August 26, 2022

8 Top Tips to Increase Productivity for your Tradie Business

Top Tips to Increase Trades Business’ Productivity

We assume you’re here because you have a Trades Business and you’re looking for tips to improve productivity; well, you’ve come to the right place.

We’re going to run through our easy top tips to improve your trades business’ productivity.

But, first – why should you improve your tradie business’ productivity – let’s take a look…

How improving a Trade Business’ Productivity can grow a tradie business

Improving the productivity in your trades business is one of the best things you can do to grow your business.

It increases profitability by reducing your overheads and lowering operating costs.
It enables the expansion of your organization, so you can add/improve customer service.
It allows you to take advantage of more opportunities.

Improving productivity is so essential for the growth of a tradie business.

Just look at this guy, he knows…

So, how do you boost the productivity of a tradie business?

Right, here’s the juicy detail on how to boost your trades business’ productivity.

These are our top tips to improve your trades business’s productivity.

1) Delegate Daily Tasks

You’re the face of your business, or you should be, and your primary focus should be on delivering excellent work and services for your clients. Your role is to develop relationships and make sure clients are happy. You shouldn’t be down in the weeds; you should be overseeing and delegating.

So, the first way to improve productivity in your trades business is to make sure that you delegate daily tasks – you can’t do everything yourself.

A great way to delegate is by hiring an employee, or better yet, a virtual assistant (VA).

Consider how much work you have, and then choose the right option for your business and budget. If you need an employee that could fill a full-time role then it might make sense to bring someone on staff full-time. The other option is a virtual assistant to handle work that can be delegated.

Here is how a virtual assistant could probably help your business:

A VA can answer the phone
take messages
monitor social media pages

Today’s clients expect regular contact and near-immediate response to enquiries, so it’s important to respond to them as quickly as possible through whatever medium they’ve used. Any delay in response could cost you credibility and customers.

If you’re wasting valuable time with constant enquiries and monitoring client-facing communications, a virtual assistant could take that off your hands and improve productivity in your trades business.

2) Make Lists and Protocols

Are you organized? If you’re reading through our tips to increase your trades business’ productivity, chances are you’re not. That’s ok, none of us are perfect.

Ask yourself these questions:

Can you quickly access the contact numbers for all of your suppliers?
Do your workers know how to set up a site without you supervising?
Are you able to easily see how many quotes you need to complete and by when?
Do you or your staff know which jobs/tasks to prioritize? Is this information recorded and easy to find?

If the answer to those questions is anything but a “Hell Yes!”, then you need to start building some central lists and protocols for the running of your business as they’re a great way to improve your productivity by staying organized.

Make lists
Communicate clearly

You need to have lists for everything and make sure everyone in the office understands the priorities for your business. Order lists in terms of urgency, as this enables your team to deal with the most pressing matters first.

Communication is key

When you communicate clearly, your staff understand exactly what you need, your clients will always know where you are and what to expect, and the door is open for them to let you know if they have any questions or want to make any changes.

Don’t forget: clear communication involves both speaking and listening.

Your priorities are important, but you also need to listen to your team and clients as they may have something to contribute. Make sure you’re approachable so people feel comfortable speaking to you – easier said than done, for some of us.

Lists and great communication can address issues ahead of time and can significantly contribute to improved productivity.

3) Set Realistic Timetables and Plan Ahead

Time to set some realistic timetables for your projects and plan ahead.

In tradie businesses, most projects require a significant amount of planning unless you’ve found a magical tradie business that doesn’t exist.

You need supplies and materials to be delivered on time, and you need a plan. Once experienced in delivering similar projects, you end up with a good idea of how to organize your plans and set realistic timetables.

Remember: productivity improves when you have a plan.

Optimise your time
No time wastage
No backtracking
No playing catch up

With a plan, you can provide the timeline to clients and improve customer service and experience. It will improve your productivity and remove the need for excuses and damage control with frustrated clients.

4) Make Sure Your Project Site Is Clean and Organized

Messy workspace, messy mind – that’s what they say, right?

When on the job, you and/or your team need to leave a work site clean and organized every day. It looks more professional and will keep clients happy. The added benefit is it makes it easy to get started each morning as you won’t waste time looking for tools and materials and the site is tidy and ready for the day’s work.

A clean and organised site may seem obvious, but the benefits are enormous and a huge contributor to improved productivity for a tradie business.

5) Hire a Social Media Specialist

Are you a budding social media influencer? Do you know what hashtags to use and how to make a post go viral?

If you answered no to these questions then you need some help with your social media.

Social media will help build your brand, generate leads, and retain customers

Where can you hire someone to help with your social media?

You can hire a freelance social media specialist to help with your social accounts. It is scalable and can grow over time.

Your social media should be designed to showcase your work and provide opportunities for people to engage with your brand.

A social media specialist can

create posts of jobs you have completed
case studies
testimonials from happy clients
other engaging content you think clients (and potential clients) might enjoy
Quickly reply to messages and questions
Plan out long-term strategies for content creation and posting

A social media specialist will be able to increase engagement and brand visibility and respond to comments and enquiries quickly, as potential clients expect now.

What about blog posts?

You can also hire freelance writers to write blog posts on topics related to your business. These posts are great for giving visitors ideas for their own projects and they serve to inform the public. They also build your brand and help people see you as an expert in the field.

What are the benefits of hiring a social media specialist?

you save your time for the important technical work you’re required for
your potential and existing customers are kept happy
your brand appears professional and trustworthy

6) Use Software to Improve Productivity

Software platforms and tools can improve productivity. Google’s G-Suite is a great example of software that provides various tools a tradie business might need like:

Email
Word processing
Spreadsheets
Presentation software
Video conferencing

You can collaborate with employees, freelancers, and your clients to plan projects and share files.

If you integrate a calendar with your social media, users can schedule appointments at any time of the day.

Improve your productivity with real-time updates on projects.

Project management software is another option to be aware of. It’s useful to manage every aspect of a project:

allow people to book times with you in your calendar
keep track of real-time updates on projects
schedule jobs and track time spent by employees
set out key dates for managing customer relations and social media

7) Recognize Your Employees

Whether you have a team of employees or just a few labourers, another way to improve productivity in your tradie business is to recognize them for a job well done.

To grow a trusted, highly recommended brand you need to have great employees who are invested in your company’s success. Employee recognition can help keep your staff happy and gives them a stake in your future success.

Great examples of employee recognition are:

“Employee of the month”
“Meet the team” posts on social media
Gifts for a job well done
Gatherings to celebrate milestones on projects, the business or employees

This will keep the morale of your team high so they are motivated to do the best job they can do.

8) Engage in Customer Onboarding

Onboarding is the process that your customers go through when opt to work with you. It’s their first experience of your business, so it needs to be a positive one. It can define their relationship with your company. Your customers are focused on the end product, but a hiccup along the way could cause ripples that affect the entire process and mire the end results. Customer-focused, clear communication can keep the client happy from beginning to end. Typically, in tradie businesses, when a customer places a deposit on a job, the onboarding process begins. They should receive an immediate welcome response designed to let them know you take a personal interest in the job and appreciate their business. Update clients on milestone completions, for example: “John, we’re confirming your deposit was received and we’re excited to get started on the project.” Don’t make clients chase you for updates and confirmation.

Payment schedules and modifications

Provide payment schedules, where applicable. They should be laid out clearly and the client should be aware what the terms of the agreement are and what happens if they request modifications or changes to the scope of a project. Tradie customers now expect more than a job well done. Your customers could be splashing serious cash on their project with you and they want to feel appreciated. Their customer experience is critical to how they view your business and their opinion matters when it comes to customer referrals. The purpose of client onboarding is client satisfaction and retention, it helps to create a positive experience for them. Automating this process will improve your productivity.

Let’s sum it up

Improving productivity in a tradie business saves you time and helps to make sure that your customers have positive experiences that lead to referrals and repeat business.

You need to start by making sure that you delegate, spend time focused on delivering quality results for your customers, and hire a team (or virtual assistant) to manage the daily tasks at your office.

Your communication needs to be clear, and there are plenty of software automation tools that can improve it. Your customers will be happier if they know what to expect every step along the way. Make sure that you have an active online presence, and communicate clearly with your customers and employees. You can boost your productivity and build your business this way.

Your To-Do List

Save or print this list

#1 – Delegate Daily Tasks

Calculate how much time you spend per week doing administration and organizational tasks for your business and multiply that time by the rate you charge for your services (HINT: that’s how much you’re spending on administration, hiring someone is likely cheaper than paying yourself for the same task)
List out the administration, organizational, operational, and marketing tasks that need to be completed for your business regularly AND ad hoc
Estimate how much time would be required each week to get these tasks completed
Decide if these tasks can be outsourced to a VA or if you need to hire an employee (research the best option for your business)
DELEGATE!

#2 – Make Lists and Protocols

Create a central document or database for your contacts e.g. suppliers, clients, body corps, subbies
Review or develop GANT type chart for tracking all the work required of you and your business
Create an SOP manual for your business (you can find templates online or outsource this)
Develop charts/systems to easily prioritize jobs
Create a reference for your system of organization (e.g. email sorting, filing, job scheduling, etc.)

#3 – Set Realistic Timetables and Plan Ahead

#4 – Make Sure Your Project Site Is Clean and Organized

Create a general protocol for how employees should leave a work site with a checklist of items that should be completed each time
Create a job-specific protocol for how employees should leave a work site with a checklist of items that should be completed each time (including important documentation that’s required)
Have a basic level of stock recorded for your trucks or site office that can be used to do stock take regularly and for ordering
Train employees on stock protocols e.g. marking off items in their truck in the morning before leaving for jobs or return for jobs
Develop a routine/process for getting stock information from staff to easily order more parts as required

#5 – Hire a Social Media Specialist

Outline your marketing and customer relations aims for your current social media and virtual platforms
List the tasks that would be frequently undertaken in managing the social media and online workload e.g. graphics, managing message inbox, blog writing, social media cold leads, etc.
Research potential candidates based on needs e.g. simple social media responding tasks may only require a virtual assistant, keyword optimized articles for your site will require an experienced copywriter
Plan out an achievable social media/digital content management strategy and possible supporting material needed for content creation e.g.job photos
Start building resource folder for the creation of content
Monitor analytics throughout the implementation of the social media/digital strategy and make adjustments as needed

#6 – Use Software to Improve Productivity

Get a job/project management program if you haven’t already got one
Do a health check on your management program to ensure all important information is correct e.g. contact details, external links, file attachments, etc.
Consider bringing in outside help to get the most out of potential automation for your business with business support services or organizational strategy consultants (this may seem like overkill now but it will save you thousands of man hours down the line which means a massive cost-saving)

#7 – Recognize your employees

#8 – Engage in customer onboarding