How to use ServiceM8 to Streamline your Job Bookings
Most businesses know that keeping track of their customers and jobs is important. This is especially true if you have a team working for you. In addition, new businesses and businesses that are growing can find it difficult to keep track of customers.
There are a lot of options claiming to have solutions for you, but what exactly do they do? And will they help your business? ServiceM8 is one of these options and it is becoming very popular amongst tradesmen for booking and scheduling jobs.
So let’s take a closer look at ServiceM8.
1. What is ServiceM8?
ServiceM8 calls itself Field Service Software. It uses cloud and mobile technology to streamline the process of booking jobs, scheduling client visits, organising teams, quotes/invoices and helping your business operate more efficiently. It stores information (clients, jobs, scheduling, financials, processes) on a secure server and provides you and your workers with access to the details that are most important, when you need them.
There is a free 14 day trial period, then you pay a monthly fee based on the amount of work processed through ServiceM8.
2. How ServiceM8 works
The following is an outline on how ServiceM8 works:
- A client makes a booking directly, by filling in a booking form from your website, or phones your business and you fill in the booking form with the clients details. The form is entered into ServiceM8
- ServiceM8 then notifies a manager of a new booking request. The manager reviews the details (even contacting the client if required) and converts the booking into a job
- If required, you can create a quote or generate an invoice
- Once the manager has converted the booking into a job, they allocate the new job to a team member.
- Team members are notified when they get a new job. They can use their mobile phone to check the details. The ServiceM8 app even provides the maps and directions to get to the clients location.
- Both Managers and Team Members can send text messages to clients (like when they expect to arrive), add notes, photos and videos or even run through a checklist to make sure they have followed procedures for the job.
- Once the job is completed, you finalise the job. You can even take payments directly through the ServiceM8 app and record the client’s sign-off.
- ServiceM8 also integrates with your financial software so all the details are processed into your quarterly BAS statements.
3. How to connect ServiceM8 to your website
ServiceM8 provides two methods to enable customers to make a booking from your website.
Booking Button
You can have have a booking button installed on your website that will take a website visitor to a ServiceM8 form (on the serviceM8 server). From here they can directly fill in their details and submit their booking request. This is the easiest method for most websites, but it makes conversion tracking less reliable.
Website Form
You can have a booking form on your website collect the customer details and when the form is submitted, your website sends the email to a specialist serviceM8 email address for your business. This works great for customers, and your SEO/Marketers will love the improved feedback, but it changes the way ServiceM8 receives bookings and the manager that converts bookings into jobs will need to understand these differences.
At Dynamic Websites we have experience installing both ServiceM8 methods.
4. So is ServiceM8 right for you?
When choosing software and services for your business, only you can make the decision as to what is right for you.
ServiceM8 is becoming a very popular choice amongst tradesmen because:
- It can be accessed through your Phone App no matter where you are.
- Once it is setup, it offers a simple no fuss alternative to paperwork.
- It works for sole traders, work crews and larger organisations.
- It integrates with accounting software like MYOB, XERO & QuickBooks
Dynamic Websites specialise in small business web design. We are based in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and provide services throughout Australia. We understand what it takes to get a small business online at an affordable price and with the minimum of fuss. Along with designing websites for small business, tradies and NDIS service providers we provide online marketing services. Our online marketing for small business extends to Google Ads, Google My Business, Microsoft Advertising, search engine optimisation (SEO), content writing and, blog writing.
