They say that necessity is the mother of invention. For Mike Hicks, necessity was a combination of a new baby, a big dog with a deep, booming bark, and a pool service tech who inevitably arrived just after the baby had been put down for a nap.
Having their own backyard pool was a lifelong dream for the Hicks family, and they finally had one put in during the COVID pandemic, when they were stuck at home without much to do.
With three small children and Koda, their 130-pound Chesapeake Bay Retriever, the family needed something to occupy themselves, and a pool seemed a perfect solution. Also, it gets hot where they live in San Jose, California.
Their 1-year-old had been a little fussy on the first day their pool service tech was scheduled to come clean the new pool, and they had just managed to put her down when the backyard gate clanged shut and Koda charged to the door, barking furiously at the “intruder.” The baby began to cry.
It became a weekly pattern.
They asked the pool tech if he would simply tell them when he was coming, but he just couldn’t seem to say. So once every week, the gate would clang, the dog would bark, and the baby would cry.
The lack of communication didn’t end there. Once, the pool tech shocked the pool but didn’t tell anyone. So when Hicks jumped in shortly after, he could only be grateful that it was he and not his young daughters who developed a painful rash.
Hicks paid his monthly pool cleaning bill, but he found it irritating to have to pay by mail. It was the only bill he received where he needed to locate his checkbook, a stamp, and envelope. Why couldn’t he just pay the pool bill online, the way he did with all his other bills? Wasn’t there an app for this or something? He looked into it and didn’t find anything.
It sparked an idea. Maybe he could create his own app. What kind of features should it have?
He began by asking other pool owners how they liked their pool service providers. He heard the same complaints from everyone he spoke to.
“I never know when they’re coming… I don’t know what they do when they’re here… It’s a pain in the butt to pay them,” they all said.
Now he wanted to hear from pool service people. What were their challenges?
As a Silicon Valley software sales executive, Hicks has a passion for helping small to medium sized businesses meet their goals by adopting good software.
So he took pool pros out to lunch and peppered them with questions. What kind of software were they using, if any?
What did they like about the software they were using? What did they wish existed?
Working with engineers, he started building software to bridge the communication gap between service professionals and their customers, enhancing it with features to help service pros organize and build their businesses.
The result is called The Dip App, and it’s a mostly free app that operates on your mobile device to manage your business and provide better communication with your customers — the kind of communication they told Hicks they truly want. With The Dip App, you can let your customers know when you’ll arrive and provide them with proof of work. You can easily share notes and pictures with your customers, and the app offers quick, customerfriendly invoicing that allows them to pay with a tap on their phones. The Dip App is an easy-to-use software solution that helps your pool service business communicate with customers the way they’ve asked.
But the app offers a lot more than that, and you can use most of its features for free.
The Dip App is also your ticket to effortless scheduling, LSI calculation, payment processing, and route optimization through Google Maps.
Only two fees are associated with using the app, and they are optional add-ons: Route optimization and payment processing. The route optimization feature is available with a $14.99 monthly subscription, but Hicks says that service pros are not going to find a better, less expensive route optimization tool than what The Dip App offers. With just two taps on your mobile device, you’ve got an optimized route.
Payment processing is a standard per transaction for credit cards and $3.50 per transaction for ACH, (check payments).
Payments typically arrive in your bankaccountwithin1to3businessdays. The Dip App’s features are designed to reduce your liability, streamline communication, and ensure that you never again miss an important call or message.
With The Dip App, you can easily manage client information, set service rates, and customize prices for chemicals and materials. Hicks says that it’s the first two-sided app connecting service pros with their customers.
Customers can download the app for easy communication with their service tech.
But for those customers who are not tech savvy, they can receive messages at their email address without downloading the app.
The Dip App is available for free download at the Apple App Store or Google Play or visit them at www. takeadip.us.
