There is a lot of talk of what to do before you buy lawn care software. I myself am guilty of perhaps even over writing about what you need to know before you buy, but it is important to be informed. But just as important as it is to know what to do before you purchase, it is just as crucial to know what to do immediately after you pull the trigger.
I have come up with three things I, as the owner of a field service software company, want my customers to do after they purchase from us. If you do just these three things, you’ll be much more successful implementing lawn care software.
- Inform Your Team – One of the most crucial parts of beginning any change is to communicate it to your company. No one likes to be left behind and no one appreciates not being informed of company changes.
The change alone will be hard for your team to accept. This is a fact I have come to accept over the course of my business. People do not like changes to their daily lives. Consistency is good and learning a new system is not appealing.
By informing your team, however, you are showing respect and consideration. The worst thing you can do is decide to implement a new system with no input and shove it on your guys and office staff without a thought to how they feel. Let the company know you are looking into lawn care software, tell them when you have narrowed down your choices and make sure everyone is aware when you order. Get input along the entire way so that each employee is heard. They may not be 100% on board with the program chosen or software in general, but at least their opinion was heard.
And be a marketer! Don’t forget to tell each individual how and why you’ve purchased lawn care software. Tell them how it will benefit the company as well as each of them individually. At the end of the day, you’re purchasing lawn care software so your company is more competitive, more efficient, and more profitable. Those are all things that make your employees’ jobs more secure (and possibly more lucrative). - Develop An Initial Group – Once the software is purchased, develop a group that will learn the ins and outs of the program. This could be a core group of a company manager, an office person and a tech out in the field.
You will want an initial group to test out the software and develop it for your company before you throw them all into the lion’s den. As discussed above, change is hard. Starting off slow and small with only a few select people will make the implementation process easier. This group can learn the system and then train the rest of the company in. It will also make it easier to communicate back to your software provider with just one or two employees being the point of contact instead of the entire company. - Check and Double Check the Hardware Requirements – Nothing is more frustrating than getting everything set up, only to find out you are missing a required piece. Once your order is placed, your very next question should be what type of hardware is needed. Does the program require a certain amount of data space availability? Will you need a certain web browser? If it is also mobile field service software, does it run on Apple or Android?
I hate to say it, but simple hold ups such as waiting for a computer to be ordered or needing a phone plan set up can put a damper on the excitement of a new system and can sometimes put the installation on hold indefinitely.
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