Landscaping Firm

This high-end landscaping firm uses their website to manage customer projects.  Employees working in the field log into a private area of the website to see what still needs to be done on a project.  Then, as each step is completed, they record the completion in the site.  Customers can log into the site at any time to get an up-to-minute status of their project.  Project Managers get daily reports on the status of all projects, helping them make sure all projects stay on schedule.

“I love it!  It helps my business run so much more efficiently and gives me a leg up on the competition.  Once I was out on the jobsite of a huge project for my biggest client, and I saw that one of the trees planted earlier had died.  You know, it happens.  But all I had to do was pull out my phone and put in what’s called a ‘project exception’.  That triggered an email to the manager back at the office, so she ordered a new tree and scheduled the install.  Later that day the client saw the same tree and called the office to ask that it be replaced.  The receptionist was able to look up the project and tell the client that the replacement was already in progress and could even tell him when the new tree was going to be put in.  The client was just blown away!  He was so impressed that we were on top of the problem before he was even aware of it!”

Therapeutic Massage Clinic

Therapeutic massage, like all other professional services, is by appointment only.  So the primary feature of their website is the scheduling system.  Each therapist enters her/his schedule availability into the system.  Then existing customers can log into the website and book an appointment directly.  New customers can request an appointment, but the booking is not made official until approved by a manager.
“I’m a very small business, and I really can’t afford a full-time receptionist.  Encouraging my customers to book appointments online cuts way back on the phone calls.  And as an added bonus, I can now see all of my therapists’ schedules in one place.  Before we had a separate appointment book for each therapist and it was hard to see who was doing what on any particular day.”