A system for service and installation work
6 min read
Short answer
A service company does not need a pipeline. It needs a technician's calendar, a job sheet, materials and photos from site. Those four are what an ordinary CRM lacks, which is why a spreadsheet and a group chat always appear beside it. Start with the job sheet, not with scheduling.
01Why a sales CRM does not fit
A sales CRM assumes an opportunity moves through stages towards a signature. A service job does not work that way — it is raised, assigned, moved, has materials added, comes back unfinished and may be invoiced a month later.
The second difference is that half the work happens away from the office. If the system is not usable on a phone, one-handed, in a van, the technician will not use it and will fill it in that evening, or never.
02What it has to do
This is the minimum below which it is not worth building.
- 01A job with history — what was done to this equipment last time and who was there.
- 02Day and week scheduling, on the assumption that it changes every morning.
- 03Materials and hours, recorded on site rather than from memory afterwards.
- 04Before and after photos attached to the job, not sitting in a phone's gallery.
- 05A customer signature on site where work is handed over.
- 06Invoicing data that assembles itself from the materials and hours.
03What pays off first
Not the scheduling calendar, as most people expect, but the job sheet filled in on site. While it is completed afterwards, hours and materials go missing, less gets invoiced than was worked, and nobody knows by how much.
Companies that start here see the difference on the first invoicing run. Scheduling can come later, and then with real data about how long each job actually takes.
04What to connect it to
Accounting for invoices, and stock if materials are tracked. Nothing more is needed at the start.
Connecting to time clocks or vehicle GPS looks attractive but delivers least and costs the most trust. A technician who feels the system is there to check on them rather than to help stops writing in it.
Frequently asked
- Why is an ordinary CRM not enough for service work?
- A service job does not move through stages towards a signature. It needs technician scheduling, materials, hours and photos from site — none of which an ordinary CRM has.
- What should be built first?
- The job sheet, filled in on site. While it is completed afterwards, less gets invoiced than was worked and nobody knows by how much.
- Does it have to work offline?
- At least partly. A technician should be able to record materials and hours in a basement with no signal, and the system should send it once the connection returns.