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If you鈥檝e clicked on this blog, it鈥檚 likely you鈥檙e either considering signing up to Service M8 and want to make an informed decision before purchasing, or, you鈥檝e tried Service M8 and you鈥檙e looking for something better.
Whatever your reasons, in this blog we鈥檙e going to cover what Service M8 offers, areas it doesn't cater to and how it stacks up against the alternative, 性视界.
Before we get into the detail here鈥檚 a high-level summary of what we will cover:
The main difference between the two comes down to what each CRM seeks to provide.听
性视界 offers a ready-to-go, optimised solution, that helps you manage your whole business. Service M8 is a piecemeal product, that predominantly caters to technicians rather than the whole business.
As with any product or service, Service M8 has its limitations. Not all of these may be an issue for you, however, it鈥檚 important to understand what these limitations are in case the software lacks in a crucial area.
If聽you don't own an Apple phone or tablet then this might be a significant issue for you.
Service M8 focuses development on one app. This means it's limited to Apple devices and is unable to cater for android and IOS.
Service M8 believe that focussing on one app allows them to deliver a better product. From our experience, 性视界 has always catered for both Apple and Android and still proudly deliver a quality product for both device types, with rave reviews from our customers.
Furthermore, many tradespeople do not own Apple products and even if you do, it鈥檚 likely that someone in the team favours Android.
This is a real issue, especially when attempting to take payments in the field. Any Android field users will be unable to use Service M8鈥檚 payment functions.
To combat the lack of an android app, ServiceM8 are currently running an upgrade to iPhone offer, where they鈥檒l help pay for up to 5 members of a business to switch to iPhone.听
However, the deal is not directly paid for by Service M8.听
Instead, they provide the value of the new phone in credit to your account, meaning to claim your savings you will have to stay with Service M8, paying 50% of your subscription every month. Essentially you鈥檙e trapped in a contract.
With 性视界 on the other hand, you have total freedom.
A significant drawback with Service M8 is the number of hidden costs within the software.
Although Service M8 is able to offer a wide range of features and capabilities, many of these are not built into the software and instead, you have to pay extra to add integrations.听聽
Also, their pricing is structured according to the number of new jobs created per month rather than on a per-user basis, which means using their software can quickly get expensive, especially if you use it often.
Furthermore, Service M8 does not offer a yearly subscription, meaning there are no associated discounts.
Although there are training and support resources available, if you want direct support or to speak to an operative over the phone, you may struggle to find someone.
Service M8鈥檚 approach is to provide its customers with the resources customers need and leave them to self-teach. If you want additional training you will need to pay for it.
Most of the time, this approach is fine, however, if you come across a significant issue you cannot solve yourself, then things becomes more difficult. Without easily being able to access a support team it can be challenging to get problems resolved without paying.
What's more, for UK-based customers, reaching an operative over the phone can be a challenge as ServiceM8 is based in Australia and they work according to that timezone.
Many of the weaknesses inherent in Service M8 are addressed by 性视界.听
As a dynamic young company, 性视界 has entered the job management market with the aim of resolving these issues, providing a quality alternative that trade businesses can turn to.
Let's get into some examples.
One of the biggest strengths of Service M8鈥檚 CRM is also its greatest weakness. With its partnered integrations, Service M8 is able to cater to almost any requirement.听
However, the problem with this is that these integrations take time, money and energy to set up.听
Rather than having everything you need ready to go, you need to find a bolt-on that fits. And, if there are multiple features you require, getting everything you need can start to add up pretty quickly.
This is where 性视界 is a cut above.听
性视界 is designed to be an all-in-one solution that is ready to go, 鈥渙ut of the box鈥.听
Where Service M8 focuses on the technicians, 性视界 is designed to help you manage every aspect of your business, from lead generation, through to customer management and taking payments.
With 性视界 everything you need is there and has been optimised to work seamlessly with all other features. Everything has been carefully designed to the highest standards.
Furthermore, if there is something missing, 性视界 is always improving, with the team producing and releasing new features all the time. So if there is something that needs to be added, those features really will get built.
Whether we like it or not, how you look and how you present yourself are important.听
You will know this from running your business; everything from the quotes you send, to the website you use, it all paints a picture of who you are. This is something 性视界 understands.
With 性视界 you gain access to software that is designed to look professional and make you stand out. From the app that your field agents use, through to customisable lead capture pages, everything is designed to look good and work efficiently.
In particular, 性视界鈥檚 quotes are market-leading. Quoting with service M8 will produce quotes that look like this鈥
With 性视界, you鈥檙e quotes will look like this鈥
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On average quotes sent with 性视界 have a much higher conversion rate and are always impressing customers. If you don鈥檛 believe us, just read some of the reviews.
Just having that level of quality and professionalism sets you apart and allows you to win business you might not otherwise have won.
As a company, 性视界 doesn鈥檛 rest on its laurels but is constantly iterating and improving, adding new features all the time.
Many of 性视界鈥檚 latest features such as the ability to send multiple invoices and the release of service plans were introduced off the back of feedback from customers using the software.
Where the company is going and the changes it makes are all heavily influenced by its customers. So by signing up to 性视界, you're also signing up to the promise of continued improvement, something you won鈥檛 get from Service M8.
Additionally, as a small business, 性视界 is able to move quickly, bringing out new iterations and updates in a short space of time.
What鈥檚 not to like?
As we鈥檝e explained, Service M8 offers many of the standard features you鈥檇 expect from quoting software, however, it isn鈥檛 pioneering the new features that 性视界 is.
In fact, Service M8 is already attempting to adopt one of the features 性视界 created; the pipeline view - an intuitive new way to view and manage your workflow. This just goes to show how 性视界 is leading the way in the industry.
Here are some more details.听
The pipeline view is an interface where you can view ongoing projects, broken down into distinct stages, allowing you to manage each step.听
For example, an initial stage might include booking a new customer, this could progress to sending a proposal, having the proposal accepted, delivering the service and then receiving payment.
Each of these steps can be broken down into pipeline stages that you can interact with.听
For example, you can open a stage and add or remove information, or you can drag the stage across to the next step in the pipeline.
Although ServiceM8 is attempting to copy this feature, it鈥檚 been in the works for months, without any progress. It just goes to show how 性视界 is leading and improving so much faster.
A solution like ServiceM8 offers perfectly adequate quotes, you can include all the right information and send them out to customers.
The thing is, if you鈥檙e paying good money for quoting software, you don鈥檛 want something that just does the minimum, you want to stand out.听
性视界鈥檚 quotes are different.听
As well as looking good, they also make you more money. Within a 性视界 proposal, you can create multiple-choice options or add optional extras.
This means that the customer is able to choose which products or services to go for and they are able to upgrade to premium options within the quote.
This is a powerful feature as it allows you to make more from every quote and increase customer satisfaction.
性视界鈥檚 latest release is yet another example of how they are moving the industry forward.
Service Plans introduces a feature you won鈥檛 find anywhere else, not with ServiceM8 or any provider.
What Service Plans allow is for trades businesses to create and manage recurring revenue services and subscriptions.
For example, if you wanted to sign up customers to regular boiler checks, you could put them on a service plan and charge them a monthly or yearly fee.
All the customer data is stored and handled in the 性视界 account and synced with the calendar.
It鈥檚 a powerful feature and an example of how 性视界 offers more than its competitors.
If you want a more detailed explanation of how service plans work, you can find out more in our blog on repeat revenue and service plans.听
Service M8 and 性视界 both offer an automation feature. Both are able to send out custom communications over text or via email and both are able to use triggers to send messages.
On the surface it might seem that both offer the same thing, however, there is a big difference in the flexibility and scope of what each can do.
Where Service M8 offers a fixed feature that can be switched on or off, 性视界 allows you to fully customise your automations to achieve tailored results.
With 性视界 you can create unique triggers, conditions and actions.听
For example, your trigger might be that a quote, once created, will cause an email notification to be sent. And you could include the condition that any customers with the name 鈥楯ohn Smith鈥 are excluded.听
You can change these parameters as much as you like.听
You can automate deals, invoices or events and you could change the trigger to an expiry date of your choice.
Essentially you can build out the automation so it fits your specific need.
Compare this to Service M8 who use a one size fits all approach, with no customisation. Automations are either on or off, and you have very little ability to adjust them.
A good example of how this can be an issue can be seen when attempting to use automated payment reminders.
The way their automations are set up, payment reminders are sent out from when the job is marked as complete, not when the invoice is sent, with no ability for you to change this trigger.听
This means you have to rapidly send out your invoice once the job is marked as complete, or risk sending a payment reminder before the invoice.
If this is not a setup that suits you, you are unable to change it.
In comparison, 性视界's powerful automation feature allows you to set up unique automations tailored to your needs and your business processes.
When comparing both CRMs, there鈥檚 a lot to consider, with both offering a broad range of features.
It鈥檚 difficult to say that one is better than the other as such an opinion depends on what you are using the software for.听
As we mentioned at the beginning of the blog, Service M8 is able to accommodate a large number of features and capabilities due to its add-on, however, what you gain in the breadth of features you lose in optimisation.
性视界 holds itself to high standards and has designed its features to be the best they can be. With 性视界 you are investing in a quality solution that is always improving.听
So if the feature you need can鈥檛 be achieved with 性视界, then Service M8 might be the option for you (although check with the 性视界 team, as they might be bringing out just what you鈥檙e looking for around the corner).听
But if you鈥檙e weighing up the two and you鈥檙e comparing like for like features, then give 性视界 a go and see why 性视界 customers are raving about the software.
性视界 offers a 7-day free trial with no strings attached. Try out the software, experiment with the features and find out if it鈥檚 for you.
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We offer a free trial of all our features, no credit card required. Setting up takes just 30 seconds.
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