Article content provided by ServiceTrade.
Are you looking to grow amidst challenges including persistent skilled labor shortages and widespread economic difficulties, such as inflation, climbing interest rates, and supply chain disruptions? In order to remain competitive and grow revenue this year, ServiceTrade knows you’ll have to be strategic and proactive in your approach.
Shore Up Your Service Business (and Build Strong Relationships)
It’s not too late to direct more attention and resources to your services department. Here are some benefits of doing so this year:
- Increased demand: In uncertain economic times, there’s typically an increase in demand for maintenance and repair services as more facility managers focus on the upkeep and efficiency of their existing systems.
- Higher Margins: Service work often has higher margins than large scale projects, making it an attractive option for contractors looking to increase their profitability. Businesses that can streamline the administrative demands of service work with technology can benefit greatly from more service volume, especially in 2023.
- Opportunities for growth: By focusing on service work, you can build strong relationships with existing clients and establish a reputation for quality and dependability, leading to new business opportunities and growth in the future.
Show Your Work
Providing your customers with a premium experience will continue to be essential for retention and growth this year. One way you can impress customers is by providing detailed and transparent records of the work you do—even (or perhaps especially) in the case of routine maintenance work.
When equipment is running without issue, facility owners and managers under economic pressure might make a case for cutting the budget. Why are we paying these folks so much money when our equipment is working fine?
You know—and we know—that the equipment is working fine because it’s being routinely serviced. But the value of maintenance work will likely remain a blind spot for your customers—until you bring it to light. How do you do that?
By showing your work. Providing media-rich records, before and after photos, and really telling the story of how your recurring work is saving your customers money in the long run. Looking for a streamlined way to tell the full story of your good work? Check out ServiceTrade’s Service Link feature.
Prioritize Pull-Through Performance
What is pull-through work? It’s a metric that measures the number of repairs, upgrades, replacements, and installations that come from delivering existing maintenance agreements with your customer. Anything you’ve proactively suggested or planned with your customer outside of routine maintenance and construction work.
The related metric pull-through efficiency is the rate at which routine work results in a pull-through work order. Improving this rate, and your total volume of pull-through work, continues to be a compelling growth strategy. According to our latest data study, the top half of mechanical contractors in total pull-through performance grew year-over-year revenue 122% faster than their bottom half performing counterparts.
How do you improve pull-through performance? The short answer is to get your whole team behind the strategy and focus on these five steps:
- Locating and recording all equipment issues.
- Promptly evaluating all repair opportunities and creating quotes.
- Promptly sending quotes to the customers.
- Managing open quotes and following up with customers.
- Scheduling the repair work order and earning the revenue.
Want to learn how ServiceTrade can help you hit your growth goals this year? Chat with our team!
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ServiceTrade is the software platform for commercial mechanical and fire contractors. During a chronic skilled labor shortage, we help you increase profit by improving service and project operations, increasing technician productivity, selling more service agreements, and growing customer loyalty.
