Reduce Administration Time By Up To 90%
Spend more time with family and friends rather than your computer
Administration is not something tradespeople enjoy doing.
Often, let’s be honest, they are not good at it.
By administration we mean:
- Marketing and advertising for work
- Taking calls from customers and answering their questions
- Surveying for, researching, producing, sending and following up quotes
- Ordering materials
- Scheduling jobs & planning routes
- Communicating with customers
- Managing jobs on site
- Sending invoices
- Chasing payment
- Managing cashflow
- Keeping financial records / doing accounts
- Doing Tax (VAT, PAYE, Tax Returns)
- Keeping insurance and qualifications up to date
Good administration is crucial to running and building a profitable business.
Even the “Best” Joiner / Plumber / Electrician in the world may go out of business without good administration.
Here we’ve looked at how administrative tasks are often done by Tradespeople and suggested how they could be better.
By doing administration better, we believe that some tradespeople could cut the time they spend doing administrative tasks by up to 90%.
And if administration time is reduced there’s more time available to do the things that make money.
| Admin Task | How it is usually done | How to do it faster & better |
|---|---|---|
| Taking Enquiries | Take (or miss) phone call while out working. Details written for later transfer. Return calls when missed | Customer details held in database. Job created by third party to attend to when ready |
| Scheduling appointments | Done at night or at weekend after work | Do it while on the go using an app on a smart phone |
| Preparing quotes | Type out details for each quote (name, address, job description, costs) Print and post Retype when doing invoice Use Word or Excel for template | Details of customer pre-populated in job. Templates for job description and materials Send via email or text with terms attached |
| Following up on quotes | Rarely, if ever, done. Unknown if customer received quote. | Automate follow up See if / when quote opened |
| Sourcing costs from suppliers | Calls to suppliers for costs Done during day as suppliers closed at night. | Store costs as line items. |
| Sending photos | Take on phone. Transfer to photos or folders. Create email or text. Attach photo. Name / label photo or remember which job relates too. Delete when phone memory full. | Take and save photo direct to a job card. Available to send instantly forever. |
| Sending invoices | Done when get home from work. Type out details again OR cut and paste from quote. | Send while still with customer. Take payment before leaving the job. Change quote to invoice in one click. |
| Track invoice payments | Send invoice. Await statement. Check bank account. Mark paid. | Automatic reconciliation when payment reaches bank. Automatically follow up as soon as overdue. Email & SMS templates ready for further follow up. |
| Maintain job history | Use memory and a search through old texts and emails | Have all job history directly attached to job |
| Doing accounts / Book keeping | Combination of spreadsheets, notes, files, folders and bits of paper. Hand to Accountant and await a number. | Integrate with job cards Do VAT, Tax, and Accounts at the touch of a button Reduce accountant’s fees Real time knowledge of cash in bank. |
Adapt or die
There are many reasons not to change current systems. Even if you recognise that they aren’t the best:
- My current system is fine. Why Change?
- I don’t trust new things
- I don’t have the time to learn something new
- It’s too much effort to get this set up
- I wouldn’t even know where to start
But in business you must “adapt or die”.
Those who do adopt new, better processes will make more money. Those that don’t will struggle and often cease trading.
What’s The Good News?
- HomeForce can help with all of the above.
Find out how HomeForce can reduce your admin time:
- Register your interest
- Tel: – 0131 315 0000
- Email: – info@homeforce.co.uk
