If the majority of your workday is spent planning pool service routes, it may be time for a new strategy. Depending on your needs and budget, there are a variety of ways to effectively retool your service routes.
What the Process Looks Like
Dan Lenz started working for All Seasons Pools, near Chicago, in 1987. He runs the service department, which does 12,000 to 14,000 service calls each year from April to September. It’s the largest part of All Seasons Pools’ business, with approximately $2.7 million in annual service revenue.
Lenz started planning service routes for the company in 1989. Using magnets, the service routes are shown four months out on large boards in the office. In addition to the visual representation of route information, All Seasons Pools does several other things to maximize the schedule.
First, it develops the crews, pairing individuals with complementary skills who work well together. The most senior techs are placed on the most complicated routes, and teams are preferred over individuals if the team can efficiently complete more stops in a day. Lenz also groups the same types of calls together for the same truck.
Rush hour, he says, can lengthen drive time. “We give everyone jobs near the office from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and then send each truck out to the farthest point as the second stop after rush hour, so they get into Chicago in 30 minutes rather than one to two hours,” Lenz says. “We then have techs move back toward the offices to finish service calls.”
All Seasons Pools also uses historical information for all recurring customers. “If we spent four hours at a job last year, then we assume it will be four hours the next year and plan accordingly,” Lenz says of the detailed notes it keeps in a database.
Beyond the Whiteboard
While spreadsheets and white boards are popular for planning service routes, a software program can help streamline the process and free up more time. Jessica Chase, vice president of client services at Evosus, Inc., says mobile technology is trending in recurring pool service and maintenance.
“To put numbers behind it,” she says, “we’ve had four times the number of clients on board with Evosus Mobile Service from January to April of this year, over all of last year. In our experience, mobile technology has had a profound effect on a pool service company’s ability to fluidly adapt to their client’s needs and expectations by giving them instant access to customer contact info, equipment history, purchase history and more.”
The Evosus Mobile Service app helps pool-service techs instantaneously send detailed information — such as job status, job materials, chemical readings, time spent and notes for the customer — back to the office and directly into the customer’s service order.
RB Control Systems, another business software provider, also provides a mobile app — RB Mobile Live — which connects to its business software and lets techs view all scheduled jobs along with the customer’s information, such as equipment profiles, job notes, directions and pictures on record. The system itself tracks customers, dispatches, billing, inventory, service history, technicians and scheduling routes.
By offering mobile apps, even traditional swimming pool equipment distributors are contributing to the efficiency of pool and spa service routes. Bel-Aqua Pool Supply in New Rochelle, N.Y., and others have designed these apps so pool pros can check product stock, place orders and track shipments from their smartphone. Immediately knowing when a part will come allows techs to schedule follow-up service calls in the field.
If software isn’t in the budget, there are a few ways to optimize what’s available. Corinne Kraft, COO of RB Control Systems, recommends predesigned forms and checklists for the different types of services a pool business performs. “A good filing system will be key to accessing your customers’ information at a moment’s notice when they call in for service,” she adds.
Chase recommends planning pool service routes as if you were using software. “Be organized, plan your routes using Internet mapping (such as Google Maps) and keep good records of services performed,” Chase says. “These good habits will ensure that, once you’re ready to take your business to the next level with business-management software, you’ll have good, clean and useful data to use.”
