Do Tradespeople Really Deserve a Bad Reputation?
Danial and Bruce Ahchow created Service Central to revolutionise the growing frustration that consumers had for tradespeople. This frustration (sometimes bordering on absolute disgust) not only triggered a massive move towards DIY, but also created the momentum for Service Central to step in, provide a better alternative, and improve both the customer's experience and the trades business's efficiency.
At the end of the day, if it all went wrong, all a customer could do is complain directly to the company, not recommend them, or take the complaint to their local consumer affairs body. Consumers weren't thoroughly empowered - certainly not against irritations like being late or the tradesperson being uncommunicative, but only against larger issues to do with quality and workmanship that had a financial penalty. With Service Central (and Web 2.0 as a whole) this has all changed. Anyone can post a review, publish a blog, name and shame, befriend or de-friend companies on Facebook, start an online petition. All of these tools mean that word of mouth travels faster than ever before. Of course, this can be both positive and negative for companies, but the dynamic is an evolution towards more positive customer experiences rather than devolution towards more negative ones.
5 years on, is it really still as bad as it was? Are there less poor quality tradies out there? Have the number of negative customer experiences lessened and positive experiences increased? Have your experiences remained the same but your friends and families changed? Is the description of a 'typical tradie' changed from what it was?
These questions can't be answered by the likes of me because my dealings with our tradespeople only give me the extremes - the exceptionally good and the exceptionally bad. That being said, I've met and worked with far more good than bad, and the bad are few and far between (and not particularly bad!). Looking at our feedback statistics, our overall membership base's star rating has improved from 3.3 (everyone starts with 3) to 4.2 in the past two years. When I look at the feedback posted over the past few days, I see mostly 5 star ratings for quality of workmanship and few reports of tradespeople not calling or quoting. Our high membership standards mean that our tradespeople are, on average, higher quality than the rest of the industry, so even these statistics don't really answer the questions.
And if (as I hope!) the description of a 'typical tradie' has changed for the positive - why? Have tradespeople upped their standards and customers learned to use more efficient methods to find quality tradespeople? Has the ready availability of information on the internet (and improved access to the internet) helped consumers make better informed decisions? Has the move to empower the customers using trusted online review services (not only Service Central's) meant tradespeople concentrate more on customer service than before? Is it not about the consumers empowerment at all, and more about the access to technology that trades have nowadays (mobiles, netbooks, web enabled phones)?
We would love to know what you think, whether you're a tradie or a consumer, so please leave a comment and/or answer two quick questions in this survey. We'll be sure to publish results as soon as they become significant!
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I don't know if they are better but I do think I have a better time of it because I get the ones that want to do the work instead of the one who answered the phone. I mean, no one would turn down work before but you could tell that sometimes with the smaller jobs they weren't all that interested. They'd still do it, but not as a priority.
over a year ago by FaithS
