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Google Home Services and its Impact on Small and Medium Businesses

As we’ve been talking about for a while, Google is making a move into home services. This week we have a first look at how Google may be inserting itself into service delivery for customers who are using the search engine to find a vendor. Google…
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Customer Experience is More Important to your Service Business than Customer Service

Let’s play a word association game.  When I say “customer service” what comes to mind? For me, it’s a toll-free phone call, entering a bunch of information on the telephone keypad, then retelling it all to a human, once you get through…
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Smartphone Buying Guide for Service Contractors, Part 2: iOS or Android?

As I ponder the differences between mobile device platforms, I wonder if this blog post is like dispensing parenting or political advice? Is this one area where we all have our preferences and nothing anybody else says will change our opinions…

Beware of “All in One” Software – The “All” will be “Small”

The demand for “all in one” software in the service contracting space must be high, because I see lots of vendors claiming to be such.  These vendors proclaim to prospective customers that a single integrated system from a single vendor…
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Don’t bring an operations knife to a customer service gunfight: Customer engagement must be the first priority in a connected world

"Why yes, I regularly purchase products from mail order catalogs" said no one in the last 20 years.  Yet 20 years ago, most catalog retailers were thinking to themselves "If only we could improve our operations and reduce our cost of delivery,…
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Key Principles to Maximize the Value of Your Service Contracting Business

At some point, every business person or entrepreneur wants to be paid the full value for the investment of time, energy, love, and money they have made in their business.  Whether that payday is an arms length financial transaction with an…

Google Wants Your Service Business, Too

If you are a service contractor, get ready for a tough fight to hold your customers and your service margins.  Google is crashing the party.  The same technology formula that wrecked your parts business is coming after your service business.…
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The Rocky Road to Crazy Customer Loyalty – Practical Tips to Brand Freedom

No one can serve two masters, and sometimes the road to serving only one can be rocky and painful. This difficult transition was illustrated to me in colorful detail recently by a shrewd and successful service contractor in the kitchen equipment…
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Smartphone Buying Guide for Service Contractors, Part 1: Rugged vs. Consumer Devices

So-called “rugged" smartphones are appealing to service contractors because field technicians work in environments that aren’t always electronics-friendly.  As we've found in our own testing and heard from our customers, that durability…