Pest control management is a business with a lot of moving parts. Over time, operations can become cluttered and time-consuming. It’s a good idea to review your procedures periodically and look for ways to improve them.
Delegate as much as possible
When you’re looking to save time managing your pest control small business, the first place you should look is your current tasks. List them all out. Yes, all of them. Now go down the list and for each one ask yourself, could someone else in my business take this on?
Of course, there are some tasks, such as business strategy and networking, that need the owner’s touch. However, more likely than not, you are overburdening yourself with tasks someone else could complete.
It’s very common for small business owners to want to do everything related to the management of their businesses. However, you’re holding yourself back by holding on to so much. Getting rid of some of these tasks will give you more time to focus on the higher-level strategy that will ensure your pest control business’s success.
Automate the small things
Go back to that task list. How many of the items on your list are fairly repetitive and straightforward? Tasks such as scheduling appointments, following up with clients, and requesting payments can be easily automated.
There are many different apps that can handle these jobs. However, if you want to make things even easier for yourself, look into the all-in-one software ServiceWorks. Instead of dealing with one app for scheduling, one for invoicing, one for email marketing, and so on, you can have all of these jobs done in one place.
If you’re nervous about the prospect of automating important tasks, remember that you won’t be handing everything over to a computer. Automation is best employed for simple, repetitive chores. The complex and creative tasks will still be up to you.
Eliminate double entries
You deal with a lot of data in your pest control management. Try not to give yourself even more data to deal with by entering the same information in multiple places.
For example, if your customer relationship management system and bookkeeping system both need customer contact information. Rather than manually add that information to each place, link up the two systems. One easy way to eliminate double entries is to keep all of your information on a platform like ServiceWorks.
Make paperwork a thing of the past
A quick way to make your pest control business feel overwhelming and cluttered is to leave lots of paper around. Keeping many paper files also occupies your time, as locating specific records can take several minutes.
If you tend to have a lot of papers floating around your office, take some time to do a survey of them. Are you surrounded by bills? Client files? Notes to yourself? Client files should be relocated to an online database that is connected to your other systems. If you back up this information appropriately, you don’t have to worry about losing it.
Reduce paper bills by looking into options for going “paperless” with your internet/phone, utility, and insurance companies, and your bank. You’re probably already paying the majority of your bills online, so it doesn’t make sense to keep receiving physical copies of bills in the mail.
Cutting down on paper in your small business can help you feel calmer and more in control.
Consult your team about day-to-day pest control management processes
Don’t forget about the valuable resource that is your team. Your employees carry out your company’s processes every day. They know what’s working and what’s costing you time. Perhaps your pest control staff is spending the first 10-15 minutes of each job going over details that could have been covered in the appointment booking process. Or maybe they are consistently leaving a job to pick up extra necessary materials. If you identify these issues, you can redesign processes to better serve you, your staff, and your customers.
An easy way to get some feedback is to send out a survey to all employees. You can use this as an opportunity to ask about their satisfaction in other areas of the company as well. To get immediate feedback, pull an employee aside for a quick discussion. Just make sure that he or she knows that you’re looking to improve things, not to exercise extra vigilance.
Examining your pest control management processes and looking for opportunities for optimization should become common practice in your business. You will stay up-to-date with technology and will make your management more efficient.
Take the first step to save time in your pest control management by signing up for a free 14-day trial of ServiceWorks. Automate the tasks that are taking up your time, and give more energy to the more rewarding parts of your business.
