FSM: Do these 3 things to grow your business in 2023

As a Field Service Business Owner already a good number of years into successful operations of your business, how do you know when it’s time to grow your business? More importantly, how to do so when it's time?

There can be several steps you could take to scale your FSM business. Let’s focus on the three most vital ones to ensure that your growth is incremental and sustainable.

Optimize resource management

With more businesses aiming to cut costs, there is a growing need to work towards a well-laid-out strategy. One, that does not impact customer experience or employee well-being, as a result. 

This calls for reliance on better systems and processes that help optimize every resource in a way that maximizes ROI. With that in mind, cost-cutting strategies must incorporate measures such as:

• Workforce Optimization: Allocating the right field technician to the right job, increases first-time fix rates. Additionally, route optimization can eliminate unnecessary travel time and save fuel. Better scheduling also means that repairs and maintenance work can be completed as a preventative strategy. This increases asset uptime and results in better customer satisfaction.
• Knowledge Management: A lot of otherwise profitable hours can be wasted in bottlenecks created in the field. This is due to the workforce not having the right information and insights to deliver the right service. This issue can be eliminated through remote access to vital client information through a cloud-based platform. Such a system can help your teams become more efficient and productive. 
• Inventory Control: Stocking too much inventory could block your cashflows. On the other hand, having too little might cost you premium prices. You might even end up passing potential jobs to competitors. Hence, better planning of parts and tools is another potential area where costs could be slashed.

Prioritize customer experience

Today’s tech-savvy customers are looking for value rather than simply a one-off transaction that begins with a request for a quote and ends with the payment. Personalizing customer experience and strengthening your online presence can make a big difference for you as you grow your business. This can be achieved in two ways:

• Lead Generation: Digital platforms like i4Tradies, which seamlessly connect Property Occupants with certified Field Service Suppliers in their local area, can be your starting point. FSM Suppliers now have the opportunity to list their business on such platforms to generate new profitable leads fueling business growth.
• Self-Service: Taking it further, the platform also helps FSM Suppliers build better customer relationships. Customers using self-service portals like the i4Tradies app allows them to not only place a service request but also track progress, receive invoices, make payments, and rate their service experience. 

This strategy can save FSM businesses plenty of time and energy in customer correspondence, chasing late payments, and collecting feedback to improve service quality.

Empower your teams

For a Field Service Management business, your lifeblood is your workforce aka field technicians. There are two things that can specifically contribute to empowering your teams: 

• workflow Management: Streamlining workflows is a matter of access to the right information at the right time to the right personnel. The possibilities are endless when it comes to empowering your team with an FSM Employee App. From checking safety guidelines, meeting SLAs, communicating with customers, and accessing job schedules, to recording progress, processing payments, and ensuring regulatory compliance, it does it all! 
• Performance Management: Measuring technician performance and service quality is now a simple matter of pulling out data-driven analytics.

Businesses can now visit historical records of completed jobs and analyze customer satisfaction through:

• Ratings and reviews, 
• Before and after photos, 
• First-time fix rates, 
• No. of jobs completed,
• Response rate, 
• Avg. time spent on jobs, and 
• Other similar KPIs.

This data can be easily logged and stored on to the system in real-time when your teams are empowered with the right technology tools! 

The results come in the shape of improved efficiency, enhanced customer service, increased technician productivity, a transparent reward system, and higher technician motivation.

Wrapping up:

Tech-driven, innovative Field Service Management Solutions are presenting endless opportunities for businesses that wish to:

• Scale operations,
• Explore new markets,
• Expand their teams, and 
• Enhance customer service.

i4T Business is a Field Service Management Software that helps your business attain sustainable growth through:

• Better workforce optimization
• Powerful knowledge management
• Smarter lead generation
• Self-service customer portals
• Workflow management
• Performance analytics and reporting

Driven by Efficiency, Transparency, Compliance, and Safety, i4T Business can help you gain a competitive advantage in your industry and grow your business in no time. Sign up for i4T Business to learn more.