Provider Guide - Get More
Using Service Central can be as simple or as in depth as you want it to be. Once you Get Started, you could very well be happy to stop learning and carry on! But Service Central has some superb tools for your business to use, and 'Getting More' is all about maximising your Service Central membership. We teach you a bit more about tools to use, give you more perspective, give you resources to use to improve your business - all at no additional cost!
Guide to quoting and winning the work
takes you through the full lifecycle from receiving a referral to closing the deal, with detailed steps and advice along the way.Customer Service resources
gives you a short overview of Customer Service and some handy links to additional resources.Using Service Central's online tools to maximise your membership
takes you through all the ways that you can use Service Central to get the most value for your business.Social and professional networking
introduces you to the world outside Service Central and gives you some handy advice on other marketing avenues to explore.Using Service Central to increase your offered services
talks about the different kinds of customers - those who want to be involved, and those that don't. We'll show you how to use Service Central to sub contract or expand your business's service offering.
Service Central is always eager to improve our online guides and information, so if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to post feedback or email directly to suggestions@servicecentral.com.au.
Guide to quoting and winning the work
Service Central has been in the online services marketplace business for years, and this educational material is a collection of all the experience from our registered businesses and customers - all put together to help your business convert more of your job opportunities into paid work. Remember, all the recommendations here also help you to make a great impression so that even if you don't win the work this time, you'll have a customer for life in the end!
Many of the points in the course you may know or even incorporate into your current practices – if so, well done! However if you learn one or two things from this material, it could be the difference between an extra job or two!
Winning work is a process. If you approach each step consistently, and with professionalism you will have a better chance of winning more work. Also note that while the full quoting process isn't applicable to all businesses (eg a quote for a new house is different to an oven repair job).
Step 1: Before you start
- Your Service Central web profile should be complete and information up-to-date. When you accept a job, the customer will receive an email with a link to your web profile, so it's the first thing they'll see!
- Maintain a portfolio of work and keep it up to date and on hand (keep a copy in the car as well as your office). Include references from previous customers and even a copy of your licence and insurance, in case you receive questions while quoting.
- Have a voicemail set-up. Voicemail is fundamental - even if you always return missed calls, you lose out on those people who call from the office (private numbers) as well as people who simply think it's bad service not to have voicemail! Even the 'SMS your number' options are less well received than a cheerful human voice asking them to leave a message! If you hate the sound of your own voice, get a friend to record your message.
Step 2: Acknowledging the customer's need
- Decide when to call. If you are caught up in the middle of work, or in a bad frame of mind, don’t make the phone call then. If this is the case, it's always a great idea to pop the customer an SMS or email to let them know when you'll be calling. If you've accepted the job after hours or on a weekend, you might not be sure job is always gone when you call the customer, you'll know you need to contact the customers quicker. You might want to skip straight to Step 3.
Step 3: The initial phonecall
- Re-read the job referral (get more info up front, contact the right person. Make sure that the customer knows whether you've fully read the posted job, or that you only have the basic information on hand (from the SMS), and would they mind talking you through their requirements. Remember that a customer has often spent some time making sure the posted job is as good as possible, so if they feel you haven't read it, they might feel like it was a waste of time.
- Acknolwedge that the customer has initiated the job through Service Central, to remind them of the fact that you're registered, insured and licensed appropriately and build immediate trust and familiarity with your customer. Introduce this into the opening of your call for example "Hi, my name is John and I'm calling about your oven repair job posted on Service Central".
- Don't get drawn into conversations regarding costing yet, if you do not want to. If a customer pushes you for an estimate before making an appointment to see the job, reassure them that your pricing and services are competitive, but giving an estimate without seeing the job would be unfair to them.
- Don't offer a quote over the phone that involves a maximum cost - this isn't useful to customers, as they'll want to compare apples with apples, not 80 apples with an apple tree.
- If you or the customer aren't ready to proceed to Step 4, make it 100% clear who will call who back to arrange the appointment. We recommend that our registered businesses control the interaction to maximise the sales opportunity.
Step 4: The quote meeting
By now you have gathered the details, thought through some solutions while keeping the customer informed, and it's time to quote the work!
The quote itself is a reflection of your company. Consider the following:
- Ensure the customer understands when to expect the quote. They should never be left uncertain.
- Quotes should be based on the customers level of urgency and not on your “down time”. If you offer verbal quotations, make sure you specify any terms and conditions placed on the quote.
- Offer different options to cater for different budgets. There is always s “budget” and a “premium” option depending on types/quality of inclusions. Sell the difference between the two, but allow the customer to decide. If a customer generally compares 2 quotes and you offer 2 versions in the one quote, there is less need for the customer to look elsewhere.
- Explain to the customer that you will call back in an agreed timeframe with the customer and ensure you do what you say! This is key to getting a good star rating.
- Written quotations should always be presented on company letterhead and either hand delivered (if viable) or sent via email as this is the fastest and most efficient way of delivery. If you need to send the quotation via post, always make a follow up phone call a few days after postage to ensure it has been received.
- Make sure that your quotes clearly outlines terms conditions, guarantees, price, time frame and terms of validity. Terms of validity is the period of time the customer has to accept your quote based on current conditions (valid for 30 days etc)
Step 5: Objection handling
Although many service businesses don't feel like it, they are in fact sales people. A key term used by good sales people is 'objection handling', which refers to what you do when the customer doesn't want to proceed for some reason.
- Many providers are put off when customers come up with objections, however these should be taken as simply a request for more information from the customer. They are not quite convinced in value of your services, however are giving you an opportunity to give them more information, clear up any misunderstandings and go ahead with the sale.
- Sometimes a customer will put up objections to drive the price down, but it's always a good idea to work out what their “real” issue is. “It’s too expensive” is used often by customers, however if you ask the customer which part of the service do they feel is not value for the given price will give you insight into the real reason behind their resistance.
- Ensure that you maintain a good rapport with the customer. Going “cold” or ending the conversation abruptly is not the professional way of dealing with the customer.
Step 6: Closing the deal
The next step is to gain commitment from the customer and close the sale. Follow-up is critical at all stages, but if you've managed customers expectations and met your deadlines throughout the process you've already won the battle!
Ever heard the old saying "If you don't ask, you don't get!"? We hear that response from customers all the time - they say "They didn't seem interested in the job" or "They left the decision up to me and I forgot to follow up". Ask for the work - it's almost like a job interview. Letting the customer know that you're interested in the work is key to closing the sale.
If you have won the work:
- Outline the next steps and ensure the customer is ware of any actions that you or the customer need to cover off before work can start.
- Put a plan together for the customer or gain verbal agreement with regards to start dates and when these actions need to occur.
- Ask for any questions
If you haven't won the work:
- You should ask the customer for feedback so as you can improve your business practices. It may well not be based on price alone, and you can learn a lot simply by having a conversation with a customer. Feedback might goes a long way in determining your success rate for future quoting.
Customer Service resources
When customers interact with businesses, they have needs on two levels ie Basic needs and Human needs. Basic needs are the transactional needs (eg cost, timing etc). Human needs are the way people feel as a result of the transaction.
In an industry where businesses have traditionally competed on a transactional or basic need level, meeting human needs are becoming more of a way to differentiate a service business from the rest of the pack. It's not just about giving good service, it's also about making sure customers feel good about the transaction.
Besides, customers aren't always ready to buy when you're advertising, so it's important for small businesses to build relationships with people who may want to buy from them in the future! Customer service and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are here to stay, so use the following resources to help you:
Blog: What makes people post great feedback most
Blog: Does Service Central have an underground laboratory?
Book: "Small Business - Practical Guidelines for Success" is a useful book that's free for Australian residents. Order online here).
Using Service Central's online tools to maximise your membership
Winning the work is, for the most part, dependent on your business - your business practices, your quotes, your customer service and communications, your public image and of course, your marketing.
The core offering of Service Central is referral generation (marketing) - referring to you customers who are interested in having jobs done, so that you can convert their interest into dollars. But, we also give you online tools to positively influence the likelihood of your business winning the work.
Your company's public image
Your online web profile displays examples of your work and communicates exactly what your business does. Having a web presence is shown to be a key decision making factor for consumers. According to a March 2009 survey by Harris Interactive, the most common methods of gathering information prior to making a purchase are using a company website 36% of the time. Face-to-face conversation with a salesperson or other company representative (22%), and face-to-face conversation with a person not associated with the company (21%) take second and third honors. So if you don't have a web presence, you'll be answering the same questions over and over again, as well as giving your potential customers limited opportunity to research your company.
In the same survey it was reported that adults who had a memorable product purchase, use or service experience were asked if they had taken any type of action and almost four in five said they had (79%). More than seven in ten who had taken an action (72%) said they had taken positive action with 57% communicating about their positive experience with others while 41% specifically recommended that someone make a purchase. Again, Service Central gives you the opportunity to maximise this part of the recommendations with not only direct word of mouth (from one person to another) but indirect word of mouth (from one person to many). best time to remind customers to post feedback.
Your business processes
Keeping on top of your customers and where they are in the process can be a daunting task for smaller businesses, and some might say even trickier for bigger businesses! Service Central provides you with an online Customer Relationship Management system so that you can track the progress of the job and even contact old customers for repeat work. You can keep notes on your customers' status eg 'quote pending' or 'waiting payment'.
If something goes wrong with a customer, and your business would prefer not to work with them again, you can blacklist a customer and never receive their jobs again.
As you've already learned, if your account balance is too low you'll miss out on jobs. You can set up an auto top-up on your account which can ensure that this never happens.
If you win work that includes something you don't usually do, you can post a job for qualified sub-contractors. This is an easy way to ensure that you'll get subcontractors to quote who are insured, licensed, and job ready. You'll also be able to see how easy it is for 'normal' customers, and get some perspective on how the process works from the other side.
Your quotes
Service Central can't help you with advice on how much to charge - you're the expert. But what will happen is that because most jobs request 2 quotes, your quote will be compared to another licenced and insured business, and this is a powerful measure for your business to see whether your quotes are competitive or not. Often businesses complain that it's hard to tell what's competitive, especially when competing with cowboys - but with most Service Central jobs the customers will be comparing apples with apples, and you'll get a more information with which to assess your quoting methods. Plus, through your customer feedback online, over time you'll get more information about how your customers feel about your prices.
Your communications and customer service
Again, this one is largely up to your business to manage, but with business process assistance from the online CRM system and the assistance of this guide as well as your existing industry knowledge and personal learning, we're certain that you have the resources to ensure your business gives great customer service.
Your marketing
Referral generation is the core Service Central product and, as you'll know, a lot of care and thought goes into making sure that your job matching profile matches the type and location of the work you're looking for. Your account is set up in two levels - Job opportunities on the secondary profile is and use it to speculate about areas you might want to move into. Of course looking for additional work outside your profiles on the Open Jobs Board is a great way to pick up extra work and prospect new areas and categories your business might want to expand into. Service Central generally finds that categories where there are lots of jobs available on the Open Jobs Board indicates an area where there is higher demand than there is supply, which obviously means that there are opportunities to expand in that field.
Other than referral generation, Service Central also has marketing material available for you to give your customers or friends. Email enquiries@servicecentral.com.au for bumper stickers, fridge magnets and vehicle decals to be posted to you! You've also got your list of customers from previous jobs, so remember to include them in any direct marketing you might do. Here are some great ideas for direct marketing to existing customers:
- Christmas cards (or generic Happy Holiday's cards if more appropriate)
- Special offers or company news sent via email, post or SMS. Owen Joyce (Australian Business Review) notes that newsletters need to be 80% about the customer, and 20% about your business.
- Recognising that some previous customers will want the same service annually, a reminder email/SMS that it's that time of year again eg time to service your airconditioner, check for pests, spring cleaning etc.
Social and professional networking
"Revolution doesn't happen when society adopts new technology, it happens when society adopts new behaviours" Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody.
Social networking is a phenomenon of incredible growth over the past few years, and while applications like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter were initially all about networking with your friends, there are also now opportunities for your business to gain benefits by being represented and actively engaging your customers in the social networking space. Here's a short description of the networking sites and some info on how they can benefit your business.
Imagine being Facebook Friends with your customers - and for your customers, imagine having your plumber on your Facebook! It's the ultimate in customer retention.
A Fan Page is similar to a personal profile, as it's a public profile that lets you share information about your products or services with other Facebook users (more than 300 million active users). Why would your business want to use Facebook Fan Pages?
Fan Pages are public, so people don’t have to login to Facebook or be your “friend” to see your profile. Search engines are also able to see and index Fan Pages. Facebook is in the top 5 biggest sites on the internet, and search engines like big websites (like www.servicecentral.com.au).
You're also able to send updates to all your Fans with specials, news, notes about holiday periods, and perhaps just keeping them up to date with what's going on in your business. Obviously, you'll need to keep it relevant, because most people use Facebook for social needs, not to be marketed to. But still - Facebook can be great for business relationships, even if it's just about making sure you're keeping your business top of mind.
Of course, if you have a Fan Page or even a personal page, become a fan of Service Central and join our growing community. Click here to do this! For more information on how to use Facebook for your business, read Facebook's Pages profile
Twitter is a micro-blogging site. Quite simply, people and businesses have an account, and can 'follow' people and 'have followers'. This means that the people who 'follow' you read your micro-blogs (tweets), and you read the tweets from the people you follow.
"One of the cool things about Twitter is that it gives you a way to have friendly, public conversations with customers" says the Twitter 101 guide - and it's true. Other benefits are that you can find people who are 'Tweeting' about a topic you're interested in, and you can send them a message about their Tweet. So, if someone's complaining about their plumber not arriving on time, message them to offer your services. Someone imagining a new pergola for summer instead of working would welcome your Tweet that offers to come round and give them a quote.
Service Central has a Twitter account, and you can become a follower here. For more information on how to use Twitter for your business, read Twitter's business article
LinkedIn is different: It's a specialty networking site that focuses on professional and business interests, your education, skills and experience. It's more like a CV or resume, and as a small business owner it can be valuable to network with other like-minded folk about topics that really matter to you. You build your profile, and can participate in networks such as Training and Marketing in the Trades, Green Construction, De-Construction,Re-Construction, Skilled Trades Staffing or Girls in Trades/Women in Trades. These networks allow you to talk online with other people that have similar interests and needs, and while LinkedIn isn't all about marketing, having a profile and linking with your customers is always a good option!
Find out more here, using LinkedIn's super helpful online guide.
Using Service Central to increase your offered services
There are two levels of customer involvement:
- Type A: Those that want to be involved, taking part in some of the work, and will plan, organise, source materials.
- Type B: Those that just want to tell you what they want, get a quote, and get the job done without having to manage different trades and services.
Service Central is perfect for both levels of involvement - the Type A's can use Service Central to post a few different jobs requiring different services. So for example, a Type A will need to renovate a bathroom, and will post jobs as follows:
- Plumber
- Waterproofer
- Tiler
The Type A will get three separate quotes, plus source and purchase tiles, grout, toilets, sinks, etc. They'll co-ordinate each person to work in the most logical order, and communicate appropriately between the people. The customer will pay all three businesses separately.
For the Type B's, life is a little different. They'll post one job on Service Central, and receive two (or sometimes three) responses. The businesses that respond need to be able to do the job from start to finish, and will be expected to project manage appropriately. These businesses will subcontract any work out, for example if the renovation needs a bespoke cabinet, they'll source a cabinet maker for the job. The business might specialise in project management, and subcontract all the work out, either charging a fee for project management or charging one lump sum and paying the subcontractors less.
Why would you want to use Service Central to subcontract
So you're a plumber, and want to expand your services from hot water units and blocked drains into bathroom renovations. You've got some big ideas, and when you see the work of others you say "I'd NEVER do it like that". Plus, you see the value of the jobs coming through on Service Central and think that you'd like a piece of that pie.
Or, you're a renovation firm, but you're tired of being let down by your existing subbies, and the admin around managing the subbies' licences is not your core business. Or, you've decided that you need new blood in your existing project team, but there's not enough work to keep permanent employees going.
When you subcontract through Service Central, you can:
- Locate subbies that want to do the job, when you need them - not phoning around your pool of subbies to find the ones that are available.
- Know that all businesses on Service Central are fully registered, insured and licenced.
- With 1, 2 or 3 quotes you'll know that you'll be receiving competitive quotes which will reduce the overall cost of the job and improve your profit margins
- Track the jobs using the online CRM system, and manage a pool of 'favourite' or 'blacklisted' businesses.
How does subcontracting through Service Central work?
You'll follow a process just like all the customers - you'll post a job. You'll enter all the details about the job, when it's scheduled, what you're looking for, what kind of job it is. Because you know exactly what you want, you'll be able to post a job that has lots of detail, so you'll get the right businesses responding every time. You can asked for 1, 2 or 3 businesses to respond.
You'll get responses, gather their quotes, and make your selection. You'll complete the work together, and you'll manage payment to the subcontractor. If it's gone well, you can mark them as a 'Favourite' which means they'll get any jobs in future first.
