How to Track Service Calls

How to Track Service Calls

Frank Blau
Owner, Blau Plumbing
Contributing Writer

I hope that, based on my last two columns about constructing balance sheets and P & L statements, you are now convinced that clear and concise information serves as a foundation for intelligent decision making. None of this information is as important as getting a handle on how many actual productive, i.e., billable, hours your business generates so that you can establish an accurate dollar-per-billable-hour overhead figure, which in turn is the only thing that allows you to calculate a reasonable selling price for your labor. You better be sitting down when you figure out how much it really costs you to operate your business.

This month let’s tackle another key area that can help put an end to the guessing games that take place in your business. You want to know how often the phone rings, and what information you can garner from those conversations.

Typically, your customer service representative (CSR) simply tells you that “the phones are ringing off the hook” and the crews can’t keep up. So you go out and add a new service tech and truck with all the attendant tools and materials.

Resist the temptation to make such major decisions based on hearsay. Find out what’s really happening in your business. Starting tracking calls and you will be surprised to learn that as a start-up or modestly sized company, you don’t even need a fancy computer to do so (although having one sure helps!).

The CSR’s Role: Each employee in your organization should have at least one statistical benchmark to track how that person is performing. With service tech it’s relatively easy to measure sales, jobs, and callbacks. It’s not much more difficult to keep track of CSR performance. All you need is a columnar pad or preprinted form resembling the one attached to this page.

The key measure of your CSR’s performance is his or her “conversion rate”. That is, how many calls that come in get converted into actual service calls. The CSR’s job is to “snare” those original inquiries and turn them into revenue-generating business. Not only that, but the information gathered here will be useful for marketing, truck scheduling, staffing, future computer programming and more.

There are several steps in this process:

1. List the call types that come in, broken down by plumbing, heating, cooling, drains and any other kind of work you may handle. Break them down further into sub-categories. Under plumbing, for instance, you may want to isolate water heaters, disposers, kitchen faucets, lav faucets, bath faucets, etc. Establish as many sub-categories as you can.
2. Put a hash mark in the column under “Columns Taken” for every call that comes into the office inquiring about that type of service.
3. If a service call gets scheduled, put a hash mark under the heading, “Calls Scheduled”.
4. If a scheduled is converted into a “Work Done” call, where repairs or installation were actually performed, put a hash mark under that heading.
5. Keeping track of male and female callers provides good information for use in future marketing programs.
6. Critically, you want to establish a section for tracking response to all forms of advertising.
7. Total the columns.

 

Knowledge Gained: This deceptively simple form provides a wealth of information to guide key decisions about your business. Let’s take a look at it:

1. Type of calls coming in.
Naturally you want to know what percentage of your business comes from plumbing, heating and all the other areas.

2. Calls then converted into calls scheduled.
This is the key CSR performance measure, telling you whether your CSRs are doing their utmost to sell the job. Top-notch CSRs ought to be able to convert upwards of two-thirds of all calls that come in.

3. Calls scheduled into work done.
Usually this will tell you how your service techs are doing converting the calls they get into billable calls. Sometimes, though, a poor conversion rate here may signal that your CSRs aren’t doing a good enough job explaining to customers how you operate.

The raw numbers in themselves will tell you very little. What you need to look at are trends and relationships in the numbers. Are there more or fewer calls coming in than during the same time period last year, as well as year-to-date? Are there measurable improvements in the number following a direct mail or telemarketing campaign?

How do your CSRs compare in their conversion rates? If one converts 75{938cd9e8dae860e800efc538277d4f7684e6f6981618ba70d1c34357a53c2e1f} of calls into sales and someone else only 50{938cd9e8dae860e800efc538277d4f7684e6f6981618ba70d1c34357a53c2e1f}, it’s a good sign that some training is in order for the inferior partner.

For that matter, how much do CSR results improve as a result of telephone training? This helps you to evaluate the caliber of the trainer or consultant. On the other hand, if most CSRs improve following training but one or two don’t, maybe the problem is not with the trainer but the trainee(s). Maybe they aren’t paying attention. May they don’t have what it takes.

Statistics Almost Never Lie: The numbers will show you what’s really happening on the front lines much better than those “gut feelings.” They will tell you when to ignore comments such as, “We’re really swamped, so we need to hire another service tech…no one calls for plumbing anymore.”

In a system like that one just recommended, your CSRs are responsible for gathering their own personal data. Doesn’t this leave open the possibility that they might fudge that figures to make themselves look good?

Ultimately, everything must rest on sound management controls. If one CSR has a conversion rate well above everyone else’s, that tells you that either s/he is a spectacular performer, or perhaps is cheating by not recording all incoming calls.

For another, think of that old adage of Abe Lincoln’s—“You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Sooner or later top performers and inferior ones reveal their true selves no matter how much they try to disguise themselves.

Ideally, all the decisions you make in your business should benefit from empirical evidence. “Gut feelings” are useful in pointing you in the right direction at times, but before you commit to a precise path, you need good, clear data to guide the way.

How to Track Service Calls Worksheet