By Chad Reinholz
For the past three years, HindSite has conducted surveys of green industry businesses and compiled the results in our annual Green Industry Benchmark Report. One of the most surprising things - at least to us - is that every year field service software usage barely seems to creep above 30% of respondents.
That means fully 70% of green industry businesses aren’t using software to eliminate paperwork and automate manual processes. Which got me wondering - what reasons would someone not using software provide for failing to pull the trigger?
With that in mind, here are five reasons not to buy field service software:
You Enjoy Paperwork
In the movie Office Space, TPS reports were the definition of drudgery. Nobody liked doing them.
But maybe you’re different. Maybe you enjoy the drudgery of paperwork. Maybe you like spending your nights and weekends reading field notes and adding them to Quickbooks. Perhaps you’re a glutton for punishment. Maybe you enjoy tedium.
If that’s you, you certainly don’t want to invest in field service software. Good field service software eliminates paperwork everywhere - in the office and the field - freeing you to do more productive things. Though if you find joy in papercuts, software likely isn’t for you.
Technology Frightens You
There’s a great Saturday Night Live skit featuring the too soon departed Phil Hartman called Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. It ran multiple times, but the skit always included the unfrozen caveman lawyer commenting on how modern technology frightens and confuses him.
Perhaps you’re like that unfrozen caveman lawyer. Perhaps you’re afraid that your technology will come to life and devour you. Maybe you like to wear tinfoil hats and you think the government is listening to you through your computer. Whatever the case, if you’re like that Unfrozen Caveman lawyer and technology frightens and confuses you, then field service software certainly isn’t for you.
You Don’t Want to Grow Your Business
Our 2015 Green Industry Benchmark Report found that customers using our field service software were twice as likely to experience rapid growth as non-customers.
If you don’t want to grow your revenue, you’ll definitely want to avoid our software. It’s designed to eliminate paperwork, improve communication, and help you wow your customers. Surveys continue to show that our customers are among the fastest growing in their respective industries. If you’re happy where you are and don’t want to grow, you should stay far away from field service software.
You Hate Your Customers
Seinfeld turned “No soup for you!” into a catchphrase. In essence, the episode was about a business owner who made exceptional soup - but if you didn’t order in the correct way or he just didn’t like you, you couldn’t have any. The Soup Nazi, as he was called, just didn’t like his customers.
If you’re the same way, don’t install field service software. Because field service software helps you deliver great customer service. How? It helps you keep complete notes on a customer - including your work history. It helps you communicate information to your field employees quickly and easily. And, if it includes service business marketing like our HindSite Connect add-on, you can even automate customer communication.
But if you are a big fan of the Soup Nazi’s customer service, then field service software definitely isn’t for you.
You Don't Like to Get Paid Quickly
Did you know there’s something called bancophobia? It’s a real disease affecting a number of people. Basically, it’s a fear and hatred of banks.
If you suffer from bancophobia, there’s no doubt you don’t want to buy field service software. Why? Because field service software helps you collect money fast. For example, if you own an irrigation business and invoice time and material, if you aren’t using software, it may take weeks to send a customer invoice. With field service software, you can do it immediately. Why? Because you’ve collected all the information you need to bill with your software.
But if you’re bancophobic, the last thing you want is to do is deal with your bank. So by all means, don’t install software. Take weeks or months to invoice your customers. And suffer through the resultant cash flow issues you’ll face.
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