To keep your business on the right track, it’s crucial to evaluate its performance on a regular basis. This allows you to measure your business’s successes and failures. By keeping track of how well your service company is doing, you can identify any changes you need to make to your business plan. This enables you to recalibrate your goals or set new ones as needed.
Tracking field service metrics is one of the most effective ways to stay on track with your goals. Field service metrics give you a complete picture of your company’s overall performance and profitability. If you’re dedicated to your business’s growth potential, utilizing the right metrics can help you make meaningful progress toward long-term success.
However, it isn’t enough to simply choose random metrics to evaluate your company’s performance. You need to make use of the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your growth as accurately as possible. Here are 8 of the most common KPIs that are critical for lasting success.
Start Tracking Field Service Metrics to Boost Your Business’s Success
1. Average Repair Time
The first field service metric to track is average repair time. This refers to the amount of time it typically takes your technicians to perform an onsite repair. There are numerous factors that impact this metric, such as the distance to the client’s home and the complexity of the repair. The purpose of measuring average repair time is to give you an idea of how long a repair job takes in the majority of cases.
If you’re unhappy with the results when tracking field service metrics, there are several steps you can take to reduce repair time. Be sure to provide your technicians with adequate resources, supplies, and technology to facilitate the job for them. It’s also crucial to ensure that they have access to the right training and education in their industry.
When scheduling calls for repairs, try not to overwhelm your workers. If you cram too many jobs into a single day, your techs may end up sacrificing quality for quantity. The key is to optimize efficiency while continuing to provide your customers with the high-quality service they expect from you.
2. Average Job Cycle
While the first metric describes how long it takes to perform a single repair, this metric refers to the total amount of time it takes to complete a full job cycle. A standard job cycle typically includes the following elements:
- Initial dispatch call
- Scheduling
- Servicing
- Billing
There may be other steps involved in your own process, so be sure that everything is covered when analyzing this metric. The key benefit of evaluating your average job cycle is boosting efficiency. By understanding how your company operates during a typical cycle, you can identify any weak spots and rectify them going forward. This metric also gives you the opportunity to pinpoint your strengths and build on them in the future.
3. Average Response Time
When tracking field service metrics, it’s crucial to take average response time into account as well. With this metric, you can assess how quickly it normally takes your techs to answer calls. Customer service is a critical ingredient in your company’s success, and track average response time clues you into how well you treat your customers.
The faster you respond to calls from clients, the more jobs you can ultimately fit into one day. This is essential to boosting your revenue in the long run. In addition, scheduling jobs more efficiently allows you to keep your technicians on track, which helps boost customer satisfaction.
To reduce your average response time, be sure to categorize each customer call based on priority level. While every call is important, not every request will be urgent. Taking care of your most pressing needs first will help you accomplish more in less time. You may also want to consider implementing auto-responses to keep your customers occupied before speaking to a real human.
4. First-Time Fix Rate
Your company’s first-time fix rate indicates the total percentage of jobs that your techs complete after one visit. Although it’s ideal to resolve a job on the first try, there are numerous factors that may prevent this from happening. Missing parts, inadequate skills, incorrect diagnoses, poor scheduling, and ineffective communication are just a few of the many obstacles that might cross your path.
While a few mishaps here and there are inevitable, it’s important to do what you can to prevent them from happening. By equipping your techs for success, you can minimize the number of problems you run into and maximize the number of victories.
One of the best things you can do to increase your first-time fix rate is to provide your techs with the proper training and equipment. A skilled and experienced technician should be fully prepared to tackle almost any kind of problem they encounter, whether it’s a clogged drain or a dirty furnace filter.
Moreover, effective communication should be one of your top priorities when tracking field service metrics. When your workers communicate with customers in a clear and efficient manner, you can avoid misunderstandings that may prevent your techs from getting the job done correctly the first time.
5. Customer Retention Rate
The true test of your company’s success is the number of customers you retain. While winning over clients is certainly an accomplishment, you won’t know how loyal they are to your business until they give you a second call. Analyzing your customer retention rate helps you determine how many repeat customers you have. This in turn lets you see how consistently you’re growing your customer base.
When tracking field service metrics and assessing your customer retention rate, it’s a good idea to study individual customer profiles. Customer profiles include valuable information on your most loyal clients, from their demographics to their purchase history.
Pay close attention to these metrics to understand your customers on a deeper level and to cater your services to them. By personalizing the user experience, you’ll be more likely to retain a higher percentage of customers.
6. Revenue Per Lead
Revenue per lead is a field service metric that’s worth your time and attention. In simple terms, revenue per lead is defined as the total volume of sales divided by the total number of leads. Keep in mind that this includes canceled leads as well. Evaluating the percentage of closed leads can help provide valuable insight into your company’s overall performance.
If you find that your business only closes a fraction of leads, it may be a good idea to return to the drawing board. Ask yourself what you could be doing differently to raise your percentage of closed leads. Are there any changes you can make to your business practices? By getting to the root of the problem, you can identify an effective solution and put it into action.
7. Repeat Visits
As you work on tracking field service metrics, it’s important to account for repeat visits. Repeat visits refer to the number of times a technician returns to a job in order to complete it. Ideally, your techs should only have to visit a customer’s home once to finalize a service. If you discover that your total number of repeat visits is higher than expected, it’s a good idea to step back and reevaluate your workers’ training as well as your business practices.
One of the first adjustments you should make is reworking your schedule. If you have a high rate of repeat visits, this normally means there’s a flaw in your scheduling strategy. Another important issue to consider is training. It may be best to provide your technicians with further training if they often make additional visits to rectify a problem.
8. Business Growth
Each of the metrics listed here shares the common goal of helping your business grow. As you spend time tracking field service metrics, be sure to keep track of how quickly your company is growing. Your overall growth can be measured by your total number of customers, your business revenue, and other relevant factors.
It’s also worth noting that your company’s growth can be negatively influenced by low-quality service, poor billing practices, low customer satisfaction, and other problem areas. Fortunately, there are numerous steps you can take to rectify these issues. Remember to be honest with yourself about what you need to change about your practices going forward. When you approach your company’s weak spots with an open mind, you’ll be better equipped to address them.
It’s vital to pay attention to how your customers are responding to the changes you make. Analyzing customer attitudes is an essential part of tracking field service metrics. Once you have a better idea of what your clients like and dislike, you can better tailor your services to their needs.
Track Your Field Service Metrics Like a Seasoned Pro
Tracking field service metrics can help your service company flourish in a multitude of ways. Not only does this strategy make you aware of the areas you need to improve upon, but it also clues you in on how to do it. Whether you decide to boost sales through mobile quoting apps or a unique marketing strategy, the possibilities are endless. Just remember to give each of these metrics a try so that you can get the most out of them.