Your customers are more connected to technology than ever before, and that means their expectations for your business have shifted to include the use of current technology to provide them with more efficient service. The use of technology in the field not only builds your customers’ confidence in your business but also gives you the flexibility to run your business the way you want to. As a result, virtually every industry with employees in the field is shifting to the use of mobile field service apps to better manage and track their workforce so they can operate more efficiently and provide better service to their customers.
Companies that have made the shift to using pest control software with mobile functionality have found more success than their competitors, and the benefits extend to every facet of the business life cycle. Providing technicians with tools to make their work easier and more efficient will not only help your business but will help them continue to perform and grow while feeling valued and satisfied on the job.
The 4 Benefits of a Pest Control Mobile App:
1. Enhanced Technician Productivity
As technology continues to permeate virtually every facet of your customer’s everyday lives, many of them expect solutions to their problems more quickly than ever; your technicians don’t have time to manually check for pest activity, especially at larger sites like stores or warehouses. By using devices with smart sensing technology, your techs can identify rodent and pest activity without the need to spend time inspecting each and every device. They simply arrive on site, open the mobile app, and walk the floor while the technology scans for any sign of rodent activity from your smart traps and devices. Instead of consulting a list of trap locations and crawling into every nook and cranny to check hidden traps, techs only need to check the devices that register signs of activity in the app to confirm the presence of pests.
Right away, their time is freed up to make recommendations to your customers for recurring maintenance services that keep them happy and bring in more recurring revenue for your business. Using a mobile app and smart traps to carry out this process immediately shows your customers that your techs are familiar with the latest technology to stay on top of issues and helps to build trust that encourages customers to count on you for all of their pest control needs.
2. Exceptional First-Time Service Quality
Without access to the right information, your technicians can’t be expected to solve a customer’s problem on the first visit. By providing them with access to a single, centralized knowledge base via their mobile device, you can equip your techs with everything they need to impress your customers with professionalism when they arrive. The ability to provide customers with instant notifications keeps them informed and allows them to see the value of the service being provided from start to finish.
Once your technician arrives, Information like customer details, notes from previous visits, and photos or diagrams from prior services allows them to choose the best method for addressing an issue right away. This, in turn, reduces the potential for callbacks and negative customer reviews, helping to ensure that you’re the customer’s first choice for recurring services in the future. It also allows them to carry out the necessary service more quickly by eliminating the need to search for prior service records or waste time repeating things that have already been handled.
Once the service is complete, technicians can use the same mobile functionality to securely accept payments and collect customer signatures, helping streamline the order-to-cash cycle. Being able to accept payments where, when, and how your customers want to pay not only gets your business paid more quickly but also helps to ensure your customers are always satisfied with your service right up to the last step in the process.
3. A Paperless Environment
While you may be required to keep some paper records per state regulations, paperwork is far more time-consuming, inefficient and costly than storing information digitally in most situations. From misread handwriting to lost or misplaced documents, a lot can happen from the time your technicians complete their paperwork to the time it makes it back to the office. Even when it goes smoothly, you end up spending twice as many labor hours on the forms by inputting them into your system after they’re turned in. Technology that enables the integration of custom forms to support your business processes will transform your business’s efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
A mobile app designed specifically for pest control technicians can provide access to key forms and documents in the field, allowing your techs to instantly pull up the appropriate form and fill it out in just seconds and ensuring that they don’t have to waste time sifting through papers in the field or returning paperwork to the office to be input manually at the end of the day. This also allows technicians to create and pre-populate professional-looking proposals for upsells on the spot, helping to maximize your money during every visit.
When you use a field service mobile app, the information you would typically put on a paper form is automatically synced with the back office in real time to ensure your entire team always has access to the up-to-date info they need. This removes any chance of the completed form getting lost or damaged and eliminates the need for double entry of data and burdensome, time-consuming office work trying to decipher poor handwriting or inconsistent terminology.
Using the built-in camera on their mobile device, each technician can also take photos to document proposed or completed work and attach them to work orders, proposals, or the customer’s account for more compelling proposals and more comprehensive customer records for future visits.
4. Streamlined Communication
Sending your techs into the field with all the right tools and information is key to efficient performance and a great customer experience, and relying on phone calls and text messages doesn’t always cut it. Mobile app functionality automatically keeps your office staff up to date on where field technicians are, the current status of each job, and where technicians are heading next.
With this knowledge, you can assign new jobs or adjust assignments based on technician availability and proximity, giving you the flexibility you need to pivot quickly when things need to change unexpectedly. Those changes to your technicians’ schedules, job details, customer contact information, and directions to the job location can all be shared directly with your techs while in the field, helping them to finish jobs more efficiently.
Whether you are a small business looking to grow and compete with the “big guys,” a medium-sized business looking for better visibility into the industry during your growth phase, or a large company looking to centralize data between multiple locations, equipping your field technicians with the latest technology will do more than help them succeed; it will ensure that your customers are thrilled with the quality of service you provide during every visit. Check out the latest mobile functionality in PestPac by WorkWave, including smart trap integration, and learn how the right mobile app can help your technicians be more productive and generate more revenue for your business.
