From the first call to the paid invoice
Follow one job through Field Lightning: the call, an honest estimate the customer signs, the visit, the invoice and the payment, all on one record.
The Field Lightning team2 min read
Picture the job. A homeowner calls about a water heater that quit. Now follow that job from the first ring to the last payment, on one record, without losing the thread.
The call and an estimate you can stand behind
With Calls and Texts, you take the call in your browser or on your cell phone, and it lands in your call history. Open a quick estimate right then. You can even start before there is a customer record. Add the customer and address before it becomes a job.
Add the work. Then add choices. Maybe a repair, or a new unit, in Good, Better and Best. Mark the one you would pick yourself as Recommended. The total updates as the customer picks.
Here is where we plant a flag. We do not build tools to turn your techs into sales reps. It's not "always be selling." It's "always be helping," and sales will take care of themselves. So the options on an estimate are honest choices the customer makes, not a script for an upsell. Our own rule is win/win or no deal.
Send the estimate by email, or by text if your shop has Texts and the customer agreed to get them. The customer opens a link. No account is needed. They approve or decline each service and sign with their name. They can draw their signature too. You keep a record of exactly what they saw and approved.
The job also keeps track of how much the customer approved. If the bill grows past it, the job flags it and the office gets an alert. That means no surprise at the end, for you or for them.
The visit and the work
When the customer approves, the estimate turns into a job. Now it needs a visit.
Your dispatcher sees every tech's day on one board. Drag the visit to a time and a tech. If you try to double-book someone, the board warns you first.
The visit lands on the tech's phone. The tech taps Accept Job, then Arrived, then Work completed. Drive time and on-site time are tracked on the job as they go. Photos and videos go on the job too.
The invoice and the payment
When the work is done, finalize the job. That creates the invoice, and what the customer sees is frozen at that moment. Send it by email as a link, a PDF, or both.
When the customer pays, charge their card right in Field Lightning, or a card they keep on file. Paid another way? Record it: cash, check or bank transfer. If you use QuickBooks Online, your finalized invoices and payments go there on their own, once you have connected it and matched your items.
That is one job from first call to paid, on one record. And the part we care about most is in the middle. The customer got a fair choice, and the shop got paid for honest work.
Want to run one of your own jobs through it? Try Field Lightning, or talk to us.