Electrical Contractors: How to make your business stand out from the crowd

In a fast-paced world, it can be hard to find ways to help new customers discover you or to make your business instantly attractive when they do.  It can be so frustrating. 

Prospects are likely to bring a basic wish list:

✅Available at a time that suits them

✅Job completed to a high standard

✅Professional attitude

✅First time fix

So far, so good.  But increasingly there is a long list of extras that can be harder to satisfy, such as:

• Journey tracking
• Proof of work
• Professional job sheets and certification
• Regular updates

…and the list goes on 😕.

So how do you not only get ahead of this but transform yourself into the go-to company customers think of when they have electrical contracting jobs? Well, the good news is that there is something that will tackle most of these issues in one swoop.  Let’s take a look.

⚡ Digital Transformation

Now before you stop reading, don’t be scared off by the tech; if you look around you’ll see there’s electrical contracting software that’s easy to use and that will streamline your business.  Not only that, but if you choose wisely, there is job management software for electricians that will save you both time and money and help you to grow at a speed and scale that just isn’t possible for paper-based businesses.  So how does it help?  In this blog we’re going to break it down into 3 bitesize chunks.

🔎#1  Efficiency

No More Paperwork

If you choose electrical contracting software that has an integrated app, such as BigChange, having everything digital means that your office and electricians can share information in real time.  And since everything is digital, there are no more paperwork mountains on the passenger seat, no piles of admin in the office.

Vehicle Tracking

When urgent jobs come in, or even when you just want to quickly check that everyone’s on track, being able to see where all of your electricians are at a glance via visual vehicle tracking is a huge win.Sterling Electrical saw a 20% increase in operational efficiency across Scotland. On average, BigChange helps electrical engineers do four extra jobs per month.

Optimised Routes

The best field management software will also include a powerful scheduling function that will consider electricians’ skills, location and fuel-efficiency before assigning jobs and planning routes. 

Compliance Guaranteed

Where a mobile app is part of the software offering, electrical contracting jobs are easier than ever as digital worksheets become an easy and effective way of ensuring quality. 

Worksheets are created in the office and attached to the jobs when they arrive on the electrician’s device.  Each section is revealed as the previous section is completed, meaning no skipped essentials and you can request photographic or video evidence as part of the completion.  It guarantees compliance and unlocks high-value tenders.

🔎#2  Savings

Fuel Reduction

Route optimisation doesn’t just mean that your electricians can fit in more jobs, it also means huge savings in fuel costs.  If your app for electricians integrates with your software, you have the added bonus of being able to monitor driver behaviour, which hugely impacts driving cost.  Some software providers even provide dashboards and reports at a high or granular driver level, letting you reward good driving and take remedial action for serial offenders.

It saves the average BigChange customer 312 hours of travel time, 19,500 miles and 576 kg of Co2 per year.

Lower Admin Costs

If you’ve only ever worked in a paper-based business, it’s hard to imagine how much time job management software for electricians can save your company.

Electrical services firm Future Group cut the time spent manually processing paperwork by 80%, reducing errors and improving client satisfaction.

Instant Quotes and Invoicing

In the paperwork landslide many businesses face, there are lots of instances where quotes aren’t created fast enough and some invoices even fall between the cracks.  This doesn’t happen with digital software.  It’s the job of minutes to create professional-looking templates and then customer-specific information added in the click of a mouse.  They can even be created and despatched  automatically, making it more likely that you’ll win electrical contracting jobs and be paid for them faster.

🔎#3  Better customer experience

Instant Updates

Customer expectations have risen dramatically in recent years. As consumers we’ve all grown used to the benefits of delivery tracking and many businesses are now expecting suppliers to be able to deliver something similar.

With BigChange’s job management software for electricians your customers can receive automated confirmations of appointments, as well as electricians’ etas, tracking links and more.

Customer Portal

Today’s more savvy customers also want to get in on the act by self-serving at a time of day that suits that them – which might be outside your working hours.  Make sure that you choose software that allows for this, letting customers request their own appointments and access their job histories and documents.

Not only is this better for customer service but it cuts down on phone enquiries.

Better service

Nothing tells your electrical contracting customers you care like better service, whether it’s first time fixes, arriving on time, professional, branded job cards or correct invoicing.  All of these things and more are easily achievable with the right software and an integrated mobile application.

Real Success Stories 🏆

But don’t just take our word for it.

Check out the case studies of Stirling Electrical, Medlec and Future Group and to see how BigChange has transformed their operations, improved their processes, and helped them win more work. These real-life success stories speak volumes about the impact BigChange can have on your electrical contracting business.

“The biggest thing about BigChange is the visibility that it gives us. All the information we need is instantly available so we can manage everything more dynamically and keep customers better informed…We’ve also won tenders because BigChange allows us to tick more boxes and is so easily adaptable we’re confident we can do anything that is asked of us.”       

Scott McLean, Owner and Director of Stirling Electrical Services and Stirling Alarms

📕Read the full case study for Stirling Electrical

“The system has put an end to laborious paperwork and data entry, and as jobs come in they are instantly available to our engineers. It means we can be more reactive and efficient with our time, therefore around 40 percent more productive, allowing us to take on more work with the same resources.”

Christian Tonna, Managing Director of MEDLEC

📕Read the full case study for MEDLEC

“BigChange just works for us…We use it across every aspect of the company from vehicle tracking and appointment scheduling to maintaining client records and creating professional reports. Since implementing BigChange, paperwork has become a thing of the past and we are far more efficient seeing on average, across the divisions, 80 percent improvement, it was also fundamental to our winning the ARMA Partner of the Year Award.”

Maddie Carr, Service Agreement Manager at Future Group

📕Read the full case study for Future Group.

Conclusion

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to elevate your business and really make it stand out from the competition. With BigChange’s job management software for electricians, you can streamline your operations, improve efficiency, and achieve remarkable growth. It’s time to embrace the power of BigChange and take your electrical contracting jobs to the next level.

Why not book a demo to see how BigChange can help you become unstoppable.