How to Expand Your Geographical Reach and Win New Clients

In August 2021, we engaged the research consultancy Opinium to survey field service organisations and learn about how they fared since the UK’s strictest lockdown came to an end a year ago.

Although demand for field services skyrocketed during the pandemic, 97% of businesses deemed to be ‘struggling’ said that taking on the additional work would require a staggering 92% increase in employees. Unfortunately, such a significant increase in resources is an impossible expense for organisations that were hit financially over the last two years.

Luckily, there is a way for field service companies to expand their geographical reach and take on new clients without needing to hire additional staff. Read on to learn more about job management software and how it can help your business grow stronger.

Winning New Business Without Additional Employees

The average UK recruitment cost for a new employee is £3,000 but, with workload up by 70% across the field service industry, business leaders must think of more cost-effective ways to meet the surging demand. That’s where job management software comes in. 

Using technology, you can reduce your employees’ workload and free up more time to focus on business-critical activities. Here are just some of the ways you could refocus your priorities and take on more jobs:

1. Give Engineers Digital Tools

80% of engineers think that mobile technology is a vital tool for enhancing efficiency and enabling them to help customers effectively. Therefore, for companies to maximise their time and take on more appointments, they must add a mobile application to their technicians’ toolkits. 

The best job management platforms include integrated apps that give field based employees access to your back-office’s central system from any location. From the app, they can instantly view changes to their schedule, read essential information about each job, complete risk assessments and mandatory forms, and issue digital invoices — all from the palm of their hand. 

Technology allows your workers to be more agile during the unpredictable workday and provides them with everything they need to know in real-time. As a result, you’ll find that they’re able to get the job done faster and visit more customers per week.

2. Improve Job Scheduling

Instead of spending the average 140 hours each year manually managing your job schedule, why not harness the power of an intelligent scheduling assistant? The assistant optimises your engineers’ routes, decreasing their travel times and matching them up with jobs that they’re best suited to fix on the first appointment.

Aside from liberating your back-office team from the burdensome admin tasks that take their focus away from more pressing activities, you’ll also eliminate errors caused by manually handling a job schedule. With fewer mistakes, your schedule will run like clockwork, rather than being riddled with delays, and you can rest assured that you’ll always have the right resources in the right places.

3. Network and Collaborate

41% of business leaders recognise the value of networking and want to attend events more frequently. But, the main obstacle standing in their way is time. Fortunately, with a job management platform like BigChange, you don’t have to sacrifice valuable days in the office to go to networking events.

Instead, you’ll have access to the BigChange Network, an online community of thousands of trusted field service organisations nationally. You can list your business for free and start receiving connection requests immediately. With so many companies to choose from, the collaboration opportunities are endless.

Suppose you have a high volume of work but not enough people to complete it. You can simply make a post on the Network where subcontractors can apply. Consequently, you can complete every project and even expand your geographical reach to places you were previously unable to cover, giving you access to more customers than ever before.

Technology Helps You Manage Increased Workloads Without Stress

Four in ten field service organisations say that the pandemic has led to staffing difficulties. The good news is that you can eliminate the headache and cost of taking on new hires by investing in a state-of-the-art job management platform. With so much power at your fingertips, winning new business and expanding your geographical reach takes just a few clicks.

Winning New Business is Simpler than Ever on BigChange

BigChange’s complete job management platform is helping field service businesses across the UK win more work, take control of their operations and deliver winning customer experiences.

Bring your customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, financial management and business intelligence onto one easy-to-use platform and begin enjoying the benefits of a smarter way of working today.

Want to find out more?

Discover how your business can grow stronger on BigChange here and arrange a free demo today.

Get the full State of the Field Service Sector report here.