National Hoovering Of Service Work

[Martin]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

Oh, ….that’s OK then. 😀

[Lawrence]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

Martin wrote: Trouble we are faced with though Lawrence is one of simple mathematics. By that I mean the appliance owner almost always adopts the ‘viability formula’. Namely dividing the years of service their appliance has given, minus the cost of getting it fixed, plus the cost of replacing it. Whereas we use the more complex ‘realistic formula’ in our calculations, which involves adding the know-how, divided by the practicality, over the square root of the cost.

I think I get what you are saying ,but isn’t that where something like the WTA comes in ,the louder it becomes with regards to ,appliance longevity ,repair viability,highlighting the hoovering tactics that are going on ,the more chance we have ,and before you wonder if the WTA is loud enough ?
Don’t forget its growing all the time ,you were there at the last meeting ,what if it were to grow some more then it would get louder and be able to be more vocal

Martin wrote:, the national hoovering companies operate an extremely simple mathematical formula based entirely on the ‘numbers game’. Blanket coverage over the Internet attracting new business nationwide over an entire product range. Their revenue stream based on the well tried and tested ‘fixed rate sting’. Getting paid up front. Employing an army of repairers to go out all hours of the day, night and weekends in the full and certain knowledge that at least 65-70{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of those appliances attended to will be rendered BER by them. It’s a pure, undiluted and yet sophisticated game that they play all the while.

I know and like you it frustrates the heck out of me ,but what if there were the ability to play them at there own game ,I’m not saying we can or should I’m just asking the question ,what if we could get that work steered to the likes of us but not at warranty rates.

Martin wrote: us lowly indies suffer directly as a result. Simply because we still operate the old fashioned skills and experience route, selling our services on well established fair trading principles.

Thats my point about adapting the way we work ,We can work in the modern medium but still have principles gained from our industry experience can’t we ?

I know I haven’t got it all right ,but theres no harm in knocking this about cos we just may stumble across something

[funkyboogy]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

maybe we could look at a way of subscribing a fee to engineer search ? .. and offer any customer who comes through search @ a fixed type fee – even if its just on labour . this would give customer a idea of costs .. ?

or something to this effect ..

ally

[kwatt]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

I’d suggest you go back to brass tacks and work forward. 😉

What is it that people look for when they want anything mended, a washer, a car, a lawnmower or whatever?

With older people it tends to be, “I know a guy…” or it’s someone that they’ve known for years, has fixed stuff for years and are known in the local community. This is where the Likes of Martin and Jim score hugely asides from their obvious capability and ability to define not just what they do but, just as importantly, what they don’t.

So their reputation isn’t tarnished by taking on things that they know they can’t fix or possibly even know that much about.

You then end up with a very high quality service that has a high recommendation by others.

What the nationals do is take on anything and everything and, if they make a hash of it or the agent does, no matter, plenty more out there. But it can damage reputation as we’ve seen.

Younger people or products where there appears no local agent for I think that’s where folks turn to the internet looking for answers on how to get it sorted. We can forget the old directories, I don’t think to many people use them these days or, certainly nowhere near what it used to be. And, since we generally follow the US trending in this respect, YP (to my knowledge) is near enough bust in the US due to lack of interest.

The question I can’t answer is, are people looking for a fixed cost service, an ongoing maintenance plan or do they just want someone that can actually resolve the issue for them expediently and properly?

I suspect it’s the latter.

If I go looking for someone to sort things, the boiler, a car etc. then I look for local recommendation and reputation as then you feel comfortable that you won’t get ripped off. Followed by a search online where that falls through, but looking for a local specialist in what I want doing.

The problem is, the only choices that people are presented with are the fixed cost repair or a maintenance plan being foisted on them.

I wouldn’t be so hasty as to presume that everyone else is doing the right thing.

K.

[funkyboogy]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

makes even more sense – for everyone to make sure they claim there local google places listing ,

it would be interesting to see how many members have a listing

their should be enough members on here to achieve a national coverage.

ally

[kwatt]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

Having trawled through most of them…

It’d surprise you how many people have no clue about the internet and seem to think that if they pretend it’s not there then it’ll go away.

Of those that have sussed it, it would surprise you how many think that plonking up a website (often made up by YP or someone) is the total answer, Google still not touched and no email etc.

It’d also surprise you how many have removed details (from Google and elsewhere), like their address and only provide a mobile telephone number. That just doesn’t engender customer trust at all and I haven’t listed people that operate that way as it’s well shady IMO. I understand why some people would do it but it doesn’t mean I would personally condone it.

People that have spent a bit of money on a website and promotion of it are a very small minority.

Of those, the surprise I got was how many of the good sites are actually sole traders.

Also a surprise is how many spend on Google to drive traffic to a site that has nothing on it, a mobile number or two and a “We fix everything” mantra.

Put it this way, to build the database I just did took me some weeks, a lot of work and cross-referencing at least three online directories and, even at that, I reckon I could find a lot more if I had the time an inclination.

Customers ain’t gonna do that.

They’ll Google it, Bing it etc. and if nothing comes up or they only see what looks like a dodgy trader then it’s off to one of the national chains they go.

Whether they can actually do the job or are really too expensive doesn’t really factor in if you can’t find an alternative.

K.

[funkyboogy]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

re address
i agree ken , i could understand address if you work from home ? and dont want customers turning up – but if you have an office -workshop then include it ..

what the big nationals are good at is web design and giving the appearance of confidence ?? .. some thing that independents probably need to work on

its a bit of a minefield really – some customers will use a site for tel number etc and wont really bother what site looks like – others will look at every page ,

i get the feeling that most just want a job doing -they have a quick look at home page if they like look of it and your local – relevant to job they will make contact .

ive just done a mobi site – still sussing out how to seo etc but think its worth having as most online surfing seems to be from mobiles phones tablets etc – so thought i would get in on the act still to early to decide if worth having but for £70.00 worth a go ..

ally

[Martin]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

Here’s an idea to throw into ‘the circle of bright ideas’….

Create a template web design that has all the speil like the national hoovering companies use. With loads of useful tagged keyword information on it outlining a national service network of independents. A workers co-operative if you like, built around charging a referral fee for all enquiries passed on to the individual company that the search criteria actually flags up.

One server loaded with all the necessary information (i.e brands, product types, skillsets and postcode areas each business supplies to the database). A simple ‘tick each box’ application process to load all the necessary information required.

A system akin to the likes of UKW’s Find an Engineer but far beyond that to include all and sundry that are not necessarily attached to any trade association or code of practice either. But who are up for getting a bit of extra recognition and in the process paying for it ‘piecemeal’.

So and for example, the way it would appear at the top of any search engines web page would show up something like:

LOCAL FIX the nationwide repair network local to you!

So if you are a one man band in Tadcaster, Tooting or Taunton or a small oufit in Inverness, Iver or Ilchester and register all your details with LOCAL FIX your name, phone number and link to your website (if you have one that is?) will show.

Each and every referral ( say?) 25p each and taken from your account via Direct Debit. And for a nominal extra fee, and if you have your own web site, then you can adapt it (using the same template) to look exactly like a mirror image of the server’s own site in layout and format. But to also include all the additional extra information, photo’s and even embedded video you already use on your existing site.

In effect LOCAL FIX would act like a giant Internet ‘notice board’ where you choose whether or not to pin your own business card on or not. The ‘opt out’ easily administered on a suck it and see, two way street basis.

[funkyboogy]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

yip something like what he just said ..

i suppose fme and search@ are already doing that ? , but not in the uniformed way you mention martin r.e everyone has same LOCAL FIX web template no matter what part of the country your in ..

what it would cost – no idea
would every one contribute
how many to make it worth while ..

its certainly worth exploring ?

maybe current search methods could bolt on a new service which includes a ready made LOCAL FIX web etc … this of course would need to be paid for ..

quick martin …. buy domain LOCALFIX .co.uk , com , net, org ,

ally

[Martin]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

funkyboogy wrote:quick martin …. buy domain LOCALFIX .co.uk , com , net, org ,

…and you don’t think I haven’t tried already?

Unique web site names are hard to acquire these days, long since taken up and the vast majority are bought up and sold to the highest bidder at grossly exaggerated fees. I have found a useful and appropriate URL name though that covers all….co.uk, org, net,.tv,.uk.net etc etc that I feel is worth a shot. Though somewhat inappropriate right now for me to divulge in public you understand.

Bearing in mind that such a project right from the outset is far from cheap to set up. Far from it in fact but necessary in order it achieve its purpose. Our man Ken is well grounded in that area and would shudder at the very thought of such a thing I’m sure. Nevertheless it is very feasible, the marketplace still wide open to such an entrepreneurial venture and a licence to print money if done right.

Edit: This reply to you Ally was lost earlier today in the thread splitting (I’ve just copied & pasted it back) 🙂

[kwatt]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

Martin wrote:Bearing in mind that such a project right from the outset is far from cheap to set up. Far from it in fact but necessary in order it achieve its purpose.

Correct.

Martin wrote:Our man Ken is well grounded in that area and would shudder at the very thought of such a thing I’m sure.

Correct.

Martin wrote:Nevertheless it is very feasible, the marketplace still wide open to such an entrepreneurial venture and a licence to print money if done right.

Correct and also not correct. 😉

I don’t think it’s a license to print money because it’d involve a heap of startup costs and also would have an ongoing administration cost as well which is, quite likely, more than you might at first think.

So, from my point of view, you have to wonder, is it worth the stress, cost and just general all round grief?

K.

[Martin]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

kwatt wrote:So, from my point of view, you have to wonder, is it worth the stress, cost and just general all round grief?

That’s the $64,000 question but clearly those ‘national’ website you highlighted earlier seem to think so. The major stumbling block I would imagine is not setting the ‘thing’ up so much as trying to visualise what the market demand could possibly yield? One could throw money into a project like this and get it working but the uncertainty of the return from it is anyones guess.

Nevertheless it is all too apparent that these organisations have suddenly sprung up and are feeding from their labours. Only time will tell if they thrive or fold. Meanwhile their very presence is causing us all some concern and we mustn’t overlook that fact.

The ‘CheckaTrade’ ‘Trustmark’ ‘Guild of Master Craftsmen’ ‘Trade Association’ an even ‘Findmyengineer’ has a part to play. All very laudable they are too but hardly draw in a crowd. The public at large out there aren’t exactly falling over themselves insisting on comissioning only those listed on their sites.

While all this is going on the average indie is working, and relying entirely on his established customer base, his local recognition, his repeat business. Each are coming to realise that that is not enough, that work volumes are receeding, sales of new goods at a snails pace. Blaming ‘the recession’ for the downturn and clinging on to the hope tomorrow will get better.

Perhaps it will? I dearly hope so but I earnestly believe we all need to bang our heads together and come up with a plan toward setting up a workers co-operative, each flying the same flag and a huge website pointing to our businesses….! 😀

[lee8]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

Martin wrote:Here’s an idea to throw into ‘the circle of bright ideas’….

Create a template web design that has all the speil like the national hoovering companies use. With loads of useful tagged keyword information on it outlining a national service network of independents. A workers co-operative if you like, built around charging a referral fee for all enquiries passed on to the individual company that the search criteria actually flags up.

One server loaded with all the necessary information (i.e brands, product types, skillsets and postcode areas each business supplies to the database). A simple ‘tick each box’ application process to load all the necessary information required.

A system akin to the likes of UKW’s Find an Engineer but far beyond that to include all and sundry that are not necessarily attached to any trade association or code of practice either. But who are up for getting a bit of extra recognition and in the process paying for it ‘piecemeal’.

So and for example, the way it would appear at the top of any search engines web page would show up something like:

LOCAL FIX the nationwide repair network local to you!

So if you are a one man band in Tadcaster, Tooting or Taunton or a small oufit in Inverness, Iver or Ilchester and register all your details with LOCAL FIX your name, phone number and link to your website (if you have one that is?) will show.

Each and every referral ( say?) 25p each and taken from your account via Direct Debit. And for a nominal extra fee, and if you have your own web site, then you can adapt it (using the same template) to look exactly like a mirror image of the server’s own site in layout and format. But to also include all the additional extra information, photo’s and even embedded video you already use on your existing site.

In effect LOCAL FIX would act like a giant Internet ‘notice board’ where you choose whether or not to pin your own business card on or not. The ‘opt out’ easily administered on a suck it and see, two way street basis.

Or you could run a company to bring the work to you, you source it out, could then call it JTM or Repaircare. :rotfl:

Sorry but putting all the eggs into one basket takes work, which ultimately costs time and money, simply running a national ad campaign linking all the independents together is really what is already happening. Someone ultimately will want to own the web page and take a bigger percentage, the JTM’s will find a way to compete.You cannot give all the work to all the independents, either someone is left out or you’ll have too little to share around, people will break free because loyalty does not owe you and its certainly does not pay your bills and feed your family.

Ridiculous idea.

[funkyboogy]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

so what do you do , just sit and do nothing and let nationals take the bread and butter away from the indies ,

not a ridiculous as you think , work could be shared via skill sets etc ,

i for one would be willing to try something even if it includes subscriptions to fund ..

im sure with the clout of this site and the rest of the guys on here we could come up with something good ..

of course it costs to compete with pay per click on google etc but you can also compete via google places ( something that nationals cant use), page 1 organic listing can also be achieved with some know-how.

customer are wiser than you think and know the sponsored listing at the top of google are more than likley going to be a national etc –

they will then look for local via maps or local via organic search – thats where the battle can be won , we can collectively have 2-3 listings and google map listings for any town-city or village,

customer will then truly have a choice to use a local engineer /company

the clever people need to take over here and make sure customer is directed to a nice web site explaining that when they choose their local agent – they truly will be local ,

so very dooable ..

we have the know-how , the resource , the time and the clout

do we have the desire ? .. i hope so as you just need to look at any main street in any town now … butchers , grocers , bakers all gone – they really didnt stand a chance against the big super markets ..

we however collectively do …

ally

[adv]

Re: National Hoovering Of Service Work

yep local repair exsperts bollocks who an what engineers are doin the jobs also internet not helping, ie ransomes e spares showing videos of how to fix everything its worrying .whats the law an legal issues on showing videos like that on electrical stuff?

[Author]

Posts