3 strategies for service companies to work more efficiently

April 2024 — For a service company, ‘service' is undoubtedly its greatest asset. You would rather not leave customers with a broken heating or electricity installation out in the cold for too long. So, to carry out interventions quickly and efficiently, your organisation needs to be running on wheels. In this article, we focus on three pain points that many plumbers, electricians, and maintenance technicians encounter sooner or later.

1. Take charge of your schedule

Is it a struggle to complete your schedule every time? Do you call around to adjust appointments or push back deadlines? In short, is your schedule your worst enemy? Then you are not only losing a lot of time, you are also not making a very good impression on your customers.

Your schedule is your most important work tool. A well-managed agenda is necessary to keep track of your assignments and manage your staff efficiently. To complete his planning smoothly, every employee should have a diary in which each job is explained in as much detail as possible. These items should not be missing:

·      location

·      task

·      customer history

·      required material

·      contract conditions

·      route

·      ...

2. Communicate clearly with your customers

Making appointments, following up on invoices and payments, drawing up contracts, ? Communicating efficiently with your customers, whether businesses or consumers, demands quite a bit from your organisation. But as the saying goes: good agreements make good friends. Be clear, straightforward and proactive.

The phone has long since ceased to be the only means of communicating with your customers. E-mail, social media, SMS, WhatsApp, ... : the technology is there, make use of it. But here too, the customer comes first. Respect his or her preference.

3. Digitise your records

Quotations, invoices, work orders, contracts, ... : does your service or installation company sometimes look more like a paperwork shop? This is what you gain by digitising your administration:

·      from quotation to invoice with minimal manual intervention

·      software solves the most intractable logistical problems

·      schedules are drawn up automatically per employee

·      you go from a multitude of document types to one universal digital format

·      stock and article management are largely automatic

·      administrative errors and ambiguities are reduced to a minimum

Automation leads to more efficient business processes

Working efficiently starts with the right software. Because the more processes you can digitise, the more you can automate and gain time. You can then use that to improve the quality of your service.

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