So I type “home service repair” into Google and find the highest-rated service company. After I call them and leave a message, I get a call back to schedule my appointment. At that moment, I realized that most service providers unknowingly neglect the most important thing about “home service” – the experience.

So, to all service providers, OEMs, or any company that offers in-home service, please listen to this plea…

My blood doesn’t boil because my pipes are leaking, my blood boils because of the moments between where I’m left in the dark with little to no communication from the service companies. These moments are the “experiences” that every home service company neglects – the hopeless minutes homeowners feel when waiting for the technician to arrive.

Modern companies have noticed that we live in a customer-centric world and customers now expect to be kept in the loop about everything! They want to know:

• Who is arriving?
• When will they be arriving?
• What do they look like?
• Can I leave feedback?
• Can I communicate with them ahead of time?
• Can I easily reschedule or cancel the appointment?
• Can I do everything on my phone?

With consumer expectations rising, it’s time to demand more of your brand and deliver a modern customer experience.

In this post, we break down how to turn those hopeless moments into tech-driven memorable experiences.

Step 1: The moment a customer needs help

Ask yourself this, how frustrating is it when companies make it difficult to schedule an appointment? You search for the “book now” button only to realize that they don’t have one. So you dial the dispatcher, wait for someone to call back, and schedule a time that most likely isn’t built around your schedule but theirs. Nothing about this sounds like an optimal customer experience does it?

The importance of customer experience in the age of instant gratification is now higher than ever.

How to fix step 1:

Simple. Build in a process that allows homeowners to schedule appointments with your company at a time and date that works best for them. Here’s what you do – add a “Book Now” button that takes homeowners to a form where they can share details about their need, fill out their contact information, select the best days and times that work well for them, and easily send their service request with a click of a button.

Then, and this is the most important part, the company sends the homeowner a text message confirming that they received the service request. This immediate communication lets the homeowner know that you have their best intentions in mind and you’re on it. It adds a little bode of confidence in their mind that your brand has everything under control.

Step 2: The moment the customer starts to feel left in the dark

How annoying is it when you text someone a question and they don’t get back for a few days? You start thinking – Are they mad at me? Was I too pushy? Why aren’t they responding? The silence messes with your rationality and just like any other human being you craft a narrative that explains/justifies their silence – often based on zero evidence.

The same goes for service companies. When I schedule an appointment and don’t hear anything from the company for a while, I begin thinking:

• “Did they forget about my appointment and do I need to call to confirm?”
• “Did I actually submit my request?”
• “Is this the right company to go with?”

So what do customers typically do? They call to confirm that the company got their request.

This weekend, I witnessed this exact thing. Before a scheduled carpet cleaning, the homeowner called to confirm that the appointment is still on. I thought to myself, why is it that people assume service companies will inevitably forget about them? It’s not the same in other industries. I don’t call my airline to make sure my ticket is still valid before my flight, so why should I call a home service company to confirm my appointment after it’s already been scheduled? It’s because we’re nurtured to expect a late technician or worse, a no-show.

This stems from the infrequent communication service providers have with their customers, causing homeowners’ latitude of patience to become exceptionally thin.

How to fix step 2:

It’s easy. Implement a tool like Dispatch and send automatic status updates to customers through SMS and/or email. Companies can pop off appointment confirmations, status updates, appointment reminders, on-my-way appointment notifications, feedback surveys, and much more. All of this helps your customers feel informed, aware, and most of all valued.

Step 3: The moment a customer can’t leave feedback

Before I purchase anything (product or service), I read online reviews. I do it before I buy online, and I do it while I buy in-store. I want to know what others are saying. I want to know what type of experience they had. I want to know if 3-weeks later the person still found value in it. I’m very willing to go to yelp or Google and leave a positive review if I had a good experience. Here’s a review I left after getting my tires changed.

I also left it on Yelp…

I wanted to blast it everywhere because I had a great experience and I want to push as many businesses as possible to the companies I enjoy. Most modern customers want their opinion voiced when someone does a good or poor job. It’s just the world we live in! The stigma here is that people only use reviews for negative things…this simply isn’t true. Case in point, look at all the reviews Car Zone has.

How to fix step 3:

Most companies don’t like asking for reviews – which is okay. Dispatch removes that awkward moment with a survey link that is authentically sent the moment a job is complete. So now you can collect every possible review and begin to solidify yourself as an excellent company to do business with.

As a customer, if I’m presented with a quick survey on my phone, I’m much more likely to fill it out – versus getting a link and having to type it in online.

Because of Dispatch’s feedback flow, they’ve helped companies increase their survey feedback response rate by 220%.

So if you’re a company and you’re looking to improve your last-mile customer experience then check us out. Everything presented here is why we exist as an organization. We strive to help home service companies deliver memorable customer experiences.

To learn more, request a demo.

The post How to make your customers feel extremely informed and incredibly valued appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

The post Attracting New Talent While Building Independent Service Provider Loyalty appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

To boost customer loyalty, it makes sense to start at the end: Customers often judge your brand by the last interaction they have with you—and since that final interaction is usually with your third-party service providers, these partners can make or break your customer loyalty scores.

If you have constant turnover in your service provider network, your customers are the ones who feel the pinch. Miscommunication, missed appointments, service professionals with little knowledge of your brand, and other problems pop up, sinking the customer experience you spent so long building up.

Because service provider loyalty can have a huge impact on customer loyalty, you want to make working with you as easy for them as possible.

So how do you keep both of these groups happy?

How Can I Improve Service Provider and Customer Loyalty?

Consider your service providers and customers as a two-sided market and your field service management software as the intermediary to build loyalty among both parties.

• Offer multiple ways to connect. Keep important information—like job status, contact information, and customer photos—flowing between your brand, your customers, and your service providers to keep all parties on the same page.
• Make sharing job details easy, fast & clear. Use an app that shares customer and job details with your service providers—so the customer doesn’t have to explain the issue multiple times, and the service provider has easy access to the information they need to get the job done quickly and efficiently.
• Increase service provider loyalty with the right tools. A field service management tool that doesn’t integrate with your providers’ in-house software is just another app for them juggle—which can affect your service provider loyalty.
• Let customers have their say. Customers want to be heard, so make it easy for them to share their kudos and critiques.

Now let’s get all the details on the table.

Offer Multiple Ways to Connect

Nothing frustrates a customer faster than communication issues with their order. Whether it’s a missed tracking number or a multi-layered phone tree to reach a customer service rep, every stumbling block put in your customer’s way reduces the chance that they’ll buy from you again.

Your service provider network needs easy communication with both you and your end customers to keep appointments on time and customer information up to date.

In both cases, offering multiple channels of communication can help keep information flowing where it needs to go. For example, you might offer a web portal where customers can upload details about their work orders, including photographs. With access to this information, along with a centralized database of customer information, your service providers can do their jobs more efficiently. An app can come into play for service and appointment updates, reducing the number of customer no-shows.

Make Sharing Job Details Easy, Fast & Clear

Forbes says that 77% of consumers consider convenience a key factor in choosing service providers. If your order or service process is confusing or requires customers to jump through too many hoops, they’re going to start looking for a clearer experience elsewhere.

One sticking point for customers is in getting the details of their service order to the provider. If you’re making your customers explain their situation to two or three different people, they’re going to be frustrated before your service partner ever arrives at their home.

You can eliminate that problem, and increase customer loyalty, with a field service management app that allows your providers to easily view the customer’s history and information. They’ll arrive at your customer’s home with the right tools and parts, and your customer won’t have to repeat the whole conversation they just had with your customer care team.

Your field service management software makes the process more convenient for your service partners, too. You can give them access to product information, knowledge bases, and customer data that they need to find answers to any customer questions and get the job done quickly.

An FSM tool also helps improve service providers’ first-time fix rate (since they’ll have a better understanding of the job before they arrive at the customer’s home), which will further improve customer experience.

Increase Service Provider Loyalty with The Right Tools

The service management tool you choose needs to enhance your service provider’s workflow. Otherwise, it becomes just one more app taking up space on their phone or tablet—hardly the way to increase service provider loyalty.

The right platform gives you visibility into how your service partners are doing, while also helping them do their jobs. Give them an easy way to assign and track jobs, see customer notes and photos, and accept payments in the field, and your providers will be much happier to use the tool.

If your platform can integrate with tools your service providers are already using, like QuickBooks, ServiceMax, and Zapier, it’ll improve compliance even further. No one likes having to enter the same information into three different web portals, or having to juggle payment processors.

But if you can bring all of these pieces of their business together into one field service management tool, they’ll be much happier to use it.

Let Customers Have Their Say

Customer feedback is essential to understanding what you’re doing right, and where you need to improve. Tweaking your business operations based on common feedback is a great way to improve your customer retention rates.

But your customers don’t want to have to type in a URL or call a phone number on their invoice. If you make it difficult for your customers to give you feedback, you’ll probably only hear from the really motivated ones (both furious and thrilled). This can give you a skewed sense of how your customers feel about your field service business.

Instead, give your customers a way to leave feedback instantly. Asking them to rate you and/or your service provider immediately after the job’s done means that the job is fresh in the customer’s mind. And with the right customer feedback tool, you and your service providers can spot trends and opportunities for improvement.

Customer loyalty and service provider loyalty are both critical to your brand’s success. By employing tactics and tools to keep both of these groups happy, you can cut down on customer service-related expenses—and keep your business growing.

Struggling with ways to help your third-party service providers delight your customers?

With robust communication, scheduling, and feedback tools, Dispatch can improve your customer experience from purchase to service delivery. Schedule a demo to see all it can do for you.

The post How to Ace Your Customer and Service Provider Loyalty appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon. July 13, 1999

Today’s consumer has access to more information and tools than ever before. With a single Google search, consumers can find the best price for a given product in a matter of seconds.

The only sustainable, long-term differentiator for companies is the end-to-end customer experience customers receive when interacting with a brand. Brands which differentiate by delivering superlative customer experiences will cash in on greater customer wallet share and lifetime value, ultimately netting greater profits and investor returns.

This is because a happy customer contributes 2.6 times as much revenue as a somewhat satisfied customer and 14 times as much revenue as a somewhat dissatisfied customer. Thus, the need for better customer experience spans many different industries.

The biggest hinderance home service brands face today is delivering a seamless, omnichannel, digital and data-driven experience that connects all parties, including 3rd-party service providers, throughout the customer purchase and home service fulfillment process.

After powering millions of home service jobs in over 30% of the homes in America, here is what we’ve learned for how you can cash in on the home services space.

Why There is an Opportunity to Cash in on the Home Services Space

In the early 2000s, home service companies built customer relationships on their own terms. Brands only communicated with customers when they wanted – typically through mailers and calls, or worse, no communication at all, leaving customers in the dark about the status and timing of their home services. Traditional retailers did a fair job executing product sales and deliveries but struggled to execute on expectations set with customers about the home services experience customers would receive.

Over time, due to the rise of the internet, mobile technologies, social media, and lower barriers to entry for new retailers due to the commoditization of hardware/cloud computing, the consumer rose to the forefront, ultimately having an unlimited choice about who, when and where they would purchase. Consumers suddenly had a megaphone to share the negative (and positive) experiences they were receiving from brands, and the ability to quickly and affordably shift their brand loyalty to brands who focused on CX. Industries outside of the field service arena adopted and implemented new technologies to help bridge the gap between the brand and the customer.

This puts pressure on brands to offer the same level of service to their customers in a tech-driven way. When they do, they can expect to see some drastic improvements to their customer SAT, NPS, revenue, and customer lifetime value.

Here are some of the outcomes service brands can expect after implementing customer experience tools.

Two-Way Communication Tools Improve Brand Perception

Kudos to you if you’re messaging with your customer about their home services appointment. MAJOR kudos to you if your tool allows for two-way communication with that same customer to create engaging experiences.

Home service companies that enable dynamic communication between them and their customer receive more information up front, which does two things: creates a sense of confidence in the customer’s mind, and allows for seamless fulfillment of the service.

Dispatch allows customers and service providers to directly connect with each other in a bi-directional, modern and meaningful way while empowering the consumer to provide information (notes, photos, updates) to the service provider in advance of service execution. Not only is the customer-empowered, but the service provider is well informed about the service the consumer is expecting to have fulfilled….and before appointment execution.

Automatic Appointment Reminders Improve Customer No-Show Rate

By keeping consumers informed of the status of their service appointment, including on the day of service, brands can reduce costs associated with customer no shows and reschedule requests. Automatic appointment reminders prevent this from happening.

54% of millennials prefer to communicate with brands through either mobile or email.

Not only do consumers prefer to communicate bi-directionally, based on experiences they are having with brands, but consumers expect this level of communication so they are informed and not left in the dark waiting. According to Forrester “The majority (66%) of adults feel that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good online customer experience.

Dispatch’s omnichannel communication tool delivers email, SMS, push, WhatsApp, or whichever communication method your customers prefer at the right moment.

Instant Feedback Helps Monitor NPS

As we evolve in today’s tech-driven world, the importance of immediate data capture becomes vital to reduce customer churn. While every brand will occasionally fail with service delivery, it is essential to be able to immediately act on subpar customer feedback. If your service experience is lacking, then customer switching costs are low and the customer won’t buy more of your product.

Gauging service experience and remedying poor experiences as they happen has led to a 6% reduction in customer churn (2018 Dispatch customer data study).

What is the next step for service companies?

Brands looking to capitalize on the service space need to realize that it’s all about customer experience. Jeff Bezos had it right in 1999 – amazing service is one of the most important long-term and sustainable differentiators that a brand can build. Done right, positive home services experiences will net greater customer wallet-share, customer lifetime value, and incremental product and services revenue for any brand.

The post How Superior Customer Experience is Changing the Home Services Industry appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

How Bloomin’ Blinds partners with Dispatch to conquer “Big, Hairy, Audacious” Goals

“ We would like to be the new, modern version of window coverings—not only in our business model, but in our technology and how we handle ourselves and our customers. Having Dispatch is helping us make progress toward our goals.”
– Kelsey Stuart, CEO Bloomin’ Blinds

Growing quickly, Bloomin’ Blinds is a Trailblazer in Window Coverings

Founded in 2001, Bloomin’ Blinds is a family-run business with big aspirations. The company launched its franchise group in 2014, and now has 40 owners operating in 52 territories. But CEO Kelsey Stuart wants to grow even more, and has what he calls “big, hairy, audacious goals”—like becoming a household name, adding another 50 franchise owners in the next two years, and welcoming 250-300 new owners in the next five years. “We want some extraordinarily expansive growth,” he says.

The Lewisville, Texas-based company is going up against nation-wide direct-to-consumer businesses. Stuart gives their competitors props for proving the model—but says they highlight Bloomin’ Blinds’ key differentiator, which is that their franchise owners don’t just sell blinds: they offer an end-to-end solution that includes design consultations, installation, and repairs. Setting themselves apart, Stuart explains “we would like to be the new modern version of window coverings – not only in our business model, but our technology and how we handle our customers.”

Bloomin’ Blinds’ current software solutions weren’t helping the

m build and deliver on their vision of a comprehensive service offering, so in 2019 Stuart started investigating new options.

Bloomin’ Blinds’ Looks at the Field of Options

With sights set on growth, Stuart wanted a solution that would give him visibility into franchise owners’ operations, help him attract new owners, and enable him to improve the customer experience.

“We only thrive if our owners thrive,” says Stuart. “And if our franchise owners are providing the same service as competitors, and they’re providing the same price, but their communication and presentation are better…all of that leads to buying decisions.”

Stuart started looking for a field service management platform that would offer visibility into location performance, a consistently excellent customer experience, a robust FSM tool, quoting capabilities—and that was still accessible to a growing business. He looked at close to 20 providers. Most were missing features Stuart needed or were too expensive, and one refused to even work with a window covering business.

Finally, he came across Dispatch, a software platform that helps enterprises manage franchise locations and improve the customer experience. “I found that a lot of software solutions are pretty generic in their offerings, and very few of them had the features and benefits that Dispatch had at a price we could manage.”

Dispatch offered the improved visibility, CRM, quoting capabilities, and other features Stuart was looking for. “I needed a tool that would demonstrate our concern for quality, not just in our products and service, but in our customer communication as well.  Dispatch delivered.”

Dispatch Clears the Path to a Successful Implementation

The Dispatch implementation was Bloomin’ Blinds’ first large-scale software installation—a nerve-wracking experience for any growing business. But Dispatch’s supportive team and integration expertise helped to smooth the way. “We were trying to integrate two different software systems—Dispatch and Solatech window treatment software,” says Stuart. “Having somebody who was responsive, who truly seemed to care about our business and how it was going, really helped us be patient and learn.”

As with any new software implementation, challenges cropped up along the way. “But every time Dispatch found an error, they fixed it,” Stuart says. “Every time that there was something that needed adjustment, they got it corrected.” The Dispatch team also customized workflow and notification features for Bloomin’ Blinds, and created short training videos to help Stuart onboard the rest of the corporate team and franchise owners.

Bloomin’ Blinds Cultivates Franchisee Success

The Dispatch platform gives Stuart and his team unprecedented visibility into their franchise owners’ operations, allowing them to jump on problems before they grow too big. “As a franchise owner, I need to have visibility and access into what the franchise owners are doing – I need to be able to get in, help with issues and help new owners guide and manage the business.” With data from the Dispatch platform, Stuart can see if a franchise owner is struggling with, say, generating new reviews or converting prospects, so his team can offer coaching to help get the owner back on track. “The Dispatch platform has a wealth of information,” says Stuart,  “it’s clear that there’s no shortage of data available.”

While Bloomin’ Blinds is using Dispatch to help manage franchise operations, the franchise owners themselves use the solution to build up their own businesses. “It’s a tool to help the franchise owners run their business, and they appreciate it for that,” says Stuart. “They also love the simplicity, clean look, and the intuitive nature of the software. Most of them were able to figure it out in fewer than 10 repetitions.  Across the board, it’s 100% a win.”

Dispatch’s customer-facing features have also helped set Bloomin’ Blinds apart from others in the industry. Powered by Dispatch, the new online booking page has simplified scheduling for homeowners and franchise owners, enabling customers to request appointments when convenient for them. “The booking page has been a bit hit for us,” says Stuart. “Adding technology-based communication has opened the door for new customers who aren’t naturally comfortable on the phone or need to reach us in off-hours. Since we launched it for our franchise locations, we’ve seen a substantial increase in conversion because it gives the consumer a sense that things are in motion, reducing the need for them to look at other providers. We can capture the business when they’re ready for it, not necessarily just when we’re open.”

With many automated and tech-enabled communication elements, including automated reminders and on-my-way notifications, Dispatch helps Bloomin’ Blinds leave a positive impression well before the first service appointment. “By the time we ring the doorbell, the customer has already had four or five positive interactions with Bloomin’ Blinds,” explains Stuart, “and that’s a great way to win business.”

Positive customer reviews have increased, says Stuart, showing that customers appreciate the new features as much as the franchise owners do. “Having these tools really shows that an owner is on their game,” Stuart says.

Bloomin’ Blinds’ big, hairy, audacious goals don’t look so intimidating when they have the right software on their side. “We absolutely use Dispatch as a tool for our franchise growth,” says Stuart. “We’re one of the few window coverings companies in the nation with this kind of innovative technology and customer experience. There’s no doubt, having Dispatch is helping us make progress toward our goals.”

Want to see how Dispatch can help you achieve your goals? Request a demo or more info here:

The post Dispatch and Bloomin’ Blinds appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

What you’ll learn in 3-minutes

We’re reviewing different protocols that will keep your service providers and customers safe while in the field. 

Service Provider Safety:

If you can, work remotely
Being isolated away from your team and working out of the comfort of your home is the first step in remaining safe. If you can’t work remotely, make sure to restrict all office visitors with case-by-case emergency situations letting people into the office.

Screen for fever every day
Implement active screening of service providers and office staff for a fever every day with an Infrared Forehead Thermometer.

Keep your distance
Experts suggest maintaining six feet of distance between yourself and other people at all times.

Assess everyone’s health before going out
Before every job, ask your service providers and customers if they’re feeling ill. Reschedule the appointment if the answer is yes.

Adopt contactless communication
With photos, messaging, and digital payments, you can minimize the exposure between service providers and customers. Some companies, like Bloomin’ Blinds, are implementing video consultations in order to adapt their business for this contactless world.

Customer Safety:

Wear shoe covers and gloves for every job
Wear new shoe covers and protective gloves every time you enter the homeowner’s home. This helps ensure cleanliness and puts the homeowner at ease.

Confirm your customer’s health
Communicate with the customer before the job to gauge their health and their family’s health. If anyone is ill, politely ask to reschedule the appointment.

Meticulously disinfect tools and trucks
Disinfect all vehicles and every piece of equipment after each use. This prevents the virus from spreading surface to surface.

Implement contactless payments
Implement paperless billing, credit card payments, receipts/invoices, etc., so that you and the homeowner don’t need to touch anything.

Always social distance
Stay a minimum of 6 feet away from customers and other service providers at all times and if you’re feeling a little under the weather, please stay home. 

The post Webinar in 3: 6 Ways to Keep Service Providers and Customers Safe During COVID-19 appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

You rely on Dispatch to help you deliver consistently excellent service to your customers every day, and we want to make sure you are getting the most out of the Dispatch product. Below you’ll find a few features you may not have known about – features that can help you continue to deliver excellent service, even during this challenging time.

Export Your Customer List

Keeping your customers informed about your business can be critical. It’s hard to tell if businesses are still operating – what’s essential, what’s non-essential – which can potentially lead to lost business and unsatisfied customers.

Dispatch gives you access to all of the customers you have serviced through our platform, with their contact information, job history, and more. You can view this information by clicking on Reports > Your Customers, and download it by clicking More Options > Download Data on the right-hand side of the report. Don’t forget to remove the default 30-day date range to make sure you get everyone!

The resulting list can be uploaded into your marketing software, or dropped directly into an email, depending on the number of customers. This is a great way to easily put a complete customer list together, and use it for updates, offers, marketing, or anything else you need to communicate to your customer.

Branded Booking Page

Did you know that many of our service providers use Dispatch to enable customers to book business directly from a web page? Most companies that use Dispatch can set up our booking and scheduling page, which allows customers to enter their contact information, details about the work they need done, and provide suggested appointment times to reduce the back and forth of finding the right time.

Leads submitted through our Booking Page feed directly into Dispatch for you to assign and complete, just like adding a job manually. You can even include a link to the Booking Page right in your Google business listing or in your email signature.

In a time where office visits are no longer an option for letting customers book time, the Dispatch Booking Page can help keep business flowing without the need to interact in person.

If you want to enable your free Booking Page, reach out to your franchisor, or support@dispatch.me.

Notification Templates

Every service appointment you complete through Dispatch sends several appointment notifications throughout the course of the job – scheduling, on my way, survey requests, and more. You already know that these are part of our best-in-class customer experience, and typically just include a little bit of information about the next step in the job, and a link to our branded customer portal.

What you may not know is that these notifications can be edited to add specific text to each touchpoint. In addition to providing the basic information, you can include a short message with each notification. 

Right now, many of our users are choosing to add notes about special accommodations or requests regarding staying safe during the outbreak – asking customers to provide specific information ahead of time, or reminding them to give your technician as much space as possible during the appointment.

For independent service providers, you can add this in the Work app under Settings > Company > Branded Emails, in the Custom Text (Optional) field. For franchisees, reach out to your franchisor to discuss adjusting this text.

You choose what you want to say to your customers, and we help deliver the message throughout the service appointment.

Take Customer Payments Remotely

Your customers can now view estimates and invoices, approve estimates to begin work and make payments against outstanding invoices – all from the customer portal!

You choose which billing documents you want to be shown to customers in the customer portal. When you hit Send on a billing document and include the customer’s email address in the recipients, they’ll get a link in their email. Any estimate or invoice not in a DRAFT status is shown in the portal.

For users with credit card processing enabled, you can also remotely request and collect payments through the portal, allowing customers to pay for service without interacting with your staff.

Communicate More, Contact-less

One of the greatest things about using Dispatch is how it helps you open the lines of communication between you and your customers. During a time like this, when in-person communication is not recommended, these Dispatch features offer even more value.

Our service experience notifications and branded customer portal are a great way to keep your customer in the loop throughout a service appointment. If you use our Inbox tool, you can message with customers at any time – reducing the need for in-person contact at the home or office. 

Our customer portal is a great way to interact with your customers, reducing the amount of in-person contact needed to provide high-quality service. Customers can provide notes and photos ahead of time, reducing the need for multiple appointments, and increasing first-time fix rate. 

Our customer experience, messaging, and reporting features are all important parts of the Dispatch product, made even more pivotal given the current situation we all find ourselves in. Hopefully, these features will help ease the pain of operating during the time of COVID-19. 

If you want to learn more about these or any features offered by Dispatch, reach out to support@dispatch.me.

The post Times are Tough – Here’s How Dispatch Can Help appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

But field service providers still have to do their jobs. Therefore, we put together this safety checklist for every field service professional. Please print out this checklist, share it with your service providers, and stay safe out there.

We’re so thankful for all your work.

Service Provider Safety Checklist for COVID-19

1. If you can, work remotely.
The first step is working remotely if you can. If you can’t, restrict all office visitors, effective immediately, with case-by-case emergency situations.

2. Screen for fever and respiratory symptoms.
Implement active screening of service providers and office staff for fever and respiratory symptoms with an Infrared Forehead Thermometer.

3. Confirm your customers are healthy.
Communicate with the customer before the job to gauge their health and their family’s health.

4. Innovate with contactless communication.
Implement video chat into your customer outreach to see if it’s necessary to roll a truck or if the job can be serviced via video chat.

5. Stagger service provider work schedules.
Stagger work schedules to avoid too many service providers in the office at all times.

6. Meticulously disinfect tools and trucks.
Disinfect all vehicles and every piece of equipment after each use. This prevents the spread from surface to surface.

7. BYOB – ”Bring your own bottle.”
Avoid company-shared water bottles by bringing your own to work. Make sure to bring it home, and wash it every night.

8. Wear shoe covers and gloves for every job.
Wear new shoe covers and protective gloves right when you enter the homeowner’s home. This helps ensure cleanliness and also puts the homeowner at ease.

9.  Implement contactless payments.
Implement paperless billing, credit card payments, digital receipts/invoices, etc. so that you and the homeowner don’t need to touch anything.

10. Always social distance.
Stay a minimum of 6 feet away from customers and other service providers at all times and if you’re feeling a little under the weather, stay home.

Sources:
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/california-santa-clara-county.html

The post Downloadable Checklist: Service Provider Safety for COVID-19 appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

About Samara (Sam) Toole:

Sam was brought on as a CMO to manage the brand and customer acquisition strategies and in this role, she oversees customer marketing, creative, and content development to fuel the website, showroom, sales & training at California Closets.

Currently, Sam is focused on the customer more than ever and driving tactics like free virtual design consultations to continue to support customers from the comfort of their homes.

In this episode, we cover:

• The metrics Sam uses to measure customer experience.
• How she understands her customers better than her competition.
• The customer experience challenge/problem she is most keen to solve.
• How Sam balances the line between automation and humanity.
• Why NPS matters so much to California Closets.

If you enjoyed this episode please subscribe to iTunes, Soundcloud, or Google Play. Follow Dispatch for the most recent episodes and news.

The post #27 Samara Toole, CMO of California Closets appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.

What you’ll learn in 3-minutes

For this webinar in 3, we’re discussing if it makes more sense to build enterprise software or to buy enterprise software from a third-party vendor. As a refresher:

To build means to create the software from scratch. Doing this requires a team of software engineers, a product person, testers, a budget considering total cost of ownership, diligent roadmap planning, and a whole lot of time set aside to maintain the software post-deployment.

To Buy means you will work with a vendor that has already built the software you need. They thought of all the nuances, squashed the bugs, are constantly looking for ways to improve their product and have dedicated support to make the client happy. 

While both these options are good, deciding to buy vs. build comes with its own set of pros and cons. Tune into the 3-minute webinar (yes, just 3-minutes) to learn how you should approach this dilemma and what looming questions you can ask yourself in order to make an educated decision.

The post Webinar in 3: To build or to buy, that is the question appeared first on Dispatch Technologies.