How Much Employee Responsibility

[Monique]

I am curious to how much you ask of your employees? Whose responsibility is it to enter invoices into service monster or whatever system you are using? How much itemisation do you require from your employees or do you yourself put into your invoices? How quickly are invoices being entered?

 

[Desk Jockey]

The cleaners clean and the office staff processes the billing Although we are primarily restoration the carpet cleaning is handled the same way.
They are great technicians but can be slow and clumsy with technology.

If your guys are capable then give it to them and just keep in the loop checking their work.

 

[Monique]

The cleaners clean and the office staff processes the billing Although we are primarily restoration the carpet cleaning is handled the same way.
They are great technicians but can be slow and clumsy with technology.

If your guys are capable then give it to them and just keep in the loop checking their work.

When dealing with carpet cleaning then what information do you expect them to report back to you so the office staff can enter it. How detailed are the invoices. I can not get the guys to give me actual details. They try to lump together as much as possible.

 

[Cleanworks]

When dealing with carpet cleaning then what information do you expect them to report back to you so the office staff can enter it. How detailed are the invoices. I can not get the guys to give me actual details. They try to lump together as much as possible.

I used to work for a company that gave us a check sheet that had to be filled out. Carpet cleaning, how many sqft., Upholstery, how many pieces etc. We had to match the itemization with a current price list.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Total sq/ft and rate, any additional services sold.

Laser measures are cheap. Have them measure and text you. They could also snap a picture of rugs or upholstery being cleaned.

 

[Monique]

Do you measure and note the sq ft for each individual area the first time cleaning that said area, so in the future even the phone staff can answer any question about what it would cost do do any arrangement of rooms they have previously cleaned?

 

[Monique]

I can get information from my techs for the total sq ft and most of the time the price per sq ft. but some are being lazy or rushing and round up or down on our sq ft price to make the totals even numbers. And it is like pulling teeth to get any actual itemisation per area from them. I might not feel the need to press the issue if I wasn't getting questions from customers often enough.

 

[Cleanworks]

I can get information from my techs for the total sq ft and most of the time the price per sq ft. but some are being lazy or rushing and round up or down on our sq ft price to make the totals even numbers. And it is like pulling teeth to get any actual itemisation per area from them. I might not feel the need to press the issue if I wasn't getting questions from customers often enough.

The form we used to fill out listed the room, measurements and sqft. For example, living room, 12x20, 240 sqft. We were all equipped with rollatapes and were required to measure everything, add the stairs, upholstery, protector, etc. I don't do it today but if I had employees, I probably would. Keeps all the jobs fair and you can calculate average time on the job.

 

[Desk Jockey]

It can be an issue when its not measured consistent. We have had those issues before. Clients square footage shouldn't grow or shrink.

Occasionally it's the clients that clean partial rooms or skip rooms. That we can justify. It's the human error from technician to technician that can cause the inconsistency.

The crew leaders each have one of these simple laser tape measures. Just decide where and how they should measure. Start with the first area to your left, first wall and shoot. Record exact digit measurements.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bosch-65-ft-Laser-Measure-GLM-20-X/206839262

It "might help".

A diagram helps. The leads do rough ones, our estimator when he estimates does much better ones. They come in handy as historical documents for future cleanings. Especially for commercial work. We will also take pictures of office chairs, desk chairs, executive chairs. It's makes it easier to prices and reference later.

You will always have an inherent conflict with the cleaning staff and the data desired to have an accurate client file. They are production oriented and don't see the value or necessity of the data.

Take deep breaths, keep in contact with the crew while they are processing the work. This way you can get as accurate picture as you want while they are still at that location.

 

[Newman]

Work orders are created at the office in Service Monster. I create an individual line item for each floor, room for tile cleaning, upholstery piece, ect.

On site my Champions will measure and document and label each individual room size with description,ie BR, MBR, FR, and so on.

I create the invoice, verify payment, and email receipt at the end of the day. My guys will email on site if the customer requests.

With the individual rooms documented, we can easily quote and create future work orders.


Line item example for a 2nd floor:
MBR 220 sq ft Bed 1 60 sq ft Bed 2 100sq ft Loft 140 sq ft

We charge PSF only for open areas actually cleaned.

 

[clean image]

Monique, are you using SM's service area list? To list the rooms and sq?

 

[Spurlington]

I wouldnt want technicians poking thru my data base. They might get some crazy idea of starting their own cleaning job !!

 

[Papa John]

Super agents create the work orders based on what the customer tells them. The techs do the edits if needed. the tech put notes on job history or customer accounts if these notes should stay in house and confidential. The techs are trained to put notes on the work order if any discounts are given. they enter in the payment info into SM.

the one challenge we have with Super Agents is that they put too many notes on our existing clients.
In their effort to give great service they go over broad and give our existing the 3rd Degree.- which is unnecessary and has annoying.
sometimes I fell like putting this tag line in our advertising to existing clients: "avoid the hassle of dealing with a human and book online"

 

[steve_64]

I'm so glad I live where I do.

 

[Mikey P]

Super agents create the work orders based on what the customer tells them. The techs do the edits if needed. the tech put notes on job history or customer accounts if these notes should stay in house and confidential. The techs are trained to put notes on the work order if any discounts are given. they enter in the payment info into SM.

the one challenge we have with Super Agents is that they put too many notes on our existing clients.
In their effort to give great service they go over broad and give our existing the 3rd Degree.- which is unnecessary and has annoying.
sometimes I fell like putting this tag line in our advertising to existing clients: "avoid the hassle of dealing with a human and book online"

We had the same problem with full circle, ling time regulars would get annoyed to down right angry when treated like a first timer.

It's up to you to mark the account with a yellow Alert and put in the top notes how you want them treated..

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Over 80% regulars here.

 

[hogjowl]

So?

 

[Lee Stockwell]

So?

Don't treat them like newbies

 

[jkowalski]

Super agents create the work orders based on what the customer tells them. The techs do the edits if needed. the tech put notes on job history or customer accounts if these notes should stay in house and confidential. The techs are trained to put notes on the work order if any discounts are given. they enter in the payment info into SM.

the one challenge we have with Super Agents is that they put too many notes on our existing clients.
In their effort to give great service they go over broad and give our existing the 3rd Degree.- which is unnecessary and has annoying.
sometimes I fell like putting this tag line in our advertising to existing clients: "avoid the hassle of dealing with a human and book online"

Good feadback I will make sure to pass it along.

 

[Spurlington]

Maybe a system using a specific password that only allows access to daily or weekly schedule. Limited access !!

 

[jkowalski]

We have rules for technician and super technician which limits of their availability to the schedule in mobile 2 and mobile 3 to a two week window.

 

[Mikey P]

So Monique, what are you going to do differently after getting all this wonderful advice?

 

[Monique]

So Monique, what are you going to do differently after getting all this wonderful advice?

There has been some good information shared. But I haven't heard from anyone in the same situation I find myself in. So as far as a solution I dont see one other than being a constant nagging office lady asking 20 questions to get the information that should be there in the first place.

 

[Mikey P]

How about pre filling out work orders with as much line item info as possible.

 

[Monique]

How about pre filling out work orders with as much line item info as possible.

That is not the information I cant get from them. They fill out what they cleaned just fine. They won't enter how many square feet they cleaned for each individual area or what size the sofas are and price per sq ft or linear foot. They just want to enter the price total that's all.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Except to a "statitician" that's all that matters...

 

[Desk Jockey]

That is not the information I cant get from them. They fill out what they cleaned just fine. They won't enter how many square feet they cleaned for each individual area or what size the sofas are and price per sq ft or linear foot. They just want to enter the price total that's all.

Make them take pictures and send them to you. Then hit them with price per sq/ft and linear foot.

 

[Brian H]

Monique,
How about changing their pay? I am not sure how you pay them, but you can make it work however you want.

We did this with a couple of commercial sales guys we had. Their base pay was x% of the completed job, but they received a "bonus" if their paperwork for the week was completed on time. We used to have to do what you are doing getting the paperwork turned in on time, every week. Once their pay was impacted it was almost always on time.

It would work with hourly too- $x per hour plus a $1.00 per hour bonus if all paperwork is done correctly that week.

 

[Mikey P]

There you go.

 

[The Great Oz]

I can get information from my techs for the total sq ft and most of the time the price per sq ft. but some are being lazy or rushing and round up or down on our sq ft price to make the totals even numbers. And it is like pulling teeth to get any actual itemisation per area from them. I might not feel the need to press the issue if I wasn't getting questions from customers often enough.

Our techs itemize and measure every room, and add notes regarding the amount of furniture moved in each. They also make job notes, such as, "The water is behind a hinged panel under the deck" so the next tech doesn't have to search. Currently the data is entered into the system by office staff, who can neatly edit a group of notes into a meaningless three or four words, so until our tablets are on line we have to keep paper copies of past work orders.

The techs don't get paperwork-lazy for two reasons: They may be required to go back to the job site to measure and complete their paperwork, and the next tech working on that job site may publicly blister them in a staff meeting.

The office staff issue will be handled by going to tablets. All notes, photos and job details go directly into the database from the tablet. The note-novels will be preserved. Two months away, fingers crossed, and our office staff can concentrate on being the best order-takers they can be.