We are pleased to announce the official release of ESC Mobile Web for the iPhone/iPad and Android based phones. We have customized both applications to make full use of the device’s touch screens and feature the following abilities:

• View complete dispatch information
• Change dispatch status
• Track time spent on jobs
• Add dispatch notes
• Create new customer records
• Create new dispatches
• Send text messages to the office

The applications work with the ESC desktop software through a link to the Connections Server in your office, so you will need a connection to the Internet to use the software. The link is in real-time, so any changes you make, either from the office or from in the field on the phone, are instantly visible on the other. This gives you unlimited flexibility in scheduling.

Both apps include a connection to a demo database. This means that you can download the app today and see exactly how it will work for you in the field without any setup or commitment. Once you are ready to buy this add-on, just give us a call at 800-226-7529 and we’ll help you get everything working perfectly with your database for just a small monthly fee per user.

You can download the iPhone app directly from iTunes for free by searching for ESC Mobile or viewing this link. Please note this app looks fantastic on the iPad as well.

You can download the Android app for free directly from doubleTwist, the Android store, by clicking this link. You can also download the app by scanning the following QR code with a bar code scanner application on your phone.

We come across articles and blog posts every day that help service companies better operate, market, and grow. There’s simply too much out there to keep up with. That’s why we periodically will publish a collection of useful links like the ones below.

Mobile Payments As Marketing Strategy – John Jantsch lays out the argument for using and accepting mobile payments as a marketing strategy, as a way to set your company apart from the competition. He poses this question: “The question marketers of all kinds need to start asking is if their customers are mobile, how mobile does the business need to be?”

Golden Opportunity – Garry Upton and Robert Wilkos write in Contracting Business Magazine about how to get the most out of your existing customers by expanding your service agreement offerings.

Top 10 Tips on How to Sell a HVAC Maintenance Contract – Following on the idea of growing you service business with service contracts, we have a post from The Service Coach about how to sell maintenance contracts more effectively.

Forming a Board of Directors is Crucial for HVACR Businesses – Greg McAfee has a post on his blog about the importance of getting outside advice from trusted advisors, or a board, for long term HVAC success.

HVAC Marketing Terms – Ron Smith published a post on his blog says there are terms HVAC contractors and other service contractors use to describe their business that are less than idea to share with customers. He suggests 14 improvements to your marketing vocabulary.

If you come across a great link you want to share with your service company colleagues, email it to jonathanf [at] desco-soft [dot] com

DIY website, eHow, has a short tutorial on selecting HVAC Service Software for a service management company.

HVAC service software is an integral tool for mechanical service management companies. You will want to find a solution that helps coordinate your customers’ needs in such a way that maximizes tasks completed, customer visits, and gross revenue while simultaneously lowering overall costs. Follow these steps to help in identifying HVAC software for your company.

eHow suggests looking for HVAC service software that works on mobile devices and can handle functions like dispatching, invoicing, and communicating with the office. It also suggests looking for software that will integrate well with your current account package.

eHow encourages readers to make sure the HVAC Software provider has a quality phone and email support system that you can reach during your working hours. eHow suggest finding service software that is tailored to work with your HVAC business. Finally, they suggest choosing HVAC service software based on its ability to to give you good and relevant reports about your business.

You can read the full guide at: How to Choose HVAC Service Software | eHow.com.

You’re not going to get paid on time for every job you do. Sometimes the situation just gets out of your control. It’s a fact of life. Fortunately for service contractors, three of the most common reasons service contractors are not paid on time are within your control.

Before reading on, take a quick second to glance over the bolded heading below. If you can honestly say that your company has never lost revenue or had their cash flow suffer due to late payer, skip this post or try reading something like this, this, or this.

Lost Invoices

It’s amazing how generous service contractors can be. However, to get paid on time, you need to avoid the accidental freebie jobs. Invoices and completed work orders shouldn’t be filed under the seat in your tech’s vehicle. But somehow, it’s still a regular occurrence to find old invoices there when cleaning out the truck. If the customer doesn’t get the invoice, you’re certainly not going to get paid.

Your business needs a system to follow every job through from beginning to end to make sure that nothing gets lost in the shuffle and business of every working day. Your company should have a method to track each customer from the time they call requesting service, through the time your techs get the job, through the time they finish the work, through the time the customer receives the invoice, to the time you receive the money. Any gap in this work flow can mean lost revenue or a delay in cash flow.

Delayed Invoices

Customers–more than ever in this Internet age–expect to get their invoices right away. Many contractors, especially if they also work in the field, don’t keep up with their office work. That means that there can be quite a gap in time between when you do work and when your customer sees the bill.

It’s hard to expect timely payment from a customer, when it’s been so long since you completed the job that they hardly remember what the invoice is for. Customers have become used to receiving bills immediately. They’re also becoming more used to having invoices emailed to them, and then being able to pay those invoices online. To get paid quickly, it is important to bill quickly, in the field as soon as the job is completed if possible. When techs are able to create invoices and collect money via checks or credit cards for work they do in the field, you are far less likely to wind up waiting for payment or losing out on uncollected revenue.

Invoicing with Terms

The terms you offer can also have a negative impact on cash flow and timeliness of payments. Giving a customer 15 or 30 days to pay by cash or check invites the possibility of the customer forgetting about the invoice. Some contractors have gotten fed up with the issue of late cash or check payments and have just started to require customers to have a credit card on file.

Contractors that balk at having to pay 3% to the credit card companies often forget the cost of uncollected debt and the time and effort of having to call up and remind customers of past due invoices. Being able to capture signatures and accept credit cards in the field can be the difference between having a healthy cash flow and constantly be waiting on customers to pay their bills.

A predictable cash flow is incredibly valuable to service contractors. Your employees and vendors expect to be paid on time, and so should you. Putting systems in place to track work and invoices, making sure customers are billed quickly, and avoiding invoicing with terms are all ways to make sure you get paid on time.

What are some other ways to make sure you are paid in a timely fashion? Leave your ideas in the comments.

It will be difficult to remember how you were able to run your business without it. ESC minimizes the amount of data entry needed by making sure you only need to enter it once.

ESC will let you get more done, faster. You’ll be able to dispatch service calls, schedule technicians, track inventory, record sales all with ease and precision.

With powerful, build in reports, you’ll be able to track profitability by technician or by customer to see who your best employees and best customers are. With the detailed customer information, you’ll be able to more effectively focus your company’s resources towards the most profitable projects and customers. The information that will be available at your finger tips will make you better equipped to make the best business decisions.

Price matters. So does functionality. With ESC small and medium sized business are able to afford the right solution at the right price. ESC is also scalable, built to grow with your company. And with a 30-day Money Back Guarantee, you’ll be sure to get what you pay for.

The intuitive functionality of ESC will make you feel familiar with the program from the beginning. The screens are designed to help you flow smoothly from one to the next in a way that makes sense for your business.

ESC is not going to change what you call things or the order you do things if they work. Most field names are customizable and there are places you can create custom fields to capture and act on the information that is most important to you. Also, you can customize the way you classify your customers so you are able to nurture and market effectively to your customer and lead base.  ESC gives you the flexibility you need for your business as well as the intuitive framework in which to act.

You can easily import and attach documents to customers, pieces of equipment, particular dispatches or any other record in the system. This will help you clean out and ultimately get rid of those filing cabinets that have been cluttering up your office for all those years.

ESC’s seamless QuickBooks integration will keep your customer and accounting data synchronized and up to date. The set-up wizard completes this process in a few easy steps, and eliminates the need for any double entry.

Mobile solutions get ESC into the hands of your technicians in the field, connecting them to the office and all the information they’ll need to complete their service calls. They’ll be able to see information about their customers, get directions, and find out what tools and parts they’ll need for the job. The mobile solution also keeps techs out of the office and in the field. They can start their day at a customer’s location, rather than with coffee and doughnuts in the office.  That means more service calls in a day and more profit.

When you call you talk to us. We all work out of the same office in Fort Myers, Florida. Our customer support is unmatched. Call us today or download the free trial.

ESC simplifies the management and operations of service companies.

ESC will simplify and organize the work flow of both small and large service companies, making them more manageable and profitable.

It’s easy to collect information from customers; easy to store it. Just write it down on a slip of paper and add it to the pile. Then try to find it when you need it.

Retrieving it:  that’s where ESC comes into play. Rather than the pen, paper, treasure hunt approach, we provide a way for you to enter information once, easily find it again, and have it show up in the other relevant and logical places throughout the software.

Pull everything from your desk and put it into your computer: service scheduling, managing your customers, routing your technicians, and seeing where they are via GPS, invoicing, and collecting payments. These are just a few of the functions, but you can see how it will take everything that is scattered around the office and put it all into one place.

You’ll be able to do more in a day. Enter information once. Access it quickly when you need it. Reduce errors and inconsistent information.

We can also make sure your service technicians in the field are on the same page with access to all the information on the customers they’ll visit, including what equipment they have, repair history, details on what the problem is, and an over view of what they need to do when they arrive. The mobile solution will also make sure your techs know what tools and equipment they’ll need to complete the job, so they’re not scrambling back and forth between the office, warehouse, and job site. They’ll also have detailed directions so they can arrive and start working quickly.

This lets the technicians arrive on the job site and finish the work quicker. And when they’re done, they can go directly to the next job, without having to stop back in the office. This will mean more jobs done per day, which will translate into bigger profits.

With ESC you’ll always be prepared when your customers call. With caller ID, the customers’ information can be pulled up automatically when they call, or you can easily search for them in the system. Once their information is up, you’ll have quick snapshot of the job sites, service history, service contracts, recent dispatches, as well as any outstanding balances. It’s all there so that you’ll be ready when they call.

You’re also able to manage a lot of the software from the web using the ESC Web Front Office, letting you view reports or schedule technicians from anywhere. Also, any changes you make online will show up immediately for users in the office and in the field.

ESC integrates directly with QuickBooks, allowing you to easily post invoices and received payments without any double entry.

By simplifying and organizing the way your company manages its dispatches, customers, and billing, you’ll finally have the time to grow your business by focusing on finding new customers and expanding your relationships with old ones.