Blog Posts

iSqFt Auto Search: Time for Sale

June 28, 2012 – Contributed by Henry Purdy, Vice President of Product Management, iSqFt

Our customers buy iSqFt for a few reasons, but it really boils down to two: they need more leads or they need more time. We work hard to provide as many project leads as possible–we have an entire department that does nothing but gather project information–but then the problem shifts to efficiently finding the right jobs, the ones that fit your scope of work.

But the reality is that half the battle is about using the time you have in the most efficient way you can, and looking for jobs one keyword at a time can cost a company hours in any given week. It’s these problems that prompted us to create Auto Search as an upgrade feature for our iSqFt 10 platform.

Here’s how it works.

It begins with a conversation with an iSqFt associate, who will help you determine the best way to find the construction projects you’re looking for. That can include products, standards, trades, or anything else you normally search specifications for.

Once the account is set up, you’ll see a new column in your iSqFt Project Listings called “Auto Search.” This column displays numbered circles called “match indicators,” each of which corresponds to a string of keywords. (To see which keywords are included in any one of the indicators, just place your cursor over it.) The idea is that, depending on which indicators are “lit” (actually, they turn blue) you can instantly see which keywords have matched a given project.

If this sounds complicated, I can tell you based on conversations I’ve had with our customers that it takes about a week till they don’t even need to mouse over the indicators anymore. From then on, one quick glance gives you a ton of information.

From there, just clicking on any of the links in a match indicator will open up the matching document and take you directly to the keyword, highlighted in yellow. Here again, the workflow was dictated by our customers; they were very clear that they didn’t want to have to hunt for the keywords. That’s why we’ve made sure that the matching words are put front and center, and that finding every match in a document is easy too.

At the end of the day, subscribers who opt for the Auto Search upgrade, will be able to bid more jobs because they’ll have a much more efficient way to find ones that fit what they do. Right now, in the construction industry, it’s kind of a numbers game, right? Who can find the right projects, bid them, and win? That, in a nutshell, is my job: to give iSqFt customers the tools that will provide a serious edge over their competition and help them win more jobs. Listening to our customers, I’d say we’ve hit on something big.

Want to know more about the iSqFt Auto Search feature? Call iSqFt at 800-364-2059 or visit isqft.com to see if it could help you find the right project leads and bid on more.

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