We all know you didn’t learn your trade in a day, it takes long hours digging foundations in the rain, sweeping up Gib dust and crawling under houses as well as copious amounts of bookwork to shape a competent Tradesperson.
So why would you expect your staff to learn software they have only just heard of overnight?
Systems are key to operational success as veteran tradie Dan Pollard has mentioned many times and using software in your business is just another tool to make your life and your tradies lives easier.
Whenever you are looking to use software in your business there are several things you need to take into consideration:
- What will the impact be on my team?
- How do I find using the software from an administrative perspective?
- Will I get the training and support I need to make this an efficient change?
It’s up to you, the decision maker to make sure it ticks the boxes but one important part is how are you going to train your team to use something they may not know much about.
A good job management software will offer you ‘Onboarding’ - basically this means they will take the time to help you with setup. There are several parts to this and a good company will help you through each stage.
The first stage is you, the business owner. Remember you are the one taking the initiative here, so you know so much more than any other member of the business. Once you’ve tested a few different softwares you will get a feel for how this is going to work. You will be dealing with the sales team coaching you through the operational side and demonstrating high level workflows.
The second stage is your office staff. You really need the buy in here if you are going to make headway with this new tool. A good software company will train your office staff differently to you and your field staff. They will need to learn about scheduling, ordering and how this ties into the accounting side of your business for example.
The third stage is the guys in the field. This is a key step in moving forward as you need to make sure the team knows exactly what they need to do and when. It’s like replacing a window for the first time, you look at it and you’re like “how the heck…” Then the experienced Glazer laughs and talks you through it, what tools to use and best practise for this type of glass. The same sort of thing needs to be done with your software. Taking time off the tools to learn something new may not seem like the best use of your team’s time but you need to consider this an investment.
If you can, going to the office of the company you have signed with can really help break down barriers that all software employees are nerds, even getting a couple of laughs out of it.
Taking full advantage of training and support is only going to help your business adapt to new systems and streamline your day to day operations, so utilising this service is only going to be a great thing.
