As the internet becomes more integrated into people’s lives, they often expect to hire and manage things online. While this has not totally translated to companies that provide in-person services, such as plumbing businesses, contractors, and electricians, there is fortunately a way that they can make sure that they meet the growing demands of the information economy to improve their processes and work better with their clients’ schedules.
A great way to do this and to make this process a lot better is to use service dispatch software. Simply put, this software solution is an excellent tool for all types of contracting businesses. It makes their services more structured and optimized for both clients and for the business itself. This happens in a number of ways. For one, service dispatch software increases the efficiency of scheduling, which is an eternal complaint among clients to contracting businesses. No-shows are not a great look for any business trying to establish itself in a local area, especially one that has fierce competition. Using this software practically guarantees that an appointment will not fall through the track, as dispatches can work directly with the software to locate contractors who are close the job site in order to ensure that they will make the appointment on time. They can also give the contractor details directions through the use of integrated GPS software, allowing contractors to correctly estimate the amount of time it will take to get to a job site.
When scheduling appointments in advance, dispatches can also use the integrated Google Calendar feature to make sure that both clients and contractors are aware of the appointments and can honor their commitment to the time that the contractor will be able to get to the job site. Too often, contracting companies provide a broad range of when their contractors will show up to a job site, and this can often anger clients who will have to wait at home for nearly the entirety of the day for a contractor to show up.
However, scheduling is not the only way that contracting companies can use service dispatch software to help their employees. They can also use it to communicate with contractors in real-time. This can be done not just through email, but also through messaging. Using the messaging feature, dispatches can assign contractors to jobs as needed, and make changes on the fly in case a contractor is better suited for a particular job type of they are closer to the job site. Having this top-down view of their employees and being able to meet both their scheduling needs and those of their clients will lead to better reviews both from clients on sites like Yelp and employees on sites like Glassdoor.
Overall, there are many ways that a contracting company can improve their efficiency and also improve the lives of their contractors as well. Using service dispatch software, however, is a key way to make the scheduling process more transparent for both contractors and clients and also make changes in real-time depending on their clients’ needs. It is also a great way to handle emergencies, as often things like plumbing issues happen spontaneously and the need for a contractor is immediate. By using this software, contractors can find that they can get more work with less travel time, and contracting companies can do more to integrate both employee and client feedback into their systems and workflow.
