When it rains, it pours! So many good things from simPRO recently - let's look at how you can use them to improve your business.
Click to Open Schedules
Over my 200+ simPRO implementations, I'd say that nearly every new user has tried double clicking a schedule block to open the quote or the job. It just seems like the natural thing to do.
Well, simPRO have heard the call, so if you haven't done it already, go to System > Defaults > Schedule and configure the click behaviour just the way you like it.
Show Line Item Discounts on Form Builder Templates
Discounts generally hurt you more than they benefit the customer, because while the customer perceives the discount as a percentage of the total sell price, you will feel it as a larger cut in your profit.
For example, let's say you purchase an item for $1,000 and normally mark it up at 20% for a sell price of $1,200. If you offer the customer a 10% discount, they are obviously saving 10% of the sell price, and are incentivised accordingly. But you are losing 60% of your profit! ($120/$200 = 60%).
So if you're going to give a discount, there is only one rule: Make sure the customer knows about it.
Now you can show line item level discounts on quote and invoice forms using Form Builder.
SimPRO will have already loaded a standard itemised template with discounts, but if you want to add it to your existing custom forms, use the Part Discount and Labour Discount placeholders within the parts loop and labour loop respectively.
Improved Asset Test History in Customer Portal
Customers that use the customer portal can now see test history from multiple sites. The customer portal has come a long way in the last couple of years, and it's really worth inviting your customer in to have a look around, especially if you are in the asset maintenance business.
You don't have to pay anything for the customer portal; it's already part of your package. All you need to do is go to Setup > Defaults > Customer Portal and decide what you would like your customers to be able to do and see in your simPRO build:
Next, open the customer file and hit the Send Setup Email button:
The customer will then complete the setup process and be able to log in to their portal at whatever_your_simpro_url_happens_to_be.simprosuite.com/customer.
From there, depending on your settings, customers can view their jobs and quotes, assets, tasks, sites and even request jobs and quotes, which will immediately appear in your build.
The challenge, of course, is getting buy-in from customers in the first place, but if you can get over that hump you can add a lot of value by providing them with information on demand through direct access to their managed records. It can provide improved customer service, while cutting down on double-entry and communication overhead.
And no, they won't see your job profitability, costs, or private notes.
I recommend testing it with a dummy customer, but just a heads up that to log in as a customer you must be logged out as a user.
Default Dashboards in BI Reporting
SimPRO is now rolling out some default BI Reports for all users, grouped into three collections: Operations, Quality Assurance and Sales, with a dashboard for each.
For those of you who have purchased a PRO Suite membership for the BI Report Buddy, or who are considering doing so, you'll notice that while simPRO have provided some good basic reports, they don't have anywhere near the functionality of the PRO Suite range.
The default BI Reports all built using the question builder, not SQL queries, which means they are a good starting point for getting to know the interface and understand how questions are built. It also means that they will be compatible with many dashboard filters, and the results can be clicked on in order to drill through to selected records.
If you'd like any of the default reports altered or expanded upon, please feel free to request one here and I'll add it to the collection.
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