Each month in this newsletter, we do a deep dive into a Kickserv business and its entire customer flow line to ensure that they successfully capture all their calls, follow up, and follow-through. These are the top three actions of any field service business.

We ask the customer 3 questions:

• What was the pain that sent them searching for help?

• What was the resolution to their problem?

• What were the fix and its results?

It was an age of newfangled contraptions popping up all over. The disposable camera, the compact disc, the artificial heart, DNA fingerprinting, and this miniature version of the mainframe computer we now call the PC. Back then, we were all pretty comfortable with this behemoth of a machine taking up an entire floor of an office building.

In 1981, Thomas Homola was fresh out of school with a computer science degree and was considered the new kid. He was given the job at a mainframe computing services company on Wall Street to move customers' non-essential data off of the mainframe and onto their personal computers. It was considered the lowliest job in the company. Little did they know Thomas would be the last man standing.

Thomas took his cutting-edge computer skills and opened his own computing services business. He patented a flat-paneled speaker system, which in turn led him to meet an interesting cat in charge of Radio City Music. They asked Thomas to take a peek at a friend’s cleaning company that was struggling to break even. In short order, Thomas debugged the cash flow issues and had the company making a profit.

Thomas found out that running a cleaning business was a dirty job, so he went into air quality and mold remediation and founded BIOCLEAN. He's not sure if he cleaned up his act or simply took on a different type of dirt--but either way, he's succeeding at helping his customers with air and water issues in their houses.

What is BIOCLEAN?

BIOCLEAN is an air quality and remediation services company. We offer air quality testing and basement waterproofing in Connecticut and Westchester, NY. We offer same-day estimates and services for clients that need the work. What differentiates BIOCLEAN from our competitors is that we repair whatever we need to break open to do a thorough investigation of the structure.

The Pain

• We suffered from scheduling issues and a lack of workable systems for the field. For example, when our inspector went out to quote a job, he had no good system for storing photos and notes from the job.

• Our schedulers were attempting to make job assignments on the day of the job. They would write the job on a board and then schedule it the day the work was to be done.

• When Customers called in to get details of their air inspections, our spreadsheet system made it difficult to look up the information in real-time.

The Resolution

• There are dozens and dozens of products out there. I read the reviews at Capterra and QuickBooks Marketplace, as well as Apple and Google Play stores. We looked at all the basic processes and customer flow lines built into Kickserv. The user interface seemed very intuitive to us and something that we felt immediately confident we could implement into the field and the office.

What were you looking for that brought you to Kickserv?

• We wanted a very easy-to-use but robust system that both our field users and administrators could catch onto quickly. Kickserv fit the bill.

What did you discover about your business during your investigation?

• Although we believe that we are unique, we also discovered how similar we are to many other companies in the industry. We have very similar products, but what we needed was a system to help set us apart.

What did you learn about field service software during your research?

• There is super complex software out there that takes a big effort to configure to very simple solutions that don’t support enough of our business. And then there is Kickserv.

The Fix

What was it like to go through onboarding with Kickserv?

• Simple. We started off slow, and over time we kept adding and adjusting our processes to work within the Kickserv customer flow lines; capturing every call, following up, and following through.

What are some highlights of Kickserv that you feel could help other businesses like your own?

• Timekeeping has really helped our field techs remain on top of their house. Kickserv has allowed my payroll team to reconcile super-fast.

• Messaging within the web app has been a real help in improving our communication between customers.

• Billing and Accounts Receivable while using Kickserv has allowed us to collect way faster. We can manage the techs to send out their estimates the same day, and when the job is finished, to send out the invoice. It did not take a Wall Street computer science guy to determine that if you send out your invoices consistently, you will get paid consistently.

What are your Key Performance Indicators today?

• Leads with appointments increased from 1-2 per day to 6-8 per day

• Winning appointments percentage increased from the teens to 58%

• Dollars collected jumped 20% from December 2015 to December 2020

• Jobs closed rose over 25% with Kickserv as the centralized CRM

• Total Sales per month popped 56% on average

• And we are on pace to hit $3 million in sales this year! Best ever!

What is your favorite business book?

• I have many, but the last book I read is “Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace (by William Vanderbloemen)

What do you do when you are not working in your business?

• I work, I sleep, I repeat…. Prior to the virus, I went to the gym daily

What are you focused on in your business today?

• Training team members and seeing more profitability. I’m working to improve the field operations and looking to expand into Massachusetts.

How can people contact you?

• BIOCLEAN
  Tom@biocleanct.com
  203.283.3912 (office)