Customer Scheduling Struggles for Field Service

[rjrobbins2]

I run a mobile auto glass business that has 3 trucks running on each day doing installs all across the Kansas City metro. KC is the third largest metro by size in the US and we cover an area is about 60 Miles North to South and another 60 East to West.

We are struggling to meet the customer's expectations on times. We give customers a 10-12, 12-2, 2-4, or 4-6 timeframe. The problem is, we don't know when we schedule the jobs where the other jobs will be. It is becoming very difficult to get them done on time. Sometimes a job is difficult in reinforcements have to be called so someone has to go help another. Sometimes our morning class delivery can be later than we expect. This week was a mess with lots of customers not getting their glass installed during the expected timeframe. About half of the phone calls we have during the day are from customers wondering when we will get there. It is nearly impossible to predict as some windshields take 15 minutes, others can take an hour.

We are working on getting routing and scheduling software which will help. Does anyone else have a field service business? How do you deal with this? Any recommendations on software

 

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[Empires]

My recommendation would be to restructure the timeframes you give your customers. Keep track of how long every job takes over a few week period, add them up and get the average length a job takes (including travel time), and use that to figure out a new timeframe to give your customers while also giving yourself a bit of leeway for those extra long jobs.