iSeekplant are at it again, with yet another major product announcement. They recently rolled out their Endorsements system, solving the issue of identifying quality operators online.
The Endorsements system allows good plant hire companies to be recognised for their hard work. When a contractor is happy with the work a plant hire company has done, they can endorse them on the platform – demonstrating to iSeekplant users that they are a quality supplier.
One of the main complaints that iSeekplant hears about the online plant hire model is that it’s difficult to tell who’s able to undertake a sophisticated civil or mining contract.
In construction and mining, there isn’t much room for error and productivity of machine and operation is key to profitability. You can’t waste time and money on a poor operator with old or ill-maintained machines.
There are plenty of shades of grey in plant hire, and the performance of an earthworks or plant and equipment hire contract involves multiple factors. This is the main reason that iSeekplant endorsements are only positive. This isn’t a review system, or a rating system. Endorsements allow iSeekplant users to endorse their good work and recommend them, anonymously (but with many filters applied to ensure endorsements are legitimate), to others in the industry.
The decision to keep things positive was an easy one. Sally McPherson, CEO of iSeekplant, commented on the issue.
“Negative reviews are far more common than positive ones on most online review platforms, such as Yelp. That is the inherent flaw in online ratings systems – the attitudes expressed are highly polarised and people are more inclined to unload when they are unhappy. People are really angry, or really happy; rarely in between. We don’t believe it’s possible to create an unbiased and fair ratings system in our industry, given all the factors associated with contract performance. The best execution of this concept is to only allow people to gain recommendations from previous clients. The more endorsements each of our customers have for their work, the more the user can trust them with their job. We’ll also take steps in the near future to prioritise endorsed companies in our search results.”
In the couple of weeks that it’s been live, iSeekplant’s Endorsement feature has seen significant uptake. Managers and marketers for plant hire companies recognise the value of word of mouth – it’s how they get half their jobs. Endorsements are a great way of showing that someone’s trust in you was validated.
The Endorsements feature builds on a string of impressive announcements from iSeekplant in the second half of 2016. The new app for both Android and iPhone launched in August. The Real Short Film Series also went live around the same time, and has recently received over ½ a million views. The Customer Portal was completely revamped, giving plant hire companies a huge amount of data and options to attract more work.
Click here to read more about iSeekplant’s Endorsement feature.