How Job Management Software can help you beat the tradesmen labour shortage.
Introduction:
We all know that it's tough to find additional skilled labour right now and it doesn't look set to change anytime soon.
A recent report looking at heritage properties suggested that the UK will need to find a staggering extra 100,000 tradesmen and tradeswomen each year for the next 30 years to keep up with demand in renovation! Not surprising when you think that an estimated 1 in 5 UK homes was built over 100 years ago.
That's the bad news.
The good news? That represents around £35 billion in new business! Yes, you read that right. Thirty-five. Billion. Pounds.
So how to make the most of this opportunity?
Whilst I can't magic new tradesmen for you, in this blog, I'm going to look at how you can maximise the assets you already have using job management software, making yourself more attractive to new recruits at the same time. Let's go 👇🏻
The Benefits of Job Management Software
When you're super busy, it's easy for things to fall between the cracks. That can mean running out of parts, having to arrange revisits or missing things off invoices. In worst-case scenarios, it can even mean not invoicing at all and we all know what that means for a business's long-term prospects.
The right job management software can streamline and automate lots of the day-to-day tasks in your business, meaning that you don't have to give them headspace. This gives you time back to focus on what matters and provides detailed information that helps you to make the right decisions for your business.
Let's break it down into bite-sized chunks.
#1 Improved Job Scheduling 📋
Whether you're still using pen and paper, spreadsheets or even some kind of generic software, you will find that there is a massive difference between your current offering and what custom-created job management software can do for you.
With the help of route optimising software, you can ensure that your scheduling is fast and effective, with users such as NWCE reporting massive savings in time and fuel as well as increased productivity. It also means that you can automate mundane processing, freeing up office staff to focus on customer service.
And it's not just faster for administrators. You can also speed up jobs for your workmen by creating standard worksheets for each job type, making answering a question the click of a button. What's more, it means they can capture images and even video as proof of service, with customer signature to sign off completion, meaning that you can invoice immediately.
Good scheduling means that you can take on more jobs and complete them more efficiently, even with a smaller workforce.
The right job management software will:
✅ Reduce your fuel bills
✅ Increase your reach by allowing you to seamlessly use trusted subcontractors or Network
✅ Allow you to schedule more jobs with the same number of staff
✅ Drastically reduce your admin time
#2 Cost-Saving 💷
Let's get right down to it - profit matters. It's not just important for business owners but for your customers and employees as well. But job management software looks expensive, right? There absolutely is an up-front cost but it is offset by a wide range of savings, including in areas you might not have considered.
For example, you might know what stock you have in your warehouse but what about on each van, or at a customer or supplier? Do you know the value of your current work in progress or have seamless integration with your financial packages, such as Sage or Xero, to reduce the need for double-keying or the chance of error? Ultimately, the stronger the grasp on your finances, the stronger your business.
The right job management software will give you:
✅ Improved cashflow
✅ Easy invoicing
✅ Better stock control
✅ More first-time fixes
#3 Better Communications 🔊
Effective communication is a must in any business and that's true whether applied within departments, across different teams or with customers.
If your chosen job management software also has a mobile app, then you will be amazed by the immediate change it makes to your internal information flow. Jobs can be scheduled and dispatched in seconds and will appear immediately on your engineer's device. Similarly, once the job is complete, it will appear on the schedule and dashboard of your administrator so that they can despatch the customer's job card and invoice.
Worried that you might lose touch with your customers or that customers might miss the personal touch? Quite the reverse. Because emails and texts can be automated, you can be sure that your customers are kept informed every step of the way, you're just taking the administrative grunt work out of the equation. You can send automated ETA texts to customers when your workman is on the way, send through job confirmations automatically and much more. All of this means that if you want to check in with your customers, it can be more personal and less functional.
What's more, some job management software even offers a customer portal, allowing customers to self-serve on booking requests, job histories and documentation.
The right job management software will give you:
✅ Real-time updates
✅ Visible job performance info
✅ Instant response between office and road
✅ Improved customer comms
#4 Job Tracking 👀
Having a real-time overview of your business delivers enormous benefits, making job tracking a trade essential.
Urgent jobs become simple to allocate when you can see at a glance who is nearest and has the right skills set. At the same time as diverting that driver, you can check everyone else's schedule and redistribute the jobs so that no customers are left disappointed.
And it's not just a question of being able to track where everyone is at any given moment but also of being able to see how much jobs are really costing and ensuring that your pricing is right for the profit you need to make.
So what can you do with all of your suddenly freed-up time?
Well getting down and dirty with your company data would be a great choice! But if even the thought of looking at a data set makes your toes curl, you're not alone! That's why the best job management software provides great visual displays of your information as well as allowing you to run reports and download information. You can even automate your report-sending, minimising your effort for maximum benefit.
The right job management software will give you:
✅ Resource tracking
✅ Great business information
✅ The ability to react quickly to customer needs
✅ The ability to make informed decisions
Conclusion:
Hopefully, you've now got a real taste of how job management software could help you deliver more with less. But if you're ready to find out what that might look like in action, contact BigChange and ask for a live demo.
Here's a reminder of what job management software gives you that makes it a great investment:
- Allows you to take on more jobs
- Ensures no lost paperwork because it's all digital
- Full visibility of all jobs at all times
- Instant invoicing
- Reduced overheads
- Improved comms
- Resource Tracking
- Improved cash flow
- Mobile App
