You want to find a field service scheduling app (or, in plainer English – a system to let your customers schedule you for a service call), but it can be a frustrating process. At first, you may be pleased to see that you don’t have to re-invent the wheel, and that there are quite a few choices.
But you can wear yourself out looking at software pretty quickly. You will quickly see that there are many field service job scheduling app options out there, and you may wonder if any of them are a perfect fit for your business.
What problems am I trying to solve?
You should start the process just as you would if you were starting a service call – by analyzing the situation. What problems are you really trying to solve with a field service scheduling app? Most of them have more features than you’re going to need. But if you focus on the features that you must have, you can narrow down the field pretty significantly. What are your biggest issues?
- Customers have a hard time scheduling you.
- You or your crews have a hard time staying on schedule.
- You have trouble keeping track of your crews.
- Customers are not being billed accurately and on time.
- Parts inventory is not being maintained accurately.
You may need to solve all of these problems, or just a few of them. You’ll know the right solution when you recognize what your biggest problem areas are. Quickbooks Online offers a great billing solution, if that’s your main focus area. You should consider FieldPulse for job scheduling if you’re already using QBO.
How do I implement field service scheduling software?
You may be tempted to jump in with both feet – ask everyone to come in one weekend, learn all about the software, and start Monday morning. This will be a mistake. Some employees will resist using the new environments, and some customers may resist as well, especially if you don’t implement everything perfectly.
Allow for some setbacks, and leave yourself room to make adjustments along the way. Keep the existing channels working. For example, don’t stop answering the phone if most of your customers currently call to make appointments! If you have technicians who rely on paper methods, don’t take them away. Continue to train until everyone is comfortable with the technology.
If you are interested in help selecting, implementing, and training on field service management software, contact us for a no-obligation discussion. We actually encourage long conversations before deciding on a paid engagement, so we’re happy to talk with you.