Written by One of the most frustrating aspects of running any business can be wasting time with activities that do not generate revenue. Any minute that is spent dealing with slow, administrative tasks or inefficiently fixing problems amounts to lost money over time. This is why field service professionals can benefit from taking an inventory of how they spend their time and how to save it through a few creative tactics.
1. Consider Automation
This is a big one in today’s world and many automated tasks can be set up in advance from your phone or computer to run on auto-pilot. Things like messages to prior customers reminding them to book new services or personal notifications to remind you about important tasks are easily done through field service software like mHelpDesk, which powers over 20,000 field service businesses who have realized the power of automation. Check out our latest success stories!
2. Invest in Efficient Marketing
Most of your marketing can now be done through advertising platforms that only need to be set up once then adjusted occasionally. Social media accounts can also be managed through your phone while you are on the road, and many programs allow posts and tweets to be scheduled out weeks or months in advance. With mHelpDesk, you can set up automated marketing emails and text messages and have it go out to your leads and customers automatically, saving you a ton of time and effort and ensuring you reach your contacts fast.
3. Set Specific Times for Emails
Checking emails while on the road or while you’re in the middle of completing other jobs or tasks? It is often better to answer it at a later time. Constantly checking emails has also been shown to make workers less productive and focused. Make sure all emails are answered or checked at a specific designated time each day or week. There are also programs available to help organize your emails and communication. What’s nice with a solution like mHelpDesk, you’ll have access to all your customer communication in one place, so you can easily see where follow-ups need to happen, and reach out to your customers right in the same system.
4. Put Resources Toward the Right Website
Your web presence can do a lot of the work for you, like providing forms that gets all the information you need from customers and putting them through your sales funnel. Having the right kind of website can essentially manage all of your leads while you are away working and organize the information appropriately, so you save time. By setting up an online booking tool on your website, you can reduce the time and effort it takes for you to book appointments, and at the same time offer customers the convenience of booking appointments directly. You can also consider a customer portal that lets customers not only request your services, but check the status of jobs and pay their invoices online.
5. Look to Map View Routing for Techs
Field service professionals need to physically go to their customers and you want to find the best route to take to get there fast, but it goes beyond that. You also want to make sure you’re scheduling appointments with customers efficiently and that you’re sending the right technician to the job. This is where map view routing comes, and further a field service software app that makes scheduling and dispatching techs easy. Note that some field management systems will try to get you to buy special, expensive equipment for GPS tracking. With mHelpDesk, your office and field staff can simply use their smartphones to assign jobs, get assignments, track each other’s locations and get turn-by-turn directions, thanks to its Google Map integration.
Ready to save time and scale your efforts?
mHelpDesk customers save up to 10 hours each month by organizing and automating your business, from scheduling and estimating to invoicing and collecting payment. Schedule a free demo of mHelpDesk today!
Last modified: July 23, 2019
