Scheduling. Just hearing the word might have sent shivers down your spine when you first launched your business. You likely started out driven by your passion for solving complex technical issues, and leaving customers satisfied. However, it didn’t take long to realize that managing field service scheduling plays a crucial role in determining whether your business thrives or struggles.
Whether you love it or hate it, having a reliable scheduling system is essential for driving growth and ensuring long-term success. Staying on schedule is a non-negotiable in the field service industry. Studies show that more than half of customers won’t hire a company again if a technician arrives late for an appointment. No matter your business area, repeat customers are the foundation of your business. With that in mind, let’s dive into a few scheduling tips you can start using right now.
Hire a skilled office dispatcher
Let’s begin with the essentials. At the start, you might be tempted to juggle all the work and office tasks yourself. This approach may work temporarily, but it will soon hinder your growth. To take your business to the next level, you need to concentrate on leadership responsibilities like marketing, recruitment, and strategic planning. That means delegating!
However, don’t cut corners here. Field service scheduling requires more than just someone answering phones. It demands someone with excellent organizational skills and the right balance of assertiveness and approachability. Your dispatcher must set firm boundaries with technicians, while remaining professional and friendly with customers.
Have customer info accessible
When a customer reaches out to schedule a service, having their information immediately available is crucial. If you’re relying on physical files stored in a cabinet, make sure they’re well-organized and easily accessible for your dispatcher.
That said, why rely on paper files in the digital age? Consider transitioning to digital tools for your field service scheduling needs. Software tools such as Synchroteam are a real lifesaver for dispatchers. They can access customer records, review service histories and equipment details, and even schedule new jobs – all before the call ends.
Group jobs by location or type
In the early days of your business optimizing your schedule probably wasn’t a priority. But as your company grows, poor scheduling can leave significant profits on the table. A simple strategy? Assign jobs that are geographically close to one another to the same technician on the same day.
Your dispatcher can use free GPS or mapping tools to determine customer locations and streamline routes. However, manually entering multiple addresses into a mapping tool can be time-consuming and inefficient. This is where field service scheduling and management software comes in, offering a more streamlined approach to route optimization and scheduling.
Send reminders to customers
When you add preventative maintenance to your field service scheduling, it’s often planned months in advance. By the time the appointment rolls around, chances are your customer will have completely forgotten about it. The last thing you want is to send a technician to a locked, empty house, wasting time and effort rescheduling.
Avoid this by establishing a system to keep customers informed. Your dispatcher can call customers a day or week in advance. Better yet, automate the process! With software like Synchroteam, you can send email reminders to customers with appointments scheduled for a specific day or week in just one click. The mobile app can even send text notifications when technicians are en route to perform the service.
Maintain a list for unassigned jobs
In the field service industry, emergencies happen, and sometimes jobs can’t be scheduled immediately due to technician availability. A waiting list for unassigned work can be a game-changer. For instance, if you’re using a whiteboard, create an additional “unassigned” column alongside the ones for each technician. This column can hold jobs waiting to be assigned.
This approach allows your business to remain flexible and adapt to unpredictable workdays. Whether you’re using whiteboards or advanced tools like Synchroteam for field service scheduling, this strategy works across all systems.
Go digital!
While many of these tips can be applied to traditional, paper-based systems, transitioning to digital field service scheduling software can dramatically improve your scheduling efficiency.
Why make the switch to digital service field tools?
- Mobile software eliminates paper costs, saving hundreds of dollars annually.
- Paper work orders can be lost or damaged, leading to errors, wasted time, and revenue loss.
- Digital tools eliminate the hassle of deciphering illegible handwriting.
- Scheduling via mobile software allows technicians to skip unnecessary trips to the office for paperwork.
- On-the-spot billing through field service software accelerates your billing cycle.
If you’re ready for it, why wait? Download the free Synchroteam demo and give it a go. You’ll be surprised!
Image by Leeloo The First
