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Benefits of Job Scheduling Software for Mobile Service Business | MarketBox

How Job Scheduling Software Can Help You Overcome Inefficiencies in Your Mobile Service Business

The right job scheduling software can streamline your business, helping to increase efficiency, reduce admin tasks, and save money. It’s beneficial for all appointment-based businesses but has an even bigger impact for mobile service businesses

But before we jump into the benefits of job scheduling software, let’s take a look at what the software offers. 

What is job scheduling software?

Job scheduling software helps businesses organize service appointments and schedule providers. The software allows customers to book and manage appointments online and businesses to quickly and efficiently assign jobs to employees. 

For mobile service businesses, job scheduling software like MarketBox makes it easy to schedule appointments in multiple locations, optimize provider calendars, and control service areas. 

5 Job scheduling software features that make mobile service businesses more efficient

job scheduling software benefits | MarketBox

1. Travel zones

For businesses offering mobile services, there hasn’t been a job scheduling software capable of handling the complexities of scheduling appointments across multiple locations until now. 

MarketBox is the first scheduling software specifically designed for businesses offering in-home and mobile services. So instead of manually scheduling employees or relying on a combination of different software that’s never quite right, mobile service businesses can use MarketBox to handle their bookings, scheduling, and payments. 

One of the features that make this possible is travel zones. Travel zones let you or your providers control when and where they operate by limiting how far they will travel to clients’ locations. You can also assign unique availability to each travel zone to dictate what services you’ll provide there and when. 

This two-part scheduling process works in tandem to reduce travel time between mobile appointments, grouping clients by location to ensure employees aren’t wasting time driving back and forth across the city for appointments. (This also reduces vehicle wear and tear and can reduce travel-related costs.)

2. Online payments 

83% of consumers prefer online payments. They’re a quick, secure, and convenient way to pay for service appointments online, so opting for job scheduling software with in-built payment processing is essential. 

In-built payment processing means you don’t have to run additional software, send customers to a third-party site to pay (where you risk losing them), or create and send physical invoices. 

MarketBox uses Stripe to process secure payments, but there are several payment processing options available. It’s not just customers that benefit from online payments either; it’s also more convenient for your mobile workforce. 

Related: How collecting payments online affects your mobile workforce

Additionally, your office team no longer has to create and send invoices or spend time chasing late payments. With online payment processing, records of customer payments are created automatically, and it’s easy to pull sales data. 

For businesses that need flexible billing options, some job scheduling software, like MarketBox, supports recurring payments, cashless tips, and the ability to process additional charges to allow for upselling opportunities. ‍

3. Custom availability options  

Most job scheduling software allows mobile workers to set custom availability for each day of the week for a convenient way to schedule workers who don’t operate on a fixed schedule. 

MarketBox goes one step further and allows businesses to choose between automatically accepting and assigning job requests or enabling service providers to accept or decline jobs as they come in. If a provider declines a request (or doesn’t respond), the booking request is sent out to up to 10 other service providers with the skills, availability, and travel zones that can accommodate the customer’s request.  

4. Online booking

Implementing job scheduling software that lets customers schedule their own service appointments is an easy way to reduce scheduling delays. (It’s also the preferred booking method of more than 70% of customers.) 

Online booking offers you a competitive advantage as many service businesses don’t have online booking options, taking hours (or even days) to respond to client requests. Additionally, all-in-one appointment management software like MarketBox, enables you to eliminate the dreaded service window and let customers book specific times for their service appointments. 

5. Waitlist management and automated matching

Do you have to turn away clients because you don’t have enough service providers or because your clients want the same time slots? If so, job scheduling software’s waitlist feature will be beneficial to your business.

Instead of manually keeping track of customers waiting for an appointment, the job scheduling software takes care of this automatically. The software lets you add a customer to a waitlist and notify them if a space becomes available so you don’t lose the sale. 

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3 benefits of job scheduling software 

job scheduling software | MarketBox

1. Scheduling software increase sales 

Job scheduling software increases sales and makes it possible to grow your mobile service business because it 

  • Captures the 40% of appointments booked after business hours
  • Optimizes employee schedules to increase productivity and efficiency 
  • Reduces costs, freeing up room to devote to marketing and advertising 
  • Provides a better customer experience that helps to retain customers 

2. Job scheduling software saves your business money 

Scheduling software is a popular tool for service businesses because it offers many cost-saving benefits, including 

  • Reducing transport costs by optimizing schedules and routes 
  • Providing an all-in-one solution so there’s no need to run additional software 
  • Increasing efficiency so you get more out of your workforce 
  • Facilitating better resource allocation 
  • Eliminating scheduling errors and associated costs (such as missed appointments or refunds) 
  • Improving employee satisfaction (and therefore reducing employee turnover and associated hiring costs)

3. Automating employee scheduling saves time

When you manually schedule appointments and providers, there’s a lot of back and forth between your customers or employees as you compare availability and assign jobs. It’s also time-consuming to make changes to schedules once you’ve confirmed the appointment. 

Using job scheduling software can save your office team hours per week by automating employee scheduling and allowing customers to book online and get instant confirmations. As a result, you’re able to capture last-minute bookings and provide a fast, convenient customer experience that increases the chance of repeat business. 

It also makes it much easier to calculate travel routes and ensure your employee schedules are optimized. 

How to find the best job scheduling software for your mobile business

A truly effective job scheduling software won’t require your team (or your customers) to jump through hoops to schedule a service appointment. 

The best job scheduling software should be designed to capture sales and allow customers to quickly find and book service providers in their area. MarketBox is the only appointment management software that’s specifically designed for businesses offering mobile appointments. The software uses Provider SmartConnect to filter providers according to the customer’s criteria (skills, availability, and location) to ensure a perfect fit every time. 

Book a demo to learn more. 

Conclusion

Job scheduling software can help to manage mobile workers and overcome inefficiencies in your business. However, the differences between job scheduling software capabilities are evident. While some can fully manage employee scheduling from start to finish, others still require manual input from your team to complete the process.

Regardless, it is clear that job scheduling software has the potential to benefit your business by saving you time and money and increasing both customer and employee satisfaction. If you’re ready to implement job scheduling software into your business, use the free checklist below to compare your options. 

Read Next

14 features to look for in scheduling software for service businesses | MarketBox
Essential appointment management software features for mobile businesses | MarketBox
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