Not exactly "loaves & Fishes", but a Business Data Parable none the less

In the Amazon and Google Earth world that we live in today, GATHERING DATA better be a part of your business, it’s certainly a part of theirs!!

Not so many years ago, the Service Business for your local Chevy dealer worked like this. You brought your car into a greasy, dimly lit cavern and some mechanic with a cigarette hanging from their lip opened the hood & looked around when he got time.  They would soon enough pronounce from pure experience and guesswork, what they THOUGHT might be wrong with your car. They would then tell you what it might cost to fix it and when they MIGHT get around to it.

Today your “SERVICE EXPERIENCE” if far different, you are greeted by an attractive young service writer, in an air-conditioned temple of automotive technology.  She zaps your vehicle ID bar code on the door sill or maybe your car scheduled your visit through ONSTAR. The Service Manager tells you where you live and when the car was last seen, then ask, “what’s going on?” Stating that she will get you a detailed computer generated analysis for just $79! You tell her, “sure go ahead” then retire to an air-conditioned, lounge with free WIFI and a big screen TV that magically plays interesting programming that only seem to show Chevrolet commercials! Technicians in white lab coats service vehicles in a clean room with computers and the occasional whir of a power tool. Nary a stogie in sight! 

20 years ago The CHEVY dealer hated getting here, resisted the technology & just wanted to sell cars!  Today he loves the fact that he now gets paid for what used to be a cost center for his company. There will be a follow up call & a survey, that is More Data! Chevy is SMART, The dealer is more profitable!

Soon you hear the service writer call for you and she shows you a computer-generated printout with charts, graphs, analysis and science, explaining in technical detail what needs repaired, how long it will take, whether the parts are available  and exactly what it will cost. By the way, she keeps your Personal and some of the Auto DATA that you just paid her to collect! She is SMART!

Maybe you buy what they tell you or maybe it can wait, but you can bet that you will get emails, letters and offers galore in the coming months from that Chevy dealer for everything from the brakes you needed, to an oil change and by the way, Chevy does tires too! Chevy is SMART!

The Chevy “SERVICE EXPERIENCE “business now makes more money in most dealerships than selling new cars. The Service Manager is a SMART HERO!

In case you didn’t get the many messages in that parable, Business isn’t done the way it used to be.  Data is a profit opportunity and doing costly things should get you paid.

Architects are smart folks in a business that is changing in many harsh ways. Much less art and much more technology, but it used to be that the only way to get a new blueprint on an old building was to call the architect and pay a steep price to have a new one drawn.

Buildings are seldom built to the original blueprint and over time things get moved and modified so even the yellowed and torn blueprint that you found in that cabinet might well be wrong. Developers, managers, realtors, lenders and even code and safety folks may want, need or require and benefit from having an as-built current blueprint they can store in a Digital form instead of sheaves of paper..  Whoosh, fairy dust flies and the sound of harps and magic plays and there is your best new data too & money making tool, TheMeasurePro!

I have an ax to grind for sure, because I have spent a couple of years trying to see over the horizon and drag some bright people into the next generation with me!  Data and Services are businesses that we need to get paid for and pay attention to!

There is even a significant environmental angle to this. Making multiple trips to the same home or building wastes energy and waiting wastes time. Let’s go on-site, gather it ALL, put the DATA in a great agnostic format that any program can read and save trip after trip across the county to draw a floorplan, inspect a wall or get the HVAC serial number so we can buy the correct parts. One TMP visit and anyone can access the info you need to paint, floor, fix or estimate. Saving the planet one DATA GATHER at a time.

Amazon, Google and a thousand other bright, young companies you never heard of are making fortunes mining DATA for the information about what you need and buy.

In our little corner of the world we decided that there are a lot of buildings and homes and building managers, contractors, homeowners, lenders that need an AS-BUILT BLUEPRINT when none currently exists OR there have been significant changes that make the old blueprint obsolete.

WE created a software system, procedures and training, with hand held equipment, that goes easily to the jobsite with a trained operator and does so for a few pennies a square foot! TheMeasurePro software produces a great, fast, and accurate site audit and blueprint for 1/10th of what most expect to pay. We do it in an agnostic, universally readable format that anyone can read without specialty software.

Point Cloud is very accurate but very expensive and slow.  Phone Apps are single room and terribly wonky and very inaccurate.  Customers expect professional treatment, not DIY phone aps and you can’t really account for the orientation of rooms, halls, stairs and multiple stories. Professional measuring is still the gold standard and DATA GATHERING takes a system and storage plan. There will always be DIY people and the occasional guy gifted with a tape measure and T-Square.  For the rest of us…step away from the phone and no one gets hurt by bad measurements!

We have created and use daily, an innovative laser-based software that allows you to create 3D as-built blueprints of any building. We also created a DATA gathering function that allows you to create and tie a construction materials list and photo gallery at the same time. You will know every door, window, wall, opening, HVAC and system in the building.  Residential or Commercial and we even do a cursory SafetyChek?.       

The TMP system creates and can send an email with a PDF, CAD compatible dxf or dwg file before you even leave the property! It’s wicked FAST, and no lengthy rendering!

We also think that in the Amazon and Google Earth world that gathering DATA can be a Business! The days of doing FREE Measures in hope of getting the job is OVER!  A few years ago, the mechanic looked at your car and told you what was wrong, and you paid them to fix it.  TODAY they diagnose the car for a fee and tell you what it MIGHT cost to fix it.  See the difference! 

Just like that Chevy dealer that fought, bit, kicked, screamed and scratched against modernizing when Chevy made them do it…the idea of GATHERING MEASURE DATA as a business is here!  We don’t want you to buy another Blueprint or Measure Software, we want you to buy into the idea of making it a business profit center and a great lead generator that helps you become more important to your clients.

WHAT IF:

When the customer asks you to come measure & do a quote

You simply offer to do a free quote as you always did,

BUT

 You also offer to come & do a complete & insightful set of Blueprints for them to keep and use.

I know this; ONE OPTION PAYS YOU and the other COSTS YOU . Let TMP show you how to turn costs into Profits! Give your clients the options!

Thanks for the read…

Don