Q. I work for a heating, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, and roofing company, and I dispatch about ten people on seven calls a day, and it is exhausting. I take the call (or whoever is in the office does) and gather the customer information. This includes name, address, phone number, city, zip code, how they heard about us (commercial, radio, referral, repeat, etc.), what type of problem they are having (heating, electrical, plumbing, or roofing), what exactly is going wrong, if it is an estimate on a new unit, a service failure, what time the customer called, what date the customer called, when the customer would like the technician to come out (we try to always book them between twelve and four, and save the early times for customers with no other option).
The salesman then takes the inbound call sheet over to the dispatch log. I probably should have mentioned that each call sheet has a preassigned number (e.g. 20090001, 20090002, etc.). They match the invoice number on the inbound call sheet to the number on the call log which contains the invoice number, then a place for the sales rep to fill out the rest of the customer information, including customer name, technician assigned to customer's zip code, type of call (hvac, electrical, plumbing), date of call, date scheduled, time of call, time scheduled (am or pm), time completed, revenue collected, and if it was entered into quickbooks, and then if the invoice was given to the technician. This is all if the customer wants the work done on a future date. If the customer wants the work done that day, the sales rep goes ahead and calls the technician assigned to the customer's zip code. He then fills out the call log like normal.
Once they have done all that, they give the call sheets to me. I then enter all the information into quickbooks and print out two work orders. I put the call sheets into a plastic sleeve and put those in a binder starting from the lowest work order number to the greatest. Then I put the work order in Steve's folder who gives them to the correct technician. The technician's go out and do the call and collect the money unless it is a credit card. Then I call the customer, get their credit card information, and call the credit card company and charge their card (I am honest enough to be trusted to do this). The checks are deposited every day at the bank after they have been entered into quickbooks. Most of the technicians are paid by salary.
I broke my windshield the other day (coincidentally trying to deal with stress from this job), and a company with similar problems came out to fix it, and I was very interested in how they overcame them. The people on the phone took my phone number, name, car type, and schedule me for 12 to 4 pm. the technician who gets paid by the job came out, fixed my windshield, entered some information into his blackberry and connected it to the safegear thing and printed out his receipt and was on his merry way. I called the company (safelite), and tole them all this, and they said to call the corporate office between eight and five, which I will do tomorrow. but fellow workers, will you please help a struggling business and let me know how you dispatch people or how we could improve? Is there any company that has software for this??? PLEASE!
A. Whew, your employer owes you big time for some mental health counseling.
The really big firms around here in the midwest use a system that is identical to law enforcement. They carry a small walkie talkie and have radios in their big box trucks. I had a young man check out my heat pump just last week and I could hear the dispatcher talking talking talking. It was a woman and she'd been doing it a long time that was obvious from my first contact. Except she gave him the wrong address and he was driving around for a while until I called her back, she then radioed him right away and I had a delay of maybe ten minutes.
We have quite a few one man operations around here and they are Good. The one husband of a friend that I know just gets by with a cell phone, but you don't want to face something like that you have way too many people running in and out.
Here's a suggestion: check out temporary employment agencies and ask them what kind of system they use? You might even find a better job who knows?
Community colleges have wonderful courses on Business Communication, check them out if you have time and if your employer will pay for all or part of it. This is tax deductible as it's to improve your performance on your job.
Then, get online and check out different software companies, there are tons out there who really need the business. A local Nerd would also jump at the chance to get a system customized just for your firm.
You really have a situation and I sincerely hope you get some kind of help and soon.
Oh, I also know of what you call service plumbing firms in the Miami/Tampa/Cape Coral/Fort Myers areas. These people are really with it but they're in trouble now because the hotels are sitting there empty especially this time of year. Maybe you could check with some hotels or housekeeping managers as to what kind of system they use, but it would depend on how big and busy your area of the country is.
Okay, there's lots more but this will keep you busy thinking and maybe alleviate some of your stress.
Good Luck!
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