What these businesses are doing to win work from the CEO

Speedy Move in action carefully moving ServiceSeeking CEO Jeremy Levitt’s belongings

These businesses recently won work from ServiceSeeking CEO Jeremy Levitt. The business practices they employ might help you to win more work in the future.

Oliver, 32, from Wentworth Point in Sydney, owns Speedy Move. He started working in furniture removals as an offsider and now has two trucks and five employees performing local and interstate moves. The business has been winning work through ServiceSeeking since 2010.

Speedy Move has an impressive 290 reviews on ServiceSeeking. So, what’s your secret to building your profile?

Oliver: We have good reviews because we are upfront with all costs, we don’t have any hidden fees, we are careful, and we do what we promise when you hire us. We are always on time with responsive updates and communications with our clients.

Has it been easier for you to win more work with a 5-star review score?

Oliver: Yes, I think the customers really take comfort from seeing the reviews. We do encourage our clients to leave reviews, but probably only one in six actually do. We use Fast Feedback sometimes, too. But some customers only worry about the cheapest price, so reviews won’t mean much to them.

How often do you compare your pricing to your competitors?

Oliver: I never compare. Sometimes, a client will say someone else can do it for cheaper, but I will quote a price based on what is fair for my business. If I’m not going to make money, I’m not interested in the job.

If you had one piece of advice for a business using ServiceSeeking, what would it be?

Oliver: Customers want quotes fast. Sometimes, I have responded to a job, and it’s already been filled in just five minutes. I have the app on my phone, and I try to respond as quickly as possible.

Note: you can monitor your competitor’s quoting speed and how you compare through the Analytics tab in your account. 

What’s the best part of ServiceSeeking?

Oliver: The removalist season is in high demand from about October to the end of January and during the school holidays. But at other times of the year, we might get fewer leads a week from lead generation sites like ServiceSeeking. But I’m most comfortable quoting on jobs on ServiceSeeking because we have an annual subscription and don’t get charged per lead, unlike some other sites. Now, when I get the leads from Oneflare or MovingSelect, I mostly just delete them because I don’t want to pay to quote on a job I might not win.

And something we could improve?

Oliver: The option where the customer can select a budget doesn’t always work because some customers say they want to move to a full one-bedroom apartment for $1-100. In that case, it is unclear if they want the total price to be $100 or the hourly rate to be up to $100, so I will still quote, but some customers are putting in low prices, hoping to get businesses to lower their prices.

Correct Green Cleaning Solutions guaranteed a bond refund on Jeremy’s end-of-lease cleaning job.

Pete, 32, from Sydney, owns Correct Green Cleaning Solutions. The business was established three years ago after working as an area manager in his father’s company for 14 years, servicing the education sector and CBD office suites. His new venture focuses on environmentally friendly cleaning solutions and specialises in end-of-lease, residential, office and construction cleaning.

What’s the number one priority for building your business?

Pete: Reviews are imperative. I encourage every single client to leave one. Ever since I’ve used the Fast Feedback, I don’t think there has been anyone who hasn’t left a review. The less work you give the customer to do, the more likely they are to give you a review.

Has it been easier for you to win more work with a higher review score?

Pete: Yes. A couple of my customers have said they’re not too worried about the price. Price is obviously important to them, but they will disregard anything that looks too low. So I price higher than the low but below the bigger businesses that have like 400 reviews. So we’re competing against the bigger businesses.

Do you monitor your competitor’s pricing?

Pete: At the start of the year, I posted a job to see what prices are so we can stay competitive. You sort of need to be 25 per cent cheaper than the market, not just ServiceSeeking but the broader market. As far as the external market, if you can reduce by 25 per cent, you still have a good profit margin.

Note: you can monitor your competitor’s quoting speed and how you compare through the Analytics tab in your account. 

What marketing channels are best for your business?

Pete: I’ve got a website. We looked at options at the start on how to get more work, and we signed up with ServiceSeeking first, and you’ve kept us busy. We had a few other alternatives and haven’t even gone to the second option yet as, at the moment, ServiceSeeking is supplying about 60 per cent of my work, maybe more. I’m winning about one in 10 jobs I quote on. I’m hoping more reviews will increase that.