Customer Service - What do you think about this?

Tim,

I have a program that I set up which is on track of your original post. It's in an Excel format with the main page set-up as the data base center. Another page has a Wood Care estimate/contract form which feeds information to the main page (such as Project Number, Project Type, Customer Name, Phone #, Address, Type of project, Sub-Total, Tax by County, Project $$Total, etc.)
I have different template pages for each category of job.
The template pages get "saved as" under a project number.
The main page has other info which can be manipulated for tracking sales % as overall, sales % by job type, sorting taxes by county, tracking material usage, what type of advertising generated the lead or job, etc., etc.

Setting it up wasn't as difficult as trying to figure out what I wanted/needed on the forms and what I wanted to track.

I don't provide on-site estimates for deck restoration as I like to look at the photos, review the process and take my time in providing estimates. I find that when I take my time, my numbers tend to be more accurate and I tend to catch things on the photos that I may have overlooked at the time. Sometimes the conditions are also not ideal when taking measurements, which tend to make me hurry and possibly errr on the estimate.
(I tell the customer - if they are there - that my on the spot numbers tend to be higher than when I have a chance to review the work and provide a "sharpened pencil" estimate.

I do provide "on the spot" estimates/contracts for other types of work which are simpler.

I also keep hard copies in a folder for a period of time before the project is archived.
 
Paul

That is awesome. I would pay for program like that.
 
Unfortunately it's not for sale. Have too many things that are specific to what I do - not very generic.

You can develop some nice packages via Microsoft Access. They make it fairly easy to convert XL spread sheets and Word docs. to DB. Like I said, the toughest part is trying to figure out what exactly you want to track in what groupings.

The Service CEO software for Pressure Washing looks to be a nice package, but kinda pricey at $1200 for single user. It looks like they used Access to create the program.
 
Reed,

You can link your calculation summaries fairly easily if you set up your bid sheet in Excel.

For example:
Lets say page 1 is titled "Summary"
Page 2 is "Deck Estimate"

Cell G3 on your "Deck Estimate" page is the phone number of your customer. To carry this info to the "Summary" page, you would go into the cell on the "Summary" page and enter the formula "=DeckEstimate!G3"
Anything entered into the G3 cell on your Deck Estimate sheet will automatically show up on your "Summary" sheet as long as you don't erase the formula.

When you open excel, it starts out with pages 1, 2 & 3 (see bottom of page). You can rename these pages and you can create additional pages by right clicking on the page labels.
Under "Insert" then "Spread Sheet Solutions" there are also some templates already there such as Balance Sheet, Sales Invoice, Time Card, Expense Report (Statement) and Loan Ammortization.
 
Reed

I too love that spreadsheet. Its great for educating the customers. I give the spreadsheet to the customer along with the estimate/contract. Since I've been using that spread sheet-I've been getting more $ per square ft.

We need to fly Paul into St. Louis - He is on the right tract.
 
Paul B. said:

The Service CEO software for Pressure Washing looks to be a nice package, but kinda pricey at $1200 for single user. It looks like they used Access to create the program.
Click to expand...


I do believe it is Microsoft based, however, they do upgrades all the time...........they add new features several times a year......its pretty cool.


On an unrelated note, last summer I started doing my deck estimates with my Pocket PC...........I entered the measurements directly into an excel spreadsheet instead of writing them down and transferring the info to excel later..........it worked out really well. I am going to work on this system a little better over the winter to prepare for next year.
 
Thanks Paul, I will definitely play with that this winter, the spread sheet is a great time saver and if I can link it, then more the better, I will also look at the templates you mentioned, thanks for lesson 1, what's for lesson 2.

Paul, thanks alot I really appreciate your help.

Reed
 
Your welcome!

If you plan on playing a lot, see if you can pick up an excel manual Function Reference and User Guide or a good after-market manual (e-bay, Micro Center). I loved the old days when these came with the software - you could browse without having to know what questions to ask.
 
Is anyone using Microsoft Word's Mail Merge (envelopes, labels & letter) feature?
 
Reed or anybody

Have you develop anything yet?
 
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