Small businesses are an engine of growth in the U.S.: accounting for 99.9% of all companies, delivering 46% of the nation’s GDP, and employing 45.9% of all Americans in the workforce. While service-oriented small businesses often begin by selling to a local client base, they typically must transform processes to expand. SaaS-based field service management (FSM) platforms with automated processes help small businesses scale efficiently to serve a regional customer base while maintaining service quality with a personal touch. And if service companies branch out into offering products, they can also use these same tools to streamline customer interactions, ship products, and compete against a wider range of companies.
Increasing Operational Efficiency with Zuper’s FSM Platform
Cowboy Pools is an Austin, TX-based company owned and operated by Aaron Weiss and Amanda Shaftel. The company has developed a popular smaller-scale, above-ground preassembled stock tank pool, The Honcho, that can be quickly and cost-effectively installed in most backyards.
With business booming, Weiss and Shaftel went looking for a solution to optimize operations and workflows further. The company was using a legacy solution with disconnected processes, increasing staff work strain and delaying job completion. It typically took Cowboy Pools one hour to schedule a pool install in their Austin and Houston markets as staff navigated disjointed processes, email, and other tools.
Cowboy Pools’ owners wanted to use automation to increase staff productivity and improve the customer experience. This was the start of our partnership with Cowboy Pools. With Zuper, they easily automated and linked customer service, field service teams, and back-office staff to work productively to complete jobs end-to-end.
For Cowboy Pools, three process changes were key to the company’s rapid growth over the last 12 months:
Automating Scheduling and Dispatching
The Cowboy Pools team uses Zuper’s integrated calendar and automated scheduling and dispatching functionality to plan site visits, installations, and repairs. These tools give Cowboy Pools a top-down view of business activities and staff to maximize field service efficiency. “We can now do all scheduling and dispatching within Zuper, which wasn’t possible with our previous tool. As a result, we have become more organized and responsive to customer needs,” says Aaron Weiss, Co-founder of Cowboy Pools.
With automated scheduling and dispatching, the company has decreased the timeframe to order and install a pool regionally by 80%. Not only is manual back office schedule management streamlined, but technician utilization is improved because the technology ensures staff are allocated to the job best fit for their skills and schedule. In addition, increasing responsiveness has strengthened customer relationships. The company’s net promoter score (NPS) has increased.
Since today’s customers expect a heavily automated experience, automating scheduling and accelerating job completion time can help small businesses start relationships on the right foot, leading to great online reviews, higher NPS scores, and more new business due to social proof.
Using a Mobile App
At Cowboy Pools, each field service technician completes 2-7 daily jobs. As a result, staff must be able to work efficiently across locations and in different conditions.
Zuper provides job management tools that techs can access and use, even when cell service isn’t available, keeping them productive and able to complete jobs more easily. With mobile, all job details exist in one place. For Cowboy Pools, this ensures customer satisfaction is maintained because every technician has access to the history of the account and previous service and can share before and after pictures directly with the customer. The mobile app ensures regular communication with the customer enhancing the overall experience.
“Our field services team uses the mobile app to see all of their jobs at a glance, including the data and tools they need to complete jobs effectively and efficiently,” says Weiss. Tools such as asset management and service checklists help keep staff focused on completing their day’s jobs and ensuring that every customer receives the same high standard quality of care.
Field technicians want to use apps that offer guided workflow, so they don’t have to carry physical paperwork or navigate broken processes. Small businesses that move from paper-based processes to automated job management can typically achieve productivity gains of 20-30% on average. Pairing automation with training and upskilling can also help improve technician retention.
“We view our FSM tool as key to keeping our field teams happy. These employees are in high demand in our regional market and finding ways to make their jobs easier is important for morale.” In the last several months, Cowboy Pools has improved field staff retention by 30%.
Sending Automated Invoices and Payment Reminders
Invoice automation simplifies the billing process significantly for Cowboy Pools by calendar customization reducing manual work for back-office staff, eliminating errors and automating payment reminders. As a result, they can focus on proactive customer outreach to earn business and reduce day sales outstanding (DSO), improving the organization’s capital position.
Back-office teams that automate formerly disconnected invoicing and payment processes can expect to reduce DSO and focus teams on customer communications and exception management. That means better working capital and less bad debt.
Galvanizing Growth with Streamlined Processes
Cowboy Pools is now selling its standardized product, The Honcho, nationwide. By automating back-office processes and improving daily technician efficiency, the company has been able to expand its offering beyond the Houston and Austin regions.
Other pool or service-based companies can learn from Cowboy Pools’ success and embrace full-service field management software to streamline workflows, accelerate job completion, and ensure timely invoicing and payment. With these capabilities, they can enter new geographic markets, compete with a broader range of businesses, and deliver exceptional service that wins new customers and delights existing ones. And by managing growth efficiently, they’ll also notch greater profitability.
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