Anthony Kulikowski is the Franchise owner of 5 Star Painting of South Bend, Indiana, and a BidClips user. I had the chance to chat with him about some of the things that led to his decision in choosing BidClips as his go-to software, how it’s been working for him and his team, and how it benefits painting businesses throughout the industry. We were able to break it down into a few main categories, as discussed below:
Automated follow-ups have always been a major selling point for the BidClips platform, so it was no surprise to hear Anthony say they were a key element in convincing him to try it out. Describing the decision-making process of his customers, Anthony mentioned how it often takes weeks or months for them to make a choice on what they’re looking for with painting. “Our service isn’t something that’s an emergency. Say you’re looking for a plumber, probably the first guy that gets to your house is gonna get your business. Painting is more like ‘let me think about it, let me pick the colors.’” Now, his team utilizes BidClips’ automated follow-ups to remind those customers to make a decision. “I have a sales team, and they get busy. We all get busy, and sometimes you forget to follow-up.”
The stats back up the importance of following up; nearly 20% of all leads that are followed up on get closed. For a painting business like Anthony’s, those gentle reminders to move the decisions along are positively affecting his team’s closing ratios.
“That was a huge eye opener, because I saw that improving our customer experience."
Another element of BidClips that caught Anthony’s attention was the ability for customers to pay their deposit online. “That was a huge eye opener, because I saw that improving our customer experience. Prior to that, they would have to reach back out to the salesperson and then get their deposit to the sales person, and get entered into the system. Whereas now it’s all automated.” Customers can now pay a part of their bill at any time without all the back and forth previously required. Cutting out the multiple steps makes the whole experience better for both the customer and the sales team, and means Five Star is getting paid sooner for their jobs.
Every business wants to grow their sales, and 5 Star’s goals when starting out with BidClips were no different. BidClips has helped capture those customers who had been in the system for a while, but had never turned into jobs. Having an automated system in place to gently prod the customers into a buying decision allowed 5 Star to start emptying out their “unclosed deals” folder, and sell those jobs that had been on the shelf for 6+ months. “That was the goal with that, to get a lot of those 6 month and 1 year customers that haven’t done their project yet.”
Anthony also told me he’s been impressed with the ability of the platform. The ease of adding photos and videos to any service request has given them the ability to see the projects, and gives the customer an improved experience. “With BidClips it's super easy, it works every time. There’s just a lot of features. I think it gives the customer a better experience. It’s a sleek look. It separates us from our competition even more so.” Many businesses using BidClips have found that customers are happier when they’re brought into the process. The ability to send videos and pictures of what they want gives a reassurance that they’ll be taken care of.
One of the points Anthony brought up was the impact of BidClips on younger generations. With Millennials becoming the biggest purchasers of home improvements, implementing technology into the buying process has been incredibly helpful. “Typically the people that like it are usually gen X or millennials. It’s easy and fast and you don’t have to deal with anybody.” This is especially true of the payment process, with people commenting on how they appreciated being able to schedule and pay online.
“We sometimes wake up to an inbox with a couple of closed jobs. That’s a pretty cool feeling.”
The ability to pay deposits online has been an attraction for the younger generation, and a great boost for closing rates and cash flow for Anthony and his team. With a payment system in place that’s easy to use, Five Star doesn’t have to prod their customers into submitting deposits for jobs. “We sometimes wake up to an inbox with a couple of closed jobs. That’s a pretty cool feeling.” In fact, almost 25% of all jobs booked are done so after hours or on the weekend, so giving customers the ability to pay the deposit at their convenience is a sure-fire way to raise conversions.
To end our conversation, I asked Anthony what has changed the most for Five Star Painting since implementing BidClips. “The ease of the customer experience. They can book their job 24/7, any time of day they can log on and pay their deposit. It just improves customer experience.” BidClips is a platform that sets out to improve the experiences of everyone using it, from customer to shop owner. Implementing the right tools in a business can be an intimidating prospect, but companies like Five Star of South Bend show that when it’s done, and done right, it can give a serious boost to the growth of a business.
A huge thank you to Anthony Kulikowski of Five Star Painting South Bend for taking the time to talk with me. If you want to find out more about BidClips and what we’re doing in the home services industry, visit our website, or book a demo.