Day to Day Business Organisation.

[mattplace]

I have become so busy lately that i need to get some kind of organisation witht the day to day running of the business.

 

I am getting so many jobs to quote, organise, invoice, trace payments for etc. that i scared i'm going to forget something!

 

What do you guys do/use from the initial call/email to quote, right through to invoicing and payment?

 

At the moment, i have alot of pieces of paper with enquiries on, then when i go to quote i fill out a job spec sheet, then process that into a quote on the laptop. If the jobs accepted, the work is done, and i then send an invoice via email. There are too many processes to fail on as alot of it is in my head!

 

Ideally i want a system which interacts from my ipad, through to my macbook, and iphone calendars.

It would be nice to get the initial job interest, raise a work order number, take the ipad to do the job spec, quote on the macbook, and book it in with icalendar so everything is organised.

 

Is there a software program which ticks every box?

 

Or, maybe just a spreadsheet with a field for every step of the process to make sure nothing is forgotten or missed?

 

Any help or ideas much appreciated!

[swinny]

I'm same as you, loads of note pads but not sure which one is on which lol

 

Then sometimes forget like you say too much to deal with.

 

Also when a customer rings up and you've worked for them a year ago and your trying to remember how much it was last time!

 

Need a good database!

 

Also to help with anual reminders too...

[Matthew Storrs]

I have a A5 note book which i right down the customers details and the job details/spec. I then send them an email if needed with the quote. I then have a pre printed invoice book in the truck withall my payment details on which i write out and either give it to them at the end of the job or send if its a bigger organisation.

On the whole an A5 book lasts me a year then i just keep it for my records and buy a new one for the next year.

[Dan Earp]

you could use excel spread sheet, each tab could be the letter of the alphabet of the clients surname. then just have a bunch of colums 1 for the clients ref num which ud use in emails and invoices. 2 type of work (fell/climb/maintenace). 3 which team has completed the job. 4 quoted pirce/bill. 5 payment recieved/not recieved ect.

 

i did a baisc spread sheet back on this in college during business, if you have any problems i could scan a bunch of docs to you, or just post a helpful exercise/document file that would help and get you up and running.

 

o it does take a lil time to put together but has helped me in the past

[swinny]

you could use excel spread sheet, each tab could be the letter of the alphabet of the clients surname. then just have a bunch of colums 1 for the clients ref num which ud use in emails and invoices. 2 type of work (fell/climb/maintenace). 3 which team has completed the job. 4 quoted pirce/bill. 5 payment recieved/not recieved ect.

 

i did a baisc spread sheet back on this in college during business, if you have any problems i could scan a bunch of docs to you, or just post a helpful exercise/document file that would help and get you up and running.

 

o it does take a lil time to put together but has helped me in the past

 

Post it up

[Dan Earp]

lol ill have to dig it out then email it bud

[Rick2517]

I have become so busy lately that i need to get some kind of organisation witht the day to day running of the business.

 

I am getting so many jobs to quote, organise, invoice, trace payments for etc. that i scared i'm going to forget something!

 

What do you guys do/use from the initial call/email to quote, right through to invoicing and payment?

 

At the moment, i have alot of pieces of paper with enquiries on, then when i go to quote i fill out a job spec sheet, then process that into a quote on the laptop. If the jobs accepted, the work is done, and i then send an invoice via email. There are too many processes to fail on as alot of it is in my head!

 

Ideally i want a system which interacts from my ipad, through to my macbook, and iphone calendars.

It would be nice to get the initial job interest, raise a work order number, take the ipad to do the job spec, quote on the macbook, and book it in with icalendar so everything is organised.

 

Is there a software program which ticks every box?

 

Or, maybe just a spreadsheet with a field for every step of the process to make sure nothing is forgotten or missed?

 

Any help or ideas much appreciated!

 

Hi mat,

If you have all of this apple gear then you have everything you need, I'm not sure how or what program's you use but this is how I do things (it may be what you are already doing)

Step 1: phone rings- open note pad, take details

Step 2: cut from note pad and arrange date/ time with customer, and past appointment into iCal

Step 3: quote job and fill spec into the notes section in iCal

Step 4: say good bye and smile

Step 5: customer rings up 6 months later "hi its mrs smith, remember me"

Step 6: " yes of course I do mrs smith how are you(frantically searching for her quote in iCal) " yes I quoted you £15 to fell your 2feet high conifer!!!"

Step 7 book into next available slot and pick which team to send from type of calendar

Step 8: complete job, copy and past details into pages and e mail invoice

Then add details onto a spread sheet (numbers) this way you can track when invoice is due..

 

I depend on my iPad and actually have 2 and 2 iPhones they are all synced and all teams have one, this is just a fraction of uses I have found for it and I am happy to share.

 

Just ring (not tonight tho as I'm pissed!)

07825046597

[Lorry thompson]

I use express invoice mate it's great if you have clients you work for regular as it stores their company name address etc so when you invoice click on their name insert price what the work was then send, it automatically sends an invoice with your logo in etc and stores it. It also reminds you when the payment is late and your up to date turn over etc is there to look at and you can send quotes in the same format.

 

Can you tell I love it haha

[pgkevet]

I'll second using a spreadsheet..simpler than databases if only talking a couple of hundred clients but I wouldn't tend to use tabs for alphabetic names so much.. harder to run sorts for stuff pending or overdue. I'd probably use the tabs for quarters and new spreadsheets for your years.

Most important is to keep backups..and more backups: a copy on the prime machine, another across a simple network to a second PC, a backup on a usb drive and another on some free cyberspace. And burn a disc every 1-3 months.

 

OK I'm paranoid but I've seen what can happen.

[Dan Earp]

it was just as an example ;p but i know what you mean lol and yes the business tutor used gmail, for his private company as well. said he always sent himself an email that way (including paper copy) he always had a back up