Solutions
Ad conversion
Lead capture
Lead qualification
Appointment scheduling
Retainer signing
Why Blazeo?
Industries
Company
Resources
As of March 2024 we have renamed Apexchat to Blazeo. We are excited to share the next part of our journey with our customers and partners.
The name ApexChat implies that we are primarily a chat company, which is no longer true. Now we have many offerings, such as call center services, AI, Appointment setting, SMS Enablement, Market Automation, and Sales acceleration (Q2 2024), that go beyond chat. The new name will not only allow us to convey the breadth of our offering but will also better convey our company’s mission and values.
Blazeo, which is derived from the word Blaze, evokes a sense of passion, speed, and energy. A “Blaze” is captivating, illuminates, and represents explosive growth. Blazeo encapsulates our mission to ignite such growth for our customers and partners by delivering innovation with passion, speed, and energy.
5 min read
Home improvement projects are on the rise. The COVID-19 pandemic had a lot of
people spending more time indoors and in their homes. As a result, homeowners are
realizing that their houses could use some fixes, upgrades, improvements, or be
adjusted to better suit their remote work/life balance. Whether it has been
telecommuting at the dinner table, attending virtual classes on the couch, or exercising
in a basement, many are looking for ways (and contractors) to remodel parts of their
home to accommodate their new lifestyle.
While some industries have been threatened, decimated, or faced an uncertain future
due to the pandemic, home service professionals have been seeing a huge increase in
demand for their expertise. According to the Home Improvement Research Institute,
Americans spent an estimated $440 billion on home improvement projects in 2020. That
trend doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon in 2021.
And with that increased demand, comes competition. Consumers are searching for the
best solutions to aid their home improvement projects. Unless the homeowner is an
expert in remodeling or construction, they’re likely going to need help. With so many
options for designers, contractors, builders, or installers to choose from, homeowners
want to be sure they’re getting the best there is.
As a business operating in the home service space, it’s important that you represent
yourself as an ideal solution for these kinds of projects. So what makes a company
successful in their attempts to distinguish themselves from the competition? We’ve
identified some of the most important factors that do just that:
Employing or having access to a large network of subcontractors and tradespeople
gives your company an upper hand when deciding what jobs you can bid on. If your
company provides a large array of general contractor services, you’re giving yourself
multiple avenues to win all kinds of business. If you specialize in one specific type of
home service (like roofing or plumbing), it’s important that you have a strong team who
are experts in that field. Either way, having the right personnel and a talented workforce
will always be a way to differentiate your company from the competition. After all,
people’s homes are usually their biggest asset and will want the best person for the job.
As with so many things in life, it will often all come down to the $$. Just because
homeowners want the best for their house remodels doesn’t mean they’re ready to pay
extravagant prices for it. Consumers are price savvy and will often get multiple bids from
different companies for the same project. While it’s not always the most important to be
the absolute lowest priced option for a job, it is important not to price yourself out of the
market. If you find your price point is often the cause of lost work, it may be a good idea
to reexamine your pricing relative to the market. You may be getting outbid. Tip:
Offering a special promotion or “first-time buyer” discount can be an effective
way to win business and turn them into repeat customers.
Everything is online now, and I mean everything. A website and good Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) is digital marketing 101 these days. A website for your company is
the primary way most consumers will find out about you. Be sure your online presence
is optimized for Google searches and that your website provides consumers with a good
experience. Getting people to your website can be the harder part. This is where digital
marketing can really help: Advertise on social media platforms, publish a blog, organize
a webinar, send out email campaigns, or even produce/sponsor a podcast. Once you
start getting more traffic to your website, you just need to work on converting them to
customers. That’s something live chat can help with.
Reputation management is essentially your reviews. And these can make or break you.
Review sites are everywhere and for everything these days. Yelp, Google, Facebook,
and ReviewBuzz (just to name a few) all provide the ability for delighted or distraught
customers to provide their feedback in a public forum. And if you think other people
aren’t reading these reviews, you’re in for a rude awakening. In fact, 86% of consumers
read reviews of local businesses. Now the nature of reviews is unpredictable to some
extent. How are you, as a business, supposed to control your reviews? Although you
cannot control the feedback you receive, you can do some things to manage them. It is
good practice to respond to both positive and negative reviews, as well as promote the
positive ones in as many places as possible. Think of it like spreading the digital word of
mouth.
This may seem like an obvious one, but it can easily get overlooked. home
improvement projects can get messy quick and cleaning up isn’t often thought of as
“part of the job”. These projects can be a stressful and intrusive experience for a
homeowner. Once the project is complete, the last thing they want to do is clean up the
mess left from the construction. The cleaning aftermath may not technically be part of
your business’s duty, but customer experience certainly should be. Think of this aspect
of the job as providing a better customer experience. A pleased customer will be more
likely to become a repeat customer, leave positive feedback, and recommend you to
their friends and family. You want to be an “all in one” service that does excellent work
and leaves the house better than when you arrived.
This increased demand for home improvement projects was certainly an unexpected
outcome of the pandemic. National lockdowns changed the way we all live, relax, and
spend our money. People are reprioritizing to optimize their homes not only for comfort,
but for getting things done. With more homeowners renovating and remodeling to
accommodate this shift in lifestyle, they will continue to have a need for reliable and
ethical home services and contractors. If you want to make your company stand out and
distinguish yourself from the competition, follow these 5 steps and you might be one of
the first calls homeowners make.
Live chat
Voice call centers
Virtual assistant
SMS communication
Blazeo's advantage
Customer stories
Whitepapers
Home services
Lawyers and firms
Medical services
College admissions
Real estate agents
Multi-location
Marketing agencies
Other local businesses
About
Partner program
Careers
Integrations
Blog
FAQs