When our son was sixteen, Vickie and I decided to get him a car but we wanted to make sure he didn’t grow up expecting the best of everything. We found a very sound, reliable VW beetle. All the parts were there, there was no body damage, it ran well and everything worked. What made it perfect was the fact that it was ugly, ugly, ugly. It had been painted with a paint brush – at least twice. There was absolutely no way our son would ever think we would always supply him with the best of everything.
I was actually shocked when he fell in love with the bug. The paint job did not slow him down at all. He kept it clean, learned to work on it himself, fancied it up a bit and overall was as proud of it as he could be.
This eventually made me feel a little bit guilty for buying him such an ugly car. He was so proud of the car and took such good care of it, we decided it would not spoil him to pay to have the car painted. He worked part time stocking shelves at the grocery store up the street so he really could not save enough by himself.
I’ve always been a proponent of doing business locally so I did not carry the car to a franchise paint and body shop. Instead, I went to the guy just up the street. Well, today is the day for Terry to get educated! His estimate? Five Thousand Dollars!
Sure, the car had a quarter inch of latex paint on it; but Five Thousand Dollars! That’s the day I learned that different businesses have different ways of telling you they don’t want to deal with you, or don’t want your business.
Some field service companies are that way. The less personal contact they have with you, the better they like it. This can be good and bad depending on the reason and urgency of the contact.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at a company web site I have been going over for a few days. I would like to get some assignments from this company so I feel it is my responsibility to learn about this company and see if I have anything to offer them. I also need to see what info is freely available at their web site.
The company is CRM Global, Inc. If you like, go visit their site at www.crmglobalinc.com and come back to this discussion. Take a look at their home page. I know you have been reading my blog for a while so you know I am wordy, but when I want information, I want just the info – not all the high priced adjectives. What about the home page?
If I saw no more than the home page, I would already like this company. I had to read only two lines to know exactly what they do. I had to read only two lines further to get even more focused on what they do. And with two more lines I’m wanting to contact them to see if I can get some work.
Wow. The home page is great from my perspective. If you will look over all the info you will find there are ten bulleted points. Only the first three are lame. What is prompt, personal, large, small and quality? Open for discussion isn’t it. However, look at the other seven bullets – substantiated claims. Something that can be measured or verified.
OK. Just from the first page I am comfortable with this company so far.
The links to NCRA and NAPBS proved to be goldmines. There is no mention that CRM Global, Inc. is a member of these organizations but I want to believe they are. I would really be impressed then. Just look at the NCRA code of ethics! OK, back to the goldmines.
I allowed myself to get distracted by the links. Actually that is one of the things I look for. I spent a lot of time at the other sites and then followed their links to still more sites. I wound up with a list of nine new companies to contact for work, info on a couple of conferences and a real interest in membership with the organizations. Now back to CRM Global, Inc.
On the “About Us” page I find some history of the company, take notice that they are dealing with licensed Realtors, and also notice the copyright 2003 notice. Three more pluses.
On the “Products and Services” page I find some previous information repeated but it is becoming clear that they perform merchant site inspections, physical inspections, mystery shopping and stuff for equipment leasing companies. I have four more pluses and an idea of the expected turn-around time.
Talk about plain! The resources page is about as simple as it gets. To me, that’s good. I don’t have to wade through all the adjectives, adverbs and the twisting necessary to pat one’s self on the back. Read the info on the two pages, “Physical Inspections” and “The Good, Bad and Ugly” and you will get more info on what CRM Global’s field reps do. Good job! Of course I was completely euphoric over “The Good, Bad and Ugly” page since I also have one in my e-book. OK. Two more attaboys. This is looking real good.
Now, the clincher. Let’s see if I get a Five Thousand Dollar estimate or something concrete. I’ll be dog gone! Look, phone numbers, address, e-mail link. Just about everything a hungry field rep could want.
Yes I did. I called. In fact I called a couple of times and talked with different people. They were all courteous, knowledgeable and helpful. I’m sold! Now if I can only get some assignments from them.
By the way. I left a message for the owner and she called back. We talked for quite a while and we have an appointment for a phone interview this coming Wednesday. I will post it at TheRepReport.
I hope you enjoyed this little journey. It’s one of the methods I use to continue to build our business relationships and our business. The next step is to share it with someone.
I had to go out to do an insurance loss inspection today so I did a few other inspections in the area. (1•25)+(7•6.50)
I’ll be back Tuesday.
CRM Global was one of the first companies that we did work for – I would prefer more work from them but as usual they can only give you work in your area if they have work in your area (maybe not so much work in our area?). Anyway, we’ve done half a dozen jobs for them, about half were merchant interview/inspections, one was really odd, go to an occupied building (with an appointment) and take pictures of the floors and ceilings (insurance I think) – that one paid nicely. They tend to be a little slow on the pay outs, but they do pay. I left a review on RepReport – overall, a good company to work for.