ServiceMonster (Basic, Grow, Premier) (www.servicemonster.net, 888/901-3300) is browser- based software suitable for medium sized service businesses. The solution, which includes a mobile app, enables creating and sending estimates, scheduling jobs with day, week, month, and agenda views; managing technicians and their routes; time tracking; invoicing; and taking payments in the field. The mobile app enables capture and storing of photos, with the ability to upload them to work orders.
Managers and owners can edit and particularize work orders so technicians at a jobsite can see the basic dashboard without seeing the full company dashboard information (i.e. they don’t see pricing or payments).
You can contact customers through email or text or call from the job screen. Customers can sign work orders and invoices directly from a technician’s phone.
The in-app job completion checklist enables workers to collect signatures, finalize invoices and collect payment, take post-job photos, email clients, check out of a job, and mark work as complete.
You can integrate ServiceMonster with Stripe or Authorize.net to process payments and can use the free invoice add-on to collect payments online through text and email. ServiceMonster also fully integrates with ServiceMonsterPay, for processing direct debit payments (ACH or ETF) in the office or in the field.
Service Monster Grow integrates free with Google Calendar, QuickBooks, and, optionally, with other apps and services, including quoting, booking, review sites, and marketing software.
Report capabilities in the Grow plan address financials, management, marketing, and technician data, and allow tracking key KPIs such as repeat rate, average invoice, and the percentage of available time booked.
The Premier plan adds automated marketing capabilities such drip campaigns and the ability to create and send reminder emails and generate call lists and inventory control.
The mobile app, available on all plans, allows technicians to view jobs for the day, get directions, send on-my-way texts, collect signatures, upload images, invoice customers and collect payments. Managers/owners can do all that and, in addition, schedule jobs, manage jobs, work leads and sales activities, create estimates and access client information.
Pricing: tiered plans carry monthly fee, based on features offered and initial number of users (Basic, 1: Grow, 5; Premier, 10) with the option to add additional users. 14- day free trail.
Note: Also from ServiceMonster: ServiceMonster Lite, a mobile-only solution tailored to small owner-operators that offers basic features including scheduling and invoicing.
GatherUp (Traject, www.gatherup.com) cloud-based reputation management software is a customer experience and online review engine that offers multiple ways to engage customers in feedback, including email and two-way SMS text messages.
It can be set up to automatically send proactive requests to customers by email or SMS text messages with the intent to generate reviews and customer feedback for your choice of a pre-designated number of review sites that use GatherUp, including Google, Facebook, Yelp and other sites. The solution can also suggest Facebook recommendations and request private feedback.
You can add your company logo to request emails and feedback landing page and can set up a customizable review widget on your website and choose what to display: 1st party reviews, 3rd party reviews or both types.
The Review Mode option, Net Promoter Score, offers customers a quick way to rate your company with up to five stars in response to the query “would you recommend this company.” The Ultimate Mode adds surveys, feedback, and testimonials.
GatherUp integrates with Quickbooks and other 3rd party solutions.
Pricing: per month, scaled per # of locations. Free 14-day trial
Wingmate frontline intelligence app (www.wingmateapp.com, 888/850-7190) enables a service business’s field staff (e.g. technicians, field supervisors, route service reps) to report sales leads and referrals, service issues, and up-sell opportunities. The app, which can help businesses active in commercial and/or residential work proactively prospect for new business and includes the ability to capture photos/videos and input voice notes, works in concert with Wingmate’s Simple CRM for tracking and lead development.
How it works for HVAC contractors: Using the app, an employee in the field snaps a picture of a potential customer’s business (storefront or business signage) or a current customer’s HVAC equipment (and, perhaps, its serial number) that could need maintenance or replacement and passes that photo into the sales team’s pipeline. The photo, which is geo-tagged and documented with customer contact information inputted in seconds by the technicians, can include voice notes, for context. A salesperson receiving the lead can, through Wingmate ‘s Simple CRM app (mobile/desktop), attach a quote and follow up with the customer.
The service technician performing the ensuing maintenance or new installation stores that information in the CRM for future service/maintenance calls.
Each lead generator can track their own leads with time-stamped updated statuses along with the ability to track and create real-time rewards and team performance to drive motivation. Management can set targets and track the company’s entire pipeline on a drag and drop dashboard, enabling the ability to see performance, over time, of employees inputting leads.
Pricing: per month/per user
Patti Feldman writes articles and web content for trade magazines and manufacturers of building products. She can be reached at [email protected].