[MENTION=3418]michaelmole[/MENTION]
They don’t have to download the app. It’s an optional feature. You can run your business without the consumer booking app. We simply designed the booking app for one click booking and auto payment processing to make it easier for you.
[MENTION=4520]optimumaintenance[/MENTION]
The monthly fee is how we stay alive as a business. We make 0 money on credit card processing fees…that’s why the rate is so low. We only take 10% on customers that WE give YOU. It is a standard finder’s fee. We don’t take any % or fee for your own customers.
I’m paying around 3% or more with square, HouseCall does flat rate 1.98%
With over 25% of our customers choosing to pay by card, it’s a no brainer!
Our annual savings covers the cost of service, so in essence, by switching to HouseCall, I’m getting an Awsome CRM/Booking/Fleet Tracking/Crew Tracking/ Mobile Booking App and more for free!
I’m super stoked
How are YOU getting us customers? If I understand it correctly all YOU are doing is showing potential customers a list of service providers (and their “prices”) who have signed up with you guys (which helps drive prices down) How soon will it turn into one of Angieslist’s “pay-to-get-on-the-top-of-the-list” things?
I know your service has potential to be really awesome, but that’s what I thought about AL in 07…now I know better, so I’m a bit jaded and VERY skeptical.
Jesse
Atlas Services - Exterior Cleaning Specialists
North Carolina
I think you can opt out of that side of the service and just use the crm invoice and booking side
Sent from my iPad using Window Cleaning Resource mobile app
DING DING DING just another middle man, commoditizing our businesses.
Yeah…I wouldn’t mind ONE middle man helping us all out and making himself a bit for his efforts, but “middlemanning” is becoming a trade in itself!
Jesse
Atlas Services - Exterior Cleaning Specialists
North Carolina
Like Responsibid, Proposal, et al?
Eh, it’s a middle man you can turn off if you want to… or just don’t use it. I don’t have a horse in this show so I could really care less one way or the other… but if they’re willing to customize their crm in response to feedback, then I’m interested in at least giving it a test drive.
Jobber has their model and target market, TCF has legacy, other CRM’s are generic, there’s always room for one more.
If they do a good job, then they’ll dominate the market. If they don’t do a good job, they’ll probably survive. If they use their software for evil by sharing your customer lists, cataloging your shopping habits, documenting your internet interest… then they’ll probably get bought out by google who owns all of our collective butts anyway and who is already sharing everything about everyone to the government…
Where’s my tin foil hat… I know I left it around here somewhere.
wrong. Do you really not see the difference, or are you just trying to argue?
ResponsiBid and Pro-posal don’t try to charge you to get you new customers. They’re a service JUST for you as a contractor. By definition they aren’t a middleman at all. HouseCall is BY DEFINITION a middleman. They have a consumer facing segment, which WILL BE their priority, because that’s where they’ll make REAL MONEY, just like Angie’s List, Thumbtack, Home Advisor, Groupon, Living Social, Google, Yelp, etc.
Like a good tool, I use all of these mentioned. The right tool for the right job. Works for me…
[MENTION=37432]Atlas1[/MENTION]
You don’t seem to understand correctly then. All WE are doing is giving you an All-in-one tool to run and grow your entire business at a very low cost. One of the features of our product is a booking app for your customers (and soon-to-be customers to book you). Ultimately, YOU set your prices, YOU set your services, and YOU decide how to run YOUR business.
Additionally, if you add your customers on HouseCall Pro, YOU will be the ONLY service professional that shows up in that service category. So if you import all of your customers to your HouseCall Pro account, when your customers download the consumer booking app (if you want them to), YOU will be the ONLY window cleaner that shows up in the Window Cleaning category. Of course, those customers will be able to see other service categories as well, but you will have exclusivity in your category. Sounds like a good deal to me.
With all due respect, 2015 is not 2007 and technology has come a long way. We are NOTHING like Angie’s list and we are here to serve your community so we take feedback and try to implement new features that will be beneficial to your business. Hopefully this clarifies your concerns a little.
[MENTION=5058]mettlermaintenance[/MENTION]
I don’t understand why nobody understands that, although we do have a consumer booking app, we are primarily in the business of helping you run your business. Scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, SMS notifications, CRM, payment processing at 1.99%, quickbooks integration, statistical reporting. I don’t understand how these beneficial features are so quickly overlooked simply because of the booking app.
[MENTION=3418]michaelmole[/MENTION]
You don’t seem to understand correctly then. All WE are doing is giving you an All-in-one tool to run and grow your entire business at a very low cost. One of the features of our product is a booking app for your customers (and soon-to-be customers to book you). Ultimately, YOU set your prices, YOU set your services, and YOU decide how to run YOUR business.
Additionally, if you add your customers on HouseCall Pro, YOU will be the ONLY service professional that shows up in that service category. So if you import all of your customers to your HouseCall Pro account, when your customers download the consumer booking app (if you want them to), YOU will be the ONLY window cleaner that shows up in the Window Cleaning category. Of course, those customers will be able to see other service categories as well, but you will have exclusivity in your category. Sounds like a good deal to me.
With all due respect, 2015 is not 2007 and technology has come a long way. We are NOTHING like Angie’s list and we are here to serve your community so we take feedback and try to implement new features that will be beneficial to your business. Hopefully this clarifies your concerns a little.
Please stop repeating yourself…
[MENTION=3471]Alex Lacey[/MENTION]
Sorry Alex. Must have miss-clicked. 
You said YOU get us customers. Your reply above was talking about OUR customers that YOU DIDN’T get. My reference to devaluing services was this: Yes, I set my prices, but then Crackhead Carl’s Winderwashin comes in and just says, “well all I gotta do is charge $50 less than that, now that I know what he’s chargin” So yes, your service, and others like it, no matter how well intentioned, contribute to devaluing our services…Simple fact.
Denial in 5,4,3…
Jesse
Atlas Services - Exterior Cleaning Specialists
North Carolina
To be clear, I personally could not care less about CRM etc. I know a lot of guys do, but I don’t.I care about getting new customers right now. Most of us on here do completely understand what you’re saying about being primarily a CRM, etc company, and your constant insults of our intelligence aren’t going very far toward gaining our business. It’s kind of like me trying to sell powerwashing service to someone who only wants an estimate for window cleaning…If I continually insult them about how little they understand about my powerwashing service, they’re not gonna hire me for either.
Jesse
Atlas Services - Exterior Cleaning Specialists
North Carolina
[MENTION=37432]Atlas1[/MENTION]
No denial here. What’s stopping your competitor from pretending to be a customer or hiring someone to pretend to be a customer and get your entire price list anyway? You can either have a hi-tech tool that gives you a competitive advantage and have people undercut your prices, or you can just have people undercut your prices.
[QUOTE=HouseCallPro;327539][MENTION=37432]Atlas1[/MENTION]
No denial here. What’s stopping your competitor from pretending to be a customer or hiring someone to pretend to be a customer and get your entire price list anyway? [\QUOTE]
I don’t give out “price lists”…That’s my whole point…Your booking app reduces my services to a price. Each company’s PRICE is posted in real big, obvious characters on there. You even told me yourself that that’s what gets calls from people who use your app. You said “The middle-of-the-road priced companies historically get the most calls” That is true…those companies get the most calls from people who are MORE concerned with price than with quality service. Granted, they are assuming that the “middle of the road” PRICED company will do a little better work than the lowest PRICED one, but they are still making their decision of which contractor to contact based PRIMARILY on PRICE. That means that gradually (or not) the “middle of the road” prices will be forced down by contractors who “play the game” and lower their prices just enough to still be “middle of the road” even as our operating costs continue to rise…I’ll stick with word-of-mouth…It’s very rare have a person who is price-driven in their decision making when they meet with a service provider their friends or neighbors have recommended…they usually care much more about quality, professionalism, and trustworthiness…and so do I.
Middlemen (ie. Housecall, Thumbtack, etc) drive people to make PRICE based decisions instead of VALUE based decisions. If I want to contribute to that, I’ll just use thumbtack at $3.50 per lead…(At least Thumbtack has never insulted me)
Jesse
Atlas Services - Exterior Cleaning Specialists
North Carolina
[MENTION=37432]Atlas1[/MENTION]
I meant no insult at all. We have people on our system that charge WAY higher prices than others and get MORE business because they are simply higher quality. We have a review system in place that gives a better look into quality of service. The marketplace will always correct itself, and we have no control over that. There are customers out there that are simply looking for the lowest price and there are customers that are looking for the highest quality. Some look for the middle ground. The point is, we have no control over that. We are not responsible for what people are ultimately looking for based on their needs. This is why we stay out of the pricing and service realm of your business.
Ultimately, if your service is higher quality, you will price higher because demand for your services will reach the point where you can’t keep up. Increase in price will weed out the bargain buyers and will give you higher margins and let you keep the more loyal, quality-seeking clientele. We don’t favor one side or the other in the price elasticity of demand spectrum. Therefore, your pricing strategy is your own.
