[ Spotlight: Comerco ] Comcero has been described by some as the ‘eBay for
services’. It was developed by its founder and chief, Bal Mattu, as a response to his own difficulty in finding quality, dependable and appropriate suppliers when renovating his home in Warwickshire (see Comcero: background box). The idea for Comcero was born as a solution to this problem.
Using Comcero Comcero is easy to use and, if you are an ECA registered member, the ECA logo will be displayed for all customers to see, providing them with the reassurance they need that they are getting the best possible electrical service, with guaranteed work, if they select your business. Whether it’s a quick low-cost job or a more complex or urgent one, Comcero can be the marketplace that enables your business to find the right customers to suit the services you provide. The Comcero service works in easy to follow stages: l Post need – A buyer posts details of a specific job need and the process they would like to follow to select a seller.
l Receive lead – Automatically, relevant sellers receive outline details of this business lead, with an indication of how well they match the buyer’s selection criteria.
l Send tender – Sellers, if they are interested in the job, send a tender to the buyer.
l Get response – The buyer gets responses indicating how well the seller matches the buyer’s requirements.
l Make shortlist – The buyer evaluates the responses. If there is a seller profile the buyer likes, a shortlist request is sent to that seller. The buyer then selects between two and five sellers.
l Accept shortlist – The seller receives a shortlist request and can accept the invitation. Now the contact details of each party are revealed. A buyer can have between two and five accepted sellers on the shortlist.
l Choose seller – Using Comcero’s simple-to-use relationship tools, the buyer enters into dialogue with each seller to ascertain who is best for the job. When ready, the buyer chooses a seller.
l Get chosen – The seller is notified that they have been selected to carry out the work.
l Fulfilment – The seller and buyer now continue to use the relationship tools to manage (plan and perform) the fulfilment stage. The work is finished when the buyer signs-off the job and the seller closes the job.
l Leave review – After the job is finished, the buyer and seller rate each other and give feedback in terms of the working relationship and results.
Protecting users Comcero recognises the importance of providing a safe workplace – as well as having a commitment to ethical trading and transparency: n The system offers complete anonymity, for example, until both parties agree to engage after having considered and understood each other’s profile and requirements;
n Because appointments, letters or quotations can be automatically put through Comcero’s system, everything is date and time stamped – ensuring a complete 'paper trail' and project management profile, enabling an easy audit of all activity;
Comcero is easy to use and, if you are an ECA registered member, the ECA logo will be displayed for all customers to see
n You can do company checks – VAT numbers, company numbers, all checked online in real time;
n You can check professional credentials – insurance, health and safety and certifications – and if a buyer of a service suspects not all is as it should be, then this can be reported via a ‘report abuse’ process and Comcero will investigate it. Any credentials declared are made available to the person seeking the service – Comcero delivers the certification documents to the consumer if required; and
n Customers can also leave reviews after a job has been completed – a great chance for you to enhance your credibility and introduce an important recommendation component to your marketing.
Partnership The partnership means both Comcero and the ECA are committed to enabling more people to work together successfully when hiring contractors for electrical work in the home and work place. Stefan Hay, head of Marketing for the ECA commented:
'The marketplace platform Comcero has developed is probably the most impressive thing I have seen for many years and clearly represents a massive opportunity for ECA registered members and their customers.'
n Sign up to
www.comcero.com to try out the service.
Comcero: background
When Bal Mattu, chief executive and founder of Comcero, had need of a range of different services whilst renovating his home in Warwickshire, like everyone else, he used the existing tools such as
Yell.com, Yellow Pages, recommendations, local directories and even Google searches. But, like everyone else, struggled to find quality, dependable, appropriate suppliers. Bal realised that the businesses or tradespeople he was struggling to find faced exactly the same problem – finding him. This led Bal to conclude that, whilst the web has truly revolutionised the way we search for information and potential solutions to our problems and the way we purchase products, buying services is an entirely different matter. While services are looked for and sourced online, there is rarely – if ever – a way of actually buying them and managing them. Bal’s response, in November 2007, was to start the Comcero project with the aim
of creating an online marketplace where buyers and service providers could offer their services, and where people who needed them could buy them – a place where you could get ‘what you want the way you want it’.
July 2011 ECA Today 61
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