter how good they are. Because some clients do know the difference and require more info than you can teach even the most talented answering service. Only, you will never know why you lost it.

Brian on the other hand has a completely different business model. He employs subcontractors and his business by nature is not a personal one. Beside his own personal clients, he never actually sees most client, his subcontractors do. What works for him, with quantity, subcontracting etc; is not right for the owner operator.
Different business model.

All the little touches and intangibles are what allows us to provide an exceptionally knowledgeable and personal service. It is what makes paying the extra $$ worth it for the client. At least in my business model.

We as owners operators are personally invested in our success on many levels and nobody, NOBODY can fake it.

Interesting though- I did call full circle to see if they will be willing to answer my phones when I am in a bad reception area. That way the calls will bounce to them to avoid the voice mail. They were not interested. They charmingly told me that they only answer, schedule and do the whole shebang or nothing.
No thank you!

 

[Brian R]

I'm pretty sure they have a program for a couple hundred for answering the missed calls...not sure now....things change.

Like said, nobody but nobody will answer the phone as good as I.

But you have to put your talents where they are best suited to grow the business.

O/O answering the phone in the customers home is probably the most unpro thing you can do except for maybe using the bathroom...lol you get the idea.

You've just told the customer that your next client is more important than them.
Maybe if you're in the middle of the job and step outside while your helper/Tech runs the wand....I just can't see shutting down the machine or letting it run while you take down a phone number to call them back.

If there is ever THAT question the girls can't answer...It will come to me anyway...if I can answer the phone...I do...if not, they email me and I'm usually back to them within seconds because I get it on my phone. Just depends.

"I think the owner can better answer that questions Mrs. Phiff. Would you like me to have him call you back? Ok, we'll go ahead and schedule the appointment and you can change it at anytme"

Something like that.

At the end of the day...as long as your phone is answered and doesn't go to voicemail.....you've won that half of the battle.
But if you lose the faith of the customer you are servicing in the meantime....you may end up losing the war.

And yet another moment with Brian. shiteatinggrin