Whether you’re a plumber, a painter, a house cleaner or anyone else involved in the home services industry, it’s time to update your business to the digital age. With more companies offering services online and expanding their reach of clients through the use of digital tools, not to mention how easy it makes running their business, you have to ask yourself: why haven’t I done it yet?
No matter what you’re thinking, there is no reason out there why you should still be relying on spreadsheets and paper invoices to conduct your business. If you’re not sure where to start, this article is for you.
Why run your home service business digitally?
There are many reasons why you’d want your home service business to be online but the most common reason is efficiency. You want to be able to focus on growing your business and not working in your business. Many of you are running a one-man show, which can get exhausting and non conducive to growing your business. Enter digitalization.
Being a one-man show in the home services industry means you’re constantly on the go. Digitalization helps with running your business from wherever you are. By having the tools you need, available on any device, you can keep track of your scheduling, payments, invoices, communication with your clients, and more. This also means you’re more available to new opportunities when they arise because digitalization has replaced a lot of the admin work you were doing.
In addition to increasing efficiency, taking your business to the digital age is another way of future proofing your business and competing against bigger businesses offering the same services. By adopting more digital tools, you are showing your clients and future clients that your services are just as professional (even more so) as those of big companies.
5 Ways to run your home services business digitally
Automate your scheduling
Still picking up the phone in order to schedule with clients? That’s so pre-digital era! Today, offering your clients the power to schedule with you online not only makes their life easier, but also frees up much of your time so that you can focus on growing your client base. You’ll want to find a tool that has advanced scheduling capabilities where clients can schedule and pay for your services upon scheduling.
Collect payments online or via mobile
Imagine a world where you don’t have to chase down a client for a payment, or a client never gives you the excuse of “I just don’t have enough cash on me”. Would be perfect, wouldn’t it? Well, in the digital world, you can collect payments via payment links online or on mobile. This gives your clients a variety of options when it comes to paying you and reduces the amount of chasing you’ll have to do.
Give your invoicing process an upgrade
There are a bunch of different invoicing software out there that allow you to create and send branded invoices. However, using a tool like vcita’s invoicing software can help you create estimates that automatically turn into invoices and can be paid online, making the entire process easy for you and your clients. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to easily view and track your invoices, upcoming and late payments, as well as contact your clients about payments simply via SMS or email.
Be available to your clients 24/7
One of the major perks of digitalizing your home services business is that you don’t have to be by the phone in order to attract and gain business. With a client portal you can better address your clients’ needs at any time. If they want to schedule with you, contact you, pay you, whatever action they need to take, with a client portal, they can do so, anytime, anywhere. For you it means getting a mini-branded site, so if you didn’t already have one, this tool could be extremely useful as it leaves you with more time on your hands and less phone in your hands.
Communicate with your clients like a pro
Have a promotion coming out that you want everyone to know about? You’ll need to get a grasp of email marketing but that can also be digitalized and automated. Using software that offers you ready made marketing tools, like email templates, coupons and more, makes your business look that much more professional and is a surefire way to secure repeat business. Through automated marketing campaigns you can remind clients to book appointments, send out promotional deals to attract more business and even send a colorful email welcoming leads to turn them into loyal clients.
Digitalization could mean bigger business
Looking to grow your home services business this year? Digitalization. Want to free up more of your time so that you can focus on achieving your business goals? Digitalization. Want to show everyone that your business is professional and can stand up against the big companies offering the same services? We’ll say it one more time…digitalization is the name of the game. And with just a few tools, or one main tool that does it all like vcita, you can master the digital game and bring your business that much closer to where you want it to be.
