Why do you need Online estimation tools? – People are lazy by nature and they like to have information right in front of them with minimum effort if possible. The more information you provide on your website, the more conversion you are going to see. This is a proven fact and is used widely in search engine optimisation practices to increase online visibility.
Online estimation tools would also filter the window shoppers from the actual buyers. That alone will save you tons of time that you don’t have as a builder and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore offering customers an estimate in a matter of minutes will give them confidence in your services. You may think it’s not possible, but it is. Trust me, I get this almost every day from my customers!
Below we have listed the top five estimating tools that you can employ as a builder or trade, in Australia.
1. Feasibility Calculator
In the property development sector, a feasibility calculator is a must-have among online estimation tools. Most people who are interested in developing property are unsure of whether they can afford their plan. Feasibility calculators provide customers with a capital estimate that they need to undertake a new property project. That alone saves many hours of labour behind hundreds of emails back and forth between the customer and yourself before they even know if they can afford the project. Most builders use standard excel sheets to calculate this for their customers. We have developed a form that can do this for your customer directly before they contact you for more information. Once your customer approves the estimate, they become a qualified lead. From there, you can provide them with a more comprehensive report which needs to be customised to their specific circumstances and requirements. We have saved many hours for our customers using these simple customised forms. If you are a builder or a trade, you know what I am talking about!
2. Renovation Estimating Tool
conventionally, customers contact builders or trades to inspect the site and provide a renovation quote. This is an expensive and time-consuming practice, especially for the smaller businesses managed by small teams. Statistically on average, 70% of these inquires goes to waste as the customer is unaware of the enormous cost involved in most renovations. Online estimation tools enable you to filter your customers at the very first stage by giving them a ballpark figure. The figure does not and can not be completely accurate, however, this will tell your customer that you need to have an estimated capital in order to perform certain renovations. That alone will save you and your team a trip to the site for no reason and other admin related work post-inspection. This can be automated on your website so you can only focus on the qualified customers who do have the money to complete a renovation project. From there you can go one step further and let your customer book an inspection online for a more comprehensive quote. We talk about this further down.
3. Inspection Booking Tool
Booking an inspection is an essential part of a Builder or a Trade day to day operation. Conventionally this is done through direct phone calls, emails, and conversations. It is unnecessarily time-consuming, disorganised and filled with possible human errors (as this is usually not done by the inspector). This is a waste in lean operation as it is considered to be double-handling. Using the latest technologies, you can connect your inspection calendar to your website, so your customers can book an inspection based on your availability. This will give them the time to think and find the most suitable time slot for them which is also available for you. It is a win-win tool for everyone involved. So in conclusion, by automating this process you will save time, provide your customer with options which is always good and save labour as you dont need an admin to do this for you.
4. Repair Estimating Tool
This is particularly useful for the trades. As a trade, you probably get many phone calls on a daily basis about different repair inquires. Half of which usually are just common questions and does not lead to any business. As a single operator and business owner, this process is both time-consuming and frustrating. Trust me I know! That is what I thought, this issue is worth mentioning in this article. Our web development Web Cheetah has developed a plugin that is called a repair calculator that provides your customers online with a quick quote based on the nature of their inquiry. That quote will be calculated based on a pre-estimated figure for the nature of the task and your standard hourly rate charged for the task. This will not include uncommon parts as that will be added to the quote as a variation later on during the inspection process. However, this automation will enable your customer to see your standard rate and decide whether they can afford your service. Since the estimation will be on the downside, you can easily qualify the buyers from window shoppers who can’t afford you. This is incredible but this small tool can save you up to 8-10 hours on weekly basis. That is a lot of money annually!
5. Commercial terms and feedback collector
One of the major problems that small businesses have is the admin work. Pre and Post admin work involved in a simple construction project. They commonly get too involved and stressed about the repetitive admin work before commencing a project and too careless about the post-project important processes such as customer satisfaction certificates and feedbacks. On average 8 out of 10 trades in Australia, do not have the time to chase feedback from their happy customers which is a waste in a big way. Feedbacks are the single most effective marketing tools that you can have online to expand your business. The same goes for the pre-commencement admin work which is mostly repetitive and time-consuming. All of the above can be automated through the customer relationship manager’s automation (CRM) and a few dynamic forms on your website. This will save you money, make your operation more efficient and less stress full, and increase your leads through testimonials.
Brissy team has been involved in the development, implementation and training of such digital tools above which are designed to make your life easier as a business owner. Contact us today for a free consultation session to see how we can help you ease your workload. It is free, so give us a shot – at least you get an answer to your questions.
Related Article – Why do you need to analyse your business online presence?.
