Learning a new trade takes time; long hours spent digging foundations in the rain, sweeping up gib dust, crawling under houses and copious amounts of admin. This is all part of what it takes to become a competent tradie.
It’s the same when it comes to training your staff to use a new system. Systems are key to operational success as veteran tradie Dan Pollard mentions in his book ‘Unleashed’. Learning to use the software in your business is one of the best things you can do right now to improve your profit margin. Having access to real-time results allows you to make informed decisions and ultimately grow your business.
Once you start looking at introducing a new system to your business, there are several things you need to take into consideration:
- What will the impact on my team be?
- How will it change my admin processes?
- Is there training and support available to make sure my company can make a seamless transition?
As the business owner and decision maker, naturally you will decide what takes priority. It’s important to remember this decision affects others and you should consider how your team will be trained, especially if it’s something they haven’t had previous experience with.
A good job management solution will offer ‘Onboarding’. This means they will take the time to help with setup. There are several parts to this that you need to nail and a good company will guide you through each stage.
The first stage starts with you, the business owner. As the one taking initiative you will need to be the most informed person in your business so that you can lead the change. It’s a good idea to start with Free Trials of a few different systems to get a feel for what each one has to offer. Sales teams will work with you to coach you through the operational side of the system and give demos on the workflow.
The second stage sits with your office staff. It’s important to get buy-in from your admin team so that you can get the ball rolling. A good software company will train each team in your business differently, so that they’re only learning what’s relevant to them. For example, your admin team will need to be trained on scheduling and ordering and how this links to the accounting side of the business.
The third stage sits with the guys in the field. This is a key step in moving forward as you need to make sure the team know exactly what they need to do and when. Without doubt it’s best to give them some time off the tools to take a couple of training sessions. To show them how important this is, even try taking your team on site to show them how they would use the solution on the job. In-person training helps get buy-in across the business and increases the chances of long-term commitment and results.
Taking full advantage of training and support will help your business adapt to a new system is the first step in turning your business into a revenue-generating machine.
Interested in implementing a job management system in your trade business?
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What’s next?
- Join our Kick-Ass Tradies Facebook Group, for access to trade business specific conversations, tips and resources, plus a like-minded community of tradies.
- Book a 15-minute Game Plan Call with Andy, owner of Dr. DRiP plumbing and co-founder of Lifestyle Tradie, to clarify your priorities and get clear action steps.
