As your plumbing business grows, you’ll need to find ways to improve efficiency and optimize your workflow. One way to do this is to invest in field service management (FSM) software.
FSM software, like Optsy, is designed to help businesses manage their field operations more effectively.
1. Understand the benefits of field service management software for plumbing businesses
For plumbing businesses, field service management software can be a real game-changer. This type of software helps businesses to dispatch technicians, track inventory, and manage customer information.
As a result, plumbing businesses can run more efficiently and effectively, leading to increased profits. In addition, field service management software offers a number of other benefits, including the ability to schedule appointments, track technician productivity, and generate reports.
2. Using FSM software to increase efficiency
As any plumbing business owner knows, efficient operations are key to profitability. That’s why more and more plumbing businesses are turning to FSM software to help them take on more jobs and increase their bottom line.
Because the owner and office staff don’t have to spend as much time generating quotes and processing payroll, they can focus on activities that contribute to the bottom line, such as marketing and customer service.
The increased efficiency provides owners with a system that tracks important things like tax payments that can get very expensive if missed.
3. Implement the software at every level of your businesses from marketing to payroll to quotes to accounts receivable
In order for plumbing businesses to be more profitable, they need to implement software at every level of the business, from marketing to payroll to quotes to accounts receivable. By doing this, businesses can automate many tasks which will free up time for employees to do other tasks that generate revenue.
For example, by automating payroll, businesses can save time and money by not having to input data manually and by not having to pay for paper pay stubs. In addition, businesses can use software to track employee hours and productivity, as well as customers’ account balances and payments.
4. Increased efficiency allows the owners to scale up the plumbing business and take on more contracts
The goal of increasing efficiency is to allow the company to take on more jobs and make more money. Using FSM software, it’s possible to schedule and manage multiple crews at once. The built-in inventory management system makes it easy to make sure that crews have everything they need to do the jobs they have now as well as the ones that have been contracted.
Tracking everything is an important part of scaling your plumbing business. You don’t need as many expensive pieces of equipment if you know where everything is all the time. FSM software can show you where every tracked item, from your trucks to your wrenches, are at any time.
5. Mapping and routing cuts down on wasted time
Since the FSM software can lay out the most efficient routes to and from everywhere, it allows you to keep your crews moving quickly from place to place. This might not seem like a huge deal, since, after all, your team knows where they’re going or they can use their phones. Consider that if your team works four jobs a day and wastes just 15 minutes per job taking a less effective route, you’re paying for an hour of drive time instead of an hour of work time that makes you money.
6. Dispatching to be the first to say yes
When you get a call at the office, there’s a good chance someone has a plumbing emergency. They need a plumber there fast to make sure they don’t destroy their home or have thousands of dollars in clean up to do.
With FSM software, like Optsy, you can dispatch your crews in seconds. The system communicates directly to the crew, sending them wherever you need them fast. This allows you to take the call, look at a screen, and tell the client precisely how long it will take for someone to get there.
7. Reporting is everything to your growth
The right program will supply you with every detail about your business. You can see how many calls you’ve taken, how many quotes went out, the percentage that were accepted, etc. One of the most powerful uses is to manage your marketing. Learn more bout marketing your plumbing business in our blog, How to create a great internet presence for your plumbing business.
You’re also able to see which teams are the most efficient, and which teams will need a little extra encouragement. The time on the job for each team can be tracked, compared to how much that team costs, and you can see who profitable/productive each team member is.
The inventory function will help you plan purchases so you can negotiate better contracts on materials. If you’re able to move an average of 50 toilets a month, you can consider purchasing a bulk lot of them and saving money on each one. Of course, you can still charge market price for them, so you’re making more money.
8. Managing multiple crews allows you to grow quickly
FSM software, like Optsy, allows you to visualize where each crew is, how long they’ll take to do a job, and how long it will take to get to the next job. Since you’re able to see it all laid out clearly in the calendar, with the mapping technology, you can schedule one crew or a dozen or a hundred to get done every contract you have.
This type of scheduling can also work with your estimator. Using the built-in messaging system, you can send messages to your estimator to move them to the next location.
9.Cloud-based and mobile
Since everyone is always out of the office, it only makes sense that you need a cloud-based, mobile system that lets you and your team enter data, send messages, recommend notes, and even document payments from anywhere.
Optsy makes it possible to scale your plumbing business quickly by setting you free to build your business, not spend your time trying to do paperwork.
Conclusion
Optsy is an all-in-one business management platform for plumbing companies that want to grow their business and make more money. It provides our users with dozens of features that allow them to manage their business more effectively, including job scheduling, invoicing, online payments, and customer relationship management. Our platform is easy to use and can be accessed from any device or computer. Get a free demo of Optsy today, and see how we can help you take your plumbing business to the next level.