Archive for Marketing and Social

Join a live demo with FieldOne at Microsoft Convergence 2013

March 6, 2013 / Liz / No comments

Convergence13

We’re looking forward to participating in Microsoft Convergence 2013 as Bronze Sponsors this year, taking place in New Orleans, March 18-25.

Our FieldOne team will be standing by to meet yours, show live demos, discuss Microsoft Dynamics, partner opportunities, and answer your integration questions.

Why attend? “As the premier event for the Microsoft Dynamics community, Convergence is where opportunity and innovation meet to deliver real business value. It’s the chance to make key business connections and to discover the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics solutions.”

Meet us at Booth #650.

Category: FieldOne Events and Webinars, FieldOne News, Marketing and Social / Tags: , , ,

5 ways to encourage online customer reviews for your field service business

September 6, 2012 / Liz / No comments

Before there was internet - long before there was internet – there was always word-of-mouth peer review.

People naturally trust their friends, family and peers to disclose what they find to be quality and what should be avoided. Love that little Italian place – try the meatballs. Avoid that home goods shop - rip off.

The world of online customer reviews has only made it much simpler to share positive or negative opinions and experiences around products and services, making these testimonials easily accessible to potential buyers.

In fact, according to Search Engine People, 99% of online consumers trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust unknown users, 27% trust experts, 14% trust advertising, and 8% trust celebrities.

So what’s your field service business doing to ensure positive online reviews? Don’t be fooled; just because what you’re providing to customers can’t be categorized under electronics, books or music on Amazon, doesn’t mean it’s not still worthy of – and probably already getting – online customer reviews.

How is your company taking control? Here are five ways to stay on top of online reviews:

1. Be present online

You have to show up in order to play, right? If people didn’t find out about your service from colleagues or friends, then chances are, they found you online. Make sure your company has a profile set up on local or national online business directories, field service oriented listings, and review sites. You can start with GetHuman, Yelp or huduyou.

Be sure to include current contact details, descriptions of your services, and a link to your website. If you don’t have a company website, than it’s even more crucial to ensure your listings on these sites are accurate – especially since they tend to show up highest on search results.

You can also set up a Facebook business page with your details and posts from your customers, if at the very least to gain SEO credibility for your brand.

2. Monitor the web

Sounds like a major, full-time job, but it really doesn’t have to be. You can set up Google Alerts with your company’s name, and any mentions will be delivered to your email. Then you can reply to them promptly, whether to thank reviewers, or gain insight from critics.

3. Ask your customers

What better way to get the ball rolling than to personally ask your satisfied customers to review your business online? Happy customers are often pleased to provide feedback (as long as it’s quick and simple to do so), and even honored to be asked. Everyone wants to feel valued, and letting your customers in on your success is a great way to build long-term relationships.

Try sending a short, personal survey post-service call; you can use the information on your own site or request they leave their comments on an existing review site.

4. Give them something to talk about

Of course, if you want customers to speak highly of you, nothing beats actually giving them what to speak about! It’s assumed that a job will be done correctly, so it would be silly to expect someone to write an inspiring review that they came on time, did the job and left. By definition, a business-triggering review is one where someone reacts with a Wow, these guys go above and beyond! Personal visits by management, follow-up calls from techs, and even future discounts create reviews that buzz.

5. Respond positively to negative reviews

Getting defensive will only hurt your company’s name further. Instead, respond positively, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to hear the feedback, redirecting the interaction in a positive way. Try and contact the commenter directly, if possible. It’s also crucial that these responses are done in a timely manner, so as not to let the negative review gain traction.

 

So, how is your company encouraging online reviews? Share your tips in the comments below. And of course, feel free to share your FieldOne feedback with us!

 

 

Category: Customer Experience, Field Service Tips, Marketing and Social / Tags: , , ,

Top 3 new iPhone features that can benefit your technicians.

June 13, 2012 / Liz / No comments

This week, Apple announced its eagerly-awaited upcoming product changes, operating system upgrades and feature additions at their WWDC Keynote. The new iOS 6 will be released in the fall.

Have you been paying attention? It may be worth considering the announcement in the context of your mobile strategy.

Field techs equipped with iPhone 4S, 4, 3GS, iPad 2 and the new iPad can take advantage of dozens of upcoming iOS6 features, and some notable ones in particular:

  1. Geo-fence will remind you to call someone specified when you leave a specified area. Leaving to the next customer on the schedule? Set this feature as a reminder to contact before arrival.
  2. DO NOT DISTURB allows you to ‘instruct’ the phone to hold alerts; messages do get through without an alert. You can also allow contact exceptions when in this mode. Useful for avoiding disturbances while on a job, without having to shut off the phone or put it on silent – and possibly miss an urgent message from the home office.
  3. Maps – Apple’s new homemade version, after dropping Google’s – will include a traffic service displaying traffic conditions and incidents. The feature operates off of anonymous crowd-sourced data and will be updated in real-time. Turn-by-turn navigation is planned, and Maps will include real-time ETA. In addition, there will be a 3D mode and a flyover view to see a route from the perspective of a helicopter.

FieldOne’s mobile app for iPhone and Android actually incorporates similar features, and as a tailored solution for field service businesses, includes much more. Along with including maps and turn-by-turn directions (on Android), techs can call and email contacts directly from the app, update work schedule status in real-time, capture customer signatures on-site, among dozens of other features.

FieldOne Mobile is available for iPhone and Android. Learn more about it here.

Do your techs use iPhones? Will you plan to start?

Category: Field Service Software, Field Service Tips, Marketing and Social, Products and Features / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Brand Pages On Twitter

January 19, 2012 / Judah / No comments

Twitter recently unveiled its most significant redesign since the microblogging service launched in 2006. The company focused on a simpler design that highlights the home, connect, discover and me tabs, making for easier navigation and following a definite design trend for 2012.

The biggest change, however, is the launch of brand pages that will include more in deoth company profiles, larger images and will give marketers control over the tweets their visitors see when they arrive on a business’ page.

The new pages will only be featured for a select number of brands to start, but will roll out to a broader audience soon.

Category: Marketing and Social / Tags: ,

The Three M’s of Social Commerce

January 16, 2012 / Judah / No comments

I just read a great article by Matt Compton, outlining what he calls the “3 M’s of Social Commerce”.

They are as follows:

1. Merchandising

Matt talks about the importance of engaging fans on their terms and on their turf. This means engaging with them on Facebook and setting up a facebook ‘store’ if your particular industry warrants it. If you have a new app. or a limited time promotion, try to post your wares in the social spheres in the hopes of ‘going viral’.

Indeed, when we launched our field service mobile app. we were quite vocal about it in cyberspace and of course we continue to believe that it is the best app. in its class.

2. Marketing

Enable your customers to share everything. It is very important to understand that our customers are not only our best representatives and testimonials; they are also our ‘brand ambassadors’.

When our customers share our products and promotions, their reach moves beyond traditional marketing channels and is (statistically) considerably more effective in driving sales.

I do believe we should place an increased emphasis on creating incentives for our happy customers to promote us to their friends. Feel free to share your thoughts with us on how best to accomplish this.

3. Metrics

Measure and identify social commerce influencers. We should focus on measuring, segmenting and ultimately rewarding our customers who effect sales for us by virtue of their recommendation. By accurately measuring the effects of their shared links and feedback, we can devise a proper metric to track sales volume and reward our loyal customers for their referrals.

Your thoughts?

 

Category: Marketing and Social / Tags: , , ,
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