hogjowl
Idiot™
Is anybody here doing this? I'm talking about offering pricing and scheduling on your website?
Website scheduling
- Thread starter hogjowl
- Start date
Mikey P
Administrator
Did you really start a thread?
Service Monster will be offering this soon or you can use Fittlebug now
Service Monster will be offering this soon or you can use Fittlebug now
dgardner
Moderator
I think their 25% off trial is still on (till April 1?).
WillS
Supportive Member
There's programs that allow people to get quotes and schedule online?
WillS
Supportive Member
Ok.. now I'm just trying to build up points. This is my last post of the night.
We have been using Fittle for 2 months now. We've done pretty well with it. We have encouraged people to sign up for the "My Accounts" to keep track of referral credits, etc. Also, it gets us their emails.
Didn't know Service Monster was doing an online scheduling software? This would probably be a good thing to link to their software. We have yet to add Service Monster as an application yet, but it is on my to-do list in the next month with all the good things I've read on here about the ease of scheduling, etc. Is there online scheduling going to be similar to Fittlebug or is there some where online to read about it?
We have been using Fittle for 2 months now. We've done pretty well with it. We have encouraged people to sign up for the "My Accounts" to keep track of referral credits, etc. Also, it gets us their emails.
Didn't know Service Monster was doing an online scheduling software? This would probably be a good thing to link to their software. We have yet to add Service Monster as an application yet, but it is on my to-do list in the next month with all the good things I've read on here about the ease of scheduling, etc. Is there online scheduling going to be similar to Fittlebug or is there some where online to read about it?
Goomer
Member
I get more than enough shit-holes and psychopaths to not be a big fan of communicating any prices without picking any prospective customers brain a little to get a feel for what I'm dealing with regarding general condition and situation.
As far as scheduling, I can't imagine not being able to at the least attempt to combo certain jobs at my convenience based on location and MY schedule.
I'd be criss-crossing all over the city like a maniac everyday if my customers were just picking their days/times.
I would think one would have to keep the scheduler in the loop and constantly update it regarding every job, regardless if it originates through the scheduler, to block out times and not double book.
No thanks.
As far as scheduling, I can't imagine not being able to at the least attempt to combo certain jobs at my convenience based on location and MY schedule.
I'd be criss-crossing all over the city like a maniac everyday if my customers were just picking their days/times.
I would think one would have to keep the scheduler in the loop and constantly update it regarding every job, regardless if it originates through the scheduler, to block out times and not double book.
No thanks.
Mark Saiger
Mr Happy!
We have not mainly because of the fear that Goomer has explained here with scheduling a better organized route....and we get so many "I need it yet today or next couple days" job requests that I don't want to loose....and can squeeze in.
The other is those emergency "Dog pooped" or Grandma had and accident type calls we get and do accommodate.
Otherwise....I would love the concept. We do have beauticians around here that do it....but I also know my wife will go somewhere else if their schedule isn't open....same concept I fear with some of our clients.
I do offer a "Contact us" page that the email goes to my phone as well, and I can respond while out in the field. That at least seems to help and has been a good compromise I hear from people who have contacted me. Takes a bit of my time to at least reply, but while they are busy at work, or late at night, they like being able to contact us.
The other is those emergency "Dog pooped" or Grandma had and accident type calls we get and do accommodate.
Otherwise....I would love the concept. We do have beauticians around here that do it....but I also know my wife will go somewhere else if their schedule isn't open....same concept I fear with some of our clients.
I do offer a "Contact us" page that the email goes to my phone as well, and I can respond while out in the field. That at least seems to help and has been a good compromise I hear from people who have contacted me. Takes a bit of my time to at least reply, but while they are busy at work, or late at night, they like being able to contact us.
knoxclean
Supportive Member
I agree with Mark also. I just know that my office will still have to change 90% of the jobs the people book on their own. They will put an appointment on a van that was at the far north end of our service area when the previous job is at the far south end making it an hour drive when another van is 3 blocks away. Then they will book a cleaning and stretch on the 1 truck where that tech doesn't do repairs and on and on and on. My office girls will be busy changing all the routes making it more work for them and in the end the customer doesn't get the time they requested anyway.
hogjowl
Idiot™
I just asked if anybody was doing it.
And I get a bunch of dimwits discussing why they don't do it.
I suppose this is karma.
And I get a bunch of dimwits discussing why they don't do it.
I suppose this is karma.
Shane Deubell
Supportive Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2011
- Messages
- 4,052
Yes, have been doing it since we started in 2007.
Would say the most were around 120 booking/request in a year. Much much lower last year.
Just another lead source to me, the more the merrier...
You can set it up however you choose, would recommend keeping it simple/easy as possible. Our current app is too complicated
and numbers are down.
Creating a new one this month, this time keeping times vague either morning or afternoon will be options.
Would say the most were around 120 booking/request in a year. Much much lower last year.
Just another lead source to me, the more the merrier...
You can set it up however you choose, would recommend keeping it simple/easy as possible. Our current app is too complicated
and numbers are down.Creating a new one this month, this time keeping times vague either morning or afternoon will be options.
Lee Stockwell
FOJL
I'm always rocking and rolling the schedule like that. It's delusional to think you can line up and schedule jobs in a pretty 9 to 5 sequence M-F with no drama.
That's the nature of a "service" business. Learn to adapt with a smile in your telephone voice. I usually have a few empties that give me latitude when there are either too busy or too slow spots in the rotation.
I think the Fittlebug or other online scheduling options can work with realistic windows, expectations, and effective communication as the window closes.
That's the nature of a "service" business. Learn to adapt with a smile in your telephone voice. I usually have a few empties that give me latitude when there are either too busy or too slow spots in the rotation.
I think the Fittlebug or other online scheduling options can work with realistic windows, expectations, and effective communication as the window closes.
Mikey P
Administrator
A repeat called tonight, Sunday, at 10:26 to ask for a call back to book an appointment.
I had to wonder if she would have Fittled if given the choice..
I had to wonder if she would have Fittled if given the choice..
Papa John
Lifetime Supportive Member
I DO. On my website people can book online using fittlebug by just clicking on the FB icon.
Since FB booked over $100K in jobs for me last year-- it think I'll put up with this little inconvenience..
Goomer----sometimes this does happen-- when It does we call up the custy and try to move them to a better time for us and them. we just blame it on a bug in the system and they seem to understand.
Since FB booked over $100K in jobs for me last year-- it think I'll put up with this little inconvenience..
Papa John
Lifetime Supportive Member
How old is She? If she is between 18-50 years old and College Educated then she might have FBugged you... I love getting FB on Sundays at 10pm n sometimes at 1am...
In the future booking a carpet cleaning will be like booking a flight or hotel... But the future has arrived at my biz.
smastio
Member
"we just blame it on a bug in the system and they seem to understand." - now that's funny!
Blame it on the poor little bug that only does what you tell it to do! Have you no shame! You're probably the same kid that used to catch fireflies and smear them on the concrete with your shoe. Lol
FYI, it was $136K and 585 bookings that were booked. Maybe not cleaned, but booked.smastio
Member
Attachments
smastio
Member
David - With FittleBug trucks can be assigned to categories (like repair) and Zip codes can be assigned to trucks. Also remember that we offer a drip marketing approach through FB as well. Email is FREE!
smastio
Member
I thought that I would see what the monster thought of the Bug and got more than I asked for...
TomKing
Supportive Member
When you are 3 -5 trucks assigning zip codes is a dream. You are to small to do that. You would have holes all over your schedule.
When you are 3-5 trucks I would think most do what we do. Start with a job for each tech in the morning and then build from there for the 2nd job and then the 3rd. Trying to keep all techs working. We then try to zone based on routes limiting travel as much as we can. I would think companies in areas with bad commute times are forced to tell customer we will be in your town or suburb next Tuesday etc.
This system is limited it cant think for your company it only has blind slots that are filled.
It can't pre screen a customer based on their zip code and then block out appointments based on that zip code so bad appointments are not shown as options.
The idea of online booking is great. If you are in a town of 50-250k and serve a small area and are single truck I bet it would be awesome.
It probably works great if you are 8-10 trucks and really have the volume and reach to allow for blocking out zip codes. If I could do that and had the volume giving a truck 2 zip codes and allowing them to book might work. You still would not have a live person to judge if there is more work the customer is considering and giving the tech coaching and time to pick up that work.
The fact you have to show your pricing and you are simply selling on price is a bad thing IMO. Great sales are made when you can talk about service and value first. Price should be the last thing you sell on not the first.
You will never replace a live person answering the phones for gaining better clients and bigger sales.
David Runs 4-5 and keeps growing because he answers the phone. The best way to grow your company answer your phone live.
It's guys like him that helped guys like me grow. I met him at my first MF in Nashville. David started from one truck and can't stop the growth he does such a great job. If a guy like David is telling you your system is limited you should be listening to what you need to change and do differently.
David along with Bill Yeadon told me my first year you have to get someone answering the phones. I did and we are where we are now.
You keep telling guys they don't have to answer the phone. The best thing an owner that wants to grow can do is figure out how to get the phone answered live. I will be talking about this in a few weeks with my wife in FL.
The type of customer we are marketing too are not booking CC at 2a.m. in the morning. We do water and tech answers 24/7. When CC customers call the tech identifies himself as a tech and tells the customer our office opens at 8a.m can I take your name and have them call you when we return to the office.
WE NEVER LOSE A CLIENT DOING THIS. They are happy to be contacted the next day. We then have a live conversation and book as much work as we can talking about all our services and uncovering unknown needs. We then give them 2-3 choices for appointments that work best for us and they are happy to set an appointment.
Great customers understand it is a two way street on getting great service. Crappy customers demand show up at 3:01pm not sooner not later on this date or I can't use you. Probably less then 15% of our clients have to have a certain time. Many need a certain day and we easily get that taken care of.
I had a online inquiry that someone put in at 2:30a.m. last Thursday. They wanted service Friday morning. We called at 8:20am
They gave us a bad phone number and a bad address.
2:30am people are not the BMW client we are all looking for.
TomKing
Supportive Member
You baited them.
Joe is a smart guy he has set his platform up to accept third party apps.
He gets a piece of what you do from him or a fee to be connected. Of course his reps are going to say that stuff.
Service Monster is a great product and I have sung its praise here many times.
I am sure Joe himself would readily say the best way to sell services to a client is with a live well trained CSR.
smastio
Member
Respectfully - NO Joe gets nothing from me, nor do I get anything from him. I was praising Joe's people...
hogjowl
Idiot™
Has anybody here talked to anybody, or had somebody schedule a job with Stanley Steemer on line? I'm interested in hearing about the experience.
WillS
Supportive Member
Selling your service over the phone is important, but what we have noticed with the online scheduling is, they have either called us previously, asked about a quote, had to talk to the husband/wife, and then booked online. We don't do a huge amount of upselling over the phone on things like Scotch Guard or Sanitizer, but with online booking, we have increased sales on these items by 50%. People are selecting them when checking out on the Fittlebug app.
If you have one truck, online scheduling may not be the best option. With several, it makes it easy to move around zip codes, etc. like Tom mentions. I think as time goes on, your going to see more people scheduling online. If you have a good description of your cleaning services online, have a great return customer base, than online scheduling will be key. Instead of these customers have to call in, we have begun referring them to the online booking. With Fittlebug, we have recommended customers to sign up for an online account even if they aren't booking yet, just to keep track of their referral credits, etc. (http://www.naturaldry.com/myaccount.html).
In the last month, we have seen several - several competitors start to offer some sort of online booking. Sometimes people like to get an idea of pricing. If you have to hide your prices, or explain to people that these prices may not be all inclusive because of this or that, then yea, don't use online scheduling.
If you have one truck, online scheduling may not be the best option. With several, it makes it easy to move around zip codes, etc. like Tom mentions. I think as time goes on, your going to see more people scheduling online. If you have a good description of your cleaning services online, have a great return customer base, than online scheduling will be key. Instead of these customers have to call in, we have begun referring them to the online booking. With Fittlebug, we have recommended customers to sign up for an online account even if they aren't booking yet, just to keep track of their referral credits, etc. (http://www.naturaldry.com/myaccount.html).
In the last month, we have seen several - several competitors start to offer some sort of online booking. Sometimes people like to get an idea of pricing. If you have to hide your prices, or explain to people that these prices may not be all inclusive because of this or that, then yea, don't use online scheduling.
The Great Oz
Member
Only in the most rudimentary way; having a contact form that customers can fill out. That way they get the "I've got to schedule this cleaning" chore off of their mind at 9:30 pm and we get back to them at a normal business hour. If we get into on-line scheduling, we wouldn't do more than letting them lock down an available day, and limit the number of routes available for on-line scheduling. Sort of like what SS does only without the pricing.
Otherwise I'd have to echo others as to why we haven't gone farther with automatic scheduling.
PS: For you lucky O/Os, there are just under one gazillion free one-man online scheduling apps that you can put on your website. They aren't going to do much for that price, but might be a good way to see how your customers would respond.
Papa John
Lifetime Supportive Member
I Pray that my Competitors will have the same negative views about online scheduling as you controlling skeptics have. Meanwhile I'll continue to increase my market share while slowly, quietly eroding the foundations of their business.
Papa John
Lifetime Supportive Member
Today FB online 6 appointments--- Human 3--- slow day.
smastio
Member
I think today is yesterday where you are...
Shane Deubell
Supportive Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2011
- Messages
- 4,052
Think thats how im going to set it up this time. Just offer a day and then call them to get all the details.
Desk Jockey
Member
Its not intuitive and actually quite cumbersome but for now its something. The will ask to schedule work, estimates, pricing questions or have something they would like us to look at. They give their email address and phone number and we get back with them.
