This is a guest post by Iseka Services.
Running a field service business is a challenge even in the best of times. Managing not only your customers' expectations but those of your employees is essential to the performance and profitability of your business. Here are a few tips to overcome common obstacles and excel at field service management.
ProTip 1: Make your business repeatable
One way to build an efficient field service business is to create business processes you can replicate. Consolidate your existing information—such as client, service, and field resource data—within one platform, so new customer jobs can be created with just a few clicks. Sticking to a successful formula increases the probability that jobs will be completed properly, that invoices will be sent on time, and that employees will get paid quickly.
Solution: LogixOne Operator integrates with Zoho CRM to unify and utilize all your data to offer quotes, allocate resources, and complete customer jobs efficiently. Not only will this make your business more agile and responsive than your competitors, but it also reduces the potential for errors that occur when transferring information between systems.
ProTip 2: Reduce your risk
The field service industry is wide-ranging and diverse, encompassing everything from window cleaning to wiring power cables. Regardless of the job type and complexity, there's always the risk that your personnel won't complete tasks as a customer expected, exposing you to litigation. You can reduce this risk by ensuring both you and your customer are in complete agreement on what has been quoted and what has been delivered. It's easier to achieve this when your sales department produces quotes from the same service catalog that your scheduling team uses to allocate jobs.
Solution: Many of LogixOne Operator's offerings center around a common "service catalog." This list displays all the products and services you provide to your customers and features a simple-to-use, configurable format to tailor how you supply these products and services. Separate modules—like Quote, Job, and Invoice—pull information from this common service catalog, meaning that information flows smoothly from quote to job to invoice.
ProTip 3: Build a comprehensive knowledge base
Understanding all the variables that comprise your business' daily operating procedure isn't an easy task. Information isn't just stored within disparate databases, such as spreadsheets, documents, and finance packages; it's also in the brains of your employees. The challenge is harnessing all this information so that you, as a business owner or leader, can make effective decisions to be more agile and profitable.
Solution: Using the LogixOne Operator integration for Zoho CRM, you can take that knowledge and use it for automation. With your business processes automated and the proper reports and dashboards customized, you can adjust your business as needed and see the effects in real-time.
ProTip 4: Grow in a straight line
Managing resource numbers in a field service business is a real challenge. The more jobs you secure, the more resources you need to sustain your growth. The problem is many additional resources come with a steep price tag, particularly if they take the form of new hires.
What if you could grow your business but only add the staffing resources you need in the field? Or—better yet—what if you could make employees more efficient both in the office and in the field? Most field service management businesses that rely on antiquated systems solve headaches by hiring more people to deal with complications that arise as the business grows.
Solution: LogixOne Operator enables you to streamline your cost growth. Once your system is tailored to your specific business process, it's able to manage a virtually infinite level of growth. It can process automation triggers for thousands of transactions, 24/7, functioning as an employee that never sleeps, never takes a holiday, and is always working.
ProTip 5: Go agile
The field service industry is dynamic. Sometimes, your customers require your services at unideal times—but this is usually out of their control. Things break, services need to be restored, and the resolutions you provide as a result will benefit your business. But it's not easy to produce satisfaction when your administrative team can't access the critical data they need to respond to customer needs.
Solution: The LogixOne Operator extension for Zoho CRM consolidates not only your customer data but all the other information your team needs to make responsive and agile decisions. When a customer calls with an urgent need, your team can quickly create a quote, get it approved, and dispatch the job to an operator—all from the same platform. They can also monitor the job via LogixOne's mapping solution, getting live updates from field staff in an instant. Providing your customers the help they need builds loyalty and keeps them from considering your competitors.
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