JobNook — a simple business tool for trade contractors (looking for beta feedback)

Hi JobNook91,

Good to read that it helps!

The screenshots really give you an idea of what you get with the product - and looking at them, it's more than expected (the mockup you had before suggested quite a tiny app, for example, which made JobNook look more of a job tracking system rather than something quite robust that can support managing a business).

I noticed there's a Feedback page too, which made me think that's another pain point when you think of contractors and choosing the right one - a pain point for their clients at first, which then becomes one for the contractor too, if they can't prove any of their work. Small contractors mostly rely on word-of-mouth referrals and if there's no way to capture that, they can lose potential clients. Maybe a small portfolio they can send out to potential customers would be good. Plus, the traditional way of collecting feedback, which is perhaps what the current Feedback feature does now.

For the portfolio, having it private and not on IG or FB gives a lot of comfort to their clients too, and most times is peace of mind for the contractor too - they don't have to write descriptions (etc.) and share this publicly. It would be good to have at the top a rating from verified customers (4.5/5 ⭐️) and then an Airbnb-style breakdown of things customers would care about, like cleanliness, noise, honesty, stayed in the budget, etc. (this would be quite a game-changer if adopted). Contractors can potentially link other external rating providers too. They can offer a 0.5-1% discount to those who complete the survey, for example, so some ideas on how to use it effectively would be good too (like a tooltip on the screen - it's one thing to give customers access to features, but then it's more important for them to understand how to use them). And then photos of the actual work. JobNook might be able to draft a portfolio for them from their archive, and it's quite a good way for JobNook to advertise itself and introduce to their clients directly too (it can potentially become a small, trusted directory as well, and also clients would be more comfortable when they get the quote via JobNook later).

I didn't know about the Feedback tool before seeing the screenshots, so it'd be worth maybe listing it in the "Everything You Need To Run Your Business" section of the website perhaps (you can potentially replace the last tile, unless your research suggest that's quite a pain point). That's quite a selling point certainly.

Maybe this is a "do it later" thing, but maybe a Report button for clients would be good too. Also, send reminders to clients too - like, "Today, at 9:30, Smith Electric will arrive for [job description]. Send [instructions] or save to [Calendar]." Or for the contractor to be able to see and export a Full Job Description prior to arriving there (it's usually easier for them (pen and paper), as not everyone can use a mobile device while covered in paint, for example), with the client location, point of contact, agreed time to arrive, checklist, important things to remember, if this is a regular customer (and if they are, maybe a quick history of past jobs), health and safety compliance, etc. And also, a quick way to click on the client's location and open Google Maps, Waze or similar service providers. All these "small" workflows make the difference and keep contractors in the JobNook ecosystem (and this aren't things that you'd hear from users simply using the platform - maybe from some qualitative research with them, but usually users don't know what they need until they see it).

Regarding the Full Job Description thing, that would be quite useful if they have a team too. Also, that raises another question, access levels (e.g., admin, manager, standard) and whether JobNook supports multiple users on the same client account. For example, Smith Electric can have Team 1 and Team 2, each of 3 team members - can all 6 access their JobNook account (each with a different access level and email address) to upload the before/after photos for a job, for example?

Maybe on the Dashboard, have the Jobs more prominent rather than Revenue over the last 30 days. The first thing a contractor would want to know about when they log in is their jobs, which team is where, what the project is about, the client, and then prospective clients and what stage they are at to be able to draft next week's schedule (another thing for later would be JobNook drafting this schedule based on job location, teams distribution and commitments, client relations, etc.).

One other thing, which might have been mentioned before, is there a way now to tell when a client accepts the quote (it would be good if they can sign it too)? It's the kind of thing you'd expect when asked to pay for an online service and it's important to track when and what the client accepts it (even from a legal standpoint in certain jurisdictions)? Also, depending on the project size, they might prefer a contract sometimes too, but this could be added to the backlog for now.

I hope this helps too!