The Wicormarine Quick Quote
The brief...
"We need a way to make it simple for potential new customers to get a price for their annual boating needs via our site. We have quite a complicated price list... "
The Problem
Owners boats can be kept at sea on a pontoon or on a mooring, there are several mooring locations, each with a different pricing structure. Then, there are different prices per foot for boats over a certain length depending on the location. some owners like to leave their boats out all year, some bring them ashore for the winter, some just want a winter mooring.
At the end of the day potential new customers want to know what it might cost. But what if the price doesn't suit them and they would like to explore different options ? Over the telephone this easily can lead to frustration on both parts and potential loss of new business.
The Answer
An online quote system, where boat owners can take the time to explore the various options and match their requirements to a budget, anytime day or night. Plus they can compromise on requirements to suit a limited budget and test the various combinations available to them with anonimity.
The completed calculator is above, feel free to have a go, just enter a boat length, say 33ft, click calculate and play around with the options. For some higher priced packages the calculator will also provide a quote for payment by standing order.
How it was done.
The calculator was produced as a web-page written in PHP. All of the prices were defined in a table at the beginning of the page, Scott of Wicormarine knows how to edit this file so it's easy for him to revise them as required over time.
This is an extract from part of the code, the bottom bit converts metres to feet and rounds the feet measurement up if it's more than six inches. There is a minimum boat length of 20 feet so anything less than that gets treated as if it were 20.
The calculator has been in use since February 2009 and has proved to be a useful assett, so much so that the staff at Wicormarine use it themselves when they receive telephone enquiries.
What Scott said...
Terry was recommended to us by a business associate and after our initial meeting it was clear that we had found someone who cared and understood our needs and was also able to communicate on all levels and translate our requirements into a functional, tangible product. Our business model does not fit within a conventional mould but Terry very soon understood the concept and was able to develop our ideas with us. Terry has always been flexible and accommodating and we shall continue to use his services for the foreseeable future. Thank you Terry, you're a star!
Scott Waddington, Managing Director, Wicormarine, Portchester.
