Costs incurred/Diagnostic Charges on Quotes
Is there a way to automatically include diagnostic charges on a quote WITHOUT relying on the field tech to do it manually?
I have a lot of customers/manufacturers/3rd party billing that want only 1 invoice per job. My problem is that I have several techs on staff and some don't always remember to include the charges from the 1st trip on the quote if more trips are required to complete the repairs.
So when the quotes come through to my office they end up getting sent to the customer without the initial charges, resulting in us having to ask for an increase on the PO that the customer issues from the quote OR lost revenue.
My office is processing 50+ quotes per day so I cant expect them, on every quote, to check invoice list > add > import from mobile > find correct location > import invoice just to see if they need to add "incurred costs" to the quote.
Any ideas, recommendations, procedures out there?
Comments
Ok, help me figure out the process.
Customer calls > dispatch created > tech visits, figures out the problem and gives you some from of follow up> quote written up
Customer approves > etc.
The simple answer is, I don't think there is a simple answer; so, let's look at options
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Option 1 is pretty blunt
Tell the techs they are responsible for charges they forget to tell you about. Not the best all around answer, but sometimes I get a bit tweaked hearing "oops, I forgot" for the 10th time in a month.
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Option 2
Have the tech create the base quote in the field (assuming you use ESC mobile), then the in-house team can bring it up, massage it, and email it off to the customer. We have a non-billable Dispatch Type called quote which keeps from dispatch from becoming a problem down the line. Obviously this has the same problem as the original process, if the tech doesn't remember..........
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Option 3
You can create a template that includes the diagnostic fee, but the person doing the quote still needs needs to know if it applies.
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As I said, no easy answer. Can you give us a better idea of your chain of events? It might help.
Thanks Rick, Chain of events is as follows:
1) Customer calls/issues WO
2) Dispatch created & tech dispatched (all techs are using ESC Mobile)
3) Tech performs diagnostic and/or repair
4) Tech creates a quote to return if needed - - This is where it gets sticky because some customers need an invoice for that days service and then a quote for the repairs, whereas other customers want all time & material on a single invoice, which means the tech should be putting those charges on the quote as well.
5) Invoice delivers into the mobile queue, quote delivers into the quote list
6) Parts department reviews the quote and sends to the customer & Accounting department pulls invoices and sends to the customer
7) If quoted, quote is then approved and built into a dispatch which the tech invoices upon completion
Step 4/5 is the tricky part because Parts Department doesn't know if the quote should or shouldn't include the diagnostic charges because 1) Across 4,000 customers & 50+ quotes per day, they need to move quickly and 2) PO numbers don't carry over to quotes from dispatches; only to the invoices (if the PO's would transfer they would immediately know they need to look for a diag charge) and 3) The quotes are often done before the invoices are pulled from the queue so accounting can't always catch it and transfer the PO/Diag fees to the Parts department. And sometimes, worse even, Accounting sends that invoice to the customer with just diag fees so now customer gets an invoice with their issued PO and a quote without any PO for the same job. There's just such a disconnect between invoices & quotes.
Although ESC allows you to create a quote from a dispatch, it isn't really designed to do it well, most of the work flow is expected to be the other direction.
Presuming that your dispatcher is aware that there is a PO for that call and that their may be a diagnostic charge, I'd add both of those items to the dispatch notes. As long as you have ESC set up to forward dispatch notes to invoices that will alert Accounting that there is a potential issue. If you do is as a billing code and add that to the parts section of the dispatch it will be really obvious on the invoice.
For the quote...... It would be really nice if ESC mobile let users use templates (hint Scott) for quotes and invoices. And, I don't think the tech quote will bring over any notes. So, no, no answers.
That may or may not solve half of your problem. I'll give the other half a bit more thought, but nothing easy comes to mind.
We do have those procedures in place and its works great from an accounting end, but only when accounting get the invoice before parts gets the quote. I will keep searching for workarounds in the meantime, but, as always, I really appreciate your insight Rick. Thanks for the response.
Josh,
What triggers the Quote people to look at the quote from the tech in the first place?
Not sure if this helps, but here is what we have come up with... We have some customer that require diagnosis to be included with the quote and some that do not.
Customers not requiring diagnosis with quoted job: Tech completes and creates invoice for the diagnostic visit. Invoice goes to accounting for importing from mobile and billing. Tech creates a "QUOTE dispatch" and enters all his necessary information into the dispatch notes for the Quote to be developed and submitted. The call goes into a QUOTE column on our dispatch board. Once quote is submitted the office marks the QUOTE dispatch completed. If customer approves, then a new dispatch is created to do the quoted work.
Customers requiring diagnosis to be included with quoted job: Tech creates invoice in the field for the diagnosis visit. He enters all the necessary information into the dispatch notes section so that a quote can be developed. He then changes the status of the dispatch to "QUOTE" which moves the dispatch to the QUOTE Column on board. The diagnosis invoice is imported in the office and placed on hold. A quote is sent to the customer and the dispatch gets moved to another column on the board for "QUOTES Submitted & Holding". If quote is approved, dispatch gets moved to "Parts to Order", parts arrive and tech is assigned to complete job. Tech creates invoice for the repair work and that invoice information merges with the diagnosis invoice when it is imported. The invoice is cleaned up to match quoted amount and billed to customer. Not sure if that helps any or not!
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