Category Archives: Home Service Industry
Play in the Office?
Do you enjoy going to the office in the morning? Are your employees happy to come to the office every day?
If not, there is a new thought out there that having fun in the office makes everyone a little more happy–which in turn increases productivity.
Workforce.com recently ran an article citing The National Institute for Play who says: “As play is woven into the fabric of social practices, we will dramatically transform our personal health, our relationships, the education we provide our children and the capacity of our corporations to innovate.”
Large corporations like YouTube and are taking this seriously and even installed a slide in their office and Google also added more “play” to their offices around the world.
Think about ways that you could add play into the office space.
- Incorporate games: If you have a lawn care company, have a contest on who can mow the grass the fastest or with the most flare.
- Have a monthly special lunch for employees or even Happy Hour, even a pot luck can be fun. Add a theme and you are ready to party.
- Add a game room, like CNN has done. Have competitions or tournaments for even more fun.
We are interested in what home service companies are doing out there to have fun in the office. Let us know how you have fun in the workplace or maybe even plans for the future!
Mobility lets you get back to life
Is your work holding you back from life’s most important milestones? Are you locked down to a desk with your current work order management software? So many companies today have cut the proverbial cord and have gone wireless and mobile. Work is possible from anywhere with mobile and cloud based options offered today.
Schedule appointments and stay in touch with technicians beach side or while enjoying the view of the Appalachians. Catch a week night baseball game while billing customers from the stands.
Today’s business landscape offers so many more solutions to link your home service business with real life and in real time.
Take a quick look at the most recent mobility video from Service Proz and see what the flexibility of mobile business apps can offer your HVAC, electrician, plumbing or home cleaning business.
New year, new possibilities with QuickBooks
Happy New Year! The new year brings a world of possibilities but after the hustle and bustle of the holidays, unfortunately, it’s time to get back to work!
Are you sitting in your office wondering how you are going to prepare your company’s taxes this year? Always a daunting task even if you are fortunate enough to have an accountant! There are still records to pull, invoices, receipts and all other sorts of paperwork to prepare.
In 2013, why not make it a point to be more organized and take control of your company’s information and documents with a workforce management system along with QuickBooks?
The new year offers a starting point to create organization within your company which will give you more time to talk to customers, or even find new ones! When you integrate a workforce management system with QuickBooks the dividends are immeasurable, here are some of the benefits:
- Gain control over your service technicians
- Increase customer satisfaction by communicating directly
- Give you service technicians increased visibility of their workload and expectations
- Reduce billing times by invoicing instantaneously
Next week, Service Proz, will release an informative video on how your workforce management system integrates your customers and scheduling easily with QuickBooks. With your company’s scheduling and customer information 100% mobile and all stored in the cloud, the possibilities for your home service company are endless!
It’s the end of the year, are you using QuickBooks?
The end of the year is filled with exciting holiday festivities but it’s also a busy time for your business as you begin preparing for the tax season, compiling reports and tracking expenses, etc.
This can be a daunting task but it doesn’t have to be, there are many software applications out there that can organize your small business’s critical information but we at Service Proz believe that QuickBooks is the 
only way to go. If you aren’t using QuickBooks—an essential application for small business to stay organized—you should be!
QuickBooks is a way to store vital information that is easily accessible, like customer information, inventory, expense reports and critical billing information. Other features that come in handy include the ability to create invoices and logos—a must for any small business. You also can create a detailed calendar that tracks all appointments and other important information.
Luckily, if you haven’t bought QuickBooks for your business yet, there are new editions each year along with new features. The 2012 version has an option to track customer leads and a document management system—along with the ability to bill more than one customer at a time.
If you are struggling to manage all of your documents, billing and invoicing, QuickBooks would be a wonderful Christmas gift to yourself and your small business this year!
Deliver for your clients
Not long ago a customer that owns an appliance repair company, with over 20 technicians, decided he wanted to keep better track of his technician’s purchases. In his terms, he wanted to see receipts and where his company’s money was going!
Instead of going in circles with employees about purchases, the appliance repair company owner was proactive and sought out a way for his employees to stay in contact.
Of course Service Proz was able to accommodate this request—so we created a simple way to attach a photo to a work order.
Easily attach a photo to note on a work order with this new feature. The great thing about the Attachment feature is the ability to access everything Service Proz has to offer remotely. The ability to conduct business from anywhere and always know what your technicians are doing gives you time for more important things, like growing your business!
The new feature is a perfect addition to your home service business—whether you have 1 or 100 employees. Easily take a photo of a part or receipt, even the completed job, and attach the photo to a note on each work order. Employees love the feature and managers can always be up to date on purchases. What an easy way to synchronize your employees to management and clients, with just one click!
Mobile apps carry home service businesses into the future
Did you ever imagine in our lifetime that we would be able to remotely scan a credit card, shop easier with QRS codes, or video chat with a loved one on a smartphone from anywhere around the world? Well, we are there with our amazing technology and are moving forward each and every day to the next “big” thing!
Our current technology that encourages mobility is a great advancement in the business industry and can be applied to your home service business as well! Many small and mid-sized businesses are moving to cloud computing for data and document storage because of the ability to access the information anywhere.
With Service Proz mobility features, we are ready to help you move forward and take advantage of these time-saving mobility features.
With the ease of Service Proz mobility your employee or field tech will receive a work order on their smartphone, from there they can clock in, update the current work order and even attach an image to the work order—like a photo of a product or receipt.
Service Proz mobility will help your business save time and money on office supplies, gas and most importantly energy. Best of all, quickly invoice after the job is complete! There will not be any more confusion on a requested task during a service call or lost technicians in the field! The Service Proz app will easily organize all of these important business duties, all in one place.
Please contact us today if you would like to try Service Proz for your home service business!
Using the 4 P’s at Your Home Service Business
A few months back, we wrote a short blog about “3 Reasons Why Your Services is Your Product.” In that blog, we outlined why home 
services businesses that don’t sell a physical product should still consider your “service” as a “product”. At the end of that blog we mentioned a marketing technique called The Marketing Mix and in this blog we will expand on a famous classification of this tool named “The 4Ps of Marketing.” We recognize that many small business owners will not have attended business school so here’s our useful overview that you can put into practice and make your life easier when taking your services to market.
To many marketers, the four “P” words (commonly, and more aptly, known as the 4Ps) are the golden fundamentals of all marketing. The 4Ps are the starting point to success in marketing your business and your services. For small business owners that often only think of marketing as something only big firms with big budgets do, the 4Ps may seem a bit of a mystery, but by following the simple framework you can transform your thinking and take your services to market more effectively. And more effective marketing creates more demand, leading to increased revenues.
Developed in the 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy, a marketing professor at Michigan State University, the 4Ps stand for product, place, promotion, and price; the four key elements of marketing any product or service.
• Product: Be clear about exactly what you are selling to your customers. You may not have a tangible product to sell but know if you are selling “home cleaning services”, “landscaping services” or “pest control services.” The more precise you are with telling people what service you are selling, the greater the chance you’ll end up targeting the right people: those people who want to buy your services.
• Place: Where will you be selling your services? Will it be online via sites such as Angie’s List, on your company’s website, via the telephone, or using some or all of these techniques? Here you are deciding on how people will be able to buy from you. By making it simple, you can encourage more people to buy without needing to ask many questions because questions create confusion, and confusion drives potential customers away.
• Promotion: How will you promote your business and services? Will you advertise in local newspapers, or display your logo on your field service representatives’ vehicles? Even the subtle use of your logo on a business card or estimate is an example of Promotion. Think carefully about where and how you want your future customers to find out about you.
• Price: Decide on how you will charge for your services. Is it by the job, by the hour, by the square foot, or by some other measurement? How will you incorporate your running costs and overheads? Whatever approach suits your business should be clear and transparent to your customer, and price with no hidden charges. And remember to add some margin too because you still need to make a profit.
shorter model. But what do you think of this model, and what are your experiences of adopting this?
Building a Better Business 