I'll Link to That: Going (almost) Paperless

Time is a precious commodity, especially when you're running a business, and spending time collecting, organizing, and taking action on all kinds of paperwork can really take its toll on the operations of your pest control company. As a matter of fact, that's one of the big reasons we created Fieldster, to cut down on all the paper that you'll have to deal with in running your pest control company. If you're considering going paperless or at least minimizing the amount of paper that you use, Fieldster is ready to step up and help. Here are some valuable tips that will make your transition to paperless smoother and give you the maximum benefit of the switch.

• Inform the customers first. Sending out an email blast to your customers informing them of the upcoming change can go a long way, not only to making the transition smooth but in making customers feel valued. Giving them the opportunity to prepare for the transition themselves, and to ask questions, can deepen the relationship and improve your brand as a company that provides great customer service. One important note: Make sure that you have customers' current email addresses.
• Remind them again. In this case, redundancy is a good thing. Adding a link to or a blurb about the soon-to-arrive customer portal or other electronic services being introduced to post-service notifications/invoices can help get the word out, and can also save customers time looking up the link when it's time to make that first online payment or look up something up.
• Make paperless personal. "no-reply@[pestcompanyname].com" does very little to forge a connection or inspire trust in customers. Making electronic communications more personal (mike@[pestcompanyname].com for example) can increase the number of responses to payment links, and if you so choose could become an avenue for providing better customer service by enabling customers to reply with questions and comments.
• Start small. You may want to try a "soft opening," introducing your new electronic services to select customers, or asking customers with whom you have good relations to be guinea pigs and help you get up and running. Depending on the size of your business, this step could be crucial in ensuring that paperless payments and information processing rolls out smoothly.

While the transition to paperless operations can have huge benefits, one area where you may not want to go entirely paperless just yet is in billing. Many people still prefer to send in a paper check, and one tip that could really pay off in receiving payments is to include return envelopes with your paper invoices. Envelopes are fairly cheap to purchase, and you could potentially be saving money by not having to chase down payments. Companies that have taken this one simple step have seen their payment responses improve markedly. Whether you're looking to be as paperless as possible, to give customers some options for receiving notifications and invoices, or to have a set integrated system for handling information and managing operations, Fieldster has your back. See how else we can help your business, so you can continue providing top-notch pest control services.