A new software offering and app from Joe Crisara and the folks at ContractorSelling.com comes with what will be an increasingly important feature in the near future — they give the homeowner at least the illusion of being in control of a service call and allow the homeowner to customize his service experience. Moreover, the app, which will be custom-branded to the name of the contractor, will tie the homeowner to the contractor for repeat business.
The package, called jobi (rhymes with Bobby) can run on a smart phone, tablet or desktop and is scalable from a one-man shop up to multi-million dollar contractor.
By using the software contractors can:
- Schedule service calls and dispatch opportunities.
- Track technicians in the field and find the fastest route via GPS mapping.
- Get their own branded homeowner app to stay connected with customers.
- Create premium, mid-range and economy choices in one click, proven to boost sales.
- View sales by technician, department or task on the real-time dashboard to set goals for growth.
- Record audio during service calls for training purposes and to improve customer satisfaction.
- Scan credit cards using the camera on their phones.
- Capture signatures all in the app, no paperwork.
- Import and export to QuickBooks to keep all transactions in sync.
- Create on-the-fly digital invoices for individual products and services.
- Customers can track service plans, warranties and service history right from their phones.
- Make remote presentations and share with all decisions makers.
- Easily track purchasing trends on the real-time results dashboard.
- See key performance indicators such as closing ratio, total calls, average invoice and billable hours.
Joe Crisara, the founder of ContractorSelling.com and a former contractor himself, said that ContractorSelling.com has 3,800 users and about 100 of them have beta tested jobi.
Perhaps the most important part of the product, though, is the customer app, that will be branded with the contractor’s name.
“Everything happens from one thing at a time,” Crisara said. “There’s a sequence from adding a customer name or adding a service call, to giving people a price or a bundled solution as another segment. The dashboard is another segment, and the presentation is a segment. jobi was created by people in the service business who took the sequence of how people interact with their clients and then did it from start to finish.”
Crisara said that some software vendors try to make a contractor change his procedures to fit the software. jobi was created by contractors to mirror the way they operate naturally. He also said that the product should be intuitive for contractors — “You don’t need to be trained to use Uber,” is the way he put it.
Because the cloud-based product can be used on any mobile device, a contractor could see his key performance indicators on his phone over lunch. He could track items such as, for example, a service technician went on four service calls but only made a presentation on one of them — why did that happen?
Perhaps the most important part of the product, though, is the customer app, that will be branded with the contractor’s name. The homeowner can look at available appointment times and schedule a service call. They can see the warranties in force on their equipment. They will be notified when the service tech is coming and who it is. Later this year, the app will have a feature that shows where the service truck is at en route, much like Uber shows the location of its drivers.
The app allows the customer to make buying decisions remotely, whether he’s an out-of-state landlord or in his downtown office.
The app will let contractors present product bundles to homeowners at premium, mid-range and economy levels. Contractors can create their own bundles and create a list of their favorite bundles. Because products are presented at three levels, the app takes advantage of psychology because most customers pick the option in the middle, not the lowest price.
The product starts at $149 per month for three users, then scales up to $297 per month for seven users, and $20 per additional user after that. Large contractors can outfit up to 60 users for $549 per month.
Additional information is available at http://www.jobi.pro/.