It’s 2 a.m. Snow is falling 2 inches an hour and lying smoothly on top of a quarter-inch of black ice from the ice storm that concluded 30 minutes before the snow started. You have contracts with longtime clients to clear and need to treat large parking lots by 7 a.m. Those contracts include a fire department, a police department, two hospitals, nine HOAs and five high-rise apartment complexes, one of which is 10 miles from the others.
Anticipating this big storm, you routed your crews in your routine, efficient way: closest to farthest away from your hub. You are prepared, so this shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Suddenly, the phone rings, and the client with the outlying property instructs you to take care of that one property before all the rest. But the route schedule is not set that way.
You feel a pit in your stomach, and a rush of anxiety about this last-minute request causes your heart to race. Uh oh! How could something so “right” on paper go so off-track at the last minute?
Your anxiety probably comes from your desire to keep a solid relationship with the client. That’s a reasonable reaction. But this unexpected route change request could threaten your relationship because it is fraught with uncertainty; will probably cost you some level of profit; and may damage relations with other clients whose expectations you may not be able to meet if you make this change.
You start to ruminate on the situation. Could the initial contract with this client have been negotiated differently? Do you have the staffing to accommodate such a change? Is labor insecurity impacting your operations, especially your efficiency and ability to meet client expectations?
Then, you ask whether you should have taken fewer clients. Should you have scrutinized your clients’ expectations more carefully and considered how you could serve all their requirements as effectively as possible in both easy and challenging scenarios?
To avoid such worries and strains on your resources, consider looking at some “what-if” scenarios before they happen in order to figure out if you will still be able to meet your commitments.
A great place to start is to review your client locations and how easy they are to service in challenging situations or when everything doesn’t go as planned. Many companies find that arranging contracts that are close to their headquarters or satellite facilities is a more profitable strategy than trying to be everything to everyone near and far.
Following are a few ideas to help you develop strategies and plans to be more effective when dealing with challenging scenarios like the one described:
Plot your locations on a map and note what expectations management and owners have for each location. Note the ZIP code boundaries on the map. Review the locations and identify the mileage from property to property. Identify actual road miles, not as the crow flies. Consider that your normal routes may not be passable in a winter storm event, and longer detours may need consideration. What is the actual access to each property? Be sure to identify travel time with traffic and then factor in onsite work times.
Note how many billable travel hours per crew you will need to invoice when crisscrossing town versus more efficient routes servicing properties on the same street or in the same ZIP code.
Closely review your list of work near your headquarters and any satellite locations. Ask yourself if you could line up more concentrated work in areas where you already have contracts.
More centralized and concentrated clients will make moving large pieces of equipment easier, safer and more efficient.
It’s also easier to train your teams when they are all working close to your HQ or satellite facility and closer to each other. This makes for easier deployment of crews when a property needs additional resources at the last minute. Account managers can also inspect properties and document progress faster when they spend less time traveling to outlying properties.
During the winter, look for opportunities to pick up more work in the areas you already service. Ask your drivers and crews to help you with this surveillance work. Many of them already know which companies are servicing the adjacent locations.
Once you have firm data, strategize how you could win those properties. Can you convince the property owners and managers that it would be more economical to have you address their properties since you have other properties in the same area?
Check the service quality that other companies provide to properties near yours. If your quality is superior to that of other providers, those property owners and managers may have noticed the difference. You may be able to use this information to help convince them to contract with you in the future.
Also, consider going after smaller properties, since these can turn a better profit if your teams continue to perform billable work instead of wasting time driving to various outlying properties.
Consider the safety benefits of more concentrated client locations. Remember that the more time your teams are on the road, the greater the risk of them being involved in an accident, especially in inclement weather. Striving to keep your teams in a tighter radius will allow for improved safety and greater efficiency, both of which will save your company money.
The bottom line is that your contracted properties may be spread out across significant geographical distances. They don’t need to be. As clients become more demanding with increasing expectations of same-day, and even same-hour service delivery (especially during winter months), it’s imperative that you take a step back and review all of your clients’ locations and expectations to determine how well they fit into your business model.
Exchanging equal workloads for more economical close-in work will pave the way for more consistent deliverables, more efficient account management and the opportunity to exceed client expectations. Organizing your operation like this is a win-win for everyone.