Field service productivity refers to the efficiency and effectiveness of field service operations, including technician performance and the processes used to deliver services to residential and commercial customers. 

When processes are effective, businesses minimize downtime, book more jobs, and excel at delivering customer satisfaction. However, when field service businesses struggle with productivity challenges, they waste time and resources, and ultimately miss out on opportunities to grow their profits.

This article examines five field service best practices to enhance field service productivity, resulting in higher efficiency and improved business performance. You’ll also learn how field service management software provides key features to boost productivity and customer satisfaction.

1. Assign The Right Tech to The Right Job

Not all service technicians possess the same skills, so when you have a complex job, you can’t schedule it like a typical service call.

Sending the right tech with the right experience can make the difference between scheduling a high-dollar install versus losing the customer to a competing service business with the skills to quickly complete the job. 

Dispatching the right tech for the job also improves your first-time fix rate, which is an important field service KPI for measuring the percentage of service calls resolved on the first visit and without the need for additional trips. Sending techs back to address a problem not only wastes time and resources but also prevents your business from scheduling new jobs.

ServiceTitan’s intelligent scheduling software allows you to add detailed tags and notes for each technician on your crew to document their skills, level of training, and more. This ensures dispatch always sends a tech with the right skills to every job. 

With Dispatch Pro, an add-on feature to the core ServiceTitan platform, you can eliminate any guesswork, because the software automatically dispatches the best tech based on their skills, sales performance, and proximity to the job, which all help you maximize profit and grow your bottom line.

2. Ensure Your Techs Arrive on Time

With multiple jobs scheduled throughout the day, arriving late to even one job can throw the day’s schedule out of whack, leading to lost productivity and potentially a negative customer experience. 

Field management software with dispatching functionality helps technicians arrive on time while minimizing drive time and scheduling mistakes.

 Key dispatch features include:

• Seamless scheduling: Dispatchers see all available technicians and their current locations in real time on the dispatch board, allowing them to assign the nearest and most appropriate technician to each job site.

• Real-time tracking: GPS tracking helps dispatchers to see the exact location of each technician, ensuring they’re on track to arrive on time.

• Route optimization: Map routing optimization automatically calculates the fastest route based on traffic conditions, which reduces travel time and helps technicians avoid delays.

• Mobile access: Technicians can access maps, route information, and job notes on their mobile devices, ensuring they have all the necessary information at their fingertips. If the schedule changes, techs receive instant updates through their mobile app, which reduces misunderstandings and delays.

3. Keep Your CSRs Ready to Convert

Customer support reps serve on the frontline of your business and often interact with customers during a difficult time. In some cases, it may be an emergency. Every single call that comes in has the potential to grow and multiply your business. 

With the right tools and training, your CSRs can go beyond simply answering the phone, and generate additional revenue for your service business. 

ServiceTitan’s call booking software equips your CSRs with powerful tools to:

• Personalize every call: The software automatically identifies the customer as the call comes in, so your call center team can greet the customer by name, personalizing the experience.

• Ask the right questions: Custom prompts and drop-down menus ensure that CSRs follow best practices and key information doesn’t fall through the cracks. This eliminates typing in most cases so CSRs can focus on the conversation and give their undivided attention.

• Identify upsell opportunities: Property data in ServiceTitan shows CSRs key details, such as the age of appliances, property age, and other data points to identify upsell opportunities.

• Record incoming calls: Call recording capabilities allow you to record every call. Use call scripts to provide additional coaching and turn missed opportunities into future sales.

ServiceTitan Phones Pro equips CSRs with additional tools to convert more jobs and increase the average ticket. For instance, the Second Chance Leads feature automatically flags unbooked calls for easy follow-up. You can also measure call center performance and uncover actionable insights with real-time metrics on CSR performance, call booking rate, response time, and more.

4. Ensure Your Techs Are Informed

Misidentifying a customer by the wrong name or showing up to the job site without the right parts can quickly sour a home service experience. 

To ensure field service technicians arrive fully informed, use FSM software with mobile functionality to streamline communication between the field and office. With mobile apps, your techs can review key job details before they arrive onsite, increasing productivity, enhancing customer service, and minimizing mistakes.

ServiceTitan Mobile enables your fields techs to:

• Arrive fully informed: ServiceTitan Mobile instantly surfaces all of the notes your CSRs collect during the call, along with customer names and addresses, service history, outstanding estimates, and more. 

• Review job histories: Technicians can easily access previous invoices and work orders, project photos, and even recordings of the initial intake call.

• Access key forms: Ditch annoying paperwork and upload your forms and checklists to the app, so technicians can easily access documents on the job from their mobile device. 

• Review property details: Access complete property data before arriving, to exceed customer expectations and increase productivity.

Ultimately, informed technicians can start work immediately upon arrival, reducing downtime and boosting the number of jobs they complete each day.

5. Empower Your Techs to Sell

Requiring techs to sell in their daily workflow opens up another revenue stream for field service organizations. 

While in the customer’s home, your techs can ask about lingering issues, aging appliances, and other upsell opportunities, as customers often mention problems they forgot to include during the initial call.   

ServiceTitan's field service management solution empowers techs to sell in the following ways:

• Build estimates in the field: Field service teams can quickly build multi-tiered estimates with a few taps on their mobile app, showing high-quality manufacturer photos and videos, product information, and pricing.

• Make checkout a breeze: ServiceTitan mobile's presentation mode allows customers to browse good-better-best service options and choose the estimate that best fits their budget and needs. Customers will love the self-service aspect to the checkout process.

• Collect payment in the field: Use ServiceTitan Mobile to capture credit card and check payments from the job site, eliminating a trip to the bank and preventing payment from getting lost in the shuffle. 

Not every technician feels comfortable making a sale. Make sure to properly train your techs on effective sales techniques and consider providing incentives, such as bonus pay or gift cards for techs who exceed their sales goals.

Over to You

Improving field service productivity can take a service business to new heights. 

The key to boosting productivity for field service companies includes assigning the right technician to each job, arriving on time, equipping techs with key knowledge, eliminating time-consuming tasks, and training entire teams to adopt a sales mindset. 

ServiceTitan’s cloud-based field management solution includes an integrated mobile app, along with features like real-time metrics and reporting, smart scheduling, automated dispatching, inventory management, job costing, customer engagement, and more.

ServiceTitan is a comprehensive field service management solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, improve profitability, and achieve growth. Our award-winning, cloud-based platform is trusted by more than 100,000+ contractors across the country. Request a demo today.