How do you manage your jobs?
Software Quotes
from local software
Every week you're inundated with more and more work. New and old customers coming to you with things to get done, and waving cash in front of you to incentivise you to choose their job.
As the number of jobs and customers build up, how do you keep on top of everything that is going on?
Which of these types best describes you?
1. Everything's in my Head
I'm a genius with a photographic memory and can remember what to do for who, when and where at all times.
2. Mountains of Paperwork
My diary is my life, everything is written down in my diary. From there I have my notepad(s), my quote book, faxes from clients, and the list goes on.
3. Email and Spreadsheets
Adapting to modern technology you predominantly use email and spreadsheets on your computer to keep track of what jobs are on the go. You also search through your old emails to remember who your old customers are and what their contact details are.
If this is you, how do you go about keeping up to date on the spreadsheets? Also, how do you share all of this information with the others in your team.
4. Existing Software
You've found a way to systematise your business with software.
We'd love to hear what software you're using, how you found them, and what you like (and hate) about that sofware.
5. New Software
A great piece of software that is coming out soon is Eaco. Eaco provides a simple yet powerful job management software that enables you to quickly and easily track the progress of all of the jobs that you have on the go.
Eaco helps you quickly create jobs, and then visually track their progress with a simple drag and drop interface.
Check out Eaco here:http://eaco.me/
Please share your experiences
Please share with everyone how you go about managing your jobs and your customers. What works, what doesn't work?
Plus, if you have any funny stories to share, we'd love to hear those as well!
-
Definately spreadsheets and emails. I doubt there is a software package clever enough to do what I do on spreadsheets!! - or perhaps I'm just a control freak.....
over a year ago by Vanessa Canning
could be a bit of both.
Emails -I use the 'follow-up' function religiously to ensure I don't forget what I have asked someone to do for me (so I can follow up if they don't do it in a timely fashion), or to remind me of something someone was going to do for me (if it's not done).
Spreadsheets - We use them for EVERYTHING. They calculate profitability, cashflow, procedures and where we are up to with each job, what everything costs in components (which then marries back to MYOB, which our bookeeeper only uses and has customised it to our business needs) and much more. Without spreadsheets, we could not operate our business as well as we do. It is manual however, and they only way to keep them up to date is to have someone responsible for doing so. -
Evernote is great (http://www.evernote.com), I use it for everything. After I've seen a client I'll take a photo of their business card using snapshot (an Evernote feature), then I record a quick audio (also an evernote feature) based on the items to action and important information to remember. Then I tag and name as appropriate. I can add text notes, however the audio recording is much quicker.
over a year ago by John
On the PC the image from the business card can be read, so if I type in something that is on that business card (eg a name), it will show me the saved note.
Evernote is where I store all my ideas and information, so I also save webpages, articles etc. I sort into notebooks for reference later on.
I also use Google Calendar for everything I'm working on and plan to work on. I tend to block out parts of the day for calls/meetings/activities, then as I'm working through the day I adjust the calendar to represent what I have actually done - I find this a simple way to reflect on hours spent on types of activities.
At this stage I haven't really connected Evernote with Google Calendar, it is a missing piece in this puzzle.
Remember the Milk is a good to-do system I've used in the past. I find the Evernote/GCalander system tends to work well, so I don't spend too much time with RTM.
I've setup Dropbox with client specific folders, if I need to share these it makes it simple. I also get to keep an eye on the total number of active jobs just through the number of folders. Once a job is complete the folder is moved.
Plus I use the trusty whiteboard. I have two in my office, one is setup with the list of jobs I'm working on, generally with a basic overview for each task. The other whiteboard is my active one, where I map out the ideas/tasks for the specific job I'm working on at the time. I take photos of the whiteboard and save these in evernote as well, which reads the text on the board - however my writing is sub par, hence this doesn't always work that great...
Using Evernote/GCalendar I can also share it with my Virtual assistants, everyone has access to my comments/notes.
I tend to check out systems as they are released, because I need something that will integrate across all my networks, ideally with Evernote/GCalendar/Dropbox.
As my team grows I know I'll need a better system, but for the time being this seems to work ok for me. -
OMFG! I thought using Evernote to snapshot the whiteboard was advanced. John, you're killing me. I need to up the game.
over a year ago by Arn -
Great thing is, you can also take a snapshot of hand written notes, so ALL my notes are digitally stored. No paper stacks in the office :)
over a year ago by John -
I stand on my paper piles to reach the whiteboard.
over a year ago by Arn
That would be really funny if it wern't true. Tragic I know.
The positive is I'm really working on changing 20+ years of bad habits & the iPad, Evernote & Dropbox are my key out of there. -
Google Docs on my Android tab is a godsend. I can take a pic and it converts it to a doc. I can then share it. Boomerang let's you set a reminder on sent emails so if you don't get a reply it reminds you. A few tracking spreadsheets on docs and we are away.
over a year ago by Craig -
I am using Trello.com for creating and pushing work through. It's a very elegant solution for getting things done ... And it's free!
over a year ago by Tim -
Disclaimer: I resell CRM systems, so I have a natural bias toward the products we sell which are Nimble, Sage ACT!, SugarCRM and the associated add-on products for each.
over a year ago by Ben
Sage ACT! is currently where I spend most of my time as it does Calendar, Task Lists, Contacts and bucketloads more, we've customised it to track our projects, jobs for each of those projects, integrate with QuickBooks and MYOB, PABX integration, sync details of contacts out to mobile devices.
I also use Evernote (paid version, highly recommend it), Remember The Milk (paid version, I wish other CRM / task list management software would do task management as well as this), GMail (Google apps), ifttt (ifttt.com, it's like duct tape for the internet, and Chrome as a web browser. I've played with Tungle for letting others book things into my calendar, but found that that doesn't fit my workflow well. -
I supplement everything that's in my head with mountains of paperwarfare (receipts, invoices, statements) and jot down important dates in a small diary, and also on my computer diary as backup. Sometimes, I'll write a "to do" list of all my tasks and periodically go through to ensure I've completed them.
over a year ago by Casey
If the job's very complex and/or needs a spreadsheet, I'll generally use Microsoft Excel or Word, if appropriate.
Software Quotes
from local software
