Part 2 of a four-part series looking at the points to consider when choosing a CRM. Here, we review the essential software functionality that’s required to run a successful pest control business.
Traditionally, a customer relationship management (CRM) system was a sales-focused software, designed to manage the relationships between a business and their current/potential customers. However, with the automation of an increasing number of business processes, small businesses demand that their CRM is more of an all-in-one system. Who wants the complexity and expense of running multiple software systems and the struggle of getting them to connect to each other?
Service-Pro Pest-App was the original pest control CRM and has developed over the last 25 years into an all-in-one software for pest control businesses.
Although pest managers expect a large number of features in their business software, customer management is still the core requirement. This includes having a customer database that allows for the collection of a wide range of information about the customer. The CRM should provide easy access to that information to personnel in the business and increasingly, to the customer.
Pest-App captures all relevant customer information, not just the address and contact information, but a complete service history, along with reports and invoices. The ability for technicians to access this information in the field, and for office managers to view the same information, is essential for efficient business management. As Pest-App is a native app, it means pest managers in the field can access this information even without internet connection.
Pest-App also provides customer portal functionality, which allows customers to have access to their service history and current action plans – now a common requirement for many commercial customers. Importantly, for food management clients, the Pest-App portal ticks all the requirements to be compliant with HACCP.
Key to the success of managing a pest control business is job scheduling and effective communication with the customer. The job scheduling system in Pest-App is customer-centric – jobs can be automatically linked to customer information to ensure the relevant information can be viewed by office staff and technicians, and in reverse, jobs can be automatically created dependent on customer service requirements (main picture, above).
Communication is essential for active jobs, to remind the customer a service is imminent and for customer retention. Pest-App allows reminder letters to be sent by email or SMS, from within the system. It can also generate letters for snail mail or reminders for phone calls, if customers prefer a different mode of communication.
Getting paid and tracking invoices is essential for cashflow and business success. With the in-built invoicing system, invoices can be created, issued and tracked – with payments received – all within Pest-App, connecting the invoices with your customer records. This provides business managers with complete customer information in one location. Pest-App also integrates with popular accounting packages such as Xero. It is an automatic integration where all invoices from Pest-App are sent to Xero and when payments are received into Xero using the bank feeds function, they are then transferred to Pest-App and allocated to the correct invoices.
These are the essentials of a CRM, and Pest-App has developed optimal functionality in these areas based on an in-depth understanding of the requirements of pest control businesses. However, to meet the requirements of an all-in-one software for pest management businesses, it also needs to excel in report writing.
Pest-App has a state-of the art report designer that allows the generation of inspection reports, service reports, quotes or any other form of your choice. A range of customisable templates use tick boxes for efficiency. Photos can be taken within the app and annotations added at any stage of the report generation. For inspection reports and service reports for commercial accounts, the ability to create, add and modify site plans is a powerful tool that not only increases efficiency but ensures accuracy in service delivery and reporting.
All-in-one systems need to keep adding new functionality as technology advances, to maintain relevance. The barcoding feature within Pest-App is a very powerful tool that provides a wide range of benefits. Not only does it make report writing more efficient, but the data generated can be also used for trend analysis and activity reports, aiding your situational analysis and taking your professionalism to the next level.
When comparing business software options, first make sure you have confidence that the software can deliver on the basics, to make sure you can manage your customers effectively for efficient and profitable business management. Then, secondly, have a look at any additional functionality the software may have, which delivers on your broader business needs for increased efficiency and professionalism. We will take a closer look at some of these additional functions, such as bar coding, in the next issue of the magazine.
Part 1 of this series looks at the factors to think about before opening a CRM app.
