How to rank higher in Google and generate more leads. Guest starring Tony Van-Eyk, Co-Founder of Cube Online

Ange
Yeah, valid. So it’s not like questions or projects where you have a problem and you fix it and it’s done. This thing’s actually ongoing, isn’t it?

 Andy
Exactly and with the development of the internet, the world of digital marketing has definitely come out to play. And because every business is online, promoting their own agenda, it becomes really hard these days to stand out in a crowd.

Ange
Valid. I totally agree with that. I know if I were to Google Sydney Plumber for instance, right now, I’d get a hundred Google ads and a list of probable businesses on maps. Right? And it’s really hard to choose between them. Some people might just choose the top business on the search function, like just for convenience. But I’m a little bit more detailed and I know that the business has paid to be in that spot. So I personally prefer to do a little bit more research.

 Andy
Yeah, exactly. It’s pay to play environment and it’s those 1%, the tiny improvements or changes that you make to stand out amongst the crowd, that really does make a big impact on your business.

Ange
Yeah. Which is why we’ve got a very special guest who helps you do just that. Who’s joining us today on the episode, and that’s Tony Van-Eyk from Cube Online. Welcome, Tony. So great to have you with us.

Tony
Yeah. Thanks so much. Uh, yeah, looking forward to today’s, uh, call.

 Andy
Yeah mate, it’s gonna be great and, um, we’re really looking forward to hearing everything about what you do. So for those of you that don’t know, or for those of the listeners out there that don’t know, what is Cube Online?

Tony
Yeah, look, I guess, you know, the simplest way to describe our business is obviously we’re a software company, but people go, you know, what do you actually do? Essentially we help, uh, you know, local businesses, you know, with four primary things. Um, and those four primary things are helping them get, uh, found online. So when people are looking, you know, for the services they offer, we give ’em the best possible chance of coming out. So if someone’s, you know, maybe looking for a local plumber, We wanna give our, you know, clients an opportunity to, to be in front of those customers. The second thing we help people with is, uh, making sure their business is the obvious choice above their competition, uh, based on their online reviews. Um, and then the final two parts are, you know, we look for ways using technology. Uh, to help businesses save time, and that’s predominantly around, you know, automating repetitive tasks they might do inside the business. Um, and then our, you know, final piece of the puzzle is providing people tools to communicate with their customers more effectively. And that’s, you know, traditionally based around SMS.

 Andy
Yeah, that’s awesome. And, and I will say that, um, we’ve had quite a few of the Lifestyle Tradie members being using Cube Online for quite a long time and, and, um, I’ve heard a lot of raving reviews about it. So, um, you guys are definitely kicking some goals.

Ange
So one of the things I know that you do help them with is Google Business listings. Uh, you guys do tend to, you know, sprout the fact that you are experts in this field. And perhaps some of our listeners don’t really know what that is, so would you mind explaining what a Google business profile is and why it’s important?

Tony
Yeah, it, it’s probably like the, the starting conversation actually we have with, uh, nearly all of our clients, although we, you know, may offer a, a wide variety of things that the Google business listings traditionally and where the conversation starts and the reason why, that’s the conversation, you know, starts if your, is your Google business listing, we explain for, to look at it in two ways. It’s like your digital business card or like, I guess a virtual shop front, if you will. If you think about the, when a customer first, you know, starts their journey, if you will, online, and it could be I go to Google and type in, you know, best pest control near me or maybe they’ve even seen like a Facebook app and they, they go do some research on your business. The very first thing that they see is that Google business listing. It’s got your name, address, phone number, your online reviews. So I can’t stress people with the importance of it cause I go, ultimately your first impression and, and, you know, you don’t get a second, uh, you know, opportunity at that. Uh, and the second reason why it’s so important is, you know, they say four out of five people, uh, use Google Maps to look for a local business, which is obviously where that Google Business listing sits. And if someone finds your Google Business listing, uh, 90% of people will call that within 24 hours. So it’s just such a high conversion rate if you can get it in front of people.

Ange
Yeah, I, I would, uh, when we talk about marketing with our trade business owners, often we have this conversation about online and offline, and people have, you know, switched a lot to, to online, even though there is, it’s important to have both, but this online space with regards to having exposure, you’ve just gotta be there. And I agree with you, their customers have a mobile device in their hand and it’s too easy for them to go hunting, uh, whether it’s just keywords or whether they’ve had a referral from someone and they’re putting that name in. But in this instance, they’re literally just searching plumber Mona Vale as an example, and you have to feature.

Tony
Yeah, it’s, it’s kind of a, it’s a non-negotiable, isn’t it like when, you know, back in the day when people would say, you know, I have my list in the yellow Pages, people would never have thought not to do that.

Ange
Agreed.

Tony
But sometimes people think that, you know, Google is an option. It’s not an option in today’s world.

Ange
Totally agree. Non-negotiable. We stand by it also. So to follow up on that, why would Google show one business over another in a search listing, and what can a trade business do to increase their listing exposure and therefore perhaps get more leads from Google?

Tony
Yeah. Look, it’s, um, I, I’ll give you probably like the complex and the simple answer. The complex answer is there’s actually 200 factors, right? And I think, um, a lot of people will have been approached by companies you know, either, you know, give you a call or send you an email and say, we can help you with Google Listing, and they, they always try and make it sound complex, right? Cause they go, we, we don’t want you to think you can do it yourself, but although there are some complexities. It’s actually relatively simple when you think about the core things. So let’s say there’s 400, 200 factors.

There’s actually only four items that you really need to think about. So when we go, why does Google show one listing over the other? The first and most important thing is what they call relevance to the searcher. So Google wants to make sure when a customer searches that the business that they show is actually relevant to them. And in the trades business, there’s two things to that. Do you actually offer the service that the person is looking for? And then the second is, do you service the location that the customer is looking in? So if there’s an example we think about like that, you know, plumber in Mona Vale, if a customer, as an example, is typed in plumber in Mona Vale, obviously they wanna make sure that they show a plumber that service is the Mona Vale area. But then underneath that, you could also have some sub-services, right? So some people might, you know, specialize in, you know, gas as an example, or aircon installs, et cetera. So you’ve gotta make sure that you’ve got all of your subcategories set up. So the relevance piece is number one, that Google lookout. The second thing that Google looks at is your trust score, and that’s all about your online reviews. So quality of reviews, quantity of reviews, and actually how often do they come through. And then do you respond to every review? The third thing that they then, uh, you know, look at is what we call your activity markup. And that’s essentially just how active are you on your Google profile. So do you regularly post social content? Are you uploading your, uh, uploading profile photos? Um, and then the last two components that Google does look at, is your website. So as an example, I mentioned if you were a, you know, plumber in Mona Vale as an example, most likely you obviously service other areas, you might go to, you know, Palm Beach or Newport as an example.

So on your website, just like in your Google profile, you need to make sure you’re telling people that. So the best way I can explain to you about their website and their Google profile is that the two should match. So whatever you’re saying on the Google profile, you should have the same content on, on your website. So it confirms that with Google. And then the last component, and this is actually having more of an impact now, is what Google calls your social signals. Um, and social signals are your Facebook, Instagram. If you, if you were using LinkedIn as an example, And you’ll actually even now start to see it when you do Google searches, you’ll actually see Facebook posts indexing on that first page of Google. So previously social and Google didn’t connect as heavily, but obviously Google are now going, well, we know how much of an impact social has, so they start to influence that, uh, in those search results as well. So if you essentially look after those, you know, four main markers, you don’t have to worry about the, you know, I guess complexities of thinking about 200 things.

 Andy
Yeah. And you know, the amount of people that talk about Google listings these days and, and how critical it is for their business and how many leads they’re getting from it per day, per week, or per month. It’s actually still mind blowing. Like, uh, I think you touched on it, Tony, that a lot of people going to those Google listings before going to most people’s websites and, and, um, a lot of people aren’t, they don’t really wanna spend the time necessarily scouring the website and spending 10 minutes. They just wanna find someone, see someone they can trust and see reviews and go, hang on, this is the right business for us and this is where we need to go. Cuz Cube Online, you guys place so much importance in building trust with the potential customers, particularly through reviews. And we’ve just been touching on that. So in order to increase conversion, how can trade business owners ask customers for and obviously receive reviews to achieve this? You know, making them a superpower so to speak.

Tony
There’s probably two parts to consider with, uh, review generation and, uh, when people come to us there, there’s generally like two, two trends. You’ve got person number one, they’ve never requested reviews in the past before. Um, and then other people go, we’ve requested reviews, but we just don’t actually get any. Yeah, so there’s like two, two parts to this. So if we think about it, how do you actually generate reviews? Um, there’s two things that you need to, uh, consider. So the first, and I guess the best process is personalization where possible and where personalization isn’t possible, automation comes in. So, I’ll talk about personalization, uh, you know, factor first. So let’s pretend as an example, uh, you know, best case, uh, scenario is the, you know, tradesperson goes to the person’s house. The person is at the house. They complete the job. They come up to the end and say, you know, Hey Tony, you know, I’ve finished the job. Thanks so much. Um, if you wouldn’t mind, I’m actually just gonna shoot you a quick text message from my mobile phone here today and, and I would really appreciate it if you are willing to leave us a Google review.

So that’s kind of like a best case scenario because people go like, there’s that component of personalization in it where they go, it’s one person asking another person, and that significantly increases the chance. And we try to ask every business, uh, expect in the trades to think about like, what’s your peak point of interest. The peak point of interest is when you’ve just fixed whatever the particular, you know, problem pertaining, you know, to that business is if you will. So, and you can do that through a myriad of ways, right? You can do it from a text message if you’re with the person. So we provide our trade clients for the mobile app, so you can just do it for the mobile. Another good way that we’ve seen a lot of, um, uh, trades businesses do it, is they actually have a QR code on the back of their mobile phone. And they just say to the customer, Hey, would you mind scanning this QR code here? Um, and then you can leave us a review directly. Um, so that’s if I was in person.

Now, if I was not in person, there’s a few alternative ways, uh, you know, to look at it, if you will. So I’ll talk about where automation is possible. So one of the things, um, if, if they were a customer of ours, as an example, we have automation set up with a lot of different job management systems. So a service bank is a very common one. So, Let’s pretend for us if a client is using ServiceM8, we’ll say, look, as soon as that you press job complete in ServiceM8, um, we will automatically trigger a text message and an email to that customer and say, Hey, you know, Mr. Or Mr. Customer, we’re really glad we could do your treatment today. You know, Would you mind leaving us a review? As an example, we do an email and then if the customer doesn’t respond, um, you know, we send a follow up a couple of days, you know, after that, if you will. So if you are not able to do the personalization component, I think you gotta have some form of automation. Or if you don’t, maybe have a, a job management system currently would allow that, is you just need even a process inside, you know, your office to go, okay, maybe it’s the person that processed the invoices as an example, every day, as soon as they process that invoice, it’s the review request goes at the same time. But I think like a lot of people have done like, you know, at the bottom of their invoices, you know, leave us to Google review here if you wouldn’t mind. The reality is people don’t actually look at that at the bottom of the invoice. Like it needs to be one message, either text message or email that’s specifically around the review. And there’s no other communication inside of it. Like the only thing you’re asking for, is the review. Um, so it doesn’t get, you know, lost inside, uh, the message, if you will. So that’s kinda like the, I guess, two approaches.

 Andy
Yeah, no, I, I agree. And there’s no better time than in person and looking in their eyes and saying, please, we’d really appreciate it. And doing that. I mean, I even know, you know, I get emails occasionally from people asking for a review for whatever services and, and I’m like, oh, yeah, I’ll do that. And then, You just don’t sometimes, right? So there’s no doubt when you’re in front of him is the best time and, and you get more conversions and, and you know, you could even set up ways with the tradie to make sure that he goes, listen, I’m just gonna send you a quick text message. Can you give us a review? I’d love to hear about it. I’ll just put my tools away and I’ll come back and hear what amazing words you said about us or something. But,

Ange
Let’s have a bit of a joke, can’t we?

 Andy
Yeah. Have a bit of a joke and a bit of banter and it’s a bit of a bit of a laugh. So, but you’re right. Everything in person is better and you can obviously get more action with that. So for some of the listeners out there, uh, I know all of our guys and everyone has business listings, but for those out there that doesn’t have a Google business profile at all, at the moment, what are some of the things that trade business owners should consider when setting up their profile and what elements are most important for them?

Tony
Yeah. I think, um, with this setup of the profile, and there’s probably something that I, I didn’t mention before on like the why it’s so important factor. Another factor, and this is where the setting up of the listing’s really important is, uh, 12 months ago, in the last 12 months, the voice search was 20% of all searches online. So if you think about that, that’s people going to their phone. Um, you know, Alexa, Siri. Okay. Google and typing or, or saying something like, you know, plumbing near me or, you know, pest control in this particular area. And one of the main things that Google Assistant uses is the Google business profile as well. So on the, like, how do you set up a profile correctly? So the most important thing is that every, uh, segment of it is actually completed. And Google gives you a score when you set it up, it says, you know, 70%, 80%. That is a good index to go. Like you need to be at a hundred. But from a trades business, the most important thing is that you have your primary category set up. You have all of your appropriate subcategories set up, and then you also have your service areas. Now, service areas are an interesting one with, uh, trades pools sometimes. Cause I think people will try to put maybe, and, and I’ll use Sydney as an example. They’ll put all of Sydney as their service area. But let’s pretend as an example, they’re, they’re based on the Northern Beaches. The reality is, are they actually, do they want to or are they actually gonna travel to the Sutherland Shire as an example for a job? People think sometimes that

 Andy
It’s too far, man!

Tony
It’s totally too far, right? Like it in a lot of senses, it wouldn’t even make commercial sense if you got the job to travel there.

Ange
So for listeners, that’s like a two hour drive, Hey?

 Andy
Yeah. And traffic, whoops. And Cronulla. Like Cronulla rubbish compared to Northern Beaches.

Ange
You get some bad emails from that.

Tony
I’m not from either of those two places. Oh yeah, I won’t.

Ange
Uh, this is one side of the bridge to the other five.

 Andy
Yeah, exactly.

Tony
So I think when they’re, when you’re setting up your service area, if we think about that, like Google is number one factor is relevance, right? So when people set up service areas, in a lot of cases, smaller is actually better, right? Um, so what I’d say to people is, I’d say, obviously, and let’s pretend if you were based in Mona Vale as an example, I’d say instead of trying to set up 50 different or a hundred different sub in there, just actually think about like, what is your core service area, and then set up that as your Google service area. Because the reality is even if you set up your profile that says, All of Sydney, including Cronulla, a physical person, so imagine I’m the end customer. Yeah. If I search for a plumber near me. And I’m in Cronulla. The likelihood of Google actually showing a business in Northern Beaches. Think about how many plumbers would be between you and the Northern Beaches. There would be thousands of, so they’re never gonna show you anyway.

 Andy
So plus the customer. Plus the customer. If they see that you’re on the northern beaches, like I don’t want someone from out there, I want someone local.

Ange
Yeah. So basically pin your business from where you are located, where your office is and build a list of all the suburbs that are say 10, 20 kilometers from that pin around you in a circle.

Tony
Yeah, exactly. And even 20Ks can be quite big or get tight. Totally Get tight, like, you know, and we would normally say, but like, you know, sometimes like two to 10Ks and that would depend, like if you were based in, I don’t know, maybe orange as an example, right in the country. Well, the service area will need to be, you know, a lot larger based on the kilometer piece. But if you are in like, you know, inner city as an example, I go like five kilometers. There’s a lot of people within a five kilometer radius of you.

 Andy
Yeah, for sure. Just a quick question with that, would you be more likely to pick. You know, 10 or 20 of your top suburbs, say if you’re in Mona Vale, 10 or 20 of the top suburbs, just around Mona Vale as close as you can? Or would you be more likely to say, let’s just pick our top 10 or our top five, but pick the bigger hubs?

Ange
Where there’s a bigger, bigger population?

 Andy
Yeah. Cause sometimes, you know, you’ve got like Mona Vale is a quite a big known suburb and if you are in Newport, you go, Mona Vale is cool. And if you are somewhere else, I’ll still use Mona Vale. But you know, if you bring, keep it too small and you do Mona Vale, Narrabeen, Eleanor, Warriewood, it’s a bit too small. What’s your thoughts on that?

Tony
Yeah, I would definitely try to choose some of the biggest service areas. But the other component to consider is this, right? Is uh, when people actually search for a service, there’s, there’s, there’s three types of searches, right? So there’s, I type in the physical suburb that I’m looking for as one. Uh, the other one is just when people type in near me, right? So over the last three years, there’s been like a 900% increase in near me searches. And then the other one, and this is probably, uh, it is a little bit different, maybe state to state even as an example, but in Sydney, right, you’re gonna have people type in, uh, plumbing, northern beaches or eastern suburbs, if you will. Um, so I think depending on your location as well, Google is smart enough to know, hey, if someone’s looking at Northern Beaches, uh, it is included in that Northern Beaches area as well. So, um, yes, I would choose some of the service areas. All my main advice is just don’t go crazy. We sometimes pick, see people’s listings with, you know, every sub event again.

Ange
Yeah, it’s probably a good idea to think about the population density of a suburb that is perhaps, you know, somewhat close to you and include them in your list so that you actually go there.

 Andy
But I was just thinking as well, like you talk about Warriewood for instance, now most of our listeners, I mean Warriewood on the Northern Beaches is where our office is actually, but most people don’t hear the word Warriewood as a suburb very often.

Ange
No.

 Andy
Where they’re definitely here is Mona Vale.

Ange
Well, we’re on. So then a lot of you we’re on the weather chart mats at nighttime on the news.

 Andy
Yeah. But a lot of people, but a lot of tradies themselves might put it in Mona Vale. They may not be put in Warriewood. So if a customer actually types in plumber Warriewood, there’s probably more chances of you coming up. So you gotta sort of weigh it all up. That’s all, yeah.

Ange
Yeah. Understood. Oh, lots of detail, Tony. So, um, have you got anything more to add to that?

Tony
I think like, yeah, the primary category, subcategory service areas, and then just the other one is like, it’s more basic stuff, but it’s like, is there images in every subsection of your profile as well? It’s like one of the things that people just miss on completing it to a hundred, uh, percent is, you know, Google says there’s, you know, photos about team photos about your work. Like there’s, I think there’s, you know, seven subcategories if you will. So it’s just making sure there’s photos that are populated in all of those. Um, and then also when you write the description of your business, it should essentially describe what services you offer and what suburbs that you service inside that description as well.

Ange
So it’s quite specific, what Google is hunting for.

Tony
Yeah, it’s just trying to think about, once again, it, when a customer types in, you know, plumber in Warriewood, for today’s sake, if, if you’re just trying to think about this, what Google then does? Does Google scan the internet? They scan Google listings, they scan online directories. They scan people’s websites, and they scan social media. And what they’re looking for is, which businesses are telling us that they’re at Plumber Warriewood. So one business tells you one time and another business tells Google 40 times. Well, the likelihood of Google showing the business that’s 40 times is just naturally higher. Like, although it’s very complex, if you just think in a simple, simplistic nature, like that’s all you need to do.

Ange
Valid. So that being said, how can Cube Online influence a business listing on Google versus a trade business owner who perhaps attempts to do it themselves?

Tony
Yeah. We, and we tell people this, there’s actually lots of things you can do yourself. So I would say that there’s no, like, we don’t have a magic wand as an example, right? So the work that we do is well documented. So we say, these are the things that we go through. So if, if a client goes. I’m looking for you guys to manage my listing. So, uh, first thing is we actually do an order and optimization of the profile, which is a totally manual process. One of our team goes through with the client, normally takes 30 minutes to an hour and we go through the profile from start to finish. Are all the service areas Correct? Other products and services are described properly. Is the profile completed? And the good news is once you’ve done that piece to the Google profile, once it’s properly audited and optimized outside of regular uploading content, there’s nothing else that you need to do. So if there’s an example, someone’s trying to sell you on a concept that they’re optimizing your profile every month on Google, that’s simply not the case because you just need to get it set up really well, uh, to start with. And then the second thing on a profile, right? And this is how we go next is it’s all about reviews from there onwards after that initial optimization. So a good example we talked about is that if you think about auditing a profile and setting up all of your listings, um, it’s essentially like bringing your business to the party, if you will. But it doesn’t mean that you’re actually gonna get seen by anyone. So what we then need to do is the work that you do from a listing standpoint, you then need to compliment that with reviews and compliment that with the content piece. So how we would then help is we would set up an automated process for them to generate their reviews. And if the client can post their own content on their profile, fantastic. If not, we have an in-house content that can create that for them and, and post regularly to their profile.

 Andy
Yeah, that’s awesome. And, and there’s no doubt, you know, I’ve heard of people having a bit of a crack themselves and then they’re like, oh, I don’t get any work from it. Well, you know, I mean, this is why, you know, you can grab Billy bum crack down the road as a tradie to fix it. Or you can pay someone that knows what they’re doing. Right? And it’s the same sort of scenario. Sometimes you pay for that success and, and that’s why people use you and, and I know getting great results. It’s one thing to increase your exposure and have potential customers come to your business, review and land on your website, but it’s obviously a whole nother thing to convert them into picking up the phone and booking in with you. Now, I know AI, yes, the word AI is becoming huge in assisting this process, um, as the technology progresses. But how can trade business owners utilize this technology to convert more customers?

Tony
Yeah, it’s a great question about, um, uh, conversions, right? Because if you think about it, and this is the journey we talked to a customer about, if you get your Google Profiles set up and optimized, you then get all of your other listings outside of Google set up. So your Apple Maps, all of the different providers are about 25 of them. You then generate more reviews and the natural byproduct of that is more people gonna visit that website. So then we go, okay, well what have you got in place to actually convert those. Now this is where that AI, uh, can come in. So predominantly how the AI is used is through, uh, a web chat, uh, based on artificial intelligence. Now, what I would caveat is I’m sure all, uh, listeners have probably been on a website where a little chat bubble has popped up, and you can normally chat to people live. Or, you know, you can use a chatbot. And I, I know for myself, sometimes when I even think about the word chat bot, I go, oh God, no. They’re, they’re so annoying, you know, they don’t answer my questions and they just frustrate me more than, more than help me. And that’s where I think the AI, you know, piece kind of comes into it. So how an AI chatbot actually works is what we ask a business owner to think about is this, is the best person to answer a question to a customer? Is the business owner themselves?

But the reality is that you don’t have the time to answer every question, and nor are you actually on your website when people are gonna be there. So we know that some of the busiest times on a website are between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM at night. And if you just think about the reason why, it totally makes sense, right? People have come home from work. Maybe they’ve, you know, put kids down, done dinner and stuff like that. Then they need to jump online to find that. Or the alternative time is the weekends. They’re the two busiest times on sites. So then you go, well, if that’s the busiest time, you need to have something there in order to actually speak to customers. So how the, how an AI works with that is we would ask a business owner, What are all of the questions that your clients ask you? Think about every question that you’ve ever been asked by a customer, and we ask them to give us the answers to those questions verbatim as if they were to explain it. We then can put that into an artificial intelligence chat bot. Now what the artificial intelligence chatbot does and how it gets faster and, and more intelligent over time is, let’s pretend if you ask the questions, the chatbot, and it says, was that the answer to your question? If it says yes, the chat, the AI recognizes that and goes, brilliant, I gave the right answer. But if you said No, that wasn’t the answer I was looking for, the AI learns the other way and goes, okay, next time someone asks that question, yeah, I’m potentially gonna, you know, provide a different, uh, you know, answer to that if you will. How an allied chatbot can essentially help trades businesses? It can answer any frequently asked, uh, questions. And you can either do that by providing the information yourself, or it can also pick up any publicly available information.

So if they wanna know like, Uh, what, when you open as an example, what services do you provide? What areas do you service? Anything that’s already publicly available, it can find that information on, on the internet for you. Um, and the other thing it can do as well is if you’ve got things like an online booking system. So for example, um, and you know, I know it’s not exactly a trade, but it’s relatively close sometimes in the mechanic space as well. Um, is, and my mechanic as an example, does this, if I jump online, go to their website, say, Hey, what can I help you today? I’m looking at, you know, booking a service as an example. Uh, a little diary pops up, you know, I can book in my service, take my details, send me a text message confirmation the following day after that, you know, do it again when I’m done. So what that then allows is if you think about it for the owner themselves, they’ve not actually had to do anything. Um, and that potential customer is now, uh, converted in. And I think the other, um, you know, piece is that a lot of people jump on websites and leave, um, because once again, there’s nothing that stops them before leaving the site. So I think that’s the other thing to think about this AI chat bot is that it’s really designed to stop a customer jumping onto your website and then just, you know, leaving as an example a few minutes later without having any interaction with you.

 Andy
Because some customers may be thinking to themselves, oh, I wanna book in that plumber, for example. But hang on, it’s after nine o’clock at night. Tradies get up early. I don’t really wanna ring in now. I’ll do it tomorrow. But then tomorrow they wake up and they forget and then all of a sudden they go, who was I even looking for? And then they start looking again and, and you’ve missed out on the job, right? So if you don’t have something like this, it’s definitely costing you.

Tony
Totally. And like then they’re not hugely expensive. Like, you know, let most, as an example, if we think about, you know, adding something like that on for us, like probably like a hundred bucks a month, right? So I go, it doesn’t take many jobs. You know, it’s one or two visitors a month, right? Like, and I think sometimes people are actually quite amazed. Like, we’ll show them their Google statistics and we’ll go like, I don’t know, you’ve had 800 people visit your website, and they’re like 800 people. And I go, what did you have in place to actually chat with those 800 people? And the answer to that is, is nothing in a lot of cases. Um, and it’s, you know, normally, uh, going, oh wow.

Ange
This is where statistics talk for me, data is just so hugely important to, uh, give you awareness, um, which a lot of trade business owners don’t have. So yeah, such a huge eye-opener.

Tony
I’ll give you another example of how that, um, the, the web chat and I guess the AI works as well because most, um, Uh, web chat functionalities, they’ll work on either the chat bot styles I mentioned, or live chat. One of the other differences with the chatbot that we would suggest, you know, through our platform to get installed. Also something called offline chat. So normally what happens is if you go on a website, you, you know, tonight as an example, you leave that website, obviously the conversation dies. Um, the difference with ours, we have something called offline chat. So when you initially engage with the chat bot, it’ll actually ask you for your name and mobile phone number. So let’s pretend that you were on the site at nighttime. You had a question. Uh, obviously there’s none that answers cause maybe nine o’clock at night. What the tradesperson can then do is through the platform or through the app, is actually text the person back through the platform and say, Hey, ensure you’re on the website last night, asking about A, B, and C, is there something that I can help you with? Um, and then even if you are at work the following day, maybe you’re not on your computer, you could actually still book in that job via text message as well. So it’s just going like that, the actual booking of a customer or the conversion of a customer, doesn’t just stop when they’re on your website. Like it should, there should be a continuance plan, if you will, after that to go like, what am I actually doing to convert people into jobs?

 Andy
Yeah. And if you’re not doing this, you’re definitely missing out, mate. Great information.

Ange
Yeah. Um, one thing that we talk about with our Lifestyle Tradie members is this. Communication piece and these ongoing touchpoints with their customers. And right now we’re talking about potential customers. Like you haven’t even sold them yet, right? They haven’t even said yes to a job. And one thing we actually go into a lot of detail is, is the flow of a job. And as we said before, you know, you do what you can from a marketing perspective to attract the lead. Um, ideally they make contact with you somehow. You are, you attempt to get them on the phone or just at least make a booking for them to say yes to arrive on site. But you still haven’t secured a job until that customer, for us, especially in maintenance with plumbing, they still haven’t said yes to us doing a job and we’re even on site, right? So there are lots of bits and pieces and lots of conversion things that we can talk about to make this super smooth with regards to communication of a customer. But my specific question to you, Tony, is what are the ways that Cube Online perhaps can help trade businesses improve this customer communication through the flow of a job?

Tony
We talk to people a lot about, uh, customer communication because I think there’s, actually, there’s, there’s probably three parts to customer communication, right? Is communicating initially to get the job? That’s step one, obviously. Um, step two, uh, is then a really good experience for the customer, does two things, uh, it’ll increase the chance in repeat business. And then it also increases the chance of a referral. And good communication can be a catalyst for those two things, right? Like if I have, if I’ve had bad communication experience with you, I go, do I want to engage with you again in the future or would I refer you to a friend or family member? Right? So I think that’s when I speak about communication, to think about it on, on both sides of the fence, if you will. So the ways in which we help people do that is, is two. So firstly we provide people with what we call a unified inbox. And what a unified inbox does is it brings all of your messages, uh, from Facebook, Google messages, uh, Instagram messages. Uh, also if someone fills in your Contact Us form on your website, brings it into the inbox. Um, and then we also have a really great feature, um, of this communication piece called a virtual receptionist. And this is a really good piece I think in, in the trade space and in particular sometimes for like the smaller trades businesses where the owner is, uh, actively on the tools as an example and, and might miss calls throughout the course of the day.

So, We know if there is a customer today, and let’s pretend maintenance and plumbing’s a good example, right? If I want someone to fix my plumbing as an example, traditionally I want that solved pretty quickly. Yes. So I’ll go, I’ll jump online, I’ll search for a plumber. I’ll read the reviews. I’ll call the person that I see on Google. Now, if you don’t answer the phone, the reality is they’re just gonna call the next plumber on the list. That’s, that’s the chain. That’s the chain. So what our virtual receptionist does is we try to break that. So if there’s an example, a plumber as an example, misses the phone call. What our system does is the system automatically directs that to a virtual receptionist. The virtual receptionist then takes the message, It then forwards that to the, the actual owner of the business via text message, via transcribe. But then what it does, it actually texts the customer and says, Hey, we are really sorry, missed your call. We’re currently on a job. Is there something that we can help you with? And then, because the customer now feels like they’re being engaged with, instead of them calling the next plumber on the list, they actually now start to have a conversation by text. And then if the plumber, as an example, is on the job, but they see this text come through that says, Hey, I’m looking to get someone out today as an example to fix it. They go, oh great, that is an actual lead. I can just engage with that person quickly via text and probably book it in via text message. So the unified inbox piece is one, which is all about how you never miss a phone call. And also how do you never miss a message because if you’re getting messages on multiple platforms, it’s, it’s easy to do so, and a customer might reach out to you on, I don’t know, let’s say Instagram to start or, or Facebook, but then maybe the next chain of communication you have is via text message. So we store that under one, uh, central, uh, place. And then the second part of, uh, communication, and there was a really great report from a, a business called Twilio, and they audited, I think like a hundred thousand, uh, people to find out what their preferred method of communication with businesses, um, and 80% people said SMS. And they then said, and what percentage of businesses do you deal with that actually offer that as an everyday communication? And it was under 10%.

Ange
Interesting.

Tony
Under 10% of people offer it, but 80% of people want it. So we give our businesses and trades clients an opportunity to engage with their customers using two SMS. So most like SMS. If you think about most job management systems, they’ll have SMS for reminders. But what happens when a customer actually responds to the text? It doesn’t, it’s like a no reply. Yeah. So with our system, you can text message people one way, receive it back, and engage with them, uh, that way. So I think, um, just like people have an email address and a phone number on their website, We talk about this concept of just making your business textable, so having a number of people can text you on. So I think that’s the other, you know, final piece to make that, you know, communication really great.

Ange
Yeah. So what I love specifically about this is, these consistent touchpoints that we talk about. One of the things we educate our members about is what we call the trust escalator. Before a customer has even said yes to this job, like this conversation is, a lot about how we stay connected to a prospect, right throughout this flow of a job, and it’s really important, these little minor touchpoints that are quite personalized using the technology that’s important to them. We all know these guys have a mobile device attached to their hip, regardless of the market segment they’re in, whether they’re residential strata builders, it makes no difference. Everyone has a phone attached to their hip. This is really important because this stuff builds trust. It’s subconscious. Often it’s just these moments in time they go, oh my God, this business cares about me. Oh my God, they actually got back to me, which is actually what they do not expect from a trade business. So I love these little things, although they seem so mediocre and perhaps our listeners are going, oh my God, that that is so not important. This is the stuff that is so important. This is the 1%. So I love this conversation. Very important to us.

 Andy
Yeah, it is. It is. And mate, we also play a little bit of a game on this podcast as well. I’m gonna give you three rapid fire questions you normally get about, you know, 10 to 20 seconds or so to answer them. Are you ready buddy?

Tony
I’m ready to go.

 Andy
So what is your favorite business related or motivational book and why?

Tony
Yeah. Uh, I actually read, I’ve read a lot of them, so, uh, I think probably my favorite, and it’s also one of my more recent ones was a book called, uh, Good to Great by Jim Collins. And yeah, we actually ran a conference on our business around that recently, just about like what great companies do differently, if you will. Um, and I, I really liked cuz it actually gave some good tangible things that we could implement as a business. Like it wasn’t just, um, you know, motivational, if you will. Like, there were actually some really great, um, you know, tangible pieces to think about. The thing that stood out to me about it the most is like, be the best in the world. Even if it’s one component as an example of your business. It’s just like, what are you gonna be the best at? Um, instead of trying to do, you know, 50 things on average, just do you know one thing exceptionally well and, you know, I think that’s, I, I, you know, really resonated with that.

 Andy
Yeah, that’s absolutely awesome. And what is the best bit of advice? It can be business related or not, but have you ever, like I’m saying, ever received?

Tony
Yeah, it was actually, uh, relatively early in my, um, uh, career and it was when I was setting up the business and someone said to me like, Hey, I’ve got a bit of advice for you. It was actually kind of what you mentioned before, like, who do you get to do the job? And, you know, the, the, the quote was that, you know, if you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, you know, waiting to hire an amateur, um,

 Andy
yeah, a hundred percent. I think all tradies are like that, definitely.

Tony
And I think at the time I was talking about like, you know, if you were gonna get a lawyer or someone like that, you know, something that’s really important to your business. Like, never ever, ever go for the cheapest option. Go for the best option. And I’ve, I’ve always tried to keep that in mind whenever I, I’ve looked at service providers for myself is, don’t look at price, look at value.

 Andy
Yeah. And I know some tradies out there and some of them work with us to charge it just as much as lawyers and some of it more. And we actually deserve it because we’re out there working our butt off, you know, digging holes in ruse on the floor, you know, when I was sitting in a fancy air conditioned office, you know, us tradies out there need to know how to charge and get what it’s worth. The third one is, If you had to sing at a karaoke bar, what song would you pick?

Tony
Well, well, funnily enough, in my, uh, very much younger years, I actually used to be a contiki tour guide.

 Andy
Hey, there you go.

Ange
That’s inside.

 Andy
Wow. Is it inside, isn’t it?

Ange
You’ve done some karaoke in your day, I’d say.

Tony
I did this. I did this every, uh, seven days for two years. So, uh, the Queen Bohemian Rhapsody was my, uh, my shot.

 Andy
Classic.

Ange
Can you give us a, you should surely know it off my heart.

Tony
Oh, I’m, I’m retired now actually.

 Andy
Yeah. Good answer.

Ange
So Tony, that’s absolutely awesome. Thanks so much for helping our trade business owners with your, uh, knowledge. I know every single one of them has opened their eyes through the knowledge that you’ve shared today.

 Andy
Yeah, thanks mate. It’s absolutely awesome. You know, we, we love your karaoke pick. Maybe not my choice, but that’s just saying, you know, mine’s more of a ACDC sort of thing to rock to. But mate, great having you online. I know that a lot of people, um, listening have learned a lot and they can go and give it a crack themselves or they can come to you and get the professionals to do it. But I just wanna say our big thank you, mate.

Tony
No, thanks. Thanks so much for having us and uh, yeah, hopefully there was some good value there for people.

 Andy
Definitely. There definitely was.

Ange
Thanks Tony. Well guys, I hope you gained a lot from today’s episode with Tony. I know it’s a great deal of technical talk, but stuff like Google business profiles, Google ads, reviews, even SEO really are the way of the future in marketing. So you’ve kind of gotta keep up with the times if you want leads to keep rolling in.

 Andy
Yep, that’s right. But offline marketing like magnets and flyers, they do still have their place. But it’s important to include online marketing if you really want true exposure these days.

Ange
Yeah, I totally agree. Actually, I reckon we should do an episode on that.

 Andy
On what? Like magnets and flyers. That’d be exciting.

Ange
Yeah. Well, in all honesty though, offline marketing actually has its place and people tend to forget about it. They’ve literally leaned too far into online. Right? Anyway, how about we have a think about it. Stay tuned, guys. Until then, have a great week.

 Andy
Sounds good. Catch you all next week.