Interview with

Torsten:
Neil, obviously is unique marketplace that brings together clients and service providers. Why and when did you start this website?

Neil:
Torsten, in the UK it is highly advisable to ask tradesmen (builders, plumbers, etc..) to provide quotes and references before employing them for a particular job. However, as many will know, collecting references and quotes from various tradesmen can be very time consuming and a serious hassle. We created Myworkman.co.uk early 2005 to make this process as quick and easy as possible.

Torsten:
As far as I know you are working together with your father and brother. Does anyone of you have a technical background and who on your team is responsible for what?

Neil:
Yes that's right, Myworkman.co.uk is certainly a family business. I am mostly involved in the design and maintenance of the site. My father and brother are involved in marketing the site. Our ongoing focus is to make sure that we consistently find a selection of suitable tradesmen with references for the home improvement jobs that are posted on our site. With over 600 tradesmen now registered on the site, we are becoming increasingly effective at what we do.

Torsten:
That's very interesting. Could you please elaborate on your marketing activities? How exactly are you promoting MyWorkMan?

Neil:
Our biggest marketing focus has been to ensure that we deliver on our promise to consistently find suitable tradesmen with references for our users. The more effective we become at doing this, the more people will come back and use our site again. Further to this we are finding that more and more users are hearing about us by word of mouth.

On top of this, we conduct several advertising campaigns, including campaigns on search engines. We are also in the process of rolling out a banner advertising campaign to be featured on several high profiled sites in the UK.

Torsten:
So, this means that a happy customer or a happy tradesman is your most powerful marketing vehicle. I was quite impressed to learn that in addition to the UK version of MyWorkMan there is also a German sister-site. How have you managed to launch it and what are the differences between the professional tradesman market in Germany and the UK?

Neil:
That's exactly right. We've now found tradesmen for over a 1000 jobs, and given that many have been impressed with our service, we are confident about the future of myworkman.co.uk. I would also like to add that our service is completely free of charge for those users looking for tradesmen.

We have as you mentioned recently released a German version of the myworkman site (myworkman.de), and intend to continue our international expansion elsewhere in due course. There are no doubt some differences between the two markets. However, we have found that the public in both countries are interested in a service that saves them time and hassle by putting them in contact with quality tradesmen with references who are available to undertake their job.

Torsten:
What are the most popular job categories - what kind of work do most of your customers want to get done?

Neil:
Our most popular jobs categories are general building, plumbing, plastering and painting&decorating. We have found that our users use the site in two significant ways. Firstly users often wish to compare quotes and references from tradesmen for a relatively common job (e.g. installing a central heating boiler). Secondly users sometimes have very specific jobs requests, be that with regard to the nature of the job or its timing. In both cases we can help find the perfect tradesmen through our large database of members. I would add that geographically the jobs featured are spread over the entire UK.

Torsten:
What about Kitchaloo, your tradesmen directory. When and why did you start this website?

Neil:
Thanks for asking Torsten. Kitchaloo.com is a tradesmen directory that lists tradesmen by distance from where the user is. Specifically no so called «priority listing» or adverts are present on our site. This allows businesses large and small to get a fair slice of the leads generated from the site. In addition our pricing structure and simple registration procedure makes the site compelling for tradesmen. The site was launched very recently, and we have had an extremely good response.

Torsten:
How did you come up with the name for the directory — Kitchaloo? Does it have any specific meaning?

Neil:
I thought that this question might come up! It is admittedly quite an odd name. In fact it is a cross between the words «kitchen» and «loo». We hope that the name proves catchy and easy to remember.

Torsten:
Have you have used myworkman yourself? I mean, have you ever put jobs on your site?

Neil:
No, but I certainly will do when I have some home improvement jobs which need doing! I think the service is useful for both home owners who need jobs done, and property developers who regularly require tradesmen.

Torsten:
I actually have posted a job to your German site (myworkman.de) and I received a confirmation via email saying that my request had been reviewed by the Myworkman support team. The message was in perfect German, so I take it you have German speakers in your organization too?

Neil:
Great! My mother's side of the Family is in fact German. I speak fluent German, but I needed to work with my mother in order to get the written German just right.