Single truck operators.

[Mountain View Carpet Care]

How do you keep track of your jobs? I put them on my home PC then a client will call and I have no idea what days are available when I'm out cleaning. I'm a one man show and I know there has to be a way.


TIA
Rich

 

[Greg Loe]

blackberry or calender

 

[Becker]

weekly planner

 

[KevinL]

Weekly planner. High tech isn't always better. You kids do know how to write don't ya?

 

[Jeremy N]

Laptop, power converter and a printer.

Matter of fact, you can get a tablet PC and input and print wireless from inside the customer's house. Walk out to the van and put up the docs for payment.

I used this in my previous business all on a regular basis.

 

[Shorty]

Richard, I do all my invoicing, bills, etc; on Quicken.

With my version I am able to email most of my invoices and the money is deposited directly into my account.

To keep track of my work load, I use a Quicken program called Customer Manager.

I can book repeat customers weeks, months or even years in advance.

It is a very simple, cost effective program to use.

Check it out.

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/ad ... ment.jhtml

Hope this helps,

Shorty.

 

[WISE]

ACT and Blackberry with Handheld Contact.

Live syncs both ways.

WISE

 

[Desk Jockey]

Weekly planner. High tech isn't always better. You kids do know how to write don't ya?

Kevin I think you made that same comment each time we got lost in Chicago, despite having a GPS in your SUV.

 

[hogjowl]

I'm a single operator. You know the type. Office phone forwarded to my cell. Cleaning (or posting) all day, answering the phone and posting jobs, deposits, etc. on the computer at night.

I have a pocket DayTimer. (DayTimer,com) Perfect bill fold with a handy monthly scheduler inside.

Just a suggeston.

 

[Russ Goddard]

I scheduled everything on the calender in Microsoft Outlook. I'd change the view to "today" and print it, which gave me the detail of the current day. Then I'd change the view to "month" and print that also, so if I scheduled anything while I was out I'd have the next 30 days in front of me. I kept both sheets on my clipboard. If I scheduled a new appointment while I was out on the truck, I'd write in the new appointment on the "month" calendar and update Outlook when I got back to the office. The next day, I'd print the same two sheets (today and month).

I know there are more sophisticated scheduling programs available, but my PC already had Outlook (most do) and I was looking to save money.

 

[Mark Imbesi]

I'm exactly like Russ. I use QuickBooks Pro for the invoicing and search by dates for the 6 and 12 month reminders.

 

[XTREME1]

I have a calendar book. Fits 3 to 4 jobs per day. I log names and addresses after the job is complete and I pray I never lose it

 

[Guest]

i use a Sally Beauty supply schedule book under $10 bucks

 

[Able 1]

I have found the "week at a glance" day planner is awesome! no need for anything else. You can get them at office supply stores.

 

[joey895]

I started off using the "week at a glance" planners and it was perfectly fine as long as you had it with you. In many cases I found it was a pain to have it with me all the time. However I do have my cell phone with all the time so I bought a Motorola Q and it has a built in calendar. I bought an aftermarket program for the scheduling that is more user friendly than the calendar that came on the Q and I love it. It syncs with my outlook calendar on my desktop so I always have a back up. I also have it set up to automatically backup to the sd card just in case the phone crashes or something.

 

[Bob Foster]

I have had all the electronic gadgets there is out their including 3 generations of Blackberries.

I still find the most convenient and dependable method is this coil- back notebook that has the center spine (don’t get the top spine one) and it fits nicely in my shirt pocket or lower cargo pant pocket. They are available at Wally World for 97 cents. Each book will hold about three months with room to spare.

The best way to format the book is like this:

Use a page for each day except for Saturday and Sunday where they both share the same page. Make sure you start with a Monday on the left page.

Leave the last 7-8 pages at the back of the book for notes that you want to make.

For me it works very well – easy to carry and easy to access.

 

[Rex Tyus]

Palm Treo. Phone and planner in one. Love it.

 

[Loren Egland]

Week At A Glance appointment book.

 

[Able 1]

The only thing i don't like about my week at a glance is they should put and blank page in between the weeks to scribble.(Names, Numbers, estimates,ect.)

I go nowhere with out the black book.

 

[Becker]

Bob, that is insane!

But if ya only do a job now and then I guess it works.

 

[Mountain View Carpet Care]

Bob needs more jobs.

 

[Bob Foster]

.

 

[Brad_Smith]

iphone w/bluetooth. cal syncs with outlook. For those with lots extra time you can even post on MB easily. On commercial I listen to music with headphones and music pauses when phone rings. Used to use treo. keyboard was better but the rest sucked.

 

[Derek]

tablet pc.

thanx --- Derek.

 

[Mikey P]

My wife uses a note book two steps up from Bob's then transfers the jobs to Clean Exec/Camelot.

 

[LeeCory]

I agree with Mikey on Camelot software. Not only is it excellent in taking care of many needs specific to our type of business....

It also prints a take along copy of your schedule so you can jot things on the fly, and just update when at your pc.

Camelot is excellent and I have the professional version, but it not inexpensive. If you are going to be in business you should have the proper software.

 

[Scott S.]

giving away free jobs in your area uh mikey? SS will be copying that and make phone calls.

I have a laptop and i just carry a copy of the calender dates so i can look and write in if i get any calls and i'm not at the office. i can just glance down and keep track of what is going on. i just fold it in forths you cant even tell you have 1 pc of paper in your back pocket.

 

[Mountain View Carpet Care]

My wife uses a note book two steps up from Bob's then transfers the jobs to Clean Exec/Camelot.

Get that faucet fixed?

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

lol

 

[Jim Morrison]

Thought I would bump this old one, lots of good info. Being a single truck operator I have a question about iphones and outlook. Anyone out ther syncing these 2. Searching on the web can't seem to find the definitive current thread on this. I understand it is done thru itunes. The people trying to sell the iphone tell me it's all plug and play, just want to know how true that is.