Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Paul Trevail on November 06, 2006, 10:11:04 am
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Hi everyone.
I was talking to a carpet cleaning pal of mine at the weekend, who said he keeps missing calls on his mobile whilst he's busy working. Having recently been laid off from my job where I was involved with telephone sales /call centres, I was thinking it would be a good service if an office was set up, In the UK, to field calls for you guys during the days you are out there grafting!
For a small fee you could have all your calls answered, in your name/company name, and you would never miss a new opportunity again. I could do after sales service calls as well. On the face of it I think it's a real goer. But let me know your thoughts.
Cheers now
Paul.
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Hi Paul,
There are already many many other companies that offer that kind of service.
It's a good idea, but you would have lots and lots of competition.
Andy
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Thanks Andy, I know there are lots of answer services out there but do you know if anyone is specifically targeting the cleaning business, as I would intend to get experience and qualified in carpet cleaning to enable me to service the customers calls with some degree of knowlege of the business.
Thanks look forward to your reply.
Paul.
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I never miss a call..........
My land line is diverted when working, to my mobile, which has bluetooth.........you don't even have to stop working, or driving, you just talk normally.
The phone rings and goes straight through, you simply talk
robbie
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I never miss a call..........
My land line is diverted when working, to my mobile, which has bluetooth.........you don't even have to stop working, or driving, you just talk normally.
The phone rings and goes straight through, you simply talk
robbie
Robbie,
Whats the fee for this service ?
Terry
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Robbie
I take the point about the bluetooth range of services but the technology can be unreliable especillay when the mobile signals are poor. Some peoples skills with technology may not be up to speed etc.
I would say the service I'm thinking about will cover a range of 'office' functions, ok telephone management will be a major role in the service but it would involve all office type services. I'm thionking about £30 to £40 per week. The more that join the lower the cost.
Paul.
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Hello everyone
Hope you all had a good day out in the wide world of carpet cleaning.
Just to share some feed back with you all from my earlier message, the most common question was how much will this all cost. Well thinking about it the more people who sign up the cheaper it will be.
Lets face it a secretary and office will cost loads more than say £60.00 a month and you'll get almost all your office needs provided. That includes answering the phone, message taking, call filtering, diary management of appointments, and lots of other goodies like service calls to get yet more business for you.
I know there are other companies who offer an answering service but they 're not industry specific and bluetooth is sometimes not all it's cracked up to be.
Lets have some comments so I can take the next step.
Cheers all
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terry, the call divert from bt cost £1.25 month plus you pay the incoming cost of the call from your landline to your mobile, just phone bt they set it up in minutes you just dial *#yournumber# to turn it on and #41#to turn it off again simple never miss another call again ;D ;D
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Same here
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mimes free ;D but i do pay for the incoming call *21*
so sont think £30 to £40 per week would help me in any way
Geoff
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Same for me but i add my mobile number to family and friends list so the diverted call costs less! It costs bu**er all really and really pays its way ;) If it didnt-i wouldnt do it ;D
Damian.
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Theres allready a company doing it called Factotom (dont know if i spelt that right)
But aparantly the girls that answer the phones know about carpet cleaning, and are trained to not give prices over the phone and steer the prospect towards a quote.
The guy who runs it or owns it is a ex safeclean franchisee with a lot of experience in this industry aparantly
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Being long established in the business, and involved in others, I find the Bluetooth invaluable and there is no technological knowledge required
All you need is a Bluetooth enabled
mobile, which they virtually all, are, Bluetooth earpiece, which is enabled through the menu.
Call divert, which costs pennies, from BT
Your diverted call, goes straight to the Bluetooth, without having to do anything and you just talk, normally.
Most importantly, the client is talking directly to YOU
ROBBIE
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Same for me but i add my mobile number to family and friends list so the diverted call costs less! It costs bu**er all really and really pays its way ;) If it didnt-i wouldnt do it ;D
Damian.
;D ;D
good idea i think i`ll add my to friends and family too, nice one ;D
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Yep Dan you spelt it nearly right. Factotum is run by an ex Safeclean franchisee, I used them for a couple of weeks and they were brilliant. Very professional, very friendly, didnt come accross the wrong way and can even arrange appointments and run your diary.
The only thing is they are more expensive than most - but I suppose you get what you pay for (which is what we all tell our custy's :P). http://www.ukfactotum.com/
We use these: http://www.connect-solutions.co.uk/ who give a very good service, and are very happy with them. We used to use Vodafone paging (same thing but they page you with a message to a pager), this was only abot £12.00-15.00 a month but was pretty dire :(
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Hi All
I have to admit i think Pauls idea is brilliant.I personallyhave between 15 and 25 calls to my mobile a day on average with enquiries and sales calls and sometimes it can be a pain in the butt! Also when weare in a customers house working and your mobile keeps ringing and your in and out to the van to get the diary and book in work dont you think the customer deserves more of our dedicated time and attention than that?
After all they are paying us between £50 to £80 an hour to be working for them
I would be very interested in this service.
Cheers
Steve
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Thanks Steve, its good to get some positive feed back.
Anwering the phone is only one aspect of the serice I have in mind, there would be add on's like invoicing, marketing advice, service calls to ge feedbck and yet more bookings for you guys, and all office functions. I have had some good comments locally so I'm still working on the project and will let you all now when I have a clearer picture of the service.
The other main feature is that I would ensure that the people anwering the phone would be carpet cleaning experienced, NCCA certificated, so they have some knowledege of the industry they are serving.
Thanks once again for the comments.
Paul
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If you do it you may want to consider offering a diary service aswell like Factotum,
they can book all your quotes or jobs for you in a online diary, so all you do is go online in the morning and print out your job-sheet for the day.
I would be interested in maybey trialing your service if and when you get it running
if you do let me know theredcarpet@hotmail.co.uk
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Hi Guys,
Some good points made.
I divert to mobile and sometimes the volume of calls is a pain and I ask my wife to take it off divert , if she is not working.
However the problem with this is that when i come in, I have to start ringing people, who quite often are not in which is also a pain.
Cheers
Doug
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Or they have rung someone else and already booked it with them :'( Then its a sale lost and recommendations you wont recieve from their friends.
Damian.
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I am going to trial one of these answering services in the new year, but i want one that offers a diary service.
So apart from factotum, do you guys know of any others please?
Also if any of you have used factotum before i would be gratefull of your opinion on them, if you dont want to post on here you can e-mail me theredcarpet@hotmail.co.uk
Kev (formula 6) do the ones you use offer a diary service? or do they just take the calls?
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hi red, do u really want someone else dealing with u custys? what if they book couple jobs in at the same time u do on u moby for the same day? u know what u want to ask u custys and discuss with them , i think it giv u loads of greif and take away to much control which u av at min, just buy a bloothtooth and u can answer even when u are working, rember they might say the wrong thing and lose u a job
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A good point Gary.
As for booking in jobs on my mobile, customers dont have my mobile number so that cant happen.
The reason im thinking of trying one of these services apart from not having to speak to people all day when im trying to work is this.
If i give somebody else a script of what to say and tell them what discounts or deals they are, or are not allowed to make i know it will happen.
My problem is when i answer the phone i am not disiplined in what i say, the customer rings and asks if i can work say on a sunday and in my head i think no but for some reason my mouth just blurts out yes of course i can ::) and then i get of the phone and kick myself >:(
You also get the ones ringing saying, hi you gave me a quote the other week for £130 but i can only raise £100 will you do it for £100 cash, and again same thing i just blurt out yes.
So while it has its disadvantages im sure it must also have a plus side, and with a lot less headaches i hope ;)
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still think its a bad move red, and y aint u got u moby on your flyers ? thats just mad red
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Landline on flyers, wich diverts straight to mobile anyway.
You gotta keep some things private mate, what do you do when you dont want work calls?
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buy another moby ;D if u hav land line divert and it fails they then can try moby direct and it might come through
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Why don't you just give it a try ??? - I know they do free trails!!! ;)
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but what if they ask if a coffee stain will come out of an eighty- twenty? and they dont want it cleaned unless it will come out, and they are only in on monday mornings and can it be done in 1 hour cus then they got pick the kids up..
and such like...
you'll have to give em long script! lol.
its maddness ;D
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I get the impression that many of you are very new to running a business, as what's being discussed, is very much at the start up, stage, where I was 20 years ago.
There will always be conflicting advice, given, as we all have different views and experiences, but, what really matters, is how good, or otherwise, you are, at presenting yourself and the services you offer.
Red, at the moment, comes across, as a grafter, who will, impress, by his work rate and keenness to impress, but, he says he's rubbish on the phone and rather than try to convince him, to try all sorts of ploys, I would suggest, he would benefit from having the phone calls handled for him. At the moment !
Some of you, write in " shorthand "and that concerns me, a bit and before you get your knickers in a twist, let me elaborate.
It's been my experience, that anyone who looks for the shortest method of carrying out a task, is likely to have a mindset, which extends into everything they do.
Some will say, this is utter rubbish, crap, etc, but, in my LONG experience, in many disciplines and at general manager level in National companies, as well as my own businesses, it's what I've noticed.
I'm not seeking to criticise, here, just warning that, we are not always seen by others, in the way we imagine ourselves to be.
It's sensible that this discussion is taking place, but no single answer will apply to all and you will have to decide, how important you feel it is, to be in first line contact, with prospects, or how prepared you are, to trust someone else, with your future.
I know...........long winded..............opinionated, as usual
best wishes to all of you in the future
robbie
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robbie, oneman outfit and u cant answer the phone !! come off it, u know as well as i do if u cant answer the phone then how do u talk to the custy at the door? i am sure reds a big boy and can answer the phone, i think u find he is talking just about missing calls
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Red,
we have used Factotum for about 2yrs, the last 18 mths of which have included the diary. We initially took the diary option because it was cheaper than employing somebody to sit in the office, (holiday pay, sickness, etc) but we have found it to far better than we anticipated. as you said you can give them a script, although thety are very clued up on our industry. As Kev said they are not cheap, but as we found out, the extra work we booked by not missing calls easily covered the cost. one other major benefit is they field sales calls away & cut them off (whats the value of that.) as with anything new you will need to tweek it to suit your needs, but this is easily done. Graham Abbey owns the company give him a ring & ask for a trail.
Dean
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Dan
To be honest mate I'm not 100% sure about the diary aspect. We don't employ this service but if they do I'm sure there ok. Have a look at their website or give them a call.
Steering slightly off subject how's the TM going? I know you've had many disasters etc, I hope your all sorted now! Have you found it beneficial upgrading?
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Hey Kev, t/m seems to be running fine now mate.
As for how benificial its been hmm, dont really know yet, as iv only had a couple weeks of proper use out of it so its still new to me in a way.
theres a few things i wanna change about how its all set up in the van to make it easier to use.
Its def a lot more powerfull in terms of heat, spit, and suck theres no denying that, but the carpets dont look any better at the end of the day than when i was using the portable and thats what the customers judge you by results at the end of the day.
Mind you i have been rather conservative about using high heat as i had a lot of overheating problems to start with, so im gonna try and wack the heat up this week and see how i get on with it.
Im really noticing the difference having a fuel bill now though, i think you may have made a smart move with your new setup.
The best part about the t/m is when its just a rug, theres no set up at all, i just lay a dust sheet next to the van and clean the rug outside, you only need about 6foot of hose. I can be leaving with a cheque in my pocket 10-15 minutes after arriving.
Kev or Dean, Would you guys mind giving me a idea of what Factotum charged you, as they dont seem to want to give prices untill you have had a trial. And isee little point in taking a trial if there prices are to high anyway. You can mail me if you preffer theredcarpet@hotmail.co.uk
I was suprised how much difference there are in these sort of companys prices, iv been on the phone to a couple of them today and they ranged from £17.50 to £114.00 for a basic pakage
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Alright Dan
At least your all ok now, I hope it doesnt play up any more for you now, I mean jeez you've had your fair share of bad luck!
I'm hoping Ive made the right move, I mean the way I see it is that I cant see myself using more than 450psi anyway, and what with the instant heat and extra water tank - Im all chunky dory so to speak.
Ive sent you e mail by the way.
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The way i see it, iv got a lot more vac power than you, but then im sure you have enough for about 100ft i can go to 200ft if i wish but how often am i gonna do that?
Iv def got more pressure than you but, its of no use to me really not on carpets.
I would be very suprised if your heat exchangers could keep up with me, but how much does that really matter? heat is a big advantage as we all know, but if it gets to hot it dumps ???
Day to day i think your setup is gonna be more profitable, it has its limitations but its a lot less upfront and no running costs. But there will be jobs its just not practical for i reckon.
One thing i will say though is watever my next system is it will be left in the van be it a electric or petrol machine. Gone are the days of lugging machines on and off the back of vans and filling with buckets.
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I think you've summed it up very well :)