Note: This is the fourth in a series of blog posts with tips aimed at helping field service businesses improve during seasonal slow periods.
The offseason is the best time to review your field service business. You finally have the time to take a serious look at individual aspects of your company and evaluate what is working and what needs to change.
I have found that there are three main things to look at when reviewing your business. Those are your businesses process, your team, and the biggest pain point for your company in the past season.
So what exactly should you be looking at in each of these? Let’s take a look:
Processes – When is the last time you truly looked at the lifecycle of a work order or a day in the life of your technician? How about your office staff’s daily routine? Have you had time to review how efficient and effective each of these processes have been within your business?
I hope not, because this means you had a busy season, which is great for your company! But now you are slowing down and you have time to reflect on the processes of your company.
Take one day for each area of your company. One for your office person, one for your technician, one for the work order, one for customer complaints, etc. Look at how each one is handled.
Examples:
- For the office: how long is your staff on the phone with a customer, on average? How long is it taking them to create a work order? How long does it take for them to respond to customers?
Can you provide them with tools to speed up their processes or make them more efficient? It could be as simple as needing an updated computer because theirs is slowly dying. Perhaps it’s time to invest in a field service software that can upgrade your offices’ daily work immensely. Whatever it may be, a review of the daily process of your office with the office staff present is a good idea. They know the ins and outs and can tell you things they are struggling with that you may have never known about had you never asked.
- For your techs: how long is it taking them to complete a job? What do their drive times look like? Does it appear they are taking too long at jobs? Are they finishing their work days early each week? Do they need more jobs?
You may need to start setting time requirements for how long jobs should take so the guys understand what is expected from them. A GPS system in the trucks may also help to ensure your techs aren’t getting lost in between locations.
Walk through each process your company has with your staff. Figure out where the inefficiencies are occurring and adjust them. Sometimes it is a simple fix, whereas other times it may take a little more efforts on all parts, but that is why the offseason is a great time to review. Everyone has breathing room to adjust their processes.
Team – A balanced team can really change the entire attitude of a company. It is important to review your employees after each season not only so you know how things are going, but so they have a chance to tell you how they think it is going.
When reviewing your employees, you should look at two things: are they the right person for the company and are they doing the right job.
An employee might fit well with the company and its culture, but struggle with the tasks or area they are put in to. You should ask each employee individually how things are going. Find out if they are happy where they are at in the company or if they see themselves doing something differently. You want an employee that not only fits well with your company, but also who enjoys the work they are doing. If an employee expresses concerns, listen and take note. Offer up other tasks they can take on. You don’t want to lose a good employee if you can help it so try to find a compromise.
At HindSite, we’ve seen many people who started in Support, but were more naturally suited to being a Professor. They were the right people, but we just had them performing the wrong job. It’s important that you get them in the right job quickly. It helps the business, but it also helps the individual. Once they get in the right job, they’ll be happier and more productive.
You may also have an employee who does good work, but just doesn’t fit with the culture of the company. Maybe they do not get along well with others, or perhaps their personality just isn’t compatible with yours. During the offseason, ask your employees what they think of their coworkers. You will likely already have a hunch if someone isn’t a fit and it helps to know for future hiring, why they aren’t a fit.
Your team is the backbone of your company. A review to ensure you have a strong backing is always a good idea. Plus, your employees will appreciate knowing how they are doing. If they are doing well, tell them! Everyone likes to know when they’ve done a good job. If they need to work on something, provide positive criticism. Hopefully, they will choose to improve and you will gain a stronger team.
Pain Point – Every company has their pain points. They inevitably pop up every year. What’s great about the offseason is that you finally have the time to focus your attention on solving these pains.
Our company recently had our phones as our biggest pain point. They were dodgy and inefficient. Our voicemails were not being sent to the appropriate department and at times the entire office phone system would just shut down. The support provider was inefficient at giving us a permanent solution. Rather, they would provide temporary fixes.
At that time, we didn’t have the time to look into the issue or find a new phone company. Phone calls were coming in too quickly and we didn’t have the availability to set up an entirely new system for the office. Once we began to hit our slower months however, we began the process of researching new phone providers. It was much easier to research and set up a new system for the company when we had a moment to catch our breath.
My personal suggestion is to sit down with your entire company and discuss pain points. There may be big issues occurring in one department of your business that you are unaware of due to not being with that department on a regular basis. This is something you can look at with your entire company. Ask everyone to write down their biggest pain point. Find a common problem and work on it.
But don’t just discard the other pain points mentioned. These are good to keep around as reminders. It never hurts to know what pains your company is experiencing so you can work on solutions for these as well.
We touched on some of the more basic processes for a business, but there are other things companies can review as well. The point is to use your time wisely. When you reach your offseason, use it to its fullest by reviewing how the last year went. Do you need to make things more efficient on your field side by installing work order management software? Is your office keeping up with customer calls? Can you speed up the invoicing process? Involve your staff and find places that need work, while supporting those that are continuing to do well.