Do you ever feel like the work is never done? When you’re running a field service business, admin tasks like quotes, contracts, timesheets, schedules and stock management are all vying for your precious time.
What’s more, your field workers are spending their time filling out forms and sending off paperwork when they could be applying their specialist skills to the job at hand..
Getting on top of time management can not only get your jobs finished faster, letting you get home to your hobbies, family and friends. It can also take a weight off your employees’ shoulders, helping them clock off earlier and find their work-life balance.
This can seem like an impossible task with so much admin work on your desk, but with the right software on your side, you can cruise through the boring bits and get the job done. Read on for our top five job management hacks to help you and your employees get back to what matters.
1. Automate your forms
Did you know that 52% of field service organisations are still using manual forms? These repetitive tasks such as timesheets, health and safety paperwork and compliance checklists can dominate your day and distract your team from more important tasks.
By automating these processes, you can save time and boost productivity across the board. Invest in a specialist field service software like Workever to automate your forms so you can fill them in on the fly.
With Workever you can build your forms in advance, quickly add information via a mobile app, get signatures in seconds and send copies to your customers in real-time. This means the forms that you used to put aside hours or days for can now be completed on the go, freeing up time for you and your employees.
2. Optimise your schedules
Most businesses assign jobs on an ad-hoc basis, matching incoming requests to the first available technicians on their database. This often feels like the fastest way to schedule work, but you could pay the price in the long run.
An unoptimised schedule can lead to late arrivals, or field workers arriving at a job with insufficient skills to complete it properly. This is not only a waste of your technicians’ time, but can cause a serious drop in customer satisfaction.
Assign the right field workers to the right jobs using comprehensive scheduling software like Workever. Make time-saving decisions by examining your entire team’s schedule in one place, and save travel time with Workever’s GPS feature.
Automated reminders mean you can plan recurring jobs daily, weekly, monthly or yearly and ensure your team’s reliability with customisable notifications.
By taking the time up-front to design a streamlined schedule, you can maximise productivity while saving yourself the hassle of rescheduling and making follow-up appointments.
3. Watch your stock
Nothing eats up hours quite like inventory management. Manually recording each item in your warehouse and ordering in new stock when you’re running low is as tedious as it is time-consuming, and we can’t blame you if it’s a task you put off.
However, stock management is critical to the success of your projects and customer satisfaction. After all, field workers arriving at a job without the right tools and materials can result in hours of wasted time. They may need to leave and come back with the right items, or even postpone the project by days while you order new parts and wait for them to arrive.
Cut out the chance of a catastrophe with reliable inventory management software. Workever’s all round field service platform allows you to record items, prices and stock one time, then let tracking and job allocation happen automatically.
Workever even has automatic notifications for when stock is running low, so you don’t have to worry about running out right before a big job. This can drastically reduce the likelihood of a job being put on hold, increasing customer happiness.
You deserve a break, so save yourself hours of boring stock-taking by investing in the right software.
4. Use real-time data
Let’s face it, a lot of admin work is reactive. You may have your schedule perfectly blocked out for the day, but then an unforeseen issue comes along and you have to drop what you’re doing to respond.
The amount of time you spend reacting to problems is directly linked to the amount of data you have to base your decisions on. If your technicians are only updating you on a project when they drop into the office, you’ll be spending a lot of time on last-minute admin.
If you’re getting real-time updates on each project as it goes along, however, you can make well-informed decisions in advance and keep your team updated on the go.
Field service software like Workever allows you to keep an eye on your field workers’ job progress and locations in real-time. This means you can plan and update schedules based on the most recent information, and keep workers and customers fully informed.
This will save time for your technicians, as they won’t need to keep calling back to the office. It also means you can plan around problems in advance, rather than clearing your schedule every time there’s a delay.
5. Streamline quotes, contracts and invoices
When it comes to finances, it can often feel like Groundhog Day, filling in the same figures again and again. From writing up your first quote to creating a contract to sending out invoices at the end of a job, you’re inputting near-identical data at each point down the line.
Workever can streamline the process from creating a quote to getting paid, ensuring that you’re saving time while sending clear and professional documents to your customers.
Our field service software helps you create professionally branded custom quotes via an easy-to-use template, then logs your data to a connected workflow, allowing you to keep all your customer data in one place and input it into forms such as contracts and service plans.
This means you can create and send an invoice as soon as the work is done, and let customers pay directly via the online portal. Get paid for your work faster, avoid losing important financial details, and free up time for your next big project.
What will you do with your free time?
We all know how it feels to get off-site and kick off your boots, only to spend hours on your laptop filling out paperwork. We think you and your team deserve better.
Workever’s all-in-one field service management software saves you and your team hours of admin every week. Will you dedicate your spare time to winning the next big job, or clock off early and enjoy some well-deserved rest with your family or friends?
If you’re ready to win back your evenings, it’s time to check out Workever. Start your free trial today, and find some time to breathe.