MB Approved FittleBug Limited Time Promotion

[smastio]

OK Members, you asked for it, you got it!

Mikey and Steve (of FittleBug) have come together to offer members of MB 25% off for the first year and NO Set-Up Cost!

Get set-up NOW and be ready for the rush when Spring comes... Offer ends April 1, 2015

That's Right SAVE $800 off your first year! For $150/mo you could be offering your business to your community 24 hours a day 7 days a week in your REAL-TIME availability. Real-Time availability means... it means they can only book you when you are free or you allow them to book you.

Consumers want to book things and be done; not fill out forms thinking they are done only to have to complete the process offline via a phone call. They could have picked up the phone for that! Here are the specifics:

• The first year the cost has been reduced for MB members to $150/mo (normally $200) Annual saving - $600
• The Set Up fee has eliminated for this offer (normally $200)
• If you choose to pay annually for the first year we will reduce it another 10% making the first year cost $1620

The Top Ten Reasons your should JUMP on this:

1. If you aren't where your prospects want you - someone will be in a matter of seconds (Google searching)
2. This is the best FittleBug offer yet!
3. Clients already like you - let them work with you on their time - NOT YOURS!
4. The monthly cost is less than one average carpet job!
5. FittleBug has automatic emails built in - set them up and they automatically fire out.
6. FittleBug SYNCS with your SERVICEMONSTER Calendar if you use SM.
7. FittleBug has it's own internal calendar if you don't use SM
8. Papa John on Mikey's Board has proven that it works GREAT!
9. The Millennial Generation built the Internet and Choose to use the Internet
10. Support is outstanding...

Papa John Quote: "WOW! Over 3000% return on investment in less than 30 days with FittleBug's online scheduling program! FittleBug booked 31 jobs worth over $6400 in our first 21 days; these jobs accounted for 30% of our business during that time... FittleBug is the best investment I have ever made."

Click here to learn more about FittleBug or Call Now for a demo and start empowering clients and yourself..
630-444-2000, option 1

 

[hogjowl]

I assume this is a good deal and a needed service.

But for the life of me, I can't get the vision.

 

[Mikey P]

Have the brought the internet to Alabama yet?

 

[hogjowl]

Have the brought the internet to Alabama yet?

NO.
I have a psychic medium get me on here every day.
Doofus!

 

[Mikey P]

yeah yeah, but how many of your clients only use their computers for playing solitaire and EBT card reloads?

 

[hogjowl]

Now that's a great question. No EBT card users, that I am aware of, but how internet savvy they are is unknown. Although, besides referrals, Google searches is the next biggest way they all find me.

I just wonder how many care about being able to schedule on line?

 

[Mikey P]

only one way to find out...


I plan to give it a go sometime this year.

 

[PrimaDonna]

Is there a demo/video you can post? Our would it be a webinar to see more about how it works?

 

[smastio]

Is there a demo/video you can post? Our would it be a webinar to see more about how it works?

Hey Meg - yes I am planning to do a webinar for ALL to see and ask questions; but the best way to evaluate is to see it live One on One. You can go here and play, but still the best is live demo. Whether you run one or 10 trucks, It's empowering. Call me to set up - should allocate about 20-30 mins. 630-444-2000

All the Best - Steve

 

[smastio]

Now that's a great question. No EBT card users, that I am aware of, but how internet savvy they are is unknown. Although, besides referrals, Google searches is the next biggest way they all find me.

I just wonder how many care about being able to schedule on line?

Great Question - unfortunately there is no way to know except to maybe ask people you know if they like being able to book hotel rooms, airline tickets or salon appointments any time from any where. As noted in a different post... after 11 months Papa's booking are at the 20% of total jobs. In other words... 20% chose not to call, but do it themselves for whatever reason. My first client after about 4 years now is up to 50% choose not to call... and he's such a nice guy! FYI... total on line for him over 4 years is about 1200+ . Let me know if you have questions...

 

[smastio]

Is there a demo/video you can post? Our would it be a webinar to see more about how it works?

I would be glad to do a group webinar if folks could tell me when the best time would be for them...

1. Weekday (what day works best)
2. Weekend
3. Morning, Afternoon or Evening

Let me know....

 

[Mikey P]

Today in the United States there are about 13,000 travel retail locations, down from a peak of 34,000 in the mid-1990s.

It was thought that there would always be a need for travel agents when traveling, but along came Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline and others. Not to mentions that people miraculously figured our how to pump there own gas, book their own hotels, make their own stock trades, even reserve their own golf tee times. Do you really think they won’t figure out that they can book their own carpet cleaning. A recent article I read suggested that in the year 2020 about 30% of ALL doctors appointments will be made online with no need for human relations. Why? It cheaper and easier for everyone to do.

Do you think that the doctor booking tools will be in real-time? Ah, I think so!

The intent of this blog is not to scare you away from your present off-line marketing methods, but more to make you aware of what is inevitably coming and sooner than you think. Why do I know this to be a fact? Because FittleBug’s first client proves it. Let’s call him Bill. Bill has had FittleBug for about 4 years now and looking backwards over that 4 year period I can tell you that 50% of ALL of Bill’s carpet cleaning jobs were generated online and the other 50% were called in. It took just FOUR short years to reach 50% online bookings. I can also tell you that he booked about 1.5 bookings per day, and that includes Saturdays and Sundays.

Not having on on-line real-time option for those that chose this method is like handing business over to your competitors. Today all consumers have to do is a Google search to find you and your competition in the same aggregating results. The only question is… are you going to let them finish the task of booking carpet cleaning when they started the search or take the chance that they really do like telephone and email tag? I know what the next generation Millennials will choose!

Do you know any Travel Agents today?

 

[hogjowl]

Hoody will come up with SOMETHING by then.

 

[mirf]

are opening appts by area related to zip code?

 

[smastio]

are opening appts by area related to zip code?

If I understand your question correctly - yes they can be. Watch this and tell me if this answers your question. If not please provide a number and I will call for more clarification.. Watch all 6 minutes or I believe that your question will be answered around the 4:50 Mark. You can even assign trucks to categories. Say you have two trucks/providers but only ONE does marble... when a consumer chooses the category marble they will only see the calendar of the provider assigned to marble.



mirf - If that didn't answer it check out this page on our site

 

[TomKing]

does it deal with multi truck operations?
How does it group jobs geographically?

A live person can offer two choices for a client that are also good for your schedule and keep your routes close.

how does this program determine location and schedule accodingly?

Will it fill one truck and move to open a second, third, forth etc.

 

[Mikey P]

If you would have made your appointment with Steve you'd already know those answers, you rude fooker.

 

[smastio]

does it deal with multi truck operations?
How does it group jobs geographically?

A live person can offer two choices for a client that are also good for your schedule and keep your routes close.

how does this program determine location and schedule accodingly?

Will it fill one truck and move to open a second, third, forth etc.

....does it deal with multi truck operations? Yes

....How does it group jobs geographically? If you are asking - Does the program tell the person to choose a time that you want or they want, the answer is they want. You can assign a truck to the zip codes that you want (like Truck 1 works the northern zips and when a custy logs in she only see Truck 1 calendar of availability). Note that you can also assign Categories to Trucks as well.

....A live person can offer two choices for a client that are also good for your schedule and keep your routes close. Yes a human can make suggestions based on a visual. What is boils down to is - do you want the business when the custy wants you and sees that you are available or do you want them to go to the competition. Of course you can always block out time on any calendar as well. I have had providers ask me "can i make M-W-F service for just certain areas?" We could code that, but you would lose all kinds of business because at the end of the day, you can't predict when someone will be free to want your services. We did not see that as a viable solution. NOTE: All FittleBug is telling them is that there is a person that can come on a particular day at a particular time. If you want to dispatch a different truck internally - you certainly can. Remember -when you move an appointment in ServiceMonster is moves in FittleBug automatically.

how does this program determine location and schedule accordingly? - I think that I answered but if not call for a live example.

Will it fill one truck and move to open a second, third, forth etc. - If there is a an available time for a custy to choose - Yes, it will assign to the priority that you choose...

Or see image above as example as well.

Tom - If these did not answer your question adequately, please drop me a line. Steve

 

[smastio]

Here's a look at a FittleBug client Papa in the last 24 hours... 6 new bookings, 5 new clients, 1 returning client that originally was a FittleBug client back in May 2014. So... basically in the last 24 hours Pops generated the equivalent of 5 months of FittleBug fee. Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller?

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

If you can afford $$$ to have it done for you, can you afford not to have it in-house where your schedulers training has been customized by you and constanty fine tuned through trial and error?

 

[smastio]

If you can afford $$$ to have it done for you, can you afford not to have it in-house where your schedulers training has been customized by you and constanty fine tuned through trial and error?

Scott - we built FittleBug to allow consumers the ability to work with you on their time if they choose. In Papas case that I mentioned above, half of the new clients choose NOT to call during the normal work day 9-5. The other half were booking at off hours when a live scheduler would have to be working and paid to work. You can certainly pay someone to work around the clock if you desire, but I believe that costs would be prohibited as suggested in the Full Circle issue, but if you can convince someone to work around the clock 24/7 everyday of the month for $200 you got yourself a heck of an employee. Of course she/he would have to share everything that you do, pricing, times that each item takes, share any discount or promotions, share your availability, take the order, complete the transaction into your internal calendar so you are not double booked, send out the confirmation info if desired and process any secured down payment if desired; and of course she/he could only be talking to one prospect at a time.

FittleBug gives carpet cleaning companies the opportunity to allow their prospects and clients the ability to book and be done on their time, anytime, based on your time. We are not suggesting that it fits all business objectives, but I would suggest that it fits many. People like simple and timely things on the internet and Papas example just illustrates that point as shown below:

 

[Papa John]

I highly recommend FB to any carpet cleaning company Who Is Not My Competitor!!

Ofer-- FB Sucks!

 

[TomKing]

....does it deal with multi truck operations? Yes
View attachment 1102

....What is boils down to is - do you want the business when the custy wants you and sees that you are available or do you want them to go to the competition. Of course you can always block out time on any calendar as well. I have had providers ask me "can i make M-W-F service for just certain areas?" We could code that, but you would lose all kinds of business because at the end of the day, you can't predict when someone will be free to want your services. We did not see that as a viable solution. NOTE: All FittleBug is telling them is that there is a person that can come on a particular day at a particular time. If you want to dispatch a different truck internally - you certainly can. Remember -when you move an appointment in ServiceMonster is moves in FittleBug automatically.
View attachment 1103

If you cover a large metro area how can you possible just open the schedule for 3,4,5,6,7 trucks let go and hope your trucks are full with no gaps in the day or reasonable routes with minimum travel?

How can you also have a truck in one suburb and then be driving to another 30-45 minutes away just because thats what your customer wants for time slots?

The sky is not falling if you don't go anywhere anytime the customer wants. You offer times that work for both.

You don't loose work because you say Mrs Jones the first two openings I have open is Tuesday at 2 or Thursday at 9 which one of those would work for you? Oh those don't work how about next Wednesday at 9 or 1.

I guarantee you very few customers will walk or not be able to fit it in. Nor will they feel you have not been sensitive to accommodating their schedule.

It is all how you say it.

What your saying is your program with the zip code given by the customer can not search for the best openings that route the truck in the smallest area. Then show only those as options to the customer to choose one.

If you are one truck and serve a smaller geography I bet this works great.

I bet their are plenty of guys that could use this to help bridge the transition to have someone on the phones if they are trying to grow.

What I hear you saying is that your program can't solve a multi truck operations scheduling for evenings or weekends with out sending trucks all over the city regardless of the drive to the next location.

I really was asking questions to see if we can solve our after hours and weekends scheduling

You have a point customers want flexibility in setting their appointments.

Good customers who are not price shoppers and want a good service company will work with you in scheduling. Plenty of guys more experienced than me will tell you that they have full schdules on 1-2 truck operations and customers that will wait several days for a time for you to service them.

I have found that customers who have to have you there in 24 hours or less, can have nothing but tuesday at 2:50 or don't have time for a short conversation about the service needed are very often a PITA and end up as a call back or do not turn into return customers.

When you first start out yeah you take anything anytime. My 6 short years has led me to the place that some work is not good work and some customers need to be avoided or fired. Letting anyone sign up for anytime, any location would be a disaster for us.

We bend over backwards to please and accommodate our customers but as my Grandpa told me "the customer is not always right he just needs to think he is".

My very first carpet cleaning training class taught me the illusion of control. It has served me will these last few years.

 

[smastio]

I really was asking questions to see if we can solve our after hours and weekends scheduling

Yes FB is a 7 day a week program 24 hours a day should you chose to work those hours.

What your saying is your program with the zip code given by the customer can not search for the best openings that route the truck in the smallest area. Then show only those as options to the customer to choose one.

The program does not force you to send a particular truck to a particular area if you don't want to. It just tells the prospect that there is someone available to service them at a given time. You can always change the route provider should you choose. You can also set priority as shown before.

The sky is not falling if you don't go anywhere anytime the customer wants. You offer times that work for both.

Remember - they are choosing to NOT talk. You can only share when you want to work and when you are free based on the number of trucks that you want to make available. Also, as mentioned before a group of Zip Codes can be assigned to a particular truck.

If you cover a large metro area how can you possible just open the schedule for 3,4,5,6,7 trucks let go and hope your trucks are full with no gaps in the day or reasonable routes with minimum travel?

See answer to the second Quote...

When you first start out yeah you take anything anytime. My 6 short years has led me to the place that some work is not good work and some customers need to be avoided or fired. Letting anyone sign up for anytime, any location would be a disaster for us.

See answer to second Quote...

Tom - If you would like to see it live call me or sit in on the webinar.

All the best - Steve

 

[Papa John]

If you cover a large metro area how can you possible just open the schedule for 3,4,5,6,7 trucks let go and hope your trucks are full with no gaps in the day or reasonable routes with minimum travel?

How can you also have a truck in one suburb and then be driving to another 30-45 minutes away just because thats what your customer wants for time slots?

The sky is not falling if you don't go anywhere anytime the customer wants. You offer times that work for both.

You don't loose work because you say Mrs Jones the first two openings I have open is Tuesday at 2 or Thursday at 9 which one of those would work for you? Oh those don't work how about next Wednesday at 9 or 1.

I guarantee you very few customers will walk or not be able to fit it in. Nor will they feel you have not been sensitive to accommodating their schedule.

It is all how you say it.

What your saying is your program with the zip code given by the customer can not search for the best openings that route the truck in the smallest area. Then show only those as options to the customer to choose one.

If you are one truck and serve a smaller geography I bet this works great.

I bet their are plenty of guys that could use this to help bridge the transition to have someone on the phones if they are trying to grow.

What I hear you saying is that your program can't solve a multi truck operations scheduling for evenings or weekends with out sending trucks all over the city regardless of the drive to the next location.

I really was asking questions to see if we can solve our after hours and weekends scheduling

You have a point customers want flexibility in setting their appointments.

Good customers who are not price shoppers and want a good service company will work with you in scheduling. Plenty of guys more experienced than me will tell you that they have full schdules on 1-2 truck operations and customers that will wait several days for a time for you to service them.

I have found that customers who have to have you there in 24 hours or less, can have nothing but tuesday at 2:50 or don't have time for a short conversation about the service needed are very often a PITA and end up as a call back or do not turn into return customers.

When you first start out yeah you take anything anytime. My 6 short years has led me to the place that some work is not good work and some customers need to be avoided or fired. Letting anyone sign up for anytime, any location would be a disaster for us.

We bend over backwards to please and accommodate our customers but as my Grandpa told me "the customer is not always right he just needs to think he is".

My very first carpet cleaning training class taught me the illusion of control. It has served me will these last few years.

We cover a diverse area with different types of logistics and city ordnances to deal with. So we have to actively manage all FB orders. In the order form there is an area for any question the customer may have and we are able to answer them by email or a phone call. Sometimes we have to call the customers and make some changes in their appointment. The Online shopper is also informed that they should just try to get the order as near to reality as possible and we can always make adjustments once we get there-- but the important thing is to just save the appointment time for them.

FB is not always perfect-- But neither is the human version. And FB worked better for me then FC--- The important thing to remember is THIS--- Your Missed Calls may be going to The Competition!!!

I originally went with Full Circle because we needed to solve a problem that was stopping our growth-- there was a "Bottle neck" in the booking process and our dispatcher could only handle so many calls in a day.
Full Circle was nice at times but ultimately it was cheaper to lose the jobs booked by FC because of FC Cost and FC cancellation ratio was too high.

FB is one of the best Investments I have made in a Long time.
My regular repeat customers love the freedom of being able to book 24/7 instead of playing phone tag.

When you start working with Steve - I'm sure you will find that he Goes above and beyond to please his clients.. And at the Prices he is giving MB members--- you guys are Raping HIM!!!

Steve-- You are a great guy and NO NEED to lower MY Rate to this DEAL!!! I'm very happy with my ROI and I want you to be successful!!--- Its just too bad you have to sell to Stubborn Carpet Cleaners-- which is one reason I never tried to franchise my business.

Learn to work with Technology-- OR Be Replaced by IT!!

 

[smastio]

When you start working with Steve - I'm sure you will find that he Goes above and beyond to please his clients.. And at the Prices he is giving MB members--- you guys are Raping HIM!!!

Oh Boy Never thought of that!

 

[Papa John]

Also Tom you can move FB appointments to different trucks to suit Your needs if u have multiple trucks. The Order Is Not "permanently married" to the truck that FB assigns it. If you need to adjust the time a little just ask the customer first.

Also FB collects a deposit which u can make it nonrefundable if custy cancels in violation of your cancellation policy.

How much Money will some of you risk on the Super Bowl!?-- take that money and invest in the future of your business and take a gamble on FB.

PM me if you have any questions you wish to keep private.

 

[smastio]

Change and Technology can be a scary things for a small business person that has followed a certain trail to get to a certain level of success in their business. But like most trails, they are rarely a straight line and to reach an end goal you often have to adapt to conditions of the road. I have tried to make the technology as easy a possible to deploy, use and understand. I have made 2-6 minute video training pieces for after hour questions, BUT I WANT people to contact us personally if they have a questions.

FYI... My Patent Attorney informed me this morning

BusinessBridge, Inc., maker of FittleBug is pleased to announce that today the United States Patent Office issued a copyright protection to the FittleBug Code. This adds another layer of protection to the goals of BusinessBridge and protects the company and its clients from adverse issues that may arise. It basically means that no one has in the past or can reproduce the code the way that BusinessBridge has, now or in the future.

FittleBug ©

 

[Russ T.]

It does look like it can be tweaked to suit ANY size outfit, with the proper set up.

I wish SM would offer online scheduling as well as the answering service that Full Circle was.

A one stop shop like that would be incredibly valuable to any size company.

 

[Papa John]

It does look like it can be tweaked to suit ANY size outfit, with the proper set up.

I wish SM would offer online scheduling as well as the answering service that Full Circle was.

A one stop shop like that would be incredibly valuable to any size company.

FB and SM sync very well with each other and the combined cost is not expensive.
Where can you get a 24/7 "employee for just $150 a month?
I think "greedy" Cambodians earn $300 a month.
FYI-- Cambodians are like Thailand's Mexicans. Haha