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A New World of Instant Gratification - Service Edition

In today’s microwave society everyone wants instant gratification for a whole range of things, such as banking, stock quotes, news events, music  videos (YouTube), and the like. What some service providers especially for traditionally unsexy industries like house cleaning mistakenly don’t realize is that consumers want instant gratification for getting their house cleaned as well. Service providers need to understand that they now live in a new world of service instant gratification. No longer can service providers have potential customers call and leave them a message when they don’t pickup the telephone. Today’s consumer is less likely to leave a message and wait for a returned call several hours or days later to schedule an appointment. Today’s consumer would most likely continue to try to contact providers until they can get their desired appointment schedule.

What providers need to do is provide consumers a way to schedule appointments with them 24 hours per day regardless if their office is open to answer a phone or respond to an email. BidMyCleaning.com offers this ability to cleaning service providers through an online booking technology that they call Book Now! The book now by BidMyCleaning.com is the most technology advanced online scheduling tool available for the residential cleaning industry. Book now enables providers to take advantage of every customer to their website and helps them manage that relationship once the customer schedules an appointment with them without having to communicate via the telephone.

How it Works

How it works is that the book now technology is embedded into the provider’s website and once a consumer visits the website and clicks on the book now option they will immediately be able to schedule an appointment through an online checkout process. The book now technology works as a virtual assistant that allows consumers to view live provider pricing, to view live provider calendar availability, and to immediately schedule with the provider without ever having to pickup a telephone.

Features of Book Now 

  • Interactive calculator for instant price quotes
  • Live interactive calendar for 24hour scheduling
  • Real time payment processing for appointment orders
  • Accept payment through PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express
  • Automated emails to inform the provider that a customer has booked an appointment
  • Immediate confirmations to customers outlining the service that they have ordered
  • Automated reminder emails sent to the provider and the customer regarding upcoming appointments
  • 24hour online access to the Book Now system to make all updates
  • Invoices automatically sent to customer once job is completed

 Benefits of the Features Listed Above

  • Reduce the amount of time a provider/staff has to spend entering customer orders
  • Never miss a customer order even when out in the field or the office is closed
  • Get more out of marketing your website, flyers and business cards
  • Provide customers additional value by giving them immediate booking, pricing, and confirmation options
  • Ongoing free upgrades and technical support

 

O’Brian Woods

Chief Operating Officer

 

Plan on being short on capital when starting your business

 Growing a consumer business can be a tough proposition especially in today’s environment. The old adage “build it and they will come” has never been further from reality than now. It takes supreme dedication, creativity and sacrifice. A lot of us start businesses with the key pieces necessary to at least open up shop. However, unless that business takes off immediately many of us lack the capital to market and brand the business so that it can flourish. A lot of thought should go into asking yourself what you will do if you can’t get the level of financing that you need.

Not too long ago one could get funding for a universally sound business idea as long as it had the right ingredients: 1. Big business potential, 2. Solid management team 3. A clear need being addressed 4.By being first to market or able to show that you offer something head and shoulders above the competition.

If anyone has had the priviledge of launching a business within the past couple of years then you already know that traditional funding opportunities are about as plentiful as water in the Mojave. Of course they still exist but there is a lot more scrutiny being placed on what is fundable and what is not. The front end risk of getting a new venture off the ground is just not as attractive to VC’s, angels and banks as it used to be.

So, what should we as entrepreneurs do to overcome the obstacles that abound today? I don’t think that there is a single answer rather it is a combination of things and those depend on what your business or product is.

-Running lean is probably the number one thing that you can do. Although restrictive and not fun, not having unnecessary overhead (office space, nice to have employees, a high burn rate while testing marketing ideas etc…) can save you a lot of stress and prevent your business from sinking under financial obligations before you have had the chance to succeed.

-Focus on synergistic partnerships. If you have a product or service that can benefit another business entity that shares the same consumer demographic then be creative and figure out a way to work together that is mutually beneficial. You may not know exactly who those potential partners are but if you think about it and do your research you will definitely come up with several. Then carefully think through what the benefits for both parties could be. Make contact and present your thoughts. You will find that if you are honestly presenting real value that you can get those you approach to seriously consider doing business with you. The key is that the perceived value you bring has to match or be greater than what you are asking for in exchange. This is especially true when approaching companies that are larger and more established than you are.

-Get everyone on the team involved in “selling”. Some of us just aren’t very good or have no experience when it comes to selling. It doesn’t matter. Look at the strengths of the team and find a way to use those strengths in business promotion. If someone on the team is good at writing then have them write articles and post company information via social media. Give everyone involved business cards to hand out everywhere they go. Anyone can do that. Develop a sales culture even among non-sales team members.

 The moral of the story here is to plan to be short on capital and be creative in the way you address getting your financial needs met. Also be ready to reach a certain level of growth/success prior to securing outside funding if at all possible. This will increase your knowledge about your business without paying for early mistakes with someone else’s capital and prove your model at the same time. These are just a few thoughts on how to increase the likelihood of success and by no means is this intended to be a silver bullet for anyone. Rather I am sharing from personal experience about some of the things that if thought about carefully from the onset of launching a business can save some headache and perhaps spur growth and success.

 

Raymond C. Aker,

CEO

Bidmycleaning.com
 

 

Igniting BidMyCleaning.com with Microsoft's BizSpark

When we first started BidMyCleaning.com back in late 2007 there was only one viable option for us to choose as far as developing our own web-based application went... and that was to only make use of tools, frameworks, systems, software and languages that were either free or close to it. At that point we had no money or resources and only had a vision of how we wanted to change the service industry and web enable it - in much the same way that had been so effective for the retail industry.

I had previously become quite familiar with Microsoft's development products (not to mention their Office products), but due to the sizable price tags associated with them, they were not an option for BidMyCleaning.com. We started out using mainly open-source / free applications like Eclipse, MySQL GUI Tools, OpenOffice, FireFox and ThunderBird with great success. However, towards the end of 2008, when BidMyCleaning.com was selected as one of the three finalists in the San Diego Venture Group's "Pitch Fest" competition, I ran into some folks from Microsoft that told me about a new program they were launching called BizSpark. Essentially, BizSpark gave new software startups a leg up by providing them free access to Microsoft's software, as well as exposure and industry connections. Wow, this sounded too good to be true!

But it wasn't. Later that night when I got home, dejected after losing the Pitch Fest competition and the $20,000 prize money to another startup who admittedly rigged the voting (I'm not bitter, really), I filled in the application and by the next day I had full MSDN access. Full access that didn't just include the web development software - it actually included pretty much everything that Microsoft produced! From Windows to Office, SQL Server to Visio, Expression to Visual Studio. It was all there for the download. I was like a kid in a candy store.

However, after playing around with all of the new software for a few days I was then faced with some tough decisions... what elements of BidMyCleaning.com's business do I change or migrate over to the newly available Microsoft products? Core system technology? Development toolchain? Servers? Office software? We had already launched our product (the BidMyCleaning.com Online Marketplace) so switching servers and core technology at that point was just not an option. We just did not have the resources. I guess that $20,000 might have come in a little useful after all... (ok, maybe I am still bitter).

Changing out our development tools was a much easier decision. Visual Studio and even Expression Web are excellent and quickly replaced Eclipse and NetBeans. Office 2007 was an even more obvious choice for upgrading from OpenOffice, which although is quite functional, lacks a lot of the polish that Office has.

From that point onwards we functioned as a kind of hybrid Open Source / Microsoft based startup. Right now, I still have to make the final decision for the next iteration of our core system software and associated server platforms... Fully open source? Or fully Microsoft? Unfortunately it is still not cut and dry as there has been so much development in the Open Source space over the last year and there is just so much industry and community support for it.

My advice is this... If you are a software startup, you would be crazy not to sign up for Microsoft's BizSpark. Even if you have PHP tattooed across your back and have no intention of switching to anything ending in .NET, you should still sign up. Having access to Office, Visio, Outlook, Visual Studio, Expression, etc. is of immense benefit to any cash-strapped startup. Especially one that is interacting with VC's and corporate customers/partners that undoubtedly all use these products. And after playing around with it, you may actually get to really like .NET and find that it could be the best choice for your startup. After all, blindly believing one way or another is not a recipe for success.

Gavin Stone
Co-Founder and CTO
http://www.BidMyCleaning.com

Are You Looking For a Cleaning Job?

Are you looking for a cleaning service job? Do you have professional cleaning service experience? If so, you should consider listing yourself on BidMyCleaning.com - the world’s first online marketplace for residential cleaning services that connects providers and sellers together for maid service, carpet cleaning, and window cleaning.

BidMyCleaning.com allows individuals to participant in their online marketplace for free not just companies. Therefore if you are looking for cleaning jobs, listing yourself on their website is an excellent way to get jobs. They have a five step enrollment process that easily walks you through the account setup process that takes less than twenty minutes to complete. Step one is where you provide your profile information, such as a description of yourself and why a customer should choose you over others. Step two, is where you list the areas you cover or would like to work at. You only have to provide the cities/zip codes you cover. Step three is where you provide your cleaning prices. Step four is where you provide your availability or the days you can work. And step five is where you agree to the terms of the marketplace.

The best part about listing yourself on the BidMyCleaning.com website is the management tools and business assistance they provide you. Their system allows customers to schedule with you 24 hours per day without having to call you. You never have to collect payment, the system requires customer’s to pay with credit card or PayPal. The system sends out appointment reminders to customers so they won’t forget about your appointment. The system sends customers invoices. They help you market your services on directories like craigslist.com using their industry leading Book Now! technology.

If you are looking for a cleaning service job why not try out BidMyCleaning.com? Click this link to get started http://www.BidMyCleaning.com/Become-A-Provider

POSTED BY: O’Brian D. Woods

BidMyCleaning.com & Realtors Working Together

 

BidMyCleaning.com- At BidMyCleaning.com we are always looking for innovative ways to bring the first and only cleaning services marketplace to the masses. Our passion for improving the service industry drives us to continually develop new improved ways for consumers to benefit from the shopping and service experience provided by the marketplace. Our current offerings: maid service, carpet cleaning, and window washing are being offered through the Bidmycleaning.com website and other strategic affiliates.

 

Now we are excited to team up with realtors to assist them with adding value to their client relationships. Our services are being offered through realtors when they assist their clients with all things associated with buying or selling a home including moving. We are developing a unique relationship which allows them to not only share the convenience of BidMyCleaning.com, but also affords them the ability to provide pricing discounts to their clients.

 

Realtors immediately see the benefit of having BidMyCleaning.com in their “tool kit” as it goes beyond the fluff of a magnet, pen or calendar in their efforts to communicate appreciation for a client’s patronage. It arms them with something immediately useful and directly connected to that relationship. Additionally, given the hectic pace that most successful realtors keep, it is value that can be imparted to the client without distracting them from their primary task of helping families reach the goal of home ownership.

 

As an entrepreneur it boosts my sense of accomplishment when I can see how our efforts bring additional value to others that are building customer relationships. In that light, we will continue to assess the potential for our services to enhance other relationships in new and creative ways. Our passion for improving the service industry has begun to make an impact and we are extremely motivated to see that impact multiplied. As a result we will continue to innovate, improve and bring even greater access to the BidMyCleaning.com marketplace.

Raymond C. Aker
CEO, BidMyCleaning.com

Pivotal Tracker Playing A Pivotal Role in BidMyCleaning.com's Success

About a year ago I came across an interesting project management tool from Pivotal Labs called Tracker - www.pivotaltracker.com. Tracker is a web-based app that provides.

Velocity tracking and emergent iterations - Make planning decisions using accurate projections based on past performance.
Story-based iterative planning - Base your software project management on proven agile methods.
Real-time collaboration - See what your team is doing and react to change instantly.

I started playing around the app and almost immediately saw the benefit it would have to managing the way we work at BidMyCleaning.com - www.bidmycleaning.com. Along with the ease-of-use, cool features, web accessibility and promise of increased productivity, came it's price tag... FREE. Wow, this quickly became a no-brainer for a cash-strapped startup company.

The simplified way that Tracker works is that you create a Story for each task within a Project and assign a Points weight to that task depending on its estimated magnitude. You then assign the Story to a person (or team) who then has to get it done. They can then interact within that story via comments, questions, attachments, etc. until they are ready to deliver it back to the person (or team) who initially requested the task to be completed. The rate at which all of these Stories (or tasks) are completed, based upon their point weighting, then becomes that project's Velocity. Velocity is averaged over time across all of the stories within a Project and enables the Tracker system to predict how quickly the overall team assigned to the project will be able to complete all of the tasks assigned to them. And it works great at doing just this!

The first projects that we implemented on Tracker were technology based - new website features, new system features, bugs, etc. - but we soon expanded our usage of Tracker to cover all aspects of business at BidMyCleaning.com. From Technology to Marketing, Operations to Business Development were all soon being tracked by Tracker.

We are now able to efficiently track the progress on our house cleaning provider levels, social media campaigns, business development efforts with partner websites, as well as the more traditional website feature requests and those pesky bugs that need fixin'.

All of us here at BidMyCleaning.com have used Tracker to the great benefit of our startup company and it has become an integral part, along with other collaborative tools like Google Docs and Skype, of how we conduct business on a daily basis.

Gavin Stone
CTO and Co-Founder
BidMyCleaning.com
http://www.bidmycleaning.com

Bidmycleaning.com Gets A Makeover

Newbidmycleaning

 

Bidmycleaning.com Gets A Makeover

Bidmycleaning.com – Along with cosmetic enhancements, the website has been redesigned to enhance the user experience. Implementation of the popular Javascript framework jQuery, along with several innovative extensions like jQuery Tools and qTip enable improved user experience through elements which include simple navigation, content scrollers, popup help.

The new website is fully XHTML compliant and completely cross browser compatible appearing and operating almost identically in all of the major web browsers; FireFox, Safari, Opera, Chrome and Internet Explorer. The website is built on top of the Blueprint CSS Framework and makes extensive use of CSS3 features. In addition to the user experience enhancements, the website has been optimized for search engines by reducing page load times, eliminating most background images and reducing code size . Other improvements include localized landing page content for each city in the US and the use of content delivery networks (CDNs) to provide useful content for a richer experience.

Bidmycleaning.com’s core value proposition is to provide a quick and simple interface for finding and scheduling house cleaning services. The cleaning calculator on the website has been tuned and tweaked to improve the display of the instant bids from local service providers. The online scheduling interface has also been enhanced for faster loading times.

“Our goal is to be the first choice among customers seeking cleaning services. Our marketplace for cleaning services brings customers and providers together in a one-stop-shop and end-to-end transaction environment which must be efficient and user friendly. We believe that the latest enhancements to our website have improved both the user experience and the efficiency.” said CEO Raymond Aker.

 

Putting A Price On Maid Service

Pricing for maid service can vary greatly from one service provider to the next and from one neighborhood to the next. The price a provider is able to charge will vary between an independent individual maid service and a full-fledged, professional residential cleaning company. Cleaning companies carry liability insurance, third-party fidelity bonding, and Workers’ Compensation Insurance. They typically pre-screen their employees, including legal eligibility to work in the United States, conduct criminal background and reference checks, look after their employees’ social security and Medicare taxes, and provide professional training and supervision of their employees. An independent cleaner will often be less expensive because they do not need to factor in these additional operating expenses.


While most providers have a specific formula for calculating the price of cleaning based on several factors including size and condition of the home, there are providers who look at what the prevailing price is and then just undercut that. The problem with this pricing strategy is that it erodes the price point in the market and creates an environment where people are eventually unable to provide a quality service at the prevailing price and they either cut corners or go out of business.


When working to a pricing formula the amount of work involved and the time it will take to perform the cleaning are factored in along with the size and perhaps layout of the home or business. The condition of the home often determines how much work will be required to clean it … call it the ‘elbow grease’ factor. Old dirt accumulations like soap scum build-up usually take much longer to clean requiring a deep cleaning which will be priced higher.


When setting up pricing, house cleaners will also take into consideration if you schedule regular cleanings with them. Your routine cleaning schedule may be weekly, biweekly or monthly and each will have a discount factored in when compared to a first-time or one time cleaning. This is because it takes less work to maintain a home in a clean state than to have to start from scratch with a deep cleaning each time. It can take as long to clean the bathrooms on a first time cleaning as it will to do the entire home on subsequent regular weekly or biweekly visits.


At BidMyCleaning.com we have a standard formula for pricing taking size and condition into account. Pets in the home will also affect the determination of the final price. Providers that are represented in our marketplace determine their own pricing using our formula which allows us to provide consumers with instant and convenient comparison shopping for cleaning services. In addition to being able to receive and compare pricing for several providers we also provide the ability to read customer reviews so that you have all the information required to make your provider selection.


http://www.bidmycleaning.com