FullCircle service

[Mikey P]

I was not aware they did not call back drops calls.

That's ridiculous and needs to change, especially with the price increase.

 

[Ken Snow]

4-6 calls in 30 minutes??? Call avg should be well under 3 minutes for repeat Our blended time for all is about 2 min 50 seconds.

 

[SMRBAP]

Ken,

Booking calls in under 3 minutes?

Our call times are extremely long, mostly because of the different pricing options we offer, and the Q&A on stain work and pricing. We are between 5-10 per call. Some under, more involved jobs can go 15.

Not having the roll over minutes I'm guessing won't bode well in the long term for them. That's one thing they may want to rethink.

In FC's defense, having 1-2, 3, 4 people on the phone comes with more than their wages, a lot more. You need a roof over your head and all that comes with that, insurance, utilities, office equipment, consumables - the list goes on. All costs you have to consider as related to having 2 people in house vs no house.

As I stated before, I believe they are a good fit and priced well for companies that can't financially support a commercial location w staffers in house just yet. But there will come a time for every company where it's no longer a fit, because they will need more control, and will have worthwhile tweener work for office staff to complete - pricing as it is, that point could come sooner now.

 

[joey895]

4-6 calls in 30 minutes??? Call avg should be well under 3 minutes for repeat Our blended time for all is about 2 min 50 seconds.

I agree. That's about all the time i take but they take longer. Granted they are more thorough about getting all the info and also understand they are working with Service monster which takes time to load each page and I'm sure because they answer for multiple companies and have different prices and policies for each adds some time.

I haven't done the math but i just looked at my calls, you are probably right, its probably more like 4-5 minutes average so 6-8 calls.

PS I wasn't factoring in calls not related to scheduling like telemarketers , etc. They get off the phone very quick on those and I'm sure brings their actual time per call down substantially.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[hogjowl]

Yes, I don't know how anybody uses SM during a customer call without losing their mind.

 

[Mikey P]

Getting of your dial up connection would be a great place to start

 

[hogjowl]

I stopped having to climb the telephone pole a few months back. However, Verizon 4 G is not really 4 G.

 

[Ken Snow]

I was only talking about those calls going to our cleaning call center.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Greg Cole]

I seriously can't believe there are guys here complaining about $250 a month to answer their phones! We spend over $100 during peak times to answer the phones! And that is just Gross payroll! Worth every penny! Everyone brags about how much they get per sf but won't invest the the most important part : THE PEOPLE ANSWERING THE PHONE! Undeblievable!

How many jobs do you think you can get booked for that $250?

 

[hogjowl]

Uh, hey Sparkey ... is that $100 per call, per hour, per day, week, month ... or what?

 

[hogjowl]

I seriously can't believe there are guys here complaining about $250 a month to answer their phones! We spend over $100 during peak times to answer the phones! And that is just Gross payroll! Worth every penny! Everyone brags about how much they get per sf but won't invest the the most important part : THE PEOPLE ANSWERING THE PHONE! Undeblievable!

Just to keep him honest.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Pretty typical in this industry... spend thousands of dollars on equipment, modifications {that actually slow you down} and trying out 50 different chemicals but complain about couple hundred month to answer the phone.

Most of you guys have this stuff backwards.

 

[hogjowl]

My concerns are not realted to the price as much as it is the actual service. What I hear guys complaining about is more related to dropped calls or long waiting times. If I could pay $200 a month and get the same or better phone service that I can give my customers myself, then it would be well worth the price.

 

[Shane Deubell]

You don't have dropped calls while trying to answer a cell phone with a wand in your hand?

This is a ridiculous discussion, if you are out in the field trying to answer the phone no way you can fill out a work order while the person is talking. Which means you have to wing it...

 

[hogjowl]

No, I honestly don't recall having a dropped call while answering while my phone is forwarded to my cell phone. I have several a week that are forwarded to my cell phone. Are you counting that as a dropped call? My cell phone service is very reliable ... as I said ... I just don't recall dropped calls.

However, lets continue with this discussion as if dropping calls is a normal thing for those of us who answer our own phone. Is it reasonable to conclude, as your argument seems to be, that paying FC to drop our calls is a worthwhile trade off?

 

[randy]

Personally I don't see how they are making money and the increase is probably an attempt to create profitability and not just customers. When I owned part of an answering service in the early 90s we were charging a base fee of $175 a month, $3.00 for each booked appointment, $2.00 per call if you call in to pick messages instead getting them faxed three times a day or sent to you over a alphanumeric pager, $99 a month for the pager rental, and $15 for a monthly statement if you aren't automatically billed to a credit card. Many of our customers had bills of $2,000 -$3,000 a month and that was twenty years ago. When you factor in all the costs, it really is a lousy business model and most of these type of services fail within 6-7 years. We sold out to a large national company and I made a rather poor return on my investment. The company that bought us and a dozen or so similar companies filed chapter 11 three years latter and was purchased by another national company TASCO at liquidation prices. TASCO has since been bankrupt several times.

Very hard business to operate profitably. Every customer is a self centered prick that thinks they are the only customer you have. They act like they should get the same service as If you were a $50,000 a year administrative assistant. The worst thing is most of your customers really shouldn't even be in business. They are grossly under capitalized or just turning profitless dollars year after year ,and that's why they are using your service.

Be nice to those girls that are answering your calls, believe me it's a horrible job that doesn't (and can't really) pay enough.

 

[Shane Deubell]

No, I honestly don't recall having a dropped call while answering while my phone is forwarded to my cell phone. I have several a week that are forwarded to my cell phone. Are you counting that as a dropped call? My cell phone service is very reliable ... as I said ... I just don't recall dropped calls.

However, lets continue with this discussion as if dropping calls is a normal thing for those of us who answer our own phone. Is it reasonable to conclude, as your argument seems to be, that paying FC to drop our calls is a worthwhile trade off?

No, i cannot defend anyone dropping calls.
But if you think you can do a better job while cleaning up cat vomit...

Anything we buy in small units will be expensive, you can hire someone for like .20 cents a minute but you have to commit for a lot more then 200 minutes and pay them rain or shine.

 

[Mikey P]

Here are some charts I had made up that you may find interesting..

 

[Dan]

I seriously can't believe there are guys here complaining about $250 a month to answer their phones! We spend over $100 during peak times to answer the phones! And that is just Gross payroll! Worth every penny! Everyone brags about how much they get per sf but won't invest the the most important part : THE PEOPLE ANSWERING THE PHONE! Undeblievable!

Greg,

you have to keep in mind that every company is different. I have a buddy with two full time girls in his office answering phones that ring off the hook all day long. I have very few calls by choice. As this year moves forward I will be looking to build up again. As i build back up I would like to ad FC to my systems. What I suggested as well as Tom is that they have other options available to better fit everyone's needs. This is not about pricing to high, this is not a out bashing full circle nor have I. It's about more plan options. I feel FC is worth up to about 2000.00 dollars per month if you have the business to support it then it would be wiser to start looking into office staff options. I also feel 250.00 a month is fair..... Once again, as long as your phone needs support it.... They need a plan in the 125-150 range to support businesses that size. Obviously the price you pay would be higher per minute but it may still suit those needs better. Everyone's needs are different. Mine are not the same as yours. Is that unbelievable?

 

[SMRBAP]

Mikey - really super close, and so respective to your scale.

I go over that in house, and most times by a good bit - but the office is open 8-6 M-F and 8-4 Sat, regular biz hours, you are about as dead on as you can be on paper.

I get my money out of the office staff x100 - there is always something to do.

 

[Full_Circle]

Hello Awesome Cleaners!!! You asked for it…we listened!!!!! Full Circle is proud to add a smaller package to our already impressive lineup of plans. This plan will be 100 min per month; cost is $196 per month and $1.96 per additional minutes. This still includes all the bells and whistles of Full Circle, such as multiple CSR’s, our wealth of knowledge, the ability to have multiple calls come in and be served, booking in a web based scheduling system, freedom from your phones and so much more.

 

[Dan]

Hello Awesome Cleaners!!! You asked for it…we listened!!!!! Full Circle is proud to add a smaller package to our already impressive lineup of plans. This plan will be 100 min per month; cost is $196 per month and $1.96 per additional minutes. This still includes all the bells and whistles of Full Circle, such as multiple CSR’s, our wealth of knowledge, the ability to have multiple calls come in and be served, booking in a web based scheduling system, freedom from your phones and so much more.

And the smarter heads prevail... Thanks for listening Full Circle.

 

[AJR]

Hi Mike,

Who is company "A" and "B"? i already know "E".

Here are some charts I had made up that you may find interesting..

 

[Mikey P]

I'm not at liberty to say.

 

[AJR]

Why bother comparing then?

I'm not at liberty to say.

 

[Mikey P]

I'm not at liberty to say.

 

[AJR]

I understand. Still a great board.

I'm not at liberty to say.

 

[knoxclean]

Those minutes quoted for those plans in the example you posted are a pipe dream. My numbers were way above what they quote for the two truck example when I ran two.On top of that I was keeping the phones inhouse many afternoons just to try and keep the minute count down.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Hello Awesome Cleaners!!! You asked for it…we listened!!!!! Full Circle is proud to add a smaller package to our already impressive lineup of plans. This plan will be 100 min per month; cost is $196 per month and $1.96 per additional minutes. This still includes all the bells and whistles of Full Circle, such as multiple CSR’s, our wealth of knowledge, the ability to have multiple calls come in and be served, booking in a web based scheduling system, freedom from your phones and so much more.

You should add a plan that is in between the $364 and the $722 plan.. That is a big jump and not very appealing to new and current customers and would like to see an in between.

 

[Dan]

You should add a plan that is in between the $364 and the $722 plan.. That is a big jump and not very appealing to new and current customers and would like to see an in between.

I agree. Should be like 2 plans in the gap. Maybe even a full time dedicated flat rate monthly plan for some of the heavy users.