Be Prepared And The Sales Will Come

Rhonda Ridge, creator of the AdminBase installer management system, explains how the software is continuously improving to provide all the tools installation businesses need to survive and even thrive when the chips are down.

It has been a roller coaster ride over the past couple of years, through the pandemic with its accompanying lockdowns, followed by extraordinary demand as people swarmed to improve their homes. Installation companies have had to adapt and adapt quickly to protect their businesses when times were tough and make the most of the opportunities that surfaced when the market was booming. But what does 2023 hold and how can we make sure we are ready to cope with it?

There is no denying the market downturn we are witnessing in the UK, including in our own window and door industry. Consumer spending behaviour continues to be focused on cutting back, evident in the fact more people are favouring the large, discounted stores. This is unlikely to change with mortgage rates set to continue their upward trajectory and the cost-of-living crisis continuing for the rest of this year at least.

Consumers are therefore understandably wary about outlay on anything that is not a necessity to make sure they can afford their increasing household bills. However, people are still buying windows, doors, and conservatories, so to win a share of this smaller market, installation businesses need to work smarter. If consumers are going to spend money, they want to feel like they are getting a lot of bang for their buck, so home improvement companies need to be efficient, offer value for money and excellent service. And the key to this is in the preparation.

Prepare to succeed

Benjamin Franklin said: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” In addition to continuing to service the customers they have, any forward-thinking company will be looking ahead and trying to calculate how they can cut costs without compromising on quality. They will be working out where resources could be better utilised so they can improve efficiencies and attempting to discover new ways of improving customer service and satisfaction. One of the best ways to organise all aspects of an installation business, is to prepare for all eventualities through good project management.

Increasingly over the last decade project management has been moving online, but through the pandemic the trend accelerated as more people worked remotely. Online job boards such as Trello improve transparency by displaying cards for each project and a list of actions that are allocated to different members of the team. As the tasks progress, the cards move along the board and the timeline for the project is automatically updated. If deadlines look like they’re not going to be met the system highlights it, so you have a chance to put a problem right before it becomes an issue for the customer.

The right project management tools can ensure that people, tasks, and projects are organised in a way that is accurate, predictable, and profitable. If you lay the foundation for this upfront, it also requires minimal day to day resources to maintain. Efficient project management allows you to easily keep track of how installations are progressing and schedule your resources effectively. It allows you to monitor in real time the number of hours spent on various aspects of the business, as well as ensure easy communication between team members.

Keeping customers at the forefront

As an organisation that is always monitoring software and market trends, and listening to our customers, AdminBase has now introduced its own job board facility, the AdminBase Task Board, to our already all-encompassing installation management system. The new feature helps users improve their planning processes, and in turn further improves efficiencies and customer service. The AdminBase Task Board splits each installation into columns in terms of actions that need to be completed throughout the project. From the point of issuing a quote, to the final invoicing stage, the board lists tasks and allocates resources to each action point, to ensure no part of the business ends up congested with too much work. Users can also drill down from these top-level lists to access further information on the underlying lead or contract, thanks to the breadth of data and detailed information held in the system as a whole.

Task Board complements the AdminBase checklist system by unequivocally showing tasks that are overdue, and due today. This simple feature leaves no excuse for urgent tasks to drift further, allowing them to be highlighted and dealt with immediately.

The must-have tool of 2023

Online project management tools are becoming the new norm in any project-based business, but the benefits of using an online task board that is fully integrated to the rest of your management system are vast. It offers enhanced visibility, increased productivity, less waste, improved predictability, and better communication and collaboration between teams and individuals. AdminBase already facilitates this, but the addition of Task Board allows everyone to clearly see their impact on the bigger picture. With the added benefit of being designed by a team that has direct experience in an installation business, the AdminBase system is increasingly becoming a must-have, rather than a nice to have tool.

The glazing industry is a resilient one. We have been through tough times before and we will undoubtedly again. But we have never survived by burying our heads in the sand. With profit margins being squeezed, there is less leeway to get things wrong. To thrive in 2023, installation businesses need to be as focused and efficient as they have ever been, and the tried, tested, and trusted AdminBase system, with its continuously improving scope, is precisely the tool to help them achieve just that.

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