Joey, I tried calling you yesterday for our appointment then I saw your post here. I will try to address some of your concerns.
“…it makes me enter all of their info in before I can schedule them.”
There are work arounds here but the point of keeping a database is so you, well, have a database. It’s the data crunching we are after so you can keep track of your business, see your true average invoice, repeat rate, productive marketing sources and on and on. Not to mention the reminder ability for both DIY and FMS campaigns. (FMS averages around 800% ROI btw)
“I want to schedule then, put in their info.. That is the order I have always asked for…”
We don’t wish to make you change your business flow. Some of our customers take notes during a call and then enter in the data after the call.
“I just find
SM takes to long to do all of this. I can hand write something and schedule them much quicker.”
Yep. You can totally hand write quicker. But don’t ever lose you apt. book, and I wonder how you stay in touch with your current clients effectively.
“Not counting if your not in the office you have to open the laptop wait for pages to load.”
We may be able to help you here. Your internet connection should be over 1.2 for best performance and you may be experiencing packet loss.
“For someone like myself that spends most of my time in the car or on jobsites I think my handy dandy appointment books are a much better fit.”
Have you tried
ServiceMonster Mobile? Quick access to your appointment and contact information.
“When I am doing invoices for apartment complexes, quick books is much easier. With
SM I have to change the service address everytime, instead of QB that part is automatically blank and i can type it. When I'm entering about 60 of these things at a time,
SM is not quicker.”
I have to disagree. In QB you have to enter the site every time. With
ServiceMonster you only have to enter it once then simply select it form that point fowared. Entering the data is entering the data. You may want to look into your Tab key. And address infromion stored in QB can’t map, and usually is stored in a poor format. In addition, all of the history is there if there is an issue with payment or scheduling. You’re protecting yourself here.
“Plus if the PM calls today and schedules 16 units she wants the invoice the same day she schedules before they are completed, there fore
SM wont put a date on the top which sucks.”
If you have a need for speed and are not concerned with site tracking, you can create one invoice and list each line item as a separate address. Just a suggestion.
The overall point here is simple. We are here to help you. We can address many issues with process flow. There are many ways to perform tasks in
ServiceMonster and we can help you pick the best ones if we come to understand your business.
So it really comes down to need. Do you need a system or not? In some cases, appointment books are the best, easiest, and quickest solution. Ask yourself; which business problems are you trying to solve? If you know your numbers, have a higher then 75% repeat business, have an average invoice above 250.00, and have grown to your target earning potential. Then you totally don’t need
ServiceMonster.
