National franchise and Brisbane-based company Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning, has completely overhauled its approach to customer service by going mobile and in just six weeks has reduced response time from at least four hours to four minutes.

It takes just three seconds for a prospective customer online to decide if a product or service is for them. So with hundreds of competitors just a click away, small business owners face the challenge of speedy responses to enquiries.

Operations manager of Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning, Tim Honan, said timing is crucial to get customers through the virtual door.

“Aside from referrals we know that we attract new customers via online searches and that we are only one click away from our competitors, so we had to find a way to beat them to the chase,” Honan said.

“Our franchisees are constantly out on the job and could only respond to customer enquiries in between jobs or when they got back to the office.

“Responses used to take at least four hours and getting customers through the virtual door quickly and converting to sales is critical.”

MOBILE APP SOLUTION

The new mobile app called Elite Customer Hub was created by KND Digital’s director Jason Hawkins and allows franchisees to receive sales leads right in the palm of their hands through SMS and email, all connected to a powerful customer management system.

“There is risk for businesses to be too casual when responding to online enquiries, speed of reply is critical” said Hawkins.

“Online is cluttered with heavy competition and it can be the difference of the few extra minutes it takes to respond where you could lose a potential sale.”

EMPOWERING FRANCHISEES

Tim Honan says the new technology has provided a more streamlined and professional process, helping to empower franchisees.

“This new method of capturing and sending enquiries has made it much easier for our 30 franchisees throughout Australia to secure business. It has well and truly empowered our team; we have been waiting for a tool like this for quite some time.

“Since launching six weeks ago, Elite franchisees across the country have been able to deliver via the app over 400 quotes to customers in less than four minutes which has enabled them to instantly book in work while still out on the job.

“It’s really opens up growth opportunities for our business.”