3 Ways Field Service Software Makes Customer Service Better

In today’s post, the FranchiseSoft team outlines 3 ways that field service management software can help you retain, acquire, and satisfy your customers.

Understanding the Importance of Customer Retention

Service based franchise owners know that customer acquisition is generally more expensive than customer retention. And yet, franchise owners continue to let established clients slip away and bring their business to other providers. Before we can recommend customer service improvements, we must first understand some factors that contribute to low customer retention.

Perhaps most importantly, we must recognize the nature of the modern consumer marketplace. We live in the Internet era – the “Information Age” – and it’s never been easier for consumers to find companies in their area. A quick Google search for “HVAC services” yield over 55-million results in 0.75 seconds; HVAC franchise owners must contend with millions of competitors, each offering better customer satisfaction than the next company.

Despite this deluge of options available to the consumer, most people prefer to stick with one service provider, so long as they feel they’re being treated right. Finding somebody new requires research on review sites, and means having to go through the account setup process all over again. Ultimately, staying with a trusted service based franchise is easier, and can even earn them discounts over the long term.

With this in mind, it seems as though customer retention is directly correlated to the quality of your customer service. In fact, improving your customer service with field service management software will not only improve your rates of customer retention, but will also increase your rate of new acquisitions by adding inspiring clients to write great reviews for new prospects to see during their research phase. These are some of the most common customer service errors that affect long-term retention for franchise owners:

• Customer feels unappreciated
• Customer feels staff are rude, unhelpful, or lacking knowledge
• Customer is kept waiting by late field technician
• Customer is frustrated by failed repair
• Customer is frustrated by limited scheduling options
• Customer does not have their needs addressed in a timely manner, or is forced to speak with multiple agents while trying to ask question or file complaint

Having established some of the factors contributing to low customer retention, we can now discuss the ways that FranchiseSoft’s field service management software improves customer service outcomes.

3 Ways Field Service Management Software Improves Customer Service Outcomes

• Make booking, payment, and follow-ups easy. FranchiseSoft lets customers book, pay, and follow-up regarding their service calls quickly and easily from any mobile device. By enabling timely responses to consultation requests, appointment confirmations, and payment processing, you will leave the customer feeling as though their business is truly appreciated, and our software’s mobile capabilities mean you’ll never miss out on a potential sale again.
• Increase communication and transparency for better business relationships. Never drive business away by keeping clients on hold or forcing them to work around office hours to keep in touch. Our software’s communication tools make professional correspondence as convenient as sharing texts or emails with friends and family. This means you can update your client on job progress, arrival times, and answer any questions they may have instantly, offering a level of transparency and attentiveness that will distinguish your franchise from the competition.
• Do away with costly scheduling conflicts. Scheduling conflicts, no-shows, and booking errors are all it takes to lose a customer in the Information Age, which is why we invested so much time and effort into our scheduling system. Create and assign jobs from any mobile device, and update staff availability in real time using our cloud-based calendar so that you never double-book a job again. In doing so, you make sure no client is kept waiting for a tardy technician or left frustrated by limited availability options ever again.

Try out field service management software for free – visit https://franchisesoft.com/franchise-solutions/field-service-management/ to schedule a free demonstration and increase customer service outcomes today!