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Recently, we introduced a new feature that allows our genies to add portfolio images to their GenieTown profiles. What’s the big deal, you may ask? While true that many websites provide this functionality to their users, at GenieTown, portfolio images do more than adorn profiles. Gearing up to become the online marketplace for local services, GenieTown puts portfolio images to work. Call them the tools of the trade.
Many service providers -- particularly home improvement contractors such as landscapers and remodelers -- carry heavy portfolio books of prior jobs they’ve done. They use these books to showcase samples of work or to demonstrate particular applications. Images are part and parcel of home improvement: it’s almost impossible (and equally foolish) to ask a would-be customer to imagine what a shiny new kitchen will look like before sinking a big chunk of change into the project.
So now portfolio images can be shared on GenieTown. Several of our genies have already taken advantage of this feature and uploaded their images. One genie who has done a particularly good job is Premier Power Renewable Energy from El Dorado Hills, CA, whose profile is available here. The images that Premier Power displays, nicely depict solar systems installations. They enhance the information detailed in the profile by demonstrating the end result of the services offered. Customers can get immediate feel for Premier Power’s skills and range of applications supported.
Naturally, image portfolio plays an important role in home improvement, where customers typically seek to enhance their most expensive asset. They do so either to improve their quality of life or to prepare their home for sale. Genie portfolios with extensive sets of images not only draw customers’ attention better, but also help customers gain initial understanding of what can be done in their homes, and what the end result might look like. This is key because, often, customers approach contractors for consultation. They seek to understand the scope and nature of their projects well before they are ready to transact. This stems from the fact that customers simply do not have alternative sources of information. Their ability to learn by themselves is limited.
We at GenieTown believe that the current situation is inefficient: contractors spend too much time educating customers. From the contractor’s perspective, this is a “non-billable” time. Contactors may use the opportunity to develop relationships with the customers in the hope of gaining their trust, but on too many occasions, customers will take what they learn from a supportive and patient contractor and close the deal with the lowest-bidding contractor in town. The dedicated contractors, in turn, may not be as forthcoming with subsequent customers. In the long run, everybody loses.
GenieTown aims to change all of that, by empowering customers to learn about their projects independently or by reaching out to the GenieTown community when they need help. Genies, in turn, will be rewarded for supporting customers online and for taking an active role in the community. Subsequently, we believe, a vast pool of home improvement knowledge will be created, and knowledge domains of other local services will follow. Image portfolio is the first step in that direction.
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