I am sure you have heard at least a time or two that lawn care software will make your business more efficient and profitable. But what I am sure many field service software companies fail to mention is the hidden tools their software holds. Sure you can schedule, route, send work orders to the field, and get the bill out in a very effective manner, but what about the added bonuses that no one really tells you about?
There are other departments within your field service business that can benefit from lawn care software. One of those departments is your sales team or person. It can be difficult to track what your sales people are doing, especially if you are like me, and struggle to fully understand the selling process. Luckily, your lawn care software can be a useful tool to help you track your sales team, and therefore compensate them fairly.
Schedules – While schedules are a definite must for your field techs to ensure jobs you have already secured are completed, they can also be a tool to track your sales person. You may not need to check his or her schedule every day, but every week or couple of weeks is a good plan to see how many appointments they are actually securing.
If their schedule is full, your sales person should be getting paid for their hard work and perseverance. If they have larger gaps in their days, perhaps you need to reevaluate their processes or take a closer look into the lack of interest from potential buyers.
Routes – Many small businesses compensate expenses such as gas or phone bills for their sales person. With routes, you are able to see the exact route they are taking and pay accordingly. No one likes to get stiffed, and rough estimates on miles could end up costing you more than what the trip cost in reality. Routes are a good way to efficiently track exactly how far your guys are going so you can compensate fairly.
Reports – Reports are one of the strongest tools for both your sales force and you as an owner. Sales reports track exactly where your sales person is in the sales process with every potential customer.
We use these within my own company, and they have gotten to be a life saver. It had been difficult for me to track our sales guy. Salesmen and women don’t have the same kinds of schedules or demands that a field technician does and so ensuring they were paid fairly, while still knowing I was getting my money’s worth was tough.
You can see who needs to be called back, who has an appointment in the future with your sales person, and who is ready to buy. It is a great way to track sales for the month and pay out commission as it is deserved. It is also a great tool for your sales department to use to track their own progress.
Your salesperson needs tools and support just like the rest of your employees. While they may not be in the field using the heavy equipment every day, they are experienced in their field to get you more business. Ensure they have the tools required to not only do their job, but that also allow you to track their work and compensate fairly.
Perhaps you aren’t quite ready to hire a sales person yet, or are just looking for other ways to help sell your business and its services. There are little things that a business can do to increase their selling and one of those is through their website. Check out the 6 Requirements for a Website that Sells to see how you can spruce up the site and draw in more customers.