Scott,
You can see right through my sales pitch? We are in the process of designing a business tool to help call takers improve their performance. How can I be selling something that doesn’t even exist yet? By the time we have finished fine tuning this product for electrical, probably end of 2009; these posts will be a distant memory at best.
Our marketing will be centered in trade magazines, IEC meetings, etc. The only reason why I opened this thread was to provide electrical contractors with a say of what would work best in the design phase of a new product. And although you probably won’t sign up, you are not our market. Contractors who are trying to use technology to improve their business are who we will be focusing on.
Historically, software for the electrical industry started off as something for the plumbing and hvac markets and was then patched up, usually badly, to be distributed to the electrical segment to make a few quick bucks. It’s a comment I have personally heard over and over again with flat rate solutions, dispatch software, etc.
For once, someone is contacting you directly to allow your input to shape the future of a software solution and all you can do is criticize instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to design something that may actually help you.
Our most successful customers have become that way because they have improved their marketing, field procedures and their front end, the latter being one of the most essential towards success. We have customers with posters on the wall that guide their call takers to respond to common hurdles such as up front pricing, diagnostic fees, competitive pricing comparisons to name a few. They have these since they know that some answers are better than others when dealing with specific issues.
They also make sure that the information provided from a customer who is not as well versed as a tech in describing their problem is properly conveyed to the field to allow for optimal problem resolution, which usually leads to better performance and more time for the tech to take more calls. If your call takers approach to repetitive issues is always different, I can guarantee you that your business’s front end is hit and miss at best. If their answers to repetitive issues are well thought off and successful, then they should be repeated every time the same issue comes up, and no matter if you like it or not, that’s called a script!
For some reason, you think providing the right answer to your customers time and time again requires some 3rd grader reading in a monotone voice from a post it note. That’s not how most companies do it. There are right answers to specific questions and our goal is to provide as many right answers to the most common issues that are brought to you by using technology to bring up a “guide” to approaching any given question. Imagine the advantage you would have if every phone call was dealt with using the knowledge you have accumulated over the years. Now imagine if you could get the same results without requiring you to answer the phone yourself, that’s what we are trying to do here. In addition, we want to then report on which calls were closed successfully providing you income and which weren’t and why, allowing you more information to better your responses to those failed opportunities. What the heck is so wrong with that?
I’m sorry if I was sarcastic in my last response but I’m getting a little frustrated reading post that serve only to criticize something that falls outside the purview of the poster. If you took the time to read my previous posts, all the way back to 2005, this is the first time I have asked for input on a developing product. All the other posts were written to provide the same information to any given query that we share with our paying consulting customers. So instead of bringing out your torch and pitchfork and accusing anyone who is not a contractor as being a “snake oil salesmen”, do a little research and you may find out that not everyone is out to take advantage of you. And be careful because it’s usually those who can’t be trusted that don’t trust, the image you project in your comments say more about the person posting it than the recipient of the post.
I may have read you wrong and if so, I apologize. I ask that you examine your conclusions based on my history as well. Perhaps we can start off with a clean slate and offer some input that will be beneficial to all concerned.
If not, then let's agree to disagree and leave it at that, as you said, everyone is allowed an opinion no matter if you agree with it or not.
Marc
