5 Moves Smart Contractors Are Making to Thrive in a Volatile Market
Commercial contractors are facing one of the most unpredictable economic landscapes in decades—tight labor, rising costs, interest rate shocks, and wavering capital spending. It’s easy to feel stuck. But top performers aren’t just weathering the storm—they’re growing.
At ServiceTrade, we monitor these industry trends and we see what’s working. The best contractors are doubling down on operational excellence, recurring revenue, and smart technology. Here are 5 powerful strategies that are helping them grow margins, retain talent, and boost valuation right now:
1. Streamline Operations to Protect Margins
Improve efficiency from quote to invoice—your fastest path to higher profits.
With the rise of AI and IoT, predictive maintenance is transforming commercial building services. Contractors who digitize workflows and prioritize scheduled service over emergency calls are building more profitable, predictable businesses.
Actions that drive impact:
Avoid fixed-fee quotes. Use cost-plus pricing to protect margins from supply chain volatility.
Prioritize preventive maintenance. Reduce the chaos and overhead of reactive work.
Track key performance metrics. Monitor KPIs like revenue per technician and gross profit per hour to optimize each hour of technician time.
2. Turn Compliance and Cost Control Into Recurring Revenue
Become a strategic partner, not just a vendor.
Building owners and operators need help navigating compliance mandates, aging systems, and energy costs. Contractors who position themselves as strategic partners—rather than transactional vendors—build long-term relationships and predictable income.
Strategies to win the right work:
Stay away from capital-dependent construction or break/fix work. Construction is too risky in a tight money environment, and break/fix work is administratively expensive and disruptive.
Secure recurring equipment inspection agreements. Then optimize your repair pull-through process.
Show, don’t just tell. Use photos and videos to communicate service value, not just invoice totals.
3. Boost Valuation with Efficiency and Recurring Revenue
Buyers love predictable profits—and efficiency sells.
M&A activity is surging. Companies commanding premium valuations have this in common: high-margin recurring revenue, strong EBITDA, and technology-enabled operations. A Charter Capital Partners Q4 report found that the mean EBITDA for field services company acquisitions was 13%. In short, companies with strong recurring revenue streams and compliance-driven services can command the highest valuations.
Steps to command a premium:
Focus on your best customers. Profitability—not volume—builds value.
Implement field efficiency software. Companies using operations software, such as ServiceTrade, see up to 25% performance gains in year one.
Use technology to strengthen customer relationships. Combine proactive, reliable scheduling with detailed and actionable customer communication about service work.
4. Use Data to Drive Every Decision
Top contractors turn performance data into growth strategies.
The best-performing commercial service contractors use data to power technician productivity and business growth. Integrated software enables them to prioritize high-value jobs, close work orders faster, and unlock new revenue through proactive repairs.
Metrics that matter:
Manage revenue per technician. Use dollars-per-day goals to optimize scheduling and prioritize work.
Improve cash flow. Accelerate invoice cycles by connecting contracts, work orders, and completions.
Increase repair conversions. Top performers quote faster and convert 20% of work orders into additional revenue.
5. Win the Labor Challenge with Technology and Career Pathways
Enable technicians to do more of what they’re best at.
A 14–20% skilled labor shortfall is colliding with 6–8% industry growth. Contractors who simplify technician workflows and invest in people will outpace those who don’t. It’s no longer just about hiring—it’s about enabling and retaining a skilled workforce that can deliver against profitability goals while serving customers and selling more business.
Workforce strategies that pay off:
Cut the admin burden. Let technicians focus on what they do best—service and repair.
Equip techs with job-critical info on their mobile devices. Fewer mistakes. Faster jobs. Less rework.
Serve your best customers first. Prioritize value over volume and reduce costly “windshield time.”
The Path Forward
Contractors who embrace speed, data, and smarter workflows are poised to win—today and tomorrow. Whether it’s boosting revenue, retaining great talent, or attracting buyers, the most resilient companies are building their advantage now.
At ServiceTrade, we’re proud to help power that success.
Commercial Service Contractors – Can You Reduce Busy Work in the Busy Season?
Busy season is here for many commercial service contractors. Being busy is much better than the alternative, but this busy season may be a good opportunity for you to examine your current operations and workflows and ask, “What are my people busy doing?”
Busy doesn’t necessarily mean productive. In fact, busy often means hurried, overwhelmed, and constantly running in reactive mode. This isn’t good for you or your company. Eliminating the unnecessary busy work can go a long way in improving morale during a stressful busy season. Instead, focus on working smarter and increasing productivity across the board for all your employees.
For the purposes of this post, we are looking at the busy work that arises when customers are calling in emergency repair work. Let’s look at four basic stages or phases of an emergency repair job to identify areas where you can potentially reduce busy work, and reduce stress levels for you and others in your company.
Phase 1: The customer calls
A customer with an emergency calls in a repair request. One of your front office staff members fields the call and gathers all the necessary details. They may scribble notes on a piece of paper, or type information into a spreadsheet saved to their computer. Either way, it’s likely the beginning of information about the job being recorded everywhere but one central location, which is going to cost you a lot of time over the course of the job.
Busy work time drains:
Retyping job details into the work order.
Failing to have an online emergency request form. (Which could reduce the amount of information your staff has to type in to a work order, or even allow the customer to go directly to phase 2.)
Searching for the customer’s contract to find the SLA for emergency service calls.
Phase 2: You schedule the service call
Once the work order is created, it’s time to schedule the service call, and fast. But unless you have real-time visibility to your techs’ schedules, an increased volume of emergency calls can create a lot of distracting, time-consuming phone calls in just getting the tech to the job. The pace that comes with the busy season can make even the best organized spreadsheet or whiteboard outdated by mid-morning.
Busy work time drains:
Identifying techs who can take the emergency call.
Figuring out which techs are nearby.
Distracting phone calls to technicians who are on another job.
Phase 3: Your service techs do the work
Once the tech is on site, questions they have about the location or facility will require that they search through a stack of papers, search their email, or call the office to get more information. Even worse, you may find the information your tech needs is on a piece of paper you can’t find, or in the head of an employee who is on vacation.
Busy work time drains:
Techs driving to and from the office to pick up paper copies of work orders and schedules.
Techs calling around to get facility or equipment information.
Phone calls to the customer to let them know the tech is on the way.
Phase 4: You invoice the customer
Once the tech drops off the paperwork (unnecessary in and of itself), the fun for the back office begins.
Overwhelmed techs are filling out paperwork faster than ever. Sloppy handwriting and incomplete descriptions can be an even bigger than usual source of frustration for your back office staff. Someone in your back office has to retype information from work orders into your accounting system. Techs are hard to get a hold of when your accounting team has a question about the paperwork, or, even worse, an irate customer calls in with a question about their bill.
Busy work time drains:
Trying to decipher tech handwriting and notes on paper work orders.
Double data entry – retyping all information from the work order into your accounting system.
Searching for the contract to find the customer’s agreed upon rate for emergency service calls.
All these time drains assume the paperwork is already in the office. Waiting on paperwork to get back to the office is a common problem for commercial service contractors. Techs keep paperwork in their trucks until the end of the day or week, and then bring it into the office for back office staff to process. (Unless they’ve lost it somewhere along the way.) While it’s more of a bottleneck than busy work, it’s a huge opportunity for companies who want to streamline processes. While you are identifying busy work tasks, take a look at this process within your organization to see if there are opportunities for improvement.
Use this busy season to better your business
Commercial service contractors can save time for techs in the field, front office staff, and back office staff by reducing busy work that comes with a higher volume of jobs. Use this busy season as a discovery period to identify inefficiencies in your processes. Then, you can use your slower season to implement solutions based on your findings. Otherwise, you’ll be losing time and money from the same busy season busy work this time next year.
Navigating Tariff Impacts: How ServiceTrade Helps Fire and Mechanical Contractors Stay Ahead
The current tariff environment challenges every commercial service contractor. Tariffs now affect nearly all imported goods—including steel, aluminum, electronic components, fire protection system components, and HVAC parts—and contractors face unprecedented cost volatility and supply chain uncertainty.
While the market reaction to tariffs in the long run is unknown, the short-term impact is clear: costs are rising, supply chains are less predictable, and profitability requires smarter, more agile operations. ServiceTrade’s powerful commercial service management platform, combined with proven best practices and rigorous prioritization of profitable customers and work, can help improve efficiency, increase profits, stabilize revenues, and mitigate the impact of tariff-driven volatility.
At ServiceTrade, we’re committed to helping our customers weather volatile markets and thrive despite them. Here’s how our platform can help you navigate uncertainty and keep your business strong.
What Can Fire and Mechanical Contractors Expect?
The most recent federal actions have imposed a baseline tariff on all imports, with even higher rates on goods from certain countries. For fire protection and mechanical contractors, this means:
Material and Equipment Costs: Steel, aluminum, copper, electronic components, and finished HVAC unit prices are up. The HVAC industry faces significant price increases on imported components. Tariffs on compressors, control boards, and other parts are expected to raise HVAC system prices by at least 25%. Many manufacturers have already raised their prices by double-digit rates, and further increases are expected as inventories purchased at pre-tariff rates run out.
Supply Chain Disruption: Uncertainty about which goods are affected and when new rates take effect forces contractors to make faster purchasing decisions and pad budgets and inventory to account for supply chain volatility.
Project Timelines and Margins Are at Risk: Delays in sourcing materials and parts, as well as the need to renegotiate contracts, find new vendors, and establish new sources, can push projects over budget and behind schedule.
For fire protection contractors, the tariffs are driving up the costs of essential components, such as sensors, circuit boards, and valves, making it more challenging to ensure regulatory compliance with timely repairs.
Navigate Volatility Through Cost Management and Operational Efficiency
The shifting economy makes efficiency more critical than ever. ServiceTrade’s commercial service management platform is designed to increase productivity, profitability, and efficiency. ServiceTrade functionality assists commercial contractors in every step of service delivery, provides critical insights about operations, and surfaces opportunities for optimization and increased productivity. These efficiencies can help offset increases in costs.
Streamline Service and Project Operations: The ServiceTrade platform automates customer and tech communication, streamlines administrative operations, automates service tasks, and helps you keep work orders on track for efficient and profitable completion.
Monitor and Control Costs: Real-time dashboards and reporting provide contractors with detailed cost information, productivity insights, and profit analysis. These critical insights enable operators to effectively manage the overall cost of service delivery and identify opportunities for enhanced efficiency.
Hold Teams Accountable: With readily available performance data, operators can set clear targets and ensure everyone is focused on what matters most—delivering value to customers and protecting margins.
In this environment, adaptability and efficiency are our most effective tools for maintaining profitability and delivering exceptional customer service.
Supply Chain Resilience and Inventory Management
When parts and equipment are more complicated to source and more expensive, every wasted trip or missing part hurts your bottom line. ServiceTrade helps you:
Predict and Plan for Parts Needs: ServiceTrade includes intelligent parts management. It anticipates the parts needed for each job, allowing you to order more efficiently and avoid costly delays.
Eliminate Wasted Trips: Ensure technicians arrive with the right parts for each job, reducing delays caused by incomplete work orders or missing components.
Invoice Customers Quickly, Accurately, and Profitably: As prices change, the platform must ensure invoicing accounts for actual supply prices, markup, and margin.
Optimize Each Job for Maximum Efficiency and Savings
Innovative project management tools help contractors navigate changing time and cost dynamics:
Stay on Budget and Schedule: Identify cost overruns and delays before they escalate into bigger problems.
Communicate Clearly with Customers: Real-time updates and digital documentation enable you to keep clients informed and manage expectations effectively when plans change.
Track Financial Performance in Real Time: Monitor labor costs, material expenses, and profitability as projects progress so that you can adjust quickly to market fluctuations.
Dynamic Pricing and Customer Communication Strategies
As costs rise, you must adjust pricing quickly and explain those changes to your customers. The right service management platform can help contractors by:
Speeding Up Quotes and Approvals: Generate and update proposals fast, so you can keep pace with changing costs and win more business.
Enabling Transparent Communication: Price increases are unwelcome news for customers, so effective communication and transparency are crucial. The ServiceTrade portal offers customers a window into their service history, enabling them to review quotes and access information about price changes, thereby fostering trust even in challenging times.
Improving Collections: Digital payment options and online approvals help you maintain healthy cash flow, which is critical when expenses are unpredictable.
Business Intelligence for Strategic Adaptation
The correct data is your best weapon against uncertainty. ServiceTrade’s business intelligence tools empower you to:
Analyze Performance and Costs: Drill down into KPIs to pinpoint precisely where tariffs have the most significant impact and identify areas for improvement.
Optimize Processes: Use real-time insights to streamline operations and reduce waste.
Make Informed Decisions: With customizable dashboards and reports, you’re always ready to pivot as the market shifts.
Outmaneuver Market Headwinds with ServiceTrade
Tariffs, inflation, high interest rates, and general economic uncertainty are certainly driving up costs and making life harder for commercial service contractors. Unpredictable supply chains and tighter margins are challenges that contractors will need to navigate for the foreseeable future. A flexible, powerful field service management platform gives contractors the information and automation they need to adapt, protect their business, and keep delivering for their customers, no matter what comes next.
We’re here to help you turn these challenges into opportunities for greater efficiency, resilience, and growth. Let’s outsmart the chaos together. Start your journey with a ServiceTrade demo.
Key Performance Indicators That Drive Contractor Business Value
If you’re looking to sell your commercial service business, you probably know this: buyers don’t just want a good business, they want a predictable one. Amid skilled labor shortages, fluctuating material costs, and tighter capital budgets, the commercial service businesses that stand out are those that can show consistent, reliable performance.
KPIs offer a data-backed story of your company’s health, stability, and growth potential.
Whether you’re preparing for acquisition or simply want to build a business with long-term value, this post will explore the financial, operational, and customer-focused KPIs that increase your EBITDA multiple and make you more attractive to buyers.
Why KPIs Matter in Business Valuation
Strategic buyers, private equity firms, and even larger contractors evaluating acquisitions all look for one thing: proof that your business works—with or without you. KPIs offer that proof.
Strong KPIs signal to buyers that your business is well-managed, profitable, and scalable. They reduce risk in a transaction and help justify a higher EBITDA multiple, the valuation metric that determines your sale price. Buyers and brokers alike use these KPIs to assess your company’s ability to generate revenue predictably and profitably over time.
In short: KPIs don’t just describe your business, they define its value.
The Most Valuable KPIs for Commercial Contractors
Let’s break down the metrics that make the biggest impact across three key areas: financial performance, operations, and customer satisfaction.
Financial KPIs
1. Gross Profit Margin This metric reflects how efficiently you turn revenue into profit after direct costs. In an environment where materials and labor costs are rising, protecting your margin is critical. Contractors with cost-plus pricing strategies are better able to preserve profitability and scale with confidence.
2. EBITDA Buyers use EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) as a standardized measure of profitability. A high and steady EBITDA signals a financially healthy business. Even more important is the predictability of EBITDA—made possible through stable, recurring service agreements, which provide insulation against volatile project pipelines and uncertain capital budgets.
3. Revenue per Technician This KPI shows how much revenue each technician generates and is especially important amid the skilled labor shortage. High-performing teams maximize technician hours through better scheduling, fewer callbacks, and reduced windshield time—all of which increase this metric.
4. Cash Flow Cash is king. Positive, consistent cash flow indicates a business that can support operations and weather tough periods without relying heavily on debt.
5. Accounts Receivable Turnover Slow collections can kill deals. Buyers want to see that you collect on work quickly and consistently—evidence of both customer quality and billing efficiency.
Operational KPIs
1. Technician Utilization Rate Are you maximizing your most expensive resource? This metric tracks how much of a technician’s time is spent on billable work. Reducing travel, admin distractions, and idle time boosts both revenue and morale.
2. Service Agreement Renewal Rate Recurring contracts are a key source of predictable revenue. High renewal rates demonstrate customer satisfaction and a sticky service model.
3. First-Time Fix Rate This measures how often your team resolves issues on the first visit. A high rate reduces callbacks, increases customer satisfaction, and makes your business more efficient.
4. Work Order Completion Time Buyers want to see tight, efficient operations. Faster job completion means more work done with the same resources—an indicator of strong internal systems.
Customer-Related KPIs
1. Customer Retention Rate Acquiring new customers is expensive. Retaining them—and the recurring revenue they bring—is a cornerstone of business value. Strong retention rates show that your company consistently delivers value.
2. Customer Satisfaction (Net Promoter Score) High NPS scores reflect loyal customers and a strong reputation—both critical for attracting and retaining high-value clients.
How to Improve These KPIs
Improving KPIs takes more than good intentions—it takes the right tools and systems. That’s where ServiceTrade comes in.
Boost Technician Productivity: ServiceTrade helps your office assign the right technician to the right job at the right time with everything they need. Technicians spend less time on admin and more time doing great work—improving utilization and revenue per tech.
Increase Customer Retention: Our platform supports transparency, communication, and service excellence—making it easier to show customers the value you deliver and win their loyalty.
Protect Gross Profit Margin: With cost-plus and markup pricing workflows, ServiceTrade helps you quote work more accurately and profitably—especially in volatile cost environments.
Streamline Operations: Get real-time visibility into work orders, technician schedules, and billing, so you can tighten completion times and eliminate bottlenecks.
Track What Matters: ServiceTrade makes it easy to monitor your KPIs, so you can adjust quickly and stay on track toward your strategic goals.
Whether or not you’re thinking about selling your business one day, tracking and improving your KPIs is essential. These metrics offer a window into your company’s performance and future potential. They help you operate more strategically today, and make your business more attractive to buyers tomorrow.
Want to get started? Let KPIs be your guide, and let ServiceTrade be your partner.
Tariffs and the New Rules of Resilience in Commercial Service
The tariffs announced earlier this month have now been paused for 90 days. What will happen next? We can’t be sure. But one thing is clear: contractors need to plan for change, not just respond to it.
For fire protection and mechanical contractors, resilience means having the right systems in place to stay steady when external conditions shift. It’s not just about absorbing cost changes, it’s about staying flexible, communicating clearly, and keeping your operations running smoothly.
In this article, we’ll explore effective ways for contractors to stay strong, even during uncertain times.
How Trade Policy Affects Contractors
Tariffs affect contractors in many ways. The problems often start with suppliers and reach all the way to the jobsite. Here’s how:
Parts costs become more unpredicatbale. Many key parts—like HVAC units, pumps, valves, or fittings—are made in or include parts from other countries. Tariffs can raise the cost of these items by 10% to 40%, or even more in some cases.
Projects can take longer. Tariffs can slow down supply chains, especially when ordering big equipment. Delays mean missed deadlines.
Profits get smaller. If you already agreed to a price and then new tariffs are implemented, you might lose money if your costs go up.
Customer communication is more important than ever. Higher prices and missed timelines are hard to explain unless you’re open and honest about what’s going on.
How Contractors Can Respond to (Potential) Tariffs
1. Focus on Regular, Preventive Service
Relying too much on emergency jobs can hurt your bottom line, especially when parts are expensive or hard to get quickly. That’s why many contractors are moving toward planned, recurring maintenance.
This kind of work helps you:
Reduce urgent parts ordering and inventory risk.
Lock in recurring revenue.
Build long-term relationships with clients.
Gain more control over when, where, and how parts are sourced.
Predictable work leads to steady profits and smoother operations.
2. Embrace Dynamic Pricing Models
Fixed prices can be risky when costs are changing fast. Instead, some contractors use cost-plus or time-and-materials pricing for certain jobs. This gives them room to adjust prices as needed.
Here are some tips:
Add language in contracts that allows for price changes
Show labor and materials separately in your quotes
Explain to customers how this protects both sides when prices change
3. Improve How Work Gets Done
When prices go up, you can protect your business by working smarter. Small changes can make a big difference.
Try to:
Fix things right the first time to avoid repeat visits
Plan routes better to cut down on driving time and overtime Make sure techs have what they need before they go to a job
Speed up billing and cut down on paperwork delays
Every minute saved helps keep your jobs profitable.
4. Strengthen Supplier Relationships and Inventory Practices
In a tariff-driven economy, your supplier strategy matters more than ever. Smart contractors are:
Working with more than one supplier so they’re not stuck waiting.
Planning ahead for what parts they’ll need.
Stocking up on key items that may be delayed or go up in price.
Looking for good replacements if some parts get too expensive.
Being prepared on the supply side helps everything else run more smoothly.
5. Be Clear with Customers
Your customers know that tariffs have been implemented and prices are rising. What matters most is how you talk to them.
Be open and professional. Share updates early. If prices go up or a delay happens, explain why.
Ways to build trust:
Break out pricing in proposals so cost increases can be traced to materials.
Send status updates when project schedules shift.
Provide photos, videos, and clear documentation to show the value of completed work.
Good communication builds stronger customer relationships.
6. Track Key Numbers
In times of change, it’s important to keep a close eye on your numbers.
Ask yourself:
Which jobs are making less money?
Where are we overspending on materials?
Are techs spending time on the right work?
How fast are we sending out invoices?
Knowing the answers helps you adjust quickly before small problems become big ones.
Where ServiceTrade Can Help
All of the ideas above can work for any contractor. But using tools to help manage them makes a big difference.
ServiceTrade supports the strategies outlined above by enabling:
Predictable maintenance workflows
Real-time KPIs and dashboards
Streamlined quoting and dynamic pricing
Proactive communication with clients
Optimized scheduling and technician productivity
Integrated parts tracking and cost analysis
You don’t need software to respond to change, but the right tools can make it much easier.
One Last Thought: Predictability Is Your Edge
When the world feels unpredictable, being the contractor who shows up on time, sticks to budgets, and explains things clearly is a big win.
Tariffs are just one of many challenges. But the contractors who stay flexible, work smart, and keep their customers in the loop will come out ahead.
By focusing on clear processes, strong relationships, and good tools, you’re not just reacting to change, you’re building a business that can thrive in any condition.
5 Simple Growth Strategies for MEP Contractors in 2025
MEP contractors are grappling with various challenges in 2025, including persistent skilled labor shortages and widespread economic difficulties, such as inflation, climbing interest rates, and supply chain disruptions.
In order to remain competitive and grow revenue this year, you’ll have to be strategic and proactive in your approach. In this article, we’ll explore five simple and achievable growth strategies you can implement in 2025 to stay ahead of the curve and take your business to the next level.
1. Shore Up Your Service Business (and Build Strong Relationships)
It’s not too late to direct more attention and resources to your services department. Here are some benefits of doing so this year:
Increased demand: In uncertain economic times, there’s typically an increase in demand for maintenance and repair services as more facility managers focus on the upkeep and efficiency of their existing systems.
Higher Margins: Service work often has higher margins than large scale projects, making it an attractive option for contractors looking to increase their profitability. Businesses that can streamline the administrative demands of service work with technology can benefit greatly from more service volume, especially in 2025. Utilizing tools like mechanical estimating software can automate the quoting process, further reducing administrative overhead and improving efficiency.
Opportunities for growth: By focusing on service work, MEP contractors can build strong relationships with existing clients and establish a reputation for quality and dependability, leading to new business opportunities and growth in the future.
2. Show Your Work
Providing your customers with a premium experience will continue to be essential for retention and growth this year. One way you can impress customers is by providing detailed and transparent records of the work you do—even (or perhaps especially) in the case of routine maintenance work.
When equipment is running without issue, facility owners and managers under economic pressure might make a case for cutting the budget. Why are we paying these folks so much money when our equipment is working fine?
You know—and we know—that the equipment is working fine because it’s being routinely serviced. But the value of maintenance work will likely remain a blind spot for your customers—until you bring it to light.
How do you do that? By showing your work. Providing media-rich records, before and after photos, and really telling the story of how your recurring work is saving your customers money in the long run.
Looking for a streamlined way to tell the full story of your good work? Check out ServiceTrade’s Service Link feature.
3. Prioritize Pull-Through Performance
What is pull-through work? It’s a metric that measures the number of repairs, upgrades, replacements, and installations that come from delivering existing maintenance agreements with your customer. Anything you’ve proactively suggested or planned with your customer outside of routine maintenance and construction work.
The related metric pull-through efficiency is the rate at which routine work results in a pull-through work order. Improving this rate, and your total volume of pull-through work, continues to be a compelling growth strategy.
According to our latest data study, the top half of mechanical contractors in total pull-through performance grew year-over-year revenue 122% faster than their bottom half performing counterparts.
How do you improve pull-through performance? The short answer is to get your whole team behind the strategy and focus on these five steps:
Locating and recording all equipment issues.
Promptly evaluating all repair opportunities and creating quotes.
Promptly sending quotes to the customers.
Managing open quotes and following up with customers.
Scheduling the repair work order and earning the revenue.
4. Be a Gold-Star Employer
There’s never been a better time to focus on your technicians. As the labor shortage continues, it’s important to offer competitive benefits and compensation, whether that be through higher wages or commission-based programs. It’s equally important to moderate workloads and make the job as easy and enjoyable for technicians as possible.
Focus on employee retention and attract new talent by listing openings for skilled technicians on your website. Be specific about the skills that you value and the unique capabilities of your company, including any special technology capabilities that you deploy in service to your customers.
5. Lean on Technology
The right service software, including comprehensive mechanical project management software, will help you accomplish the four strategies above with more ease and efficiency.
For several years now, smart technology solutions have differentiated MEP contractors from their competitors. And in 2024, as the industry continues to embrace technology, having robust and reliable service software will become increasingly essential to keeping up with the competition and growing revenue.
Want to learn how ServiceTrade can help you hit your growth goals this year? Chat with our team!
How Top Performing Contractors Achieve 2X Revenue Growth with ServiceTrade
Top-performing contractors don’t just work harder; they work smarter. ServiceTrade empowers these high-growth companies to double their pace by optimizing invoicing, scheduling, and capturing additional revenue through pull-through work. By focusing on efficiency, automation, and data-driven decision-making, ServiceTrade helps contractors increase revenue, improve operational output, and keep customers coming back.
Here’s how ServiceTrade’s powerful platform and recommended actions from our 2024 Benchmark Reports can help your business grow faster.
1. Increase Pull-Through Revenue with Faster Repair Quoting
One of the biggest untapped revenue sources for contractors is pull-through work—additional repairs discovered during routine visits. ServiceTrade enables technicians to document repair opportunities efficiently, quote repairs faster, and make it easy for customers to approve quotes. With photos, videos, and notes captured in real time, customers have the clarity needed to say “yes” to repairs on the spot.
Actionable Steps:
Document repair needs thoroughly with photos and videos, ensuring customers understand the necessity.
Quote repairs promptly to improve approval rates and convert opportunities into revenue quickly.
Provide customers with easy, digital approval options, reducing friction in the decision-making process.
Impact: Contractors increase high-margin pull-through work by demonstrating value and giving clients the information they need to act quickly, maximizing revenue from each service visit.
2. Prioritize Value Over Volume for Sustainable Growth
For contractors aiming to grow 2X faster, it’s not all about doing more work; it’s about doing the right work. By focusing on high-value service agreements, proactive repairs, and prompt invoicing, contractors can ensure that every job contributes meaningfully to their growth goals. ServiceTrade’s insights and tools help contractors identify these high-value opportunities, streamlining operations for sustainable expansion.
Actionable Steps:
Focus on proactive repair work to maintain customer satisfaction and prevent costly emergencies.
Target high-margin contracts that ensure long-term profitability over short-term volume.
Automate routine tasks so your team can focus on value-driven activities rather than administrative work.
Impact: Prioritizing high-value work over volume enables contractors to grow steadily, increasing revenue and customer satisfaction without overextending resources.
3. Maximize Technician Efficiency with Optimized Scheduling
ServiceTrade’s advanced scheduling capabilities help contractors fully utilize their technicians by assigning jobs based on skills, location, and priority. For high-performing teams, this means prioritizing work orders by revenue potential and setting dollars-per-day goals to ensure each technician is operating at peak efficiency. With clear scheduling goals, teams can balance high-value work with daily operational needs.
Actionable Steps:
Fully utilize technician time by reducing travel and downtime between jobs.
Prioritize high-revenue work orders to ensure the most profitable jobs are completed first.
Set measurable dollars-per-day targets for technicians to maximize productivity and profitability.
Impact: By keeping technicians focused on high-value tasks, contractors can achieve faster growth without increasing headcount.
4. Streamline Invoicing to Accelerate Cash Flow
For contractors looking to grow, cash flow is essential for growth and reinvestment. Top performers who use ServiceTrade’s invoicing solutions pre-bill whenever possible and automate pricing and contract management to reduce delays in sending invoices to customers. The platform makes it easy to standardize pricing for contracts, enabling faster invoicing and ensuring that revenue flows steadily.
Actionable Steps:
Pre-bill where applicable to improve cash flow and avoid billing delays.
Automate contract pricing to eliminate manual errors and speed up the billing cycle.
Leverage accounting integrations to quickly transmit accurate work order data without manual data entry.
Show the customer what they’re paying for with online work summaries and invoices that show the customer how you keep their facility safely operating.
Impact: By reducing the time from job completion to payment, contractors can reinvest revenue more effectively, fueling growth .
5. Leverage Data for Strategic, Data-Driven Growth
ServiceTrade allows contractors to measure performance with real-time data and insights, enabling you to make informed, strategic decisions. From tracking technician productivity to understanding which services generate the highest margins, data-driven insights are key to identifying opportunities and refining operations for peak efficiency. Contractors like Guardian Fire Protection have used ServiceTrade’s metrics to set benchmarks and improve profitability systematically.
Actionable Steps:
Monitor technician performance and job profitability to identify high-performing team members and profitable services.
Use real-time data to benchmark results, ensuring every service aligns with growth objectives.
Adjust scheduling and service priorities based on data insights to optimize resource allocation.
Impact: Data-backed decision-making allows contractors to grow with confidence, minimizing risks and maximizing returns with each job.
Ready to accelerate growth with ServiceTrade?
High-growth contractors achieve success not by adding complexity, but by using streamlined operations to maximize output and focus on value. The ServiceTrade platform—from invoicing automation to pull-through revenue capture and scheduling optimization—helps contractors deliver exceptional service while reducing costs and improving revenue consistency.Ready to see how ServiceTrade can help you achieve faster, sustainable growth? Book a demo today and discover the platform that empowers top performers in the industry.
From Data to Dollars: Growing Your Commercial service Business through Data Insights
In today’s competitive business environment, the integration of data-driven decision-making can significantly enhance operational efficiency and market responsiveness. Inspired by the innovative insights from Shawn Mims’ presentation at the 2024 Digital Wrap Conference, this article delves into the transformative power of embracing data, optimizing operations, and leveraging technological advancements to streamline business practices and decision-making processes.
Transforming Intuition into Data-Driven Strategies
Eliminating Bias: As Shawn Mims succinctly put it, “Feelings fool. Data rules.” This highlights the shift from intuition-based to data-driven decision-making. Data helps eliminate personal bias, enabling businesses to make decisions that are backed by objective, actionable insights. This is crucial in avoiding costly errors that can arise from misjudged situations based on feelings rather than facts.
Enhancing Accuracy: Data-driven strategies rely on the accuracy and timeliness of data, which significantly improves the decision-making process. With real-time data, companies can respond more quickly to market changes, customer needs, or operational challenges, ensuring that their actions are always aligned with the current business landscape.
Predictive Analytics: Leveraging data allows businesses to anticipate future trends and behaviors through predictive analytics. This can lead to proactive rather than reactive strategies, optimizing everything from inventory management to marketing campaigns, thus ensuring that resources are used efficiently and effectively.
Operational Efficiency Through Metrics
KPI Monitoring: Operational efficiency is greatly enhanced by key performance indicators (KPIs). Tracking metrics such as job completion rates, customer satisfaction, and resource utilization helps businesses identify areas that require improvement and areas where they excel. This targeted approach to managing performance can lead to significant enhancements in productivity and customer service.
Resource Allocation: Data enables businesses to allocate resources more effectively. By understanding which areas of operation consume the most resources and generate the most value, managers can make informed decisions about where to invest in additional resources and where to cut back, thus maximizing ROI across the board.
Process Optimization: Continuous improvement is a fundamental aspect of maintaining competitiveness. Data-driven insights allow companies to refine and optimize their processes continuously. This could mean automating certain tasks, reducing waste, or enhancing workflow, all of which contribute to a leaner, more efficient operational model.
Integrating Technology to Leverage Data
Automation of Data Collection: Technology plays a critical role in the efficient collection of data. Automated systems can gather data continuously and with greater accuracy than manual methods. This not only saves time but also ensures that the data is reliable and comprehensive, providing a solid foundation for analysis.
Advanced Analytics Platforms: As Shawn Mims noted, utilizing platforms like ServiceTrade can transform the way businesses operate, turning raw data into valuable insights. These platforms can analyze large datasets quickly, identify patterns, and generate reports that aid in strategic decision-making.
Enhanced Decision Support Systems: With the integration of AI and machine learning, modern analytics platforms can serve as advanced decision support systems. They can provide recommendations, forecast outcomes, and even automate decision-making processes for routine operations, thereby allowing human resources to focus on more strategic tasks.
In conclusion, the strategic application of data-driven decision-making, as advocated by Shawn Mims, offers a comprehensive approach to modernizing business operations. By embracing these principles, companies can achieve higher operational efficiency, adapt more rapidly to market changes, and ultimately, secure a competitive advantage in their industries. This shift towards a more analytical, informed business model is not just beneficial but essential in the data-rich landscape of today’s market.
Choosing Quality Over Quantity: Why the Right Customers Matter
For commercial service contractors, it’s essential to find ways to improve efficiency and profits during this time of economic uncertainty and labor shortages. Drawing from ServiceTrade CEO Billy Marshall’s presentation at the 2024 Digital Wrap Conference, this article explores one key strategy for reducing risk, maximizing efficiency, and growing your profits: selling to the best customers.
It starts with selling to better customers
“Better customers will invest in better systems and better maintenance routines that deliver better outcomes while using less labor and eliminating unplanned service calls.” – ServiceTrade CEO Billy Marshall, from his DWC presentation, “Terminate Risk: Your New Sales Mission in an AI World”
Who are “the best” customers?
It’s likely that at some point you’ve dealt with customers who cut corners, avoid your recommended maintenance programs, and ultimately pull you into emergency situations. This disrupts planned workflows and creates operational chaos. These types of customers usually require more resources and attention, reducing overall efficiency and increasing costs due to the unplanned nature of the work.
By contrast, better customers are those who:
Value Quality Over Price: These customers understand the long-term benefits of paying for quality services and products, which can reduce the frequency of service calls and maintenance issues.
Seek Partnerships: They look for service providers who can offer more than just a transactional relationship, viewing their providers as strategic partners in their own success.
Invest in Maintenance and Upgrades: They understand the benefits of investing in maintaining and upgrading their systems.
The benefits of selling to better customers
Premium customers often lead to repeat business and referrals, which are key drivers of growth. They are also more likely to invest in higher-quality services and products, which can help maintain high standards in your offerings. Most importantly, working with the right customers will result in steadier revenue streams and less operational chaos, allowing you to minimize on-demand work and maximize planned work.
Benefits of this include:
Better Resource Allocation: By scheduling tasks ahead of time, companies can optimize their workforce and resources, reducing idle times and increasing job completion rates.
Predictability in Operations: Planned work allows businesses to forecast their needs more accurately, leading to more stable and reliable operational workflows.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Customers appreciate reliable and timely services. Scheduled service delivery can improve customer experience and loyalty.
Selling and Retaining the Best Customers
This all sounds great. But how do you close these premium customers and, beyond that, how do you keep them?
Understanding what customers fundamentally desire and how to continuously engage them are crucial in selling and retaining the best customers. At the heart of a successful customer relationship is the delivery of seamless, disruption-free services. As highlighted by Billy in his DWC presentation, customers primarily want “nothing” in terms of disruptions — no breakdowns, no malfunctions, just smooth operations. This simple understanding forms the basis of what it means to sell to and retain valuable customers.
To effectively sell to the best customers, businesses must utilize Marketing Impressions Per Service (MIPS). This strategy involves using digital touchpoints such as appointment reminders, enroute notifications, work acknowledgements, and online quotes to build a compelling online narrative.
Billy explained, “Once your current customers experience your Digital Wrap through your MIPS and the story of how you are taking care of them, they can’t leave you. They can’t go back to just invoices and emails and PDFs.”
This approach not only enhances customer retention but also significantly elevates the perceived value of your services compared to competitors who may offer lower prices but less transparency and reliability.
Further refining the strategy to attract and keep premium customers involves categorizing service features into Attractive, Performance, and Required. By understanding which features elevate customer satisfaction and loyalty — from the must-haves to the delightful extras — businesses can tailor their offerings to meet and exceed the expectations of the best customers. Focusing on performance features that influence initial purchase decisions and attractive features that enhance customer loyalty, ensures that your service stands out in a competitive market.
In essence, selling to and retaining the best customers involves not just meeting their basic expectations but consistently exceeding them through strategic use of digital interactions and a deep understanding of their needs and preferences.
Focusing on better customers builds a more sustainable and profitable business. By aligning your service offerings with the needs of high-quality customers, you can transform your operational model to be more efficient and less chaotic. Set the stage for future growth and stability.
At ServiceTrade’s 2022 Digital Wrap Conference, CEO Billy Marshall presented an innovative solution to a core challenge that’s top of mind for everyone these days—the ongoing labor shortage.
The statistics are concerning. For every two techs that retire each year, only one enters the field. But demand for your services continues to grow. So what’s the play? Billy offered this 3-step strategy:
Minimize demand work
Sell to better customers
Organize around the goal of keeping your techs on track
We’ll get to those in just a minute. First, an illustration…
The F1 Analogy
Watch this:
In case the analogy isn’t clear, your technicians are your race cars on the track. The growth and limitations of your business rely largely on the quality and efficiency of their work. But in a labor shortage, skilled technicians are a constrained resource. You can’t just go out and hire more techs. You can’t tag in another race car.
But you can innovate and build up your supporting team, your pit crew, your technology-empowered office staff and sales team. Employ as much administrative staff as you need to achieve one mission – keep the technician solely focused on doing the high-value, hands-on work that only they can do.
3 Steps to Growing Revenue Without Hiring More Techs
Minimize Demand Work
You can’t plan for demand work. It causes chaos and throws off schedules. Prioritize maintaining and repairing equipment with routine service. If you have customers who refuse to properly maintain or repair equipment, consider cutting ties with them, raising their prices, or deprioritizing their service.
Sell Better Customers
If demand for your services is high, make room for only the best customers. Good customers would much rather sign up for your premium packages than risk their equipment failing. Good customers want predictable operating expenses, not the unexpected and unpredictable cost of demand work.
Organize Around the Goal of Keeping Your Techs On Track
Take administrative burdens off of your technicians. Invest in your office staff. Make sure that everyone in the company understands the goal and is working toward optimizing technician efficiency. Software helps you do just that.
You can learn more about growing your business despite the skilled labor shortage by watching the full presentation.
