The Buyer of Choice blog series is designed to help service leaders gain and maintain a competitive advantage by strengthening their standing among independently contracted IT service technicians. Being a “Buyer of Choice” can be broken down into three best practices:
- Success Starts with Pay
- Vet for What you Expect
- Clarity Matters
In the previous blog post, we focused on vetting and outlined how leveraging the automation tools within labor platforms can help streamline the vetting processes.
In the final blog post of this series, we’ll cover the last item on the list: Clarity Matters.
Clarity matters
When choosing work, technicians look for clear, concise descriptions of what a particular job entails.
These clarity-forward SOWs include the necessary information, are easy to read quickly, and give the technician the best chance of succeeding in their initial effort. Your SOW should include the required tools, appropriate work attire, and a reliable support contact to help the technician as needed.
Some companies litter work order titles with company-specific nomenclature. This is a mistake. Use your titles to summarize the work as succinctly and thoroughly as possible.
Indicate specific requirements through the use of individual tasks within the work order. Make sure that this key information is visible to technicians considering the job (as opposed to only being visible to technicians who have accepted the job). Additionally, keep in mind that technicians are likely reviewing the information on a mobile device – thus the need to be clear and concise.
Another consideration: Consistency is key! Using the same approach in the structure of your work orders gives technicians a chance to familiarize themselves with your company’s style, and this sense of familiarity will attract talent – especially repeat technicians familiar with your format. Particularly successful users of Field Nation tend to centralize the process of posting work orders (i.e. keeping the task in the hands of a specific person/team). Make sure this knowledge is institutionalized in your organization in such a way that it is retained if certain team members leave.
Last – but not least – make sure every work order includes an escalation path so that on-demand technicians know who to contact in the event that they have questions or something unforeseen occurs onsite. If this structure is missing, work order performance can deteriorate quickly. Your customers will not be satisfied, your on-demand technician will be unhappy, and both will be less likely to work with you in the future.
That wraps up our Buyer of Choice series. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our previous blog posts on pay rates and vetting processes to get the complete set of recommended best practices.
Remember: Being a Buyer of Choice is about maximizing benefits for everyone. Technicians will benefit from the implementation of these best practices, and you will benefit by gaining a competitive edge in the field service delivery space. Especially in a market when labor shortages are complicating the task of sourcing available labor, being a Buyer of Choice will help you remain flexible, maximize coverage, and prepare for your next chapter in field service.
If you are looking for more information on how to optimize your labor deployment, contact our team for guidance on how on-demand labor can assist your business in achieving its desired service outcomes.
Shawn Fields brings more than 30 years of IT industry experience to Field Nation — with expertise aiding clients in retail, financial services, manufacturing, life sciences, food and beverage, state government, IT, and utilities. He has successfully led the entire spectrum of IT services in the outsourcing arena, advising notable clients like Intel, GE, Citi, NASA, Rockwell Automation, Coca-Cola, Honeywell, AT&T, Bank of America, Booz Allen Hamilton, SunTrust, Georgia-Pacific, Southern Company, Levi, and BMW. Additionally, Shawn had led innovation, design thinking and digital transformation projects for large clients across multiple continents.
