Hi all,
After the switch to the private forum quotes system it seemed to cause a lot of confusion and more problems than anything else. Many people had problems logging in and forgetting passwords etc and it just didn’t seem to work. So for now at least I won’t be using the private forum for posting jobs. You can just reply to the blog post with a comment as before. The general forums will remain open and in use for discussion of all things bagpipe related.
Proposed Solutions:
* Keep the existing system of posting quotes as comments
* Introduce a new membership system
The new membership system would consist of an annual fee to have your contact information listed on your profile. So what would happen is I would make a blog post as usual and then you would leave a comment but exclude the quote e.g. I could do this job and would perform the following duties x,y,z. See my profile and get in touch if you’d like to book.
Expected Cost of Membership:
£50 – Phone Number
£75 – Home & Mobile Numbers
£50 – Website Listed
£100 – Home/Mobile Numbers & Website Listed
This would be an annual fee and would allow you to talk to the client directly over the phone without revealing your price to anyone else.
This is only a proposed solution at the moment so all comments are welcome and encouraged as I am trying to make this site as easy to use and as efficient as possible.
How does this help me?
Less emails
- I typically get around 50 – 100 emails per day for this site alone which is very time consuming as you can imagine and stops me working on promoting and improving the site to get you guys more jobs.
More efficient
- As the site grows it will naturally attract more clients and it takes time between when a client emails me to when I contact pipers and they contact me back. If all the communication was done on the blog post this would make everyone aware what was happening and things would happen much faster resulting in more jobs.
If there end up being regions where no pipers have signed up to this new proposed membership system then the old system of quotes would be used.
What do you think of this idea? Can you think of a better idea? Any comments?
#1 by Admin on January 6, 2010 - 3:02 pm
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Just to add if anyone does have comments they’d like to keep private then please reply to the email and I’ll discuss it with you there.
#2 by Neil Bell on January 6, 2010 - 6:16 pm
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Yes I agree full heartedly that cost for membership is right to do and you deserve some input for your efforts, however, on a personal note, I have yet to see any response for the jobs I have quoted for so I’d have to decide whether I felt this was worth continuing with. But, the way forward needs to be some form of closed bid system as we out bid one another, it must look unprofessional to the outsider. Good luck with the decision Jamie.
#3 by Admin on January 6, 2010 - 6:25 pm
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Thanks for appreciating the work that goes into it. It’s a hell of a lot of work answering and keeping track of so many emails each day for one person.
This site has the potential to grow but responding to emails etc and tasks like these prohibit me from spending time making the site better.
I’ve had 3 other people contact me via email backing the membership idea so far which is promising. I’ll probably let it run until Sunday and then make a decision then but so far it looks like the way it could be going.
This would provide a closed bid system and much more converting jobs as clients get straight through to pipers effectively.
I agree it does look unprofessional and needs fixing. A membership system would look more professional.
Any other comments please get them in as soon as possible!
#4 by Admin on January 6, 2010 - 6:26 pm
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As for responses for jobs this comes back to the email problem and keeping track of everything.
If you email me links I’ll update them for you now. The majority of the time though it is because I am waiting on a reply from the client.
With the new membership system this wouldn’t happen because clients would ring you directly.
#5 by Admin on January 6, 2010 - 9:01 pm
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I’ve had around 10 emails now all opting towards the membership system which I’m glad to see that everyone backs the idea so far.
Any more comments? Send them by email if you prefer even if its just a ‘I think the membership option is a better idea’ type of email it all helps me make a more informed decision.
#6 by crosscountrypiper on January 6, 2010 - 9:25 pm
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I personally prefer the way things are now. I think the quote system can be solved by people replying your emails about the job post with a quote as I have been doing on some occasions. This is also how Piper For Hire work. I think you’d also make more money this way. My concerns are what if the site goes down (or you aren’t around to administrate it) as has been the case in the last 12 months.
You’ve been doing a brilliant job so far and I’ll support whatever decision you make.
#7 by Admin on January 6, 2010 - 9:37 pm
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Replying to job posts via email from each piper would make things ten times worse for me and the site!
The problem is I just get too many emails on a daily basis and this prohibits jobs from converting as often as they could.
It’s true I would make more money this way but I’d be more satisfied if more pipers got jobs, there was an annual fee and communication was done directly between pipers and clients.
I’m actually in the process at the moment of moving to some expensive hosting so the site should be running at lighting speed in the next week or so.
If I can just reply to a clients email with follow this blog post then that cuts out all the follow-up enquiries from the client and means even if I go on extended vacation I can manage the site with ease.
Thanks alot Ed I appreciate the kind words!
#8 by Admin on January 6, 2010 - 9:40 pm
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Just out of curiosity why wouldn’t you want the client to ring you directly or visit your website and email you?
What makes the existing system better?
#9 by Paul Boness on January 7, 2010 - 10:46 am
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I am quite happy with the systems as it is. However, I would have no objection to a subscription system, provided that the subscription was reasonable. I say this becuase I only received one booking from the site throughout the whole of 2009. If I were to pay a subscription, I would be looking for a better return.
I would have no problem with a closed bid system.
#10 by Admin on January 7, 2010 - 1:00 pm
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A fair comment and one I agree with. The limiting factor with getting more jobs closed I feel is the ‘slow’ turn-around between a job coming in and confirming a piper.
I feel under the new system more jobs would be converted and all pipers would get more work as it is more direct.
The time I currently spend answering emails will be shifted to improving the site to get you more jobs.
I will also add a regional directory for those pipers signing up to the newly proposed subscription method. If you notice the ‘List of Pipers’ link on the menu at the top. This will be turned into a list with your profile on and either your website or phone number or both whichever you have decided to go with.
There will also be an option for an email address aswell which I will add. This is likely to be £50/year and be included in the £100 deal.
I’ve had 22 pipers in favour of the subscription system and 3 pipers in favour of the current system so it is looking like the subscription system may go ahead but please do keep your comments coming in via this blog post or email.
I’ve had lots of positive feedback on this which is great and much appreciated!
#11 by crosscountrypiper on January 7, 2010 - 8:33 pm
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Perhaps starting the new system with a one month free trial would be a good start. That way we can all see whether or not it could work and if we get work out of it we send you a cut.
I certainly have no concern about a direct link to my website or phone number, that would be great. My concern is just on the maintenance of the site and the sites uptime after the problems you’ve had. If each job that comes in has to be manually posted by yourself and each reply by a piper is moderated before it is posted then surely that would require you to be working on the site every day of the year which is a lot of demand for one person.
#12 by Admin on January 7, 2010 - 11:03 pm
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It’s too much work for a one month free trial in all honesty.
As far as the sites uptime you should notice a significant speed boost to the site as of last night? And for uptime, over the next week the site will be moved to a new host with 100% uptime. It’s expensive but you pay for what you get.
Yes and no. Each job that comes in to the site would have to be manually posted yes. The moderation bit would change whereby registered membership pipers would get comments automatically approved to reduce the delay. The other thing is when clients browse the site they may simply ring you, email you or visit your website and contact you directly rather than emailing me.
Another thing I will do is setup a forum thread for each membership piper and work with you individually to help you get more jobs from the site.
I’d say the majority of my time is spent replying to clients emails and this would be eradicated under the new system.
I don’t want to appear like I’m trying to ‘sell’ it to you but I do genuinely think it would be a much better solution all round and one that is scable for the future.