Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Sprint and Nextel are now both options on the list. Nextel customers may want to choose Sprint instead of Nextel depending on how they are working things after the merger. Please report back on your findings and I will combine Sprint and Nextel on the list if that is what needs to happen. I am also working on the issue currently where the message says that it comes from root4.heavensbest.com or something similiar. For most of you, the message should come from bids@heavensbest.com.
David,
I just added AT&T and Cingular today. The bids should come via text by both the locations map form and the zip finder bid request form. As I haven’t tested with more than just a few carriers, let me know about any errors that come up and I will look into them!
Currently the bid requests will only come via text from bid requests done through the zip finder. I will be integrating this feature into the locations map as well, but the coding is likely to be slightly more complex.
I plan on adding all the most common carriers to the list. Once this is completed (you’ll know becuase there will be 15-20+ carriers), feel free to request that additional carriers be put in the list. Right now I have no guarantee that the system will work with all carriers, but the initial results seem promising.
You can expect more information and detailed instructions on using this future in the upcoming newsletter. If you use one of the carriers that is already listed, feel free to try it out.
It should also be noted that you will still recieve and e-mail copy, your customer will recieve the bid request confirmation, and you will recieve the text message. My hope is that this will give you a competitive edge in response time which is sure to help you book the job before you competitor.
Jeremy, we made our best efforts to contact all the operators about the change. After we didn’t recieve the desired amount of response from the August Newsletter, the deadline was extended by 2 additional weeks as was mentioned in the mass mailer. I will be creating a headline in the operators only section to try and further spread the word for those who are still not aware of the change. The option of using the locations map is still presented to the customer at this time. Also, for those that run across this post in the future, here are the instructions taken directly from the August Newsletter:
You can access this new feature through the button in the “operators only” section labeled “My
Information”. Here you are presented with several options. Firstly you can press show account
information to view and update information such as your address, password, e-mail address,
website, etc. Next you will have the option of adding an area to the zip finder using the “Add
Area” link. Under the “Display My Locations” link on the same page you will be able to find all
the information on areas you have added, their status (rather pending or approved by corporate),
and the option to perform an update or delete the area.Here is a step by step on how the process works:
You add an area using the “Add Area” link mentioned above. The corporate office will review
your pending requests and approve them within two business days. Approval will make that zip
active in the zip finder, prior to approval the zip you added will not show in the zip finder. You
can check the status of areas you have submitted by pressing “Display My Areas”. Areas that
have been approved will be shown in green while those pending will be shown in red. The status
is also indicated by the text in the status column.
If you need to make an update to a specific area, you may also do this under the “Display My
Areas” link. Just change the fields that you want to update, and press the update button. It is
only possible to update on area at once. It should also be noted that if a zip code or city name is
changed, the status of an area will return to pending. The rest of the fields may be changed by
the operator freely.
Delete is also found under the “Display My Areas” link. To delete an area, press the delete
button corresponding to the area you want to delete. A confirmation prompt will be shown, to
finish the process press “Delete Area”.
Wrapping it up, here are some final points on the more advanced features. The field “Area
Name” is optional when you are creating a new area. If a name is not specified, the default area
name displayed in the zip finder is the name found under “Show Account Information”. To
modify this name, press “Show Account Information” (found on the My Information page) and
modify the field that is labeled “Company Name”. If you do specify an area name when creating
an area, it will override the default name for that location only. Lastly, if your have a city with
multiple zip codes, you may enter all of them in the zip field. Each zip code should be separated
by a comma and a space. For example,”83402, 83401, 83400”. When any of those three zip
codes are searched, that city is the one that will be returned. If you have a city that has two zip
codes within it, an entry should be created for each city.
Please contact me with your questions and concerns about this new feature and I can help you
complete the process.
In closing, the zip finder will not be available to customers until August 14th, 2007. This is to
give each operator time to add their areas to the zip finder. If you experience any difficulty in
completing this process, please contact me for assistance!First regarding your competitors clicking your pay-per-click ads. This is referred to as click fraud, and if you can prove that it is happening somehow, you can usually get a refund. SM may also have the resources to investiage such problems by looking at the source IP for you clicks. I’m sure they record this, and could easily see that someone has clicked your profile and filled out the service request form 20 times within the last day. Click fraud is on the rise, so make sure you watch yourself if you are getting a lot of bogus referals.
Service magic has been a good source for several of our operators. I am currently doing some research on related subjects for a project we hope to release soon. One of the better sources of leads that I have seen recently has been citysearch.com
One of our operators in Washington told me he is using the service. I investigated how many clicks came to our website from his profile, and it was right around 100 in one month (August) for the one operator alone. City search does charge per lead, but they are much less expensive than service magic. This month he’s recieved about 46 clicks, of which about 10 requested a bid. With city search, you are usually talking cents with clicks though, not dollars.
I’ll be conducting some tests with related sites over the next one as we attempt to find out which ones are the most effective for us.
Sorry to be slow on the draw on the question Mike, but if you or anyone else has troubles or questions with getting your info in the zip finder please contact me.
As far as the design goes, I felt like it would be best to use the current method over triangulation because of the exclusive areas. There were also differing opinions on how everyone wanted the zip finder to work. You can either have each area listed individually, or you can list all your zips under one location where your office is located. Since many operators work out of the home, I wanted to allow for both. I also know of several operators who pay for local numbers for those customers who want local service. This also gives you full control over your phone numbers and website listing. Overall, I hope it will just give you more control on what information is presented to the customer. Right now we are topping 1000 areas already entered, and things seem to be going well.
As was mentioned you can also view instructions in the August newsletter, or crash course instructions in the my information section itself. These will show up when you hit “show my locations” and then “new area”. Again, please call me if you need help.
The code should look like this without the quotes to post your picture now that you have it on photobucket:
“[“img]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa287/hern7146/PICT0481.jpg[/img”]”
I ended up linking in the videos and testimonials in a different way anyways. The old logo shows up in some of videos though so I will ask about keeping them. The original franchise info page has just been changed. I’m open for suggestions on the videos/testimonials.
Franchise Information has been updated, the videos aren’t available for now, and we can look at what our future options are. I agree that we should have some higher quality video there, and even better if its in flash instead of quicktime. At the moment and I don’t have any good video to work with, but its something that couldn’t hurt to look into. Looking through the section, I think it would be good to have some additional content there as well. It seems like a shame to put up a whole page for two sentences. We will look into adding some meaningful additional content to these pages as well.
I completely agree. To get good results, it takes much more work than what this company was offering. The results weren’t so much for keywords, as keywords for your local area. For example “carpet cleaning Los Angeles”. Google, MSN, or Yahoo then show the top three matches in the city name you specified. Some search engines won’t work unless you also say CA or California. These are referred to as local searches. Showing as a top result for just “carpet cleaning” is a much more massive task to take on. Local searches are becoming more common all the time though, because if you are searching for a carpet cleaner, you don’t want a New York compnay if you are in California. This is something I’ve done a fair amount of research after our encounter with this company. After the release of my current project next newsletter, this maybe something we work with to see what kind of results we get. I’ll be giving more on this as information becomes available. I would also be interested to know how things go for you Dan, I hope you’ll keep us updated.
I sold door to door and on the phone at different times in my life. One approach you can take is tell them that you are looking to do more business in their area. In exchange for them “allowing” you to clean their home to get exposure in the neighborhood, you will give them a discounted price. On top of the discounted rate, if they refer a friend to you that uses your service, they will recieve x amount for each referal. You can leave a spotter bottle to use with a “discount code” to give to friends. Also, if you are calling over the phone, any name you can drop of a neighbor is a big plus. “We cleaned for the Jones family and would really like to do more business in your neighborhood.” To do this, you would need to use an online phonebook and perform your searches by address. My experience is pretty limited selling HB services obviously, but hopefully these ideas can be relatively helpful.
Based on information I’ve recieved today and days prior, I can strongly advise not to do business with this company based on information registered here with the BBB:
http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=13215172
Thanks to Rob DeMartino for the information there. Based upont that report, and several other complaints that I read under previous name for the company, I don’t endorse doing business with them.
I was also able to speak with another operator currently signed up with them. While they are working to get them ranked higher, it has been nearly 3 months, and the company has not arrived at the promised result. I will be contacting those of you who I believe may be on the verge of signing with them to update you as well!
Lastly I spoke with Rick in California who did business 8 months ago with them. After his money back gaurantee time nearly up, he called to cancel and get the money credited back as they did not perform as he expected. They claimed to credit it back in customer service, but never did. Hope this helps!
