Why Integrated Inspection Management Is Critical For Successful Growth
Fire protection contractors face a critical decision when choosing inspection software: go with a standalone inspection tool or invest in a comprehensive field service management platform with native inspection capabilities. The choice impacts everything from operational efficiency to profit margins.
The Hidden Costs of Fragmented Systems
Many fire protection companies cobble together separate solutions—one for inspections, another for work orders, a third for billing. This approach creates expensive inefficiencies that compound over time. When inspection data lives in isolation, technicians end up re-entering asset information, office staff manually input deficiency details to create quotes (if the paperwork makes it back to the office), and customer communication suffers from incomplete information.
The Integrated Advantage
A unified platform with native inspection management delivers three game-changing benefits:
One Solution, One Implementation: Instead of managing multiple vendor relationships, training schedules, and integration headaches, you implement once and train once. Your team learns a single system that handles everything from initial inspections through deficiency repairs and billing.
Elimination of Duplicate Work: Technicians enter information once, and it flows through your entire process. No more re-typing asset details, manually creating quotes from inspection reports, or playing phone tag between field and office to clarify deficiency details.
Closed-Loop Data Flow: Asset information, inspection results, and deficiency details flow seamlessly through your entire operation. When a technician identifies a fire pump issue during inspection, that data automatically populates repair quotes, work orders, and customer communications—no manual handoffs required.
This integrated approach doesn’t just save time—it transforms how you deliver service, manage compliance, and grow recurring revenue through systematic deficiency follow-up.
From Fragmented Tools to Integrated Success: 9 Questions to Guide Your Fire Protection Software Choice
Recognizing the value of an integrated inspection management platform is only the first step. The bigger challenge is choosing the solution that will truly support your business as it grows. With countless options on the market—each promising efficiency, compliance, and ease of use—it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. By asking the right questions, you can cut through the noise and identify a platform that not only streamlines operations today but also positions you for long-term success.
Use the following eight questions as a framework to guide your evaluation and ensure you invest in the right solution for your business.
1. Does the platform provide a unified, mobile-first experience?
Can your technicians and office staff work from a single system, without jumping between multiple tools? A unified, mobile-first platform allows techs to complete inspections, log deficiencies, and manage quotes directly in the field. Meanwhile, office staff gain real-time visibility into status and data flows seamlessly across the business. This integration saves time, reduces errors, and improves adoption.
2. Is the software built with industry-specific workflows?
Does the platform reflect the unique needs of fire protection contractors—or is it just a generic field service tool? Purpose-built workflows such as deficiency-to-quote processes, multi-line inspections, and prioritization of high-value jobs make daily work faster and more accurate. Industry-specific features reduce the need for customization and workarounds. Choosing software designed for your world ensures better results from day one.
3. How does the system streamline the inspection process?
Will your technicians spend less time on repetitive data entry and more time serving customers? The right platform should pre-populate asset information, capture data once for both reporting and quoting, and provide visibility into inspection progress for the office. A smooth inspection experience translates into efficiency, consistency, and professionalism. When inspections are seamless, the whole business benefits.
4. Does the solution help you stay compliant?
How does the software keep you aligned with NFPA, AES, and Joint Commission requirements? Look for a platform with a robust forms library that’s updated when NFPA codes are updated, while still supporting older editions of NFPA forms to meet AHJ requirements. This reduces compliance risks and ensures customers receive reports that meet regulatory standards. Compliance isn’t optional—it’s a core part of your reputation and revenue.
5. How does the platform organize and report on your assets?
Can you easily track, analyze, and report on your assets in a way that matches how your business actually operates? The right platform should use a real-world 2-3 tier architecture that mirrors your business structure, making asset management intuitive for your team. Asset-specific data fields ensure you capture the right information for each type of equipment, enabling accurate analysis and comprehensive reporting. When you need compliance documentation, the system should generate NFPA reports organized by building, providing the specific documentation required for each location. Proper asset organization and reporting capabilities transform raw data into actionable insights that drive better business decisions.
6. Does it enhance the customer experience?
Will your customers find it easier to do business with you? Self-service portals, online quote approvals, and digital payment options provide convenience and build trust. A smooth, modern experience encourages repeat business and valuable word-of-mouth referrals. Your software should be a tool for strengthening customer relationships—not just managing internal operations.
7. What onboarding and support resources are provided?
Will your team get the training and help they need to adopt the system successfully? Ask whether the vendor offers guided onboarding, clear documentation, and responsive support. A strong partner doesn’t just sell software—they equip your team to succeed with it. Good onboarding and support is the difference between frustration and lasting value.
8. Does the vendor have a proven track record in fire and life safety?
How long has the provider been serving the fire protection industry, and what do their customers say? Look for vendors with years of experience, strong references, and a history of supporting contractors like you. Bonus points if they offer user conferences or community forums where customers can share best practices. A proven track record signals stability, credibility, and a commitment to your success.
9. Can the platform scale with your business?
As your company grows, will the system keep up? Look for software that can handle more technicians, complex reporting requirements, or expanded geographic regions without requiring a disruptive switch. Scalability protects your investment and ensures you’re set up for long-term success. Choosing a future-proof platform means today’s decision will continue paying dividends tomorrow.
Ready to Transform Your Operations?
Choosing the right inspection software isn’t just about ticking off features—it’s about finding a partner you can trust to support your business today and grow with you tomorrow. Your fire and life safety business deserves software built for your industry—not generic tools. With ServiceTrade Inspections, you’ll gain compliance, efficiency, and a proven partner for growth – download our Inspections Software Buyers Guide or schedule a demo todayto see the difference.
Nearby Now & ServiceTrade Can Improve Your Local Search Results
Consumers no longer turn to the yellow pages, newspaper ads, or direct mail to find the best service contractors. Instead, they turn to Google to answer the question “Who should I call?” To address this change ServiceTrade is happy to announce an integration with Nearby Now, a tool that helps the best service contractors showcase their great reputation online and improve local search results.
The Results
Need some proof that your company can dominate Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Try searching for an electrician in Atlanta or any surrounding city. For example, check out the results for these searches:
Did you notice that TE Certified Electricians is at the top of the list for every search in the area? Amazing customer service and a Nearby Now-powered marketing strategy led by a digital marketing firm FOR service contractors, LeadsNearby, drive these revenue-generating results.
How Nearby Now Works
Nearby Now enables field technicians to check-in to each job throughout the day. Each check-in updates the Nearby Now check-in feed and network map embedded on their company website. Before the tech leaves the job, he or she can request a review of their service from the customer. Combined, the check-in data and customer reviews generate fresh, powerful content for the service contractor’s website that drive great search results and volumes of inbound inquiries.
ServiceTrade Simplifies the Process
The integration of Nearby Now with ServiceTrade simplifies everything about driving these outstanding results. Service contractors using ServiceTrade check-in to jobs with the mobile application as part of a process that enables amazing customer service. Instead of burdening the technician with extra applications and processes, the Nearby Now functionality is driven automatically out of ServiceTrade.
ServiceTrade enables smart service contractors to provide amazing customer service and the Nearby Now integration helps them broadcast their great reputation to the markets they serve. Give us a call at (919) 246-9901 to learn more.
Cloud Computing & Service Contractors – A Perfect Match
Service contractors need the cloud, but over and over again we see companies that are confused or unsure about how moving to the cloud will affect the operations of their business. Change is scary. As human beings, we are wired to avoid change, especially when it concerns a switch from what we are use to.
Cloud Computing
At a recent HVAC convention, our VP of sales witnessed two different speakers advocating the benefits of cloud computing for service contractors. Obviously, we are always pleased to have others singing the same tune. Here are a few excerpts of what was said:
The Cloud is Secure – One attendee described how all company data on their PC server was held hostage with Ransomware that cost more than $10,000 to remove. Huge organizations like Amazon, Google, and the US Government store billions of documents in the cloud. Virus protection and security are an integral part of data management and these large organizations would never store data in a location that wasn’t secure. Do you trust technology experts to build strong security or do you trust one of your administrative staffers to know about the latest virus, bug, or software flaw?
The Cloud is Cheap – There’s truly no reason to maintain a mail server anymore (or any other type of server, for that matter). Dozens of cloud applications can not only provide a hassle-free email solution, but a more feature rich solution as well. No one wants to pay an outside IT professional to be their problem solver. The cloud has lowered the price of software solutions by allowing software companies to put more power and more features into the hands of users. Cloud storage is essentially free. There’s truly no need to buy more file cabinet or PC hard drives.
The Cloud Empowers Your Customer Service – Items stored in the cloud can be accessed from any device – PCs, tablets, or smartphones. Your technicians can answer questions faster and with greater accuracy, even when they are in the field. Customers expect speed and accuracy. (Don’t we all use Google for fast answers?) Showing clients before and after photos, online work acknowledgements, past work history, or old invoices make you and your team shine.
The key point is simply this: Cloud computing is a perfect match for service contractors and their business operations. Embrace the cloud and prosper.
What is Great Customer Service Worth? About 20% and $41 Billion.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently, you know that Uber is a taxi service start-up that connects drivers with folks who need a ride. As a business, Uber connects riders and drivers (just as a taxi service does) and they collect a 20% fee on top of what is paid to the driver. As of December 2014, the company is worth $41 billion. Here is the Wall Street Journal article with the details on the financials. When examining Uber, I find some interesting lessons for service contractors. The key takeaway is:
How does a simple change in customer service practices lead to such a massive breakthrough in shareholder value?
Uber has effectively changed one thing in the customer experience associated with a taxi ride – they have dramatically improved customer service by providing rich information to the customer throughout the service cycle. Uber has done this by eliminating the aggravating service uncertainties and the unknowns that are inherent in hiring a taxi. There’s no need for the customer to jump up and down on the curb to hail a cab or berate a dispatcher who has no better information than the customer on the real whereabouts of the driver and a likely pickup time. The Uber customer simply touches the application on their smartphone, chooses the driver/car with the best value for their needs (arrival time, type of car, price), and then collaborates with the driver from pickup planning through to drop-off and billing. The ride is essentially the same, but everything about the customer service experience is different. Thus, in exchange for amazing customer service and 20% above what is paid to the driver, Uber has built a company worth $41 billion.
Think about the parallels with the service contracting space. Great service contractors will tell you that a premium price is achieved through great customer service. Any contractor trying to run the business simply as a markup on skilled technician labor is ultimately going to fail. Yet most service contractors have a customer service approach that resembles that of a taxi company. The customer is only engaged via phone calls and a paper receipt at the end of the “taxi ride.” How valuable is that customer experience? Not very. How much more valuable might a service contracting company be if it were to adopt an Uber style approach to customer service? Much more.
Here are the lessons from Uber on building a premium brand through great customer service:
1) Engage the customer online throughout the service process: Customers do not want to speak to your dispatcher about status. Also, it is inefficient and likely prone to errors. Show them what is happening online – the driver, the arrival, the problem, the fix, the fees.
2) Images are more powerful than text: Show the customer, don’t tell them. Uber shows the car en route to the customer. Give the customer photos and images of what is happening with the equipment being serviced. Humans learn from stories and images.
3) Make it easy for them to engage your company: Uber does this by being ever present as an application on the phone. You can also do it by being easy to find online, by being in their inbox with regular correspondence about your recent service delivery, by providing service history online, and by allowing them to initiate service online.
Service contracting is definitely different than a taxi service, but the customer service experience has certain parallels. New Internet services are coming on the market everyday attempting to “Uberize” the service contracting business. Because the dynamics of service contracting are more complex than a taxi ride, it is unclear if these emergent Internet brands will gain the momentum of Uber. What is certain, however, is that great brands stem from great customer service. There’s little doubt that service contractors can dramatically improve the value of their business by embracing many of the elements of customer service that make Uber worth $41 billion. What steps are you taking to create a premium service contracting brand by engaging your customers online and pulling them into the service process?
Is your website mobile friendly? Simple test to avoid Google penalties
If you expect customers to find you online, they must be able to find you online. Sounds like circular logic, but it is true. Google is always shifting their rules to make their search engine more valuable to users and advertisers. You have to keep shifting your website to avoid being pushed down the rankings. The new rules say that mobile readability is important (your website should not be an eye test if viewed on a mobile device). Check here to see if your site is already in the clear, and read on to review the new rules (from Google’s update on the matter):
When it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps. As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, our algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns. In the past, we’ve made updates to ensure a site is configured properly and viewable on modern devices. We’ve made it easier for users to find mobile-friendly web pages and we’ve introduced App Indexing to surface useful content from apps. Today, we’re announcing two important changes to help users discover more mobile-friendly content:
1. More mobile-friendly websites in search results
Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices. Do a search on “mobile – friendly test” to locate our website that you can use to test your website(s).
2. More relevant app content in search results
Starting today, we will begin to use information from indexed apps as a factor in ranking for signed-in users who have the app installed. As a result, we may now surface content from indexed apps more prominently in search. To find out how to implement App Indexing, which allows us to surface this information in search results.
What this means for service contractors (and for all others on the web) is that you MUST ensure your web presence is optimized for mobile. Make sure that websites, blogs, and any other content you put out there is created with mobile in mind. You cannot create a premium service contracting brand if it is difficult for your customers to find your company and your value online.
Selling Services? Consider Adding Fine Wine and Artisanal Cheese
As the Internet shrinks the world and arms consumers with information on how much things should cost, the service contractor’s service area will shrink as well. Customers will have information on which contractors are nearby, and they will make judgments on who can likely deliver the service for less due to lower expenses for travel time. Customers will also be armed with information regarding what service calls for common repairs and replacements should cost. They will simply Google:
“How much should it cost to repair [insert service item here]” ?
Google sends back advertisements, forums, customer reviews, articles, and a whole host of information to arm them in negotiating for better pricing on common “bread and butter” service calls. With a shrinking service area and pricing pressure on “bread and butter,” how can the service contractor maintain margins and growth? One strategy is to offer the customer “Artisanal Cheese” to complement the “bread and butter.”
Add some “Artisanal Cheese” to Your Services
Why do grocers always place the bread, butter, eggs, milk, and other daily consumption items at the back corners of the store? So the customer has to walk past craft beer, tasty snacks, soda, candy, fine wine, and artisanal cheese to get to the commodity items. Everyone knows what bread and butter should cost, so grocers do not make any money on it. Artisanal cheese does not face the same pricing pressure because it is a niche item that does not suffer the same comparative price scrutiny. It is a “treat” that customers will “splurge” to enjoy. If you are a service contractor, offering the service equivalent of artisanal cheese is a great way to maintain growth and profit as the Internet inevitably shrinks the service area for bread and butter. Artisanal cheese, however, needs to be packaged differently than bread and butter. It is typically merchandised in a fancy wrapping inside an attractive display that also contains complementary items which likewise command a premium margin. It is offered in the context of the consumption habits of the customer, often with expert reviews (wine spectator for example) that help the customer feel good about the purchase even at a high price.
So, the service item analog should be thoughtfully packaged for consideration by the customer as part of a standard call for delivering bread and butter. During the bread and butter call, the opportunities to sell artisanal cheese should be documented and presented back to the customer in a way that relates the thoughtfulness of the recommendation. These are upgrades, improvements, retrofits that all bring incremental value to the customer. How might they be received if they are laid out in bad handwriting on a coffee and tobacco stained accounting ticket? How much more receptive might the customer be if they are laid out online with photos and other rich supporting documentation that purports the superior quality of this premium service item (artisanal cheese)?
Fancy wrapper? Check.
Attractive showcase? Check.
Complementary items offered? Check.
Premium margin? Check.
A better customer service experience and better profits? You Bet.
How Good Software "Learns" to Help Service Contractors Over Time.
Operating a business in a vacuum is a handicap. There’s a limit on information you can gather about smart business practices when you are swamped with managing the details of your enterprise. How helpful would it be to have “partners” in your business that are constantly on the lookout for solutions to your most challenging issues?
Here at ServiceTrade, we constantly solve problems that our customers face. Because we provide such a high level of support, our clients regularly bring us new challenges and ask our team for solutions.
An intrinsic part of good software is that it improves over time. Software deployed via the cloud, gets those improvements immediately into the hands of customers. Imagine if your car had a feature that allowed it to immediately implement new improvements as soon as the manufacturer created them – brighter headlights, lighter bumpers, improved braking systems. Well the physical world can’t do that. You have to buy a new car.
Software is different. Every improvement made for one customer is available to ALL customers (when applicable, proprietary customer data is NEVER shared). If a client asks us to make an adjustment or add a feature that we feel will benefit others, then it is a win-win for all of our clients. After review and testing, an improvement is added to the product and available to everyone. The software has “learned” how to solve a new set of problems.
Let ServiceTrade show you the path to better management of your service contracting business.
The Only Certainties in Life – Death, Taxes…& Software as a Service (SaaS)
– Apologies to Ben Franklin – . The actual quote is “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” If Mr. Franklin were alive today, there’s little doubt that he would add a third item to this list – Software as a Service (SaaS) …aka Cloud Computing.
Why is SaaS as inevitable as Death and Taxes? Why am I using Mr. Franklin’s quote to segue into a discussion about the cloud? To make a simple point — Change is inevitable and a dramatic shift is underway in the world of software.
Smart consumers of software know the advantages of the cloud and thus are demanding solutions based online. (Rather than on desktop machines.)
Here’s a great example: QuickBooks. This product is the king of accounting software for millions of individuals and small businesses (SMB’s). Because QuickBooks is such a popular accounting system for customers of ServiceTrade (all SMB’s) , it also serves as a great example for this discussion.
Here’s a quote from Oct. 2014 – “QuickBooks Online hasn’t received much attention over the years. Launched in 2000, it only had 100,000 paid subscribers in 2009, compared to QuickBooks’ four million desktop subscribers. However, Intuit says at the end of last year they acquired a higher number of users online than on desktop — marking a shift in consumers. Now the company is rolling out all sorts of features to their online product.”
Do you think that QuickBooks is rolling out a ton of new features for their “desktop” subscribers? Doubtful. Will QuickBooks have a desktop version of it’s products in a few years? Very Doubtful.
The reason? The cloud delivers a better product, period – 1) No hardware to purchase/upgrade. 2) Connect from any PC or mobile device anywhere in the world. 3) New features added weekly instead of every few years.
SaaS Solutions are better. Contact ServiceTrade and let us guide you towards the best software solution for your Trade Contracting SMB.
Amazon Plumbing? Google HVAC? Navigating the Digital Service Contracting Landscape.
What does it mean when two of the biggest names in Internet technology jump into the service contracting business? It means that service contracting is a huge and lucrative market that is due for a shake up (or a shake down, depending on your perspective). Amazon and Google are both taking on initiatives that will plug them into the world of home services (light commercial as well, and I am certain that some level of industrial capability will ultimately follow), and I believe there are lessons to be learned by observing how these new entrants operate. Learning and reacting thoughtfully could yield some nice opportunities for growth and profit. Poor planning and stubbornly insisting that nothing needs to change will yield abundant misery and sorrow.
So what exactly are Amazon and Google up to that will have an impact on the service contracting space? Amazon has quietly announced a local marketplace for service contractors. A Forbes magazine article describes their plans, and here is the money quote:
“Amazon Local Services is a new and simple way to buy professional services from pros such as plumbers, auto mechanics and yoga instructors,” said a promotional video on the site. “We’ve handpicked some of the best pros in your neighborhood and require them all to be licensed, insured and background-checked.”
Now, my focus in this post is not auto mechanics or yoga instructors, but instead the folks ServiceTrade calls customers. Some of these are plumbing, HVAC/R, kitchen equipment, and other specialty tradesmen that offer repair, upfit, and maintenance services for property and equipment at the customer’s home or business site. Amazon plans to step in between the customer and the contractor to moderate the transaction – and take their fair share of 10 – 15% for their trouble. Amazon is an expert at driving efficiency in logistics and offering customers very low prices for everything they sell. Now they are bringing this efficiency and low price strategy to local services. Low prices, minus 10 – 15% sounds like a painful bargain for the service contractor that does not have a plan to respond to this strategy.
How about Google? Well, they bought a company called Nest that makes smart thermostats and smoke/CO detectors. Here is the money quote from a Forbes article on this acquisition:
“Google will help us fully realize our vision of the conscious home and allow us to change the world faster than we ever could if we continued to go it alone. We’ve had great momentum, but this is a rocket ship,” said CEO and cofounder Tony Fadell in a blog post.
The key term here is the “conscious home.” A home that is “conscious” is one that is aware of what is happening and can help Google respond to help meet the owner or occupant’s needs. With the thermostat and other devices in every room collecting information about the home environment, Google will be well positioned to help the homeowner get more value from their home ownership experience.
Google and Amazon are both in the business of using massive amounts of computing power to organize information to help their customers make thoughtful buying decisions. Isn’t the goal of any service business to organize information and provide expertise so the customer gets good value for the money that they spend upgrading, maintaining, or repairing the important things in their life? If you are a service contractor, how are you going to get better at knowing your customers and organizing that knowledge to help them make good decisions on equipment and services that improve their lives? How are you going to monitor their equipment usage and behaviors to make thoughtful recommendations in the manner of Google and Amazon? Or is your plan to simply let Amazon and Google own the customer relationship and instead settle for a 10 – 15% discount on the lowest price in the market?
Here are some broad recommendations I believe will help you have a thoughtful response to these new entrants:
Upgrade your approach for managing and using customer information If your information about your customers is still trapped inside an accounting application running on a PC server in your office (or worse, filing cabinets), you are not well positioned to respond to Amazon and Google. I assure you that the systems and structure that Amazon and Google use to understand customer needs looks nothing like an accounting application. Great customer service will be defined by a rich mobile and cloud experience that allows your employees and your suppliers and your customers to collaborate online to deliver memorable outcomes that build your brand value with the customer. A PC server based accounting application will not distinguish you in this online fight for customer attention.
Invest in “smart” technology expertise You need to have your own story regarding how you are going to monitor the needs of the customer and be responsive. Remember Tony Fadell from Google talking about the “conscious home” above? Think about smart electric meters, smart water meters, smart thermostats, and other connected sensors that allow you to be informed, thoughtful, and responsive on behalf of the customer. Be creative in offering maintenance contracts enabled by smart devices that make your services sticky, responsive, and invaluable for the customer. These types of “monitoring” services have existed for many, many years in the realm of security and fire systems. Bringing them to other areas outside security and fire in order to be proactive in customer service makes perfect sense.
Embrace Google and Amazon and others as a source of leads You should be connected to these new entrants (and perhaps some of the older Internet players in the service contracting space like Angie’s List, Home Advisor, etc), but you should use them ONLY to establish a connection with a customer that you subsequently OWN. Avoid any contract with these entities that prohibits you from serving the customer independently after first touch. Deliver a memorable service during first touch, and then stick to the customer like glue using your upgraded customer service capabilities from recommendation #1 above. If you are memorable and attentive with a perpetual service approach, you will not have to ultimately settle for a 10 – 15% discount off the lowest price in the market after the first call.
You do not have to own massive amounts of computing capacity to enable a thoughtful customer service approach that makes you memorable for your customers. However, you do need to embrace cloud, mobile, and smart technology as a means to remain competitive in a customer service world that is increasingly defined by information, knowledge, expertise and online connections instead of simply local presence. Customer service does not begin and end in the parking lot or the driveway of the customer any longer. It extends to the boundaries of the Internet. Create a memorable online AND local experience for your customers and you will stick to them like glue. Miss this opportunity and you will be managing labor and truck maintenance in order to serve someone else’s (Amazon, Google?) customer for a 10 – 15% discount off the lowest price in the market.
Introducing the Digital Wrap: Deliver More Service Calls to Get More Service Leads!
Want More Service Call Leads? Deliver More Service Calls!
There is an old saying in sales “Activity yields Activity”. The more outbound calls you make, the more inbound calls you receive. The more conversations you have, the more clients you will gain through the insights those conversations yield. The same holds true for service calls. If you can get the service call flywheel spinning, then it will continue to spin under its own momentum, and speeding it up gets easier the faster it is moving. This trick only works, however, if you really understand the concept of perpetual service and embrace technology that automates your ”service call” marketing engine.
Why do you “wrap” your trucks in your logo, brand promise, and phone number? So when it is parked at the jobsite, others can see that their neighbor (residential or commercial) trusts your company. The “wrap” doesn’t do much good when your truck remains idle in your parking lot. The same can be true for your service activities. These activities can become your “digital wrap” when you capture them electronically and forward them to your customer via the Internet. If your customer service management application knows where you are and what you are doing, then both your customers and others in the “digital neighborhood” should be able to easily see and share that information. An email in their inbox is easily searchable, and your client can forward this to their friends and family as evidence of your good work. This doesn’t happen when your customer service approach is limited to accounting information on a multi-part paper ticket that likely gets trashed by the customer.
Another way that service generates leads is the opportunity for discovery that occurs at the customer site. If it is easy to share that discovery with others in your company and also back with the customer in the form of photos, audio memos, online quotes, and service reviews, then you have created potential service call leads for the future. Now the online customer can see and reflect on what you’ve found when it is convenient for them. During the initial service call, when you are trying to get them back to work by fixing their equipment, the timing is typically not right to review and discuss other service opportunities. However, if you create a digital catalog of those opportunities for sharing, your initial service will almost certainly yield future services. Future service calls will not happen if you expect the tech to remember it and write it down for the office to type it into some note field in an antiquated PC application and “maybe” have that delivered to the client. That new revenue opportunity is lost forever.
Marketing for service contractors is increasingly moving from the physical space to the digital space. Your truck “wrap”, your local radio commercials, and your billboards need to be augmented by digital calling cards that gain impressions because they are so easy to move around in the online “neighborhood”. If these digital impressions require “extra activity” above and apart from your typical customer service routine, it will never get done. If it is built in to the way you execute customer service, it will add speed to the service call flywheel. If you want more service call leads, then deliver more service calls after you embrace perpetual service and get aboard the ServiceTrade bandwagon.
