Throughout our journey of helping clients, we’re always on the lookout for new tools that we can use or that would be useful for our clients. We recently came across a tool to help with keeping track of before and after pictures at each job site called CompanyCam.
Working with a variety of home service pros, before/after pictures are valuable in so many ways:
- Show homeowners the transformation – especially on new bathrooms, kitchens, or renovation projects
- Give proof of a completed job, especially if a customer comes back 3 months later saying something wasn’t done
- Use them as a sales tool in showing prospects of your quality and attention to detail
- Attract new customers – before/after pictures do very well on social media, in ads, and showcased on your landing pages
- Use them as a teaching tool for new hires, showing them how a job should be completed
So how does Company Cam stack up? Is it worth your time and money to test out?
What are the Features?
At first downloading and installing the app, we were impressed by how easy it was to set up and the intuitive interface.
Beyond that, it was jam-packed with so many features – here are just a few of our favorites:
- You can take and store an unlimited number of pictures for each job – that’s useful for longer jobs that may run days, weeks, or months. You can also take and share progress pics along with before/after shots.
- Annotations – This one was something we were looking for, but after testing it, can’t imaging not having it. You can easily add in notes and annotations to your pics – imagine showing a homeowner the exact problem you’re seeing and how you’re going to fix it. It’s so much easier to explain when you have an image to back up what you’re saying.
- Organization by job, address, date, and time. I know this one is pretty basic, and a no-brainer. But I always love a good organization system.
- Sync your photos and notes and share them with other team members or stakeholders. This one is pretty big for the growing organization that wants to make sure their jobs are being done correctly, as well as showcasing your work on social media (we would kill to have these pics at our disposal for creating landing pages, ads, and social media content!)
- Share photos with people outside of your business, like insurance companies. For those that do insurance work, or work with banks and mortgage company – this is a ‘holy smokes’ type of moment.
How Will It Help You as a Home Service Pro?
It’s like having an insurance app, a marketing app, a sales tool, and a teaching tool in a single app.
It gives your workers a tool to show their progress throughout the project, or back up your claim to a customer that the hole in the drywall was there when you showed up.
You can send photos to your coworkers and ask for opinions without them needing to drive all the way over to take a look, and even log your thoughts for a multi-day project so you don’t forget where you left off.
How Will it Help with Your Marketing Efforts?
Like we mentioned earlier, before and after photos perform really well on social media. They also do a lot to boost your credibility – show off the difference your work makes for each client!
So…Is it Right for Your Business?
Just like any other tool on your truck, if no one uses it, it’s not worth it.
Luckily, Company Cam offers a fully functioning trial for 50 projects. After that it’s $19/month per user.
Which may seem steep at first glance, but there is so much value there. For about $250/year for each employee, having a system to capture all of their work, show potential clients the quality of your jobs, and give you peace of mind that the quality on your job sites properly reflects your brand.
Not to mention, having all of those pictures in a repository for all of your marketing efforts is gold.
In a world that is growing more competitive, having a tool that can impress your customers can be all the difference. How many of your competitors can give their customers a photo diary of their projects? Show updates, and provide before/after images of each project?
Sometimes it’s the little things that your customers remember the most – we think that Company Cam can be that differentiator.
If you do end up trying out CompanyCam, let us know how it goes and whether you decided to upgrade! You can always reach us at info@southernmostdigital.com.
Find more of our recommended tools in one of our earlier blog posts: 10 Tools Any Business Owner Can Use to Improve Online Presence
