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Rise of the Machines in Service Industries

A few months back, I wrote a blog post about the Tesla lesson for service contractors.  Tesla has a direct-to-customer model for sales and service, and they support this model with a high tech connection to the car that allows them to deliver…
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NYC Taxis Start the New Year with a Digital Wrap

Happy new year! Two thoughts keep coming back to me this week: First, I sure miss sleeping in over the holidays (I’ve never been a morning person). Second, 2016 is going be the year of the digital wrap for service companies. The Year…

5 Ways a Digital Wrap is Better than a Truck Wrap

You may have seen the story behind this image that has been spreading through television and the Internet. In case you didn't, the short version is that a plumber in Texas traded-in his company truck, thinking he had an agreement with…

Why Google’s Relationship with Home Advisor Matters to Service Contracting Businesses

There is a new chapter to the story of Google’s expansion into home services. In a ServiceTrade blog post that generated a lot of conversation among our readers, we told you how Google has been experimenting with changing search results…
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Don’t Let the Back-Office Tail Wag the Company Dog

All too often, as field service companies are considering new software, they base decisions on their historical software usage patterns and let the tail wag the dog.  Since accounting software is the primary, and often only, business…

Coke – A Lesson in Branding for Service Contractors

No matter what your deep-seated opinion about what the best soda may be, Coke has a premium brand that all service contractors can both appreciate and strive to reproduce. Coca-Cola’s march to market domination was driven by forced ingenuity…

The Ups and Downs of a Service Contractor’s Software Buying Journey

I’ve watched a decent amount of Oprah in my life, so I’m pretty well trained as an armchair psychologist. Today’s episode is about the ups and downs of committing to a field service management solution.  Friends, you are not alone…
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Modern Tools for Service Contractors, Part 3: Outbound Sales and Marketing

Both residential and commercial service contractors rely heavily on new sales for growth. Where residential contractors rely on converting inbound leads, commercial contractors lean on a mix of inbound and outbound tactics. This post lays…
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Modern Tools for Service Contractors, Part 3: Outbound Sales and Marketing

Unlike residential field service companies, commercial service contractors rely heavily on new sales for growth.  For the residential contractors reading this post, please skip to the section below about MailChimp as it contains insights that…