This article is shared by Contractor In Charge. Hurricane season is upon us. Storms are raging from coast to coast, causing flooding from Maryland to Louisiana to the Southwest. Your plumbing service is reaping the benefits with backed-up drains and sewer lines from all of the clogged storm drains or backed-up septic systems that can’t absorb any more water because the saturated ground flooded out the septic field causing plumbing backups. Missing emergency calls Being you are so busy, stopping to take calls isn’t on your to-do list. But missing emergency calls is not an option either. So what to do? Hire a customer service contractor, one that knows about the plumbing business and plumbing emergencies. Trust me, going cheaper on any old answering service will cost you in the long run. Here is a comparison Any old answering service will be happy to take messages. Those will still have to be returned, by you. They don’t schedule appointments for you or provide information to your c...

Contractor In Charge shared this content. You’re a busy contractor that needs help with incoming calls. You question whether an answering service would be best for your business rather than a customer and dispatch service. So what are the differences? What an answering service provides An answering service will take your calls and give you messages. More likely than not you wouldn’t have the same person answering your calls. It’s impersonal but gets you the messages that you need. Then you or your office assistant call the customers back and find out whether the messages are for an emergency or a planned job. If you use an answering service you will need to hire an office assistant or take time from your day to make return calls. A customer and dispatch service is different First, most specialize in servicing contractors and you can find one that will understand your business. So why is that important? Well, when customers call they will know if there is an emergency or not and h...

Contractor In Charge shared this content. You’ve heard about the great benefits of being a virtual contractor, but you aren’t sure if it would work for you since you own a plumbing company. The good news is it certainly will. Here are some tips to help you make the switch to becoming a virtual contractor! 1. Don’t lose any future business. You know your business is crazy busy. You know that you’ve lost jobs because you just don’t have the time to call them back or when you do it took too long. Did you know that a virtual customer service company makes sure that you don’t lose any future business? They can because they are there to answer your phones while you are busy servicing other customers. 2. If you have office staff, ask yourself why you’re losing business? Because that staff doesn’t know enough about your business and see themselves as message takers. Just getting a bunch of message slips doesn’t help reduce your workload. 3. A virtual customer service company knows ...

Contractor In Charge shared this content. Do you know what a KPI is? You have an established plumbing business, however, if someone asked you “What are your 9 KPI’s?” Would you know?  Knowing these things will mean you have a better handle on your business. KPI is an acronym for “key performance indicator.” It’s a tool used to evaluate the health and success of a business. As a plumbing contractor, there are some that are universal KPIs. They involve knowing your financial numbers as well. Sales and cost per truck One of the first two KPI’s you need to know is how well your trucks are doing, meaning the sales per truck and the cost per truck. If the sales outweigh the costs, you’re doing well. If the costs start to outweigh the sales you will need to determine if it’s because of the age of the vehicle or because sales are down. Next, look at your fleet What is the profit and loss per truck? It means taking the first two above and looking at the fleet as a whole. Again, if the ...

Contractor In Charge shared this content. There are a lot of misconceptions about accountants—what they do, and what benefits they provide. To a lot of people, accountants are the people who check the general ledger, fill out tax return documents, do complex bookkeeping, and ensure basic financial health. Certainly, those are all encompassed within the accountant’s role—but if you think accountants exist merely to do paperwork and keep your records in shape, think again. Actually, accountants have the skills to go through your financial statements transaction by transaction, identifying hidden profit centers within your company—highlighting ways to start generating more cash from your business, whether by tweaking your prices or by eliminating unnecessary overhead. The Benefits of Outsourced Accountants There are a number of specific benefits you can expect when you hire an accountant to take a look at your financials—among them: Cost savings. A good accountant will have the skill...