Goodhart's Automation Strategy Scores Remarkable 100% Increase in Bookings

The Challenge

Goodhart Coffee, founded by savvy entrepreneur Justin Goodhart, is a thriving coffee catering company that serves four cities in the United States and is set to expand.

With mobile coffee carts and a team of professional baristas, they serve at all kinds of events, from schools and churches to corporate events, large and small.

Goodhart Coffee employs four full-time staff plus event planners and operations staff. Their 40 plus baristas are all subcontractors.

With an impressive 5-star rating on Google and serving up to a hundred events every week, they are growing fast.

In 2020, Justin was receiving between 20 and 50 quote requests per day. He was manually creating these quotes in PDF format and emailing them back to the customer. It was a full-time job just to handle quotes and bookings.

Trying to beat his competition to bookings was creating a lot of stress. The company was losing time and money manually quoting for jobs. They were even occasionally overbooking themselves—creating disappointed customers and looking unprofessional.

On top of all of that, they also needed to keep track of travel costs and contractors' hours, and find a way to automatically delimit their service areas to control costs.

Knowing he needed to find a way to automate and streamline processes, Justin began seriously looking for online software that could help him achieve those goals.

“I just needed a booking and quote form that was usable. One that was powerful and had Zapier integrations and visual customizations. I needed a form that I could embed in my website that would look really good and have amazing functionality. And ConvertCalculator was it.”

Justin spent weeks researching solutions on Google. He signed up and tried every possible form builder he could find, including ConvertCalculator.

Goodhart's new setup

Justin has used ConvertCalculator forms and calculators across multiple processes in the business. In the front end it has fully automated quoting and booking, while in the back end it organizes operations, inventory, product management, and staff streamlining.

"I'm delighted by the functionality and power of it, along with the simplicity."

Goodhart's powerful website booking form and calculator looks simple and inviting...

How the setup works

After a customer submits an instant price quote on the website, a few things happen automatically. Their data is sent to the CRM so the sales team can connect with them. They are also sent an email containing a PDF version of the quote and an instant text message. The customer is then able to get budget approval, if needed.

"ConvertCalculator's query parameter function is amazingly powerful. I take all the data from the initial form submission using query parameters to track conversions with Google ads."

Using Zapier integration, Justin is able to create a custom booking button in the automated response email sent to each inquirer.

When the customer is ready, they hit the Book Now button, which takes them to their prepopulated booking form. They can then complete their booking with confidence knowing all their information is recorded correctly.

The booking form---also created in ConvertCalculator---connects to invoicing, their calendar, Stripe, and email to send confirmations. It then sends all that data into the Goodhart coffee catering database.

Automating internal processes

"If I were technical and could build all these crazy features for myself, it would take me weeks if not months, whereas I can get it functional in days or less with ConvertCalculator. And that's just remarkable."

Calculating travel time and costs

Google Places API allows for real-time travel time and distance calculations. These calculations are then used to calculate travel costs and charges automatically. They are also used to assign staff and resources.

"Our service areas can be up to 130 miles. We will travel a long way, but the only reason I feel comfortable doing that is because I know I can get the exact mileage using ConvertCalculator's Google Places API and get a good estimate of driving time. So I can pass all that cost on. Customers see the instant quote with travel included."

Demand-based pricing

"To me, demand-based pricing is like the holy grail; together with real-time availability booking, it's crazy powerful."

Demand-based pricing is something Justin has recently been able to automate using ConvertCalculator. As fewer and fewer coffee carts become available, their prices rise. During slower periods, their rates remain competitive.

Staff systems

After each event, Goodhart subcontractors submit a report. This is used to calculate their mileage and travel charges, wages, and bonuses and to keep track of any equipment used on the job.

After the report has been submitted, the subcontractor receives a return email detailing exactly how much they have earned for that event.

Inventory and product calculations

Justin uses ConvertCalculator for almost every part of his business, including inventory and product calculations. With so many staff and locations, keeping track of inventory is essential.

Wherever an event takes place, and however many staff are involved in it, Goodhart's system has automated the necessary processes.

Sharing software with coffee catering businesses

Justin has seen the lack of options available for coffee catering businesses as it's such a niche industry. He has decided to package and sell his bespoke software solution to other companies like his.

Called 'Flash Quotes,' his software is specifically designed for coffee caterers to streamline their business and enable them to offer their customers a convenient, consistent and trustworthy service.

Goodhart's results have been astounding

After Justin put in the legwork to set up the software to the quality and consistency he wanted, he then spent two years refining and adding new systems and tools. Now, everything is on autopilot, and the results have been spectacular.

• Bookings doubled within the first year of implementing ConvertCalculator---from 2021 to 2022.

• Quotes and bookings are fully automated, so Justin no longer has to spend time manually creating quotes and bookings.

• Goodhart Coffee has achieved consistency and reliability across every location, no longer having to rely on multiple systems or on staff to manage administrative details.

• Real-time cart availability means overbooking is no longer possible.

• The implementation of demand-based pricing enables them to maximize profits while staying competitive.

• Automation of backend staffing systems has eliminated errors, reduced stress, and increased efficiency.

• Their quick response times and professional service mean they have built a strong customer base and get a lot of repeat business.

• Now that systems are in place that remove manual labor and the opportunity for errors, Goodhart can scale while maintaining a professional brand image and the highest service standards for their customers.

In Conclusion...

Justin has seen that if you don't start taking advantage of instant quoting - especially in the service industry - you're going to get left behind. You're going to lose quotes, and you're going to lose to competitors.

The good news is that automating your quoting and booking process is possible.

Click here for more information on setting up your instant quoting and booking system with ConvertCalculator.