The idea was to create an online business which would bring tradespeople into contact with potential customers, who could obtain a number of quotes and make their choice, confident the job would be done promptly and properly. The problem, says Bruce Ahchow, joint founder of Service Central, was a chicken-and-egg one: how to convince tradespeople to sign up and customers to believe it would work. Millions of dollars spent on mass marketing and attractive offers to tradespeople to join did the trick, and Service Central is now highly successful and poised for growth overseas. Setting hurdles of licensing, registration, response times and a code of conduct for tradespeople weeded out the non-performers and helped ensure customer satisfaction. But constant dialogue with both sides is crucial at every stage. Merchant-matching, as it's known, is proving an ideal way of exploiting the internet to develop a sound business model.
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