Alpha Appliance
Without the deployment of Kickserv® Field Software, the progress we have made in increasing and managing our business would not have been possible. We have realized an increase of 132.04% in the number of jobs from the first full year through the end of last year, which of course is great for the bottom line. Now that the company is well established and running smoothly, we can look forward to implementing growth strategies with confidence knowing they will be built on an existing firm foundation.
Challenge
Up to this point, business is going in the right direction. We have just completed our 5th year. As expected, it would take the first five years to get completely comfortable owning a business rather than being an employee of someone else’s business. Adjusting the listed tension points incrementally has allowed us to remain in control of the business rather than having the business control us. At the moment, we are providing ourselves with a fairly comfortable schedule and decent income without allowing the business to run roughshod over family priorities.
Fixes
- Using tags to keep jobs organized
- Learning who are and who are not my customers
- Keeping up with the volume of service
- Analyzing data from the reports feature
It takes a system to create a growing business.
I began in the Appliance Repair industry in 2011 as an installer by invitation of a friend to join the company he worked for. Through on the job training, research and experience I worked up to the position of repair technician in three years. After six years in the industry, I realized I was completely capable as a technician, and was ready to start my own business. In 2017 I employed the help of an administrative assistant to help set up my company.
We began with assembling our structure, which started with Kickserv® to run the daily estimating, job tracking and scheduling. Kickserv® simultaneously provided synchronization to QuickBooks® Online and the Stripe payment option, creating the backbone of our required bookkeeping processes. Because both Kickserv® and QuickBooks® are in the cloud, we are able to run these functions remotely from anywhere and maintain cohesiveness between the front of the house and the back of the house.Being designed by a field tech, Kickserv® has an incredibly friendly user interface. It has the ability to capture all the job details in the notes section, as well as the ability to upload pictures and videos to document all the job details. Customers are able to sign off on estimates and final billings as back up documentation. It makes scheduling quick and easy, and syncs with Google Calendar. This allows the field tech to focus on customer’s needs and the job rather than spending time trying to navigate the painfully unfriendly accounting software which does not provide features for the field notes and documentation we require. Without double data entry of invoicing and payments, the bookkeeper can easily reconcile the books in the background.
Kickserv's 6 steps
for growing your business
- 1.Identify the pain points in the business
- 2.Write down and describe the pain points
- 3.Design a system to overcome the pain point
- 4.Implement the system
- 5.Designate a person to own the system
- 6.Measure the results
The pain.
- Keeping jobs organized; where each of the 35 – 50 ongoing job stands; Scheduled, In Progress, On Hold; TAGS help solve this problem
- Learning who are and who are not my customers; TAGS help solve this problem
- Keeping up with the volume of service requests; TAGS helps solve this problem; COLORIZED TAGS would be MOST useful in a future upgrade. Colorization would help to more easily assess priorities in scheduling.
The fix.
Utilizing the tags feature and analyzing data from the reports feature in Kickserv®, we determined areas and demographics that were either helping or hurting our business performance. We have made adjustments incrementally over a three year time span to maximize our service area, scheduling, routing and pricing goals. Kickserv® had every function we needed to make these determinations. Fortunately for us, we had ALL the data as we implemented the software from opening day.
Being designed by a field tech, Kickserv® has an incredibly friendly user interface"
--Kevin Cline,
Alpha Appliance
Definition of success.
2018 387 Jobs – First full year
2019 584 Jobs – increase of 50.90%
2020 817 Jobs – increase of 39.89%
2021 898 Jobs – increase of 9.91%; total revenue increased from prior year by 23.75%
2022 526 Jobs – on track to meet this year’s goals
Business is good and growing. Kickserv® shows 19 lead sources; Word of mouth referrals and self promotion are roughly 82.07% of the business, while 17.93% is paid lead generation. Total Income has increased yearly. Normally scheduling up to two weeks out.
The resolution.
Many, many of my customers are reminders of why I wanted to start my own company. I have the ability to help them solve their appliance repair problems without a “hard sell” approach that was required by previous employers. In addition, I have the authority to provide “hard times” discounts where applicable. These two things make the hard work of ownership worth it.
- Kickserv provides synchronization to QuickBooks®
- Incredibly friendly user interface
- Customers are able to sign off on estimates and final billings
- Ability to upload pictures and videos to document job details
