We are in constant conversation with Lowe’s field management and their largest national installers. We also get frequent updates from Home Depot and other big box retailers. Here is what we are clearly getting as their priorities for 2024:
Customer Satisfaction Scores
For Lowe’s this is the LTR metric. For Home Depot it’s VOC. And it’s a key metric for all big box retailers — Costco, IKEA and so on. This metric is inherently unfair to the installer because it’s meant to capture the customer’s overall experience with the retailer. The service provider is just a part of that experience, but often the metric is impacted by their interaction at the store or online.
This metric can swing both ways, but there are some things that installers can do to affect what happens upstream of their involvement. Effective automation of customer interaction helps ensure they don’t get the kinds of bad surprises that turn into poor CX scores. Having those scores break down by crew, or even individual installer, can also be very insightful.
Entering Activities into the Retailer’s System
Installers often get dinged for having overdue activities in Lowe’s IMS, Home Depot Service Center and other retailer portals that are meant to coordinate post-sale installation projects.
The systems can sometimes be clunky, making it difficult for the installers to navigate and update task statuses efficiently. This complexity can cause delays addressing overdue activities. Automating the entry and tracking process within these systems can help installers better manage their tasks and reduce overdue activities.
Improvement in Turnaround Times
Current systems don’t make it easy to move quickly after the sale is made. In all aspects, like talking to customers, planning schedules, and finishing jobs. Especially when product availability is in question, or schedules change it can be tricky to complete all necessary tasks quickly. Automating the scheduling workflow, customer communication and the process of closing jobs help ensure timely job completion.
Effective Scheduling
Scheduling affects all the above factors and is a big issue on its own. Customers need time to respond, they may want to reschedule, product can get delayed. All these problems introduce friction for the customer and cost for the installer. Scheduling problems make it hard to plan the best routes for crews. Appointment times need to be confirmed and organized asap and can take up a lot of time.
Automating the route planning, streamlining appointment tasks, and the overall scheduling process can make it much easier for installers to get their work done smoothly and on time.
The Cilio platform was designed with the installer in mind to help with precisely these issues. The engineering team here works tirelessly to build the best-in-class functionality for scheduling, installation workflow management, customer communication and retailer integration so the installer can work quickly and efficiently.
Want to Learn More?
Take your business to the next level as an installer with Cilio, the leading field management software solution for installation companies. Contact us or schedule a demo to see how Cilio can optimize your installation operations.
