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When we talk to restoration companies, everyone tells us they want to scale. However, most companies do not know how to actually do it. There is a ton of content on scaling your business out there. This article will cover specifically how manual processes slow down your company’s productivity and prevent scaling.
What exactly is a manual process? At Albi, we define a manual process as: “A process that requires one or more team members to perform a task or verify a task.” Typically, a manual process involves needless communication between team members as well. Here’s a real-life example of one of those calls: Your PM calls your office manager or bookkeeper to ask if an invoice has been sent and for how much. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have this information readily available in a project file?
That phone call is a microcosm of a bigger problem. People naturally resist change, and after repeating the same inefficient process enough times – bad habits are formed. After enough repetition, making a phone call like the one we laid out above feels normal and efficient, even though it isn’t! Here are some ways that these processes are hurting your business!
Have you ever heard the old saying that "time is money"? As a manager or owner of a restoration company, this couldn't be more evident. For your team, time can cost you literal dollars.
Consider the example above: a project manager calling your bookkeeper to ask about an invoice on a project and how much it was for. That call takes place every day multiple times a day and takes about 5 minutes.
Our customers report that this costs them about 1 hour of productivity per day per team member. That's two hundred and sixty hours a year spent on a phone call, which is entirely unnecessary.
It turns out that no one likes performing the same menial tasks every day. When team members view their job duties as inefficient, they start feeling like their job is less important. That's why it's critical to change their mindset if they create a more productive and efficient process of getting tasks done. They get very motivated to complete their tasks, their productivity increases, and so does your organization's profitability.
Team building exercises are great and all, but the primary focus should be to boost morale and create repeatable and scalable processes that allow your team to be flexible in their work. Working remotely is difficult when your processes are manual or on whiteboards. In a recent survey, employees ranked being able to work remotely as the second most important benefit across generations: 32% for Generation Xers, 31% for baby boomers, and 25% for millennials (SurveyMonkey)
According to Hubspot, 68% of customers are willing to pay more for products and services from brands that provide good customer service (Hubspot)? Automating the customer journey and onboarding process can dramatically improve their experience.
Customers shouldn't have to pick up their phones to get an update on their project. Automated emails and text messages are starting to become standard customer service practices. Customers want to stay informed and not be bothered with phone calls throughout their day.
Insurance is meant to protect average Americans from sudden accidental losses that cost them their savings or home. But insurance doesn't work when the insurance company fails to honor the terms of the policy and its promise of security through the strategy that has become known as "delay, deny, defend." (Delay, Deny, Defend by Jay M. Feinman)
Don't let the insurance play games with your money! The best course of action is to give them the documentation they need to make fast payments so you can move on to the next job. Does sending the insurance company the necessary photos and documents seem tedious and time-consuming?
When you or someone in your company goes on vacation, is there any hand-off of the claims they are working on? Before switching to Albi, many of our clients conducted all their negotiations via email. This isn't an ideal method for hand-off while taking time off.
One of our clients recently told us that they estimate poor documentation costs them upwards of $100,000 annually. If you can relate, you MUST stop letting money slip through your fingers due to poor documentation.
Manual processes that are not well documented can easily lead to human error. More frustrating than the error, though, is the inability to find out who was at fault. If you cannot identify who made a mistake, you cannot train on how to prevent it from happening again.
No one wants to micromanage, but knowing who in your company is responsible for tasks is important. Knowing how well your employees are keeping up with their task lists can help you detect burnout and inefficiency or even recognize when you need to hire someone else.
Although many people within the restoration industry are reluctant to change by applying some changes to your business, you reap the benefits of having your business run like a well-oiled machine. If you’re looking for CRM that can help with the problems mentioned above, we recommend booking a demo with Albi to learn how to make life easier so you can grow and scale your business faster.
As an Account Executive at Albiware and a former top-producing door-to-door sales representative/manager at an 8-figure storm restoration roofing company in the Midwest. Chris is also a licensed public adjuster. He is keen on educating industry professionals on process improvement and how to attain repeatable 5-star customer experiences.
Interested in learning more, have additional questions or if Albi is the right fit for your business? Connect with Chris directly through any of the options below
