When a Startup Said No – Losing a Little to Gain a Lot

Saying no might not always be good for us, but sometimes, it’s good – no, great – to say no.

We share with you an instance when we said no and couldn’t be prouder of it. But before we get to it, let us tell you what it takes to be an Urban Company Partner.

We understand that with the variety of services that we offer, a knowledge of the basic credentials of a partner is not enough to ensure great quality. Also, a person providing wedding make up and a person providing general contractor services cannot be judged by the same yardstick. Hence, every department has its own quality control parameters to acquire only the best of the best. From personally visiting these professionals, verifying their identifying documents, examining their social media presence, speaking to past customers & asking for examples of their past work, we leave no stone unturned to make sure that we keep our promise to our customers.

And it’s not limited to this – we educate our plumbers, electricians and carpenters on using the App, and train them on soft skills. We also monitor our professionals’ behavior after they join us, to ensure that every service is provided in a professional and time-bound manner, with no compromise on customer experience. The reason for all this effort is simple – these are people who will often be visiting the homes of our customers and are the representatives for our brand.

Last weekend, we decided to tackle the mammoth task of revisiting the profiles of all the professionals on our platform – 30,000 in total, many who’ve done at least 1 job. We unlisted 3,000 professionals.

At first glance, this might seem like a step detrimental to our own growth & development. But, as we like to say at Urban Company,

It’s not enough to build a good thing. You need to revisit the basics and re-imagine the existing concept to see what can be done better – that’s when the good thing truly becomes great.

On the lines of this belief, we decided upon this activity because a great customer experience is paramount for the success of any enterprise. It can only be made possible when a brand flawlessly executes a service and offers a solution that is everything the customer needed and more. More so, in the case of services, which are highly interpersonal in nature, monitoring all of which may not always be possible. Besides, our customers have grown more discerning and hence, it’s imperative that we regularly check up on the quality of our professionals and ensure they match up to the expectations our customers have in mind. We felt that the 3000 professionals who we delisted, just didn’t match up to the quality standards we had set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCuEAxfVIV0

Urban Company is a marketplace where super talented professionals compete in a healthy environment to capture the interest of the customers and grow their businesses. The spirit of this competition is lost when some professionals do not play by the same rules as others – after all, each of our professionals is a spokesperson for our brand. When they offer an exemplary service experience to a customer, they are partners in the win and similarly, when the customer experience is lacking, which ultimately hurts the Urban Company brand. Hence, we can surely say that this past weekend’s action was for everyone’s benefit.

In the end, we’d like to thank our customers and partners – your feedback made this possible and IS crucial for us to ensure that we’re on the right path. So, talk to us – we promise we’re listening!

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