Why other sites don’t provide some basic features

We recently held a discussion with a few of the contractors who have been “pre-pre alpha” testing the WorkGrabber site.  One of them complained about how other sites he’s used don’t allow the contractor profile page to have a direct to link their own website.  Same thing with the contractor’s direct phone number.  These sites often list the contractor’s phone number as an 800 number which, when a customer calls, it is actually the number to the site’s call center.  Then the site charges the contractor for the lead.

It’s pretty clear to see the reason these sites do this.  It’s not in their best interest for potential customers (leads) to just browse on over to a contractor’s site and contact him directly.  These sites need the customer to make a request through their site so they can charge the contractors for the lead.

That’s definitely not our intention with WorkGrabber.  In fact, we’re adopting quite the opposite approach.  Nothing could make us happier than a customer coming through WorkGrabber.com, leaving to your site and posting a lead directly with you.  Even better would be if that customer never returns to WorkGrabber to look for another roofing contractor and you’ve gained a lifelong customer.  Other sites need the request to be submitted through their own site so they can charge the contractor for the lead.  These companies need to start understanding that their success is based on how successful their customers are, even if it means missing a lead sale.

When and how to get customer feedback

Nowhere else is the ability to change direction quickly more necessary than in the web application realm.  With new sites popping up all the time, you need to be able to adapt quickly if you want to stay competitive.  The best way to do this is to anticipate your customer’s needs and get new features out the door as quickly as possible.

Our team at WorkGrabber has been soliciting feedback, comments and criticisms from day 0.  This usually takes on many forms, but a very popular way is to dive head first into communities of your customers.  Fittingly, many organizations’ true colors come out at this point as well.  

Reps from certain larger companies will often start a topic with good intentions, but when they start getting feedback from their customers that contradicts their established policies, procedures and overall vision, they get very defensive.  In a sense, I understand why.  

These organizations have been at it for a while.  They have a this mental block that tells them “I’ve been doing it like this forever, so you must be doing something wrong.”  When an entire enteprise has been built moving in a certain direction, it’s difficult to change that trajectory.  

That’s why we at WorkGrabber are at a huge advantage.  We’re hoping to change the way contractors work with their customers and prospects.  To do so, we are recruiting you to build our service!  We’re engaging our customers right from the start to tell us what they expect from our service.  What would make their lives easier and more productive.  We’re looking for anywhere you’re making compromises in running your business and tackling those obstacles.

It’s my opinion that once you understand that happy customers are the best customers, your whole perspective on the true value of what you’re creating changes.  Provide a good, useful service and take good care of your customers and success will be inevitable.