There are two keys to profitable service operations – job service density and job route density. I discussed job route density in a previous post entitled “Field Service Scheduling – Kill the “Where-wolf” that’s eating your profits.” Using a mapping tool simultaneously with a job scheduling calendar helps minimize drive time relative to work time.
Job route density is critical, but equally critical is job service density. Job service density is how much billable work you can pack into a single job. To maximize service density during the job planning step, you have to have visibility to all the work that is due or available at a given location. ServiceTrade has just rolled out a new capability for managing recurring services to ensure that you never miss a service opportunity.
Assembling jobs from services that are due has historically been a painful, manual process involving old file folders or endless re-sorts of some Excel spreadsheet report. ServiceTrade eliminates this nonsense with a simple interface to visualize all services that are due or available at a given location. Even when the process is complicated by various equipment with different service frequencies or customer requests for delays – ServiceTrade still makes it easy. What’s more, every facility manager can appreciate a sales pitch that begins with “While I am onsite, do you want me to go ahead and . . . “ because they understand that they have already paid for the trip charge. Matching the jobs correctly to the equipment maintenance schedules while also maximizing the other onsite repair work is tricky business.
Instead of the crude and inaccurate approach of simply “copying the old job” to create the new job, ServiceTrade enables you to attach “services” to a location and specify a scope of work, an asset, and a service frequency. Then, the application lets you run an interactive report that visualizes all of the services due so that you can align services at a location to maximize service density when creating jobs.
In the next couple of weeks, we will release a feature that gives you a reminder of past deficiencies on the location for review when creating jobs. That way you can add repair services to a regularly scheduled maintenance job and give the customer a call to offer them a special rate because they can avoid the trip charge.
Making it easy to maximize job service density is another way that ServiceTrade helps you do more real work with fewer hassles. Sign up today for a free trial and see how ServiceTrade can help you never miss a service opportunity.
