Running a small field service business isn't easy. Not only do you have to deal with the day-to-day grind, but you've got to manage the finances, ideate on marketing strategy, manage employees - and still take time to interact with your family. There just isn't enough time in the day to do everything you'd like to do.
Luckily, with advances in Internet technology, it's now easier than ever to find people who can do tasks for you. It could be something menial - like clean up your customer database - or something that takes a lot of skill - like designing a new website. Whatever you want to do, there are now tools available that can make you more productive.
Here are some of our favorite tools:
Upwork
Formerly oDesk, Upwork is a website that helps you find freelancers that can help you get things done. Need a web developer to code your new website? How about a graphic designer to create a great new door hanger? Looking for someone to answer your phone when you're not around? Upwork can help you find experienced freelancers to do projects big and small.
One of the great things about Upwork is that if you're paying someone an hourly rate for a project, Upwork takes a screenshot of what they're doing every 10 minutes. Not only does that give you peace of mind that you're paying someone to do your job - not surf the Internet - but it most likely results in your work being done faster than if you'd used another source.
Plus, like many Internet sites, you get more transparency when selecting a freelancer. You can see some of their past work. You can see how they were rated by past employers. You can see how many hours they worked. Upwork includes all the information you need to make a more informed decision. Also, since freelancers are working for reviews that ultimately lead to more work and money, odds are they're going to work hard.
99Designs
Let's face it, you're not a graphic designer. But one of the most important things you can do to gain new business is stand out. The best way to do that is with your design elements. You could hire an expensive agency or a local freelancer, but that can be costly and you really don't have a lot of choice.
That's where 99Designs comes in. With 99Designs, you simply submit a creative brief explaining what you want, set a price, and start getting designs. That's what's so great about 99Designs - you can receive more than one design. You then select a couple you like, give those designers some more suggestions, and eventually you'll get a great design.
We used 99Designs to create trade show booth graphics and were very pleased with the results. You can have them create logos, truck wraps, brochures, web sites, and more. It's a great way to get a good design inexpensively.
Amazon's Mechanical Turk
If you ever want someone to do a menial computer task, Amazon's Mechanical Turk is the place. It's a great way to crowdsource something that would take hours to do. Basically, you submit a Human Intelligence Task (or HIT) to the service, name a price, and people do the work for you. It typically costs a couple bucks an hour and you don't have to pay the taxes you'd normally pay for a business employee.
Mechanical Turk isn't great for everything, but some use cases for a field service business include:
- Cleaning up or deduplicating a customer database
- Performing market research
- Researching competitive information
Basically, any manual task that doesn't require a lot of specific knowledge is a great thing to submit to Mechanical Turk.
Field Service Software
OK, OK, this is self-serving. But it still continues to amaze me that only roughly 25% of field service businesses are using field service software. I'd love it if everyone used our software, but even if you don't think HindSite is a good fit, invest in something.
Why? Because field service software can really help you get a lot more work done. It eliminates a lot of the manual, paper-laden processes in your business. It helps you centralize information. It helps you communicate better and more efficiently with your crews. If it includes service business marketing like our HindSite Connect add-on, it can even help you automate and improve your customer communication.
Still not sold? Then check out how Greenway Irrigation was able to do 150% more work with the same number of people - just by adding field service software!
Now that you've leveraged these four tools to get more done, why not tackle some of the other issues in your business? We've compiled a list of 33 mistakes contractors make in our free eBook, 33 Stupid Things Contractors Do (And How to Fix Them). Check it out today!
