You deliver good work, but a new client sees none of it. The photos sit on your phone and you almost never ask for a review. Here you can read what software for a small building business can do about that, and how BorgAI handles it without costing you extra time.
What should software for a small building business do to bring in new jobs?
It should handle three things you let slip: keep a before and after photo, ask the client for a Google review when the job is done, and let the client follow how the job is going. Those three things are what convince a new client. Good software does them for you, at the moment they matter.
Almost every contractor looks for software for quotes, work orders and invoices. Makes sense, that is where most of the hassle is. But new jobs come from somewhere else. A new client looks you up on Google, reads what others say about you and wants to see what your work looks like. If there is nothing there, he calls the next contractor.
Why do you so rarely ask for a review?
Because the moment is always wrong. At handover you are tidying up and your head is still on the job. A week later you have forgotten, or it feels awkward to bring it up. So you end up with a happy client who leaves nothing behind.
Photos work the same way. You do take them, but they disappear among hundreds of other photos on your phone. A new client never gets to see them.
Say you renovate bathrooms. On Friday you hand over a bathroom you are proud of. On Monday you are at the next client. Nobody knows about that beautiful bathroom, except the client himself.
That is not laziness. It is simply a small task that lands at the busiest moment. That is why it has to happen by itself, otherwise it does not happen.
How do you get a before-and-after of your work without effort?
In BorgAI you take a photo on the project before you start and a photo when you are done. The app puts the two side by side as a pair, with a slider you drag from before to after. You download that pair and use it on your website, your socials or your Google profile.
You do not have to cut or edit anything. The photos are already attached to the project, so you do not have to hunt for them either. Photos the client sent with his request count as the before photo.
Say you are a painter doing a stairwell. You photograph the old, flaking wall when you arrive and the same wall when you finish. That is all you need to do.
A before-and-after says more than a list of services. A client sees in one look what you can do. What else belongs to winning more jobs is on the page win more jobs.
How do you get more Google reviews without asking?
When you set a project to Completed in BorgAI, your client gets an email asking for a Google review, with the link in it. This happens once per project, at the moment the client is happiest. If you do not want that to be automatic, you switch it off and send the request yourself with a button.
BorgAI needs two things for this: the link to your Google reviews and the client's email address. You enter the link once, and the email address is already on the client.
Say you are a roofer and you have fixed a leak. You set the project to Completed while you load your gear. The client gets the request, and you are already driving to the next job.
Every client gets the same polite request. So you do not have to think about what to say, and you never skip anyone. Google itself also recommends asking customers for a review via a link. Promising something in return for a review is not allowed, so BorgAI does not do that either.
What does your client get from a client page?
A client page is a personal link for your client. On it he sees how far along the job is, when you are coming back and the latest photos. So he has to call you less to ask how things stand.
You create the link with a button on the project. If you create a new link, the old one stops working. That way you decide who can look along.
What does it cost and how do you start?
You start for free. With the trial account you run five projects from request to invoice, with one user. You install nothing and there is no setup. The before-and-after, the review request and the client page are in every plan, including the free account.
If you carry on after that, Solo starts at €39 per month. A project only counts once you make a quote for it.
The app itself runs in Dutch; the agent answers you in English.
Try it on your next job. Take a photo before you start and one when you are done, then set the project to Completed. You will see right away how it works.
Want to get paid faster for your work too? Then read what software for contractors should do for your cash flow.
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