INTRODUCTION
During times of flux, finding ways to increase efficiency can be key to aiding your business in weathering the storm. Additionally, having time at home may allow for the implementation of some features you’ve hoped to explore, but haven’t had the time for.
This article calls out several features that can be leveraged to streamline operations and create efficiencies. We’ve highlighted the top action items you can take TODAY to improve efficiency below.
Where do I start?
First, it’s important to take inventory of your labor supply, much like you would your warehouse. You may have employees who are temporarily unable to work due to school closures, illness, or other reasons.
Once you’ve identified your labor supply, it’s time to make the most of the people who are available to you. Stress to these folks that this is an unprecedented time, and getting through it will require your team to work together. Ask them to lean in to the discomfort of needing to rapidly adapt, and address their concerns. You can also institute an instant messaging system to keep everyone in communication. Set some ground rules such as starting a remote check-in process, what expectations are, and how your office staff and technicians can consistently “win” each day.
How do I tackle implementing the recommended features?
Great question - many of these can be done right from settings, and we’ve included help articles that you can provide to your team as they adjust to the new process. Please note that to access these articles, you will need to be signed in to your ServiceTitan account. We’ve also broken these out into smaller phases so you can prioritize them for your business based on ease of implementation and the impact of the feature. Start with the Phase I tasks below, and move through the different phases as time permits.
PHASE I - commit to completing these 4 tasks over the next week. Pro Tip! Use ServiceTitan’s task management module to help you track your progress.
Leverage Custom Fields (<30 minutes to create) - For information that should be collected on every call, create a custom field for your calls screen. Examples might include asking customers if anyone in the home is ill or has been exposed to COVID-19, their anticipated form of payment, or any other relevant information. Documentation for setup is available here.
Verify addresses (no set-up required!) - Make sure your CSRs are verifying customer addresses! Verified addresses ensure that the address exists and will correctly surface on the GPS and provide directions for the technician. Reduced gas costs are more important than ever and showing up to the wrong house can inadvertently lead to unnecessary exposure to COVID-19. Address validation is needed any time an address in the system shows up with an orange question mark next to it. To verify, simply click the question mark, and the system will load the google-verified address. Tap the address that pops up after confirming with the homeowner that it is correct, and you’re all set!
Utilize Cancel/Hold Reasons (<30 minutes to create) - To get an accurate pulse on your cancellations amidst the virus, create a cancel reason called COVID-19 (settings>cancel and hold reasons). You can also track jobs you are placing on hold and planning to follow up on at a later time by using a hold reason rather than cancellation reason. From there, you can create a custom report and filter by that cancel/hold reason and schedule it to hit your inbox daily/ weekly. You also have the ability to utilize your upcoming jobs report for visibility into scheduling and any relevant changes. This article provides information on setup.
Apply Task Management (<2 hours to set up and get tasks entered) - Almost any internal tracking can be done via task management - you can think of this like a digital sticky note. As you move to remote procedures, you can have the security of reporting on everything getting done. This also ensures that things aren’t being forgotten.
Examples of common things tracked via task management to keep everyone productive are
Complaint/Customer Concern Management
Warranty Management
Permit Tracking
Documentation for task management setup is available here, and use case documentation is available here.
Congratulations on wrapping up Phase I! It’s our hope that using these features will help you to save time, cut costs, and create efficient processes. Next, check out our Phase II recommendations for features we’ve chosen specifically to aid with automation, training, and data collection.
CONCLUSION
While this list of features is not exhaustive, the features shared in each phase of these articles are meant to serve as a starting point for lowering costs and increasing efficiencies as a response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. These are also features that a team of ServiceTitan and Industry experts compiled as value drivers for ServiceTitan customers, prioritized by impact and ease of implementation. A comprehensive list of features to leverage for your COVID-19 response is available on our COVID-19 Contractor Playbook.
