Comparing The ServiceM8 Software Consultancy Marketplace

Today, we have so many software systems available to us. Systems for choosing your accountancy software, marketing automation, HR systems and even job management software. This also means that there are a growing number of consultants who can help you to manage these software systems. Not just here in the UK but also globally.

In this article we are going to take a look at what ServiceM8 software consultancy options are available to you and compare to help you understand which is right for you.

Comparing Software and the Consultancy Marketplace – ServiceM8 Partners

At Software Buddy we are partners for ServiceM8 operating in the UK space to help trades and service businesses to get the best out of their ServiceM8 system. One of the questions that we get asked regularly is about the advantages of working with a certified ServiceM8 partner over just working with ServiceM8 directly.

When you are considering ServiceM8, weighing up the choice of guided support versus buying direct can sometimes be a challenge.

ServiceM8 Partners – The Human Touch

The first point to consider is that with a ServiceM8 partner, you can meet them face to face, or certainly via a screen share call (like Skype or Zoom).

ServiceM8 are based in Australia, so if this is something that is important to you then working with a ServiceM8 partner such as Software Buddy would be the better option for you.

ServiceM8 Partners – Real-Time Support

Another aspect of this to consider is that direct ServiceM8 support is offered via chatbox. Replies are then sent out via a ticket system. On the other hand, support from a ServcieM8 partner can be delivered via telephone, remote screen share or in person, depending on your support package.

This means a more personalised experience based on your business needs but more importantly, gives you the support that you need when you need it.

ServiceM8 Partners – Timezone Considerations

Working with the UK ServiceM8 partner network, allows communication on your own time zone for support, especially if you choose a face to face style relationship.

As UK based ServiceM8 partners,

• We know and understand the UK marketplace
• We know VAT
• We know UK specific market requirements and legislation

Any global software provider is always stronger in the native space than they are internationally. In this case, a UK ServiceM8 partner is going to be better served to support you with those key UK requirements.

ServiceM8 Partners – A Quality UK Network

Software Buddy is a leader in the ServiceM8 space along with a wide range of other top-quality ServiceM8 partners.

This provides you options on who you choose to partner with.

The UK ServiceM8 network is doing some great projects supporting trades and home service-based businesses.

To find a partner of course here at Software buddy we would love to hear from you, although if you prefer to speak a number of partners to see if there is a fit and they understand your speciality, you can log on to the Servicem8 website at https://www.servicem8.com/uk/partner-directory and search their directory.

Here in the UK, Hazel Whicher offers a real quality service as do ServiceGuru who have a fantastic development team.

So if you would like alternatives to what we do here at Software Buddy please check those two particular companies out.

Often we get asked why we would recommend a competitor. If you find that Software Buddy were not a great fit for you, then there are always people we could recommend from this great collaborative community within the ServiceM8 partner network.

ServiceM8 Partners – A Quality UK Network

That’s another benefit of dealing with the partner community, you get the ability to access other services outside supplying just the software, including online training courses that Software Buddy deliver.

ServiceM8 Partners – Software Buddy Online Training

Having a range of online courses available such as Software Buddy’s Fast Track (Starter Course) and Accelerate (intermediary Course) you can develop your skills with ServiceM8 much faster along with the UK knowledge and support infrastructure.

ServiceM8 Partners – Software Buddy Online Free Training

Before even the fast track course there’s a series of Free Training Courses available that gets the mindset correct.

We talk about our four P’s which is ‘People, your Pricing, your Product and your Process’. That’s just to get into the mindset of what it’s like to do a software trial before even signing up for ServiceM8.

The Fast Track Course is perfect then to get started to prepare your business whilst you are inside your trial period.  

If you are like many SMEs you usually dive straight into the trials but that wastes your trial time because you don’t really know where you want to go with it yet and you don’t know what the software is like.

A little bit of free training provides people with the groundwork.

So you can go into the trial with confidence and that’s where Fast Track comes into play.

ServiceM8 Partners – Software Buddy – Fast Track Training

The Fast Track course is all about setting up the desktop app of ServiceM8.

It’s there specifically to give people a structured walk-through of exactly where they need to go as they are setting up their software, step by step in order that they can maximise that trial time and really get to understand the background of the program before they get to the iPhones and the iPads.

Then if the background settings of the system are correct then the iPads, the iPhones work fantastically, and that’s what we are here to make sure that you are starting the background right.

That’s what Fast Track training is designed to do and in summary, It gets you out of the cellar to ground zero and set up on the right tracks.  

Once the initial implementation is done, you can move on to the intermediary course Accelerate.

ServiceM8 Partners – Software Buddy – Accelerate Training

The Accelerate course is all about tailoring the system to your businesses, it’s what is under the hood.

There are many routes you can take down this for example,

• Are you on Gmail?
• Are you using Microsoft 365?
• What route are you now going to take in order to integrate?
• What forms do you want to create?
• What document output do you want for your customers?
• Do you want them to track your arrival for example?
• Do you want to be able to find the customers assets, to service them on their sites?

Accelerate is all about personalisation because for a home services hairdressing business or beauty therapist, the system is going to be totally different to a builder or plumber.

We recommend you start with Fast Track and then upgrade if you need the personalisation and intermediary features of Accelerate.

A summary consideration is that Fast Track will lay down the basics then Accelerate is there to open out the product, open out ServiceM8 to make it run really smoothly for your business and there is a definite hierarchy.

ServiceM8 Partners – Software Buddy Online Training Benefits

Other advantages of following the online training hierarchy are that you will learn things in the Fast Track that will help you better position your business in Accelerate, instead of just skipping over a larger course where you would probably miss some basics and that would affect the end result.

The beauty of online training is that it is self-paced.

You can self-learn, there is absolutely nothing stopping you running this without any consultancy whatsoever, however, if you want to make it totally bespoke, or just need a consultant to do the heavy lifting that’s where Software Buddy comes in.

The expertise short-cuts those learning errors that can be costly in time and effort and hassle.

ServiceM8 Partners – Online Training Vs One to One Consultancy

Many ServiceM8 partners do personal one-on-one consultancy.

So why should you consider one over the other?

The easiest thing to consider is online training

• Is a fixed method to follow and it has a fixed cost.
• It’s there, you will take out what you want from it,
• You can learn it at your own pace
• You can pause, you can replay, you can move forward, you can go back again.

It’s between you and your computer at that stage, however with the Software Buddy online courses like many other training platforms, you can interact with support at the same time.

When thinking about consultancy, this is work that is personalised to you.

It is the consultant finding out what are the issues of you the customer, and learning about your business and finding the right solutions.

It is often the case where projects start out as one defined idea but change into different shapes and sizes.

Sometimes larger, sometimes smaller but in most cases an initial consultancy piece will develop as the consultant challenges you to think with the end in mind and breaks it down into stages.

A quick summary would be to think that:

ServiceM8 Partners – The Pros of Online Training

It is quick, it’s fast, it’s lower cost and you can self-learn.

ServiceM8 Partners – The Cons of Online Training

It is limited to whatever that training course would include and only has remote support.

ServiceM8 Partners – The Pros of Personalised Consultancy

You could literally photograph or video your business model and do a deep dive into it, change, blend and pull things out that maybe wouldn’t be evident online.

ServiceM8 Partners – The Cons of Personalised Consultancy

The other side of that is that it would be a little bit more expensive and a longer duration because it’s more specialist.

ServiceM8 Partners – Hiring A Consultant

If you are looking to hire a consultant, there are areas that you should be aware of and insist upon and some red flags you need to avoid.

ServiceM8 Partners – Hiring A Consultant – Red Flags

• Straight away, ensure you are offered a diagnostic, if they don’t be cautious?
• Does the consultant want to learn about your business, if not why not?
• If they say ‘yes’ to everything.
• Are they just coming straight in and saying ‘I can start tomorrow’ or are they saying ‘actually can I frame a solution and I need to come back to you’?

That’s a big one because the best work is done when a consultant is motivated to get that result for you.

ServiceM8 Partners – Hiring A Consultant -The Positives to Identify

• Experience in your field,
• Case Studies
• Results

ServiceM8 Partners – Hiring A Consultant – Summary

It’s all about realism.

As consultants, they should not be selling something that they are not going to be able to deliver upon.

A consultant should be trying to achieve a common ground that identified your goals and needs and recommend a solution to achieve that.

Technically a consultant should not ‘sell’ in that sense at all, they should try to achieve an outcome which is satisfactory to you as a customer and themselves as the lead on your project.

A great measure of a great consultant is one who delivers more value than the fee charged.

If you would like to find out more and you would like to tap into the minds of the Software Buddy team, leave us a comment below or use our favourite channel of twitter using the hashtag #SoftwareBuddy.

Ask us your questions and we would be more than happy to get them answered for you without any charge or obligation.

Alternatively if you would like to set up a 30 minute consultation you can head over to softwarebuddy.co.uk where you can find out a little bit more about what we do, including more on our thirty minute diagnostic calls to see if we are the right fit for you.