Technology Trends For Software In 2023

Field service businesses that specialize in pest control and lawn care need to stay on top of the trends as 2023 heads into its busiest months. But field service software companies are already there, trying to assist their customers in achieving their goals. Here’s what we’re watching in technology this year.

Tips For Scoring Wins

Pro tip: It's OK for a customer to tip a field service employee.

Another pro tip: Software can make that easy.

During a time of inflation and labor shortages, giving customers of a pest control or lawn care business the ability to tip a technician or crew member is a way your employee can take home more money and feel more satisfaction about the job. When employees can receive tips, they are motivated to perform at their best to try to earn that additional income.

To earn a tip, a technician or crew member will have delivered outstanding service, so that’s a win for a customer. And when a valuable employee gets rewarded without the addition of expenses, the chances of employee retention increase, plus the company’s relationship with the customer grows even stronger.

That adds up to wins for everyone involved.

The Inside View On Automation

Pest control software or lawn care software features such as route optimization or auto payment are standard must-haves these days. A business also can automate notifications for service reminders, billing and collections, renewals, and review requests.

The automated notifications, which can be found in the FieldRoutes® Operations Suite as Trigger Rules, also improve communications inside of a field service business, too. Some services might require additional personnel or different equipment, and an automated message can be sent to the team. A salesperson can be notified when a lead is assigned or when a one-time service is completed, prompting a discussion with the customer about signing up for recurring services. The business owner can be notified when a sale is made or a service is canceled.

Those are just a few of the many ways that internal communications can be a boost for a pest control or lawn care business.

Becoming A Marketing Pro

Accelerating upselling and cross-selling of services, lowering customer acquisition costs, and enabling reputation management – a chance for a business to respond to positive and negative reviews – in one dashboard are all essential tools for helping pest control businesses and lawn care businesses save time but ultimately generating more revenue.

Sending targeted emails, such as a welcome to a new customer or an upsell offer to a current customer, in professionally designed templates can be effective. So can the ability to set up automated direct mail campaigns, tying booked jobs and revenue to each postcard, based on existing customer data.

Marketing Pro, which will integrate with the FieldRoutes Operations Suite and will become available in 2023, will offer those time-saving solutions for pest control and lawn care businesses. The feature, from ServiceTitan, also can show a true return on investment from email, direct mail, and Google Ads campaigns.

Mobility In The Field

Combining mobile scheduling with sales in one easy-to-use tool helps increase efficiencies and sales opportunities for pest control technicians, lawn care crew members, and sales personnel by providing the ability to immediately schedule, service, and sell to customers, all while in the field.

Technicians and crew members can offer better service by seeing customers’ information from one screen, including active subscriptions, pending appointments, and outstanding balances. Sales personnel can benefit from area management tools and see sales statistics for specific areas, assign personnel to multiple territories, and block areas, all from a mobile app.

That is a more pleasing experience for customers, but your employees also can use the software resources on the go and use their time to the fullest. FieldRoutes, which continues to develop the Operations Suite and to help its customers be more efficient and maximize their use of resources, offers all of these features in its FieldRoutes Mobile app.

The E-Commerce Edge

While Millennials grew up in the early days of the Internet, it's Gen Z that has known no world other than a digital one. Rapid changes in how we conduct business, some brought on during the COVID-19 pandemic, make offering e-commerce capabilities, particularly to these homeowners seeking services, a necessity.

Software can allow customers a modern user experience in shopping for, booking, and scheduling pest control or lawn care services on a company’s website or from its Google Business Profile listing. The FieldRoutes e-commerce software allows leads and new customers to be automatically entered into the FieldRoutes software, making life easier and creating time-saving efficiencies. E-commerce is another important for tool for field service businesses to combat today’s expense challenges.

In addition, the FieldRoutes Affiliate Network drives more customers to a business with leads and sales from other pest control companies when the consumer cannot be serviced.

Give FieldRoutes A Look

FieldRoutes software has key tools that your pest control business or lawn care business can’t do without in 2023 and beyond. Schedule a demo and see what FieldRoutes can offer for you.