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Is Drive Time Killing Your Profits? (Drive Time Tracking on Your Apple or Android Device)

Published on August 10, 2015

"We had to mow 20+ lawns that day - that might not seem like so much to the bigger businesses, but for us, this was huge. This was our big day. And those weren't small properties, those were some big, residential lawns.

So we worked our asses off, all day. We drove all over town, and I think we finished only five minutes before the sun went down. My guys were sweaty, thirsty, hungry, and tired. I was so proud of them. I kept telling them about all the money we'd made that day.

But when I got back to the office, I looked at our numbers. My heart dropped."

"I didn't realize how much time and money driving around town cost us."

We all know how Drive Time can eat into your profits, but until you start tracking your Drive Time, you won't know how bad the damage really is.

Thankfully, Service Autopilot now has Drive Time Tracking - and I'm going to give you some strategies for cutting down on drive time, which means more profits!

Two Ways to Improve Your Profits by Tracking Drive Time

Track Time. Save Time. Keep Your Money - How much time do you spend collecting time sheets, bringing them to the office, and entering that data by hand? Or, are you paying for some other software to do that for you?

Stop it! With our Drive Time Tracking, you don't need to print out another time sheet again.

Save time when you're working on payroll by having all of your data laid out for you in one place. You'll be able to see how much time each employee spent driving AND working on each job.

All that data, for every employee, every week. And you don't have to write any of it down. Maybe you won't need to hire that extra office worker, after all.

See Clearer by Costing Your Jobs  - This part is only beneficial if you care how much your jobs cost you to perform. Basically, that means everyone. Especially for companies that have Recurring Jobs.

Reports in SA allow you to calculate your Drive Time and see how much it costs you to drive to each job. These reports also include information about the time it took you to complete a job, how much money you spent to get the job done, how much you earned in total from the job, and much more.

This will help you make smarter business choices in areas like these:

Once you start tracking your drive time and looking at these reports, you'll see which types of customers are your real money-makers, which employees aren't quite cutting it, and how you can strategize your Business's growth.

How to Use Service Autopilot's Drive Time Tracking

It only takes a few steps to get set up and start Tracking:

  1. Your admin account sets up your mobile account to track drive time
  2. On your mobile device (Apple or Android), select a Job on your Schedule and tap Start Drive Time (the truck icon). This starts tracking your drive time.
  3. To stop tracking, you can either tap Stop Drive, or tap on Start Job, which will automatically stop the Drive Time Tracking

Pretty easy, huh?

From lawn care to cleaning, landscaping to plumbing, if you're in the field service industry and you want to grow your business - you need Drive Time Tracking! Don't overlook this feature; you might find a few places to expand your profits.

Like this post? Don't forget to share it with others. Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter for more info like this!

Lisa Marino

Lisa Marino is the Sr. Marketing Director for Service Autopilot. She uses her 17+ years in direct marketing, sales, and product development to push entrepreneurs beyond their limits. She's passionate about helping others grow their businesses through time-tested marketing techniques. When not writing, you can find her belting out a mean Stevie Nicks at a local karaoke night.
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