Equip technicians with a mobile field service app to help them achieve service goals and meet KPIs.
In our Succeeding in Field Service by Managing to KPIs series we’ve already gone over how Schedulers, CEOs and Service Managers can improve their companies by managing to service KPIs—how they can build revenue, run a productive organization, schedule more efficiently, and analyze data to make more intelligent business decisions.
But at the heart of every service organization is its field workforce and they have their own KPIs to work towards. You can be masters of scheduling and data analysis, but if your workforce isn’t utilizing their time and performing exceptional service, your organization isn’t going anywhere.
When service managers step back and put themselves in their technicians’ shoes, they can start to imagine new goals and strategies to help their workers succeed out on the front lines.
Here are 5 KPIs to motivate your technicians and measure their performance in the field:
1. Increase first-time fix rates
Increasing first-time fix rates is all about having the right parts and skills to finish the job before the end of the day. When your customers are paying for service, they expect fully functioning equipment when you leave. If you’re not able to deliver, they’ll find someone else who can.
Start by supporting a sophisticated inventory management system to make sure techs have the right parts for each job. Then give field workers mobile devices equipped with training materials and service manuals so they can look up how to solve problems as they arise.
With ever improving communication technologies and social connections, technicians should never have to leave the job site to seek the help or resources they need.
2. Increase additional sales in the field
It’s difficult to convince someone to buy something without solid evidence for why they should. I’m probably not going to sell a new part for an air conditioner if I can’t explain why the air conditioner’s not working or why the part’s essential.
A mobile inspection application with automated quoting capabilities keeps technicians informed, equipped with evidence, and able to complete a sale from start to finish without ever leaving the job site.
With the inspection app, techs can collect evidence, see service history, and take pictures to demonstrate why a piece of equipment needs serviced or repaired. Then they can finish off the job with automated quoting, which takes the customers through the billing and sales cycles, including signature capture, right on the mobile device.
3. Increase percentage of billable hours
Cutting down on technician idle time is a big challenge for service companies with job sites all over the place.
Improved field service scheduling technology with insight into tech location, availability, skill set, access to parts, etc. is one way to increase billable hours since field workers will spend less time traveling and more time working.
Managers can also monitor technicians’ ability to meet company KPIs by measuring productivity and performance in the field based on the amount of lag or idle time on job sites and the time it takes to fix standard issues based on the hours and location data they input on their mobile devices.
4. Decrease number of overtime hours
While you want to increase the percentage of billable hours, you don’t want techs working too much overtime when you have to pay them more for the same work.
The key to getting the most productivity out of a 40 hour work week is to equip your field force with mobile devices and applications that allow them to work more efficiently and tackle more work orders without putting in extra time or effort. Stress smarter work over longer work to get the most out of your technicians’ skills without extending their hours.
5. Improve customer satisfaction ratings
We’re all discovering that in this age of increasing customer demands, winning your customers’ loyalty is vital. And while you can be the most loveable, organized company behind the scenes, it’s the technicians in the field who will determine whether your customers come back for more.
In order to determine where your customer satisfaction ratings lie, technicians can use a mobile inspection app with customizable forms to collect feedback through customer satisfaction surveys. Once the data starts rolling in, you’ll be able to make business decisions to help your technicians improve customer satisfaction.
And as an additional incentive, think of something to reward the techs with the highest customer ratings…they’re doing something right.
Track Technician Success
Once you’ve communicated specific technician KPIs, the next step is to determine whether they’re meeting them.
Equip techs with mobile devices so they can update information like hours, parts, task items, customer satisfaction information, inspection, and quoting details and store the information the back-office database so it’s immediately available for review through stakeholder service portals.
These portals allow service organizations to create web pages with customizable widgets that raise key stakeholder visibility to important service data and manage the business to key performance indicators. With this information, service managers can manage to technician KPIs by monitoring which techs are meeting the goals set for them and why.
Don’t Forget to Reward Your Field Workforce
When you use a service management application to monitor employees and manage to specific KPIs, technicians might feel micromanaged or even resentful. In order to avoid pushback and keep your field force on your side, be sure to use your heightened visibility to reward high-performing workers.
Because, while it’s important to find gaps in your organization and fill them by implementing strategies that speed service and make processes more efficient, it’s also important to keep your workers happy and engaged or you risk losing them.
A field service management app that monitors field force location and performance against technician specific KPIs as well as improves technicians’ work lives is the key to a satisfied, balanced workforce and an efficient service operation.
A Buyer’s Guide to Mobile Field Service Software: 9 Tips for Choosing a Mobile Solution that’s Right for You
Help your field force meet service goals and improve all around service performance by incorporating a mobile strategy into your operations. Learn important tips, guiding questions, and to-dos in our free, educational whitepaper: “A Buyer’s Guide to Mobile Field Service Software.”
