By David Crary 
With summer in full effect, it can be difficult to keep employees motivated. There are cabins, grills, and cold beers calling their name and when the weather is nice, it can be difficult to keep employees focused on the task at hand. Lawn care software may be just that extra push your field techs need to stay motivated through the long summer days.
- Goal Tracking – A lot of field service businesses fail to set goals for the company, or if they do, they fail to keep track of them on a regular basis. I know I was guilty of this myself when I owned my irrigation business. We would always talk about goals we wanted to reach, but then things would pick up and the goals would be forgotten.
Lawn care software, like HindSite, has the ability to show everyone in the office the number of hours until the company goal is reached. It will track when jobs are completed and subtract those from the hours needed to reach the company goal. Some guys work best when comparing numbers, and goal hour tracking is a great way to show them how much work needs to be done to make the company successful. - Employee Comparisons – Other employees are motivated when they are being compared to their coworkers. They like to excel in a company and stand out. With a field service software program you can track employee hours and jobs completed each week. At the end of each week or month, you can sit down the employees to discuss where they stand in comparison to the rest of the company. If someone does not appear to be performing as well as the rest of your crew, you can show them the numbers and where you would like them to be.
If you have an employee who is excelling, you can share their times and jobs completed with the company and offer a reward for the hard work. It could be as big as a bonus or a simple as their name on a plaque. You’d be surprised how much proof of numbers and a small reward can go in motivating an employee. - Set Schedules – I saw this a lot when I was running my irrigation business. If the guys were not given a set schedule, they slacked off in certain areas of their daily tasks. When I started giving them a more detailed schedule, that included exactly how long each typical job should take, they were much more efficient with their time.
With lawn care software, you are able to schedule time for jobs based on the individual service being provided. It is not an estimate by the scheduler, but rather an exact time for how long a service should take. This keeps the guys on task, because they can see exactly how long they should be at each site.
Keeping motivation high during long, hot days can be tough. By using lawn care software, you can help to motivate your field technicians with numbers and goals they can monitor themselves.
Want more tips on how to improve your business? Check out this list of 33 Stupid Things Contractors Do. Find out if you are guilty of any of these, and even better, if you can work smarter.