John… Again not your industry, but the largest ticket we’ve had for online booking of a home carpet cleaning is… about $1500 & a new client.
Very difficult to differentiate on a website considering that anyone can copy you. If I place a price on my site to wash a 2000sqft house for $497, and list all the wonderful value-adding wordage and list of step we take etc, then a competitor simply posts similar wordage and a lower price. Only with sending our "Super secret’ email and proposal wording with the price, can we keep a competitor from seeing our methods for closing with higher pricing. I truly believe that publishing price only works if you are low to mid priced and are offering basically same level of service as everyone else.
I need consumer to seek out the estimate so we can send our bullet list and closing verbiage to them privately and keep the competition wondering.
Michael - Believing that you have the best quality in the area is a GREAT attribute. Unfortunately “prospects” don’t know that - just your clients. I’d bet that Delta thinks they have as good a quality as United; or Apple compared to Microsoft. Service quality is only known once it’s known. Prospects today don’t care what others say about you “IF” they don’t know who is saying it. Studies have shown that “especially” millennials are very skeptical of testimonials that are generic or unknown to them personally. Respectfully - I think that you are limiting your opportunities with the massive online market.
Not sharing your silver bullet with your market is like not telling them if they call… and there lies the issue. Will they call? Is calling losing it luster in the future. have some clients that 50% of their jobs were booked i realtime online after just a couple years. Roughly one new client a day booked online. Do you know any travel agents? Lol That’s because they don’t exist in quantity anymore. The internet eliminated their “service” needs. Trust me I get it- I own a service company as well and know the value of customer service. All I am suggesting is that a scarcity mentality in the advent of our technology world could greatly limit your ability to attract the clients of the future - ie. like the millennials. After all they built the internet apps we use today in our everyday lives, what makes you think they won’t want to use them?
Just thought to chew on…
All the Best - Steve
95% of my business comes from the web and 90% of that is communicated via email. My “silver bullet” isn’t my quality but my closing wordage. It is how we present the price along with the value-benefit stuff.
I just feel it will commoditize our service when we can all see our prices AND offerings. If competitor “A” sees my price for xyz, they only have to list xyz as well for lower price. I’ve watched every one of them copy me all along the way. I blog about jmk, they blog about jmk. I target pqr keyword, they target pqr keyword. I post in a facebook community group, they post in a group. I HVAE to have a secret or two to make the differentiation.
My close rate went down when we tested prices on the site or auto-generated prices. Lead count also went down.
This is such an interesting topic. I am so tempted to start another company(I’ve done this in the past but since shut it down) where I can bid against myself. If I do this I will post prices and see who calls. I’ll be smart about it and try to win bids thru both companies. This way my high end company stays with my great customers and the price shopping people out there I can decide if I want them through upsells.
I need to think this through some more but as of now I think Powerwashing and Window washing is so very different where window washing and landscaping as well are much easier to advertise price compared to Powerwashing.
I helped a competitor get going (financially) with his business many years ago by teaching him how to price and sell jobs. For the past few years he has been telling people he taught me everything I know about washing, we do the same thing but I am greedy and charge too much. He also published prices online that are $50-$150 below my prices because he knows how I price. He is a scumbag as a businessman and has no ethics or moral compass.
Mike, I would love to talk to you about your closing techniques, if you dont mind
Again… it appears that you guy are running quality service companies. I would suggest that possibly the covet mentality will not allow for growth in the future; but maybe that’s OK - don’t know. The only point that I am suggesting is what I often hear from my FittleBug clients in the carpet world (which btw they said the same things you’re saying about 4 years ago); their theory now is “at least we get the opportunity to address questions by sharing our pricing”. They tell me that once you have them and the deposit it taken to secure the time they chose… they do not cancel. John in San Francisco got 585 bookings his first year and told me that “NOT ONE” canceled after booking online. He did obviously have to move some around of course. (again - carpet cleaning/ $136,000)
Someone in an earlier post suggested that 90% of his business cam from the internet. That makes sense to me. That’s where everyone is! What I am talking about is “actually booking” the job online based on your real-time availability. Booked and done in one session with no need for human contact. (kind of like a cash station vs. a teller) The end result is the same. It has been suggested by the wall street journal that about 20% of all doctors appointments will be booked online in the next 5 years. When was the last time that you heard the term “bed side manner” . A great art, but a lost one! No time - unfortunatley. That’s the world we live in.
Since it is Hockey playoff season and yes my town is still in it - Blackhawks, I will leave you with a quote from the Great One - Wayne Gretzky - " I’m not concerned about where the puck IS, I am concerned about where the puck IS GOING!
All the Best - Steve
Netscape Quote “we have the best browser - ever!”
Personally, I would be more concerned about the fact that many on this board will not be found on mobile as it relates to Google’s new algorithm. If about 90% of all searches are done on google, and mobile is the future… you may want to make your sites mobile ready or quickly in the future you may become very hard to find… make sure that you are mobile ready… https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
See ya at the conference in August…
All the best - Steve
Just thought I would add this for clarity to my last thread… Millennials will have more purchasing power than Baby Boomers in a couple years. How long do you want your company? Do you have to give it to your kids or maybe sell it in the future? You better have something they want…
Hey Steve - Are you speaking at the PWRA convention in DC and if so what topic will it be? Also I hope your Blackhawks and my Rangers hook up for the Stanley Cup finals. That would be great for the “History” of Hockey 
John - Yes in DC, but not speaking, just vending. Although I would suggest that I can talk a lot that way as well :). I dropped you a line to talk hockey and more today. Got VM. My clients say in their VM - "did you know that you can book yourself, go to … " and they do. Drop me a line back, or anyone that is interested in talk about future based marketing… FittleBug
The Best - Steve
PS… I hope we meet on the ice - should be good!
John - Tough loss last night for the Rangers 
Maybe the blackhawks can make it… 
I hope so. I was a huge Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito fan back in the day…and of course my alltime favorite sports icon(even though i’m good friends with Babe Ruths family)… #4 Bobby Orr…who was very briefly a Blackhawk.
Interesting read
Hey Keegan - If you are going to be at the conference in a couple weeks, please stop by booth 218 and say hello, or if you have questions on FittleBug, please drop me a line and I can share more or a live example of how others use it. Again, the concept of online “real-time” scheduling is not new to consumers. They have been doing it for years and prefer it to digital/human tag. Most questions that they might have at time of booking can be addressed online with FittleBug.
All the Best - Steve
