Want to preview a quote before you send it?

Use the Customise Quote option on the billing tab… Remember – you’re not limited to one quote template, you can have multiple to suit different situations – eg itemised vs summarised. You can also choose an alternative template and/or a job-specific deposit amount to test out any changes you may have made to your quote […]

Respond to calls with a text message for faster call handling

If you’re in the middle of a job and you receive a phone call, you can’t always answer it. You could use ServiceM8’s own online booking text to send them a message after they’ve called, but an even quicker option is to use the Apple iPhone’s ‘Respond with Text’ option. Hit the message option when […]

How to change the display order of staff on the staff schedules screen

Did you know that you can change the order that staff are displayed on the staff schedules view? Set a custom order and group their swim lanes together in whatever way makes sense for your business. That could be grouping them in teams, listing them alphabetically, or putting them in order of seniority. To do […]

How to manage Service Plans and Annual Contracts within ServiceM8

If you’re considering offering service plans or contracts to your customers, great news! Creating a source of recurring income helps stabilise cash flow and boost customer loyalty. When managing this in ServiceM8, choose an approach that suits your business by considering both your charging method and visit management. The simplest way to handle this in […]

How to remember to do the tasks due after job completion

If you have jobs that require follow-up tasks after completion, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got this one setting switched on… Go to Account > Settings > Preferences > Tasks Change ‘Show Tasks for Completed Jobs’ from Hide → Show Note that this only applies to the tasks listed online in the Dispatch Board > Tasks (i.e. not in the ‘My […]

How to stop automated emails being sent from individual staff members

If you’re sending what ServiceM8 call a badge follow up automation email, then you may have noticed that these emails are sent from the name and email address of the staff who “Completed” the job. Examples of badge follow up automations include: You might not want the review or reminder to be sent from the […]

Block out public holidays in advance

Want to make sure that you don’t forget about public holidays? Don’t want to let customers book their appointments for when you should be relaxing and recharging like everyone else? Use the Closed Dates section in ServiceM8. This will block out your ServiceM8 calendar on those dates, so that you don’t accidentally work on a […]

Got suppliers in your client list? Start using Xero Bills

Have you noticed that your suppliers keep ending up in your ServiceM8 Client list? If you use Xero, then you have to create proper bills for your purchases for Xero to recognise that these are suppliers rather than clients. If you’re just reconciling purchases from the reconciliation pages of Xero then, this doesn’t count as […]

A tip for those moving to ServiceM8 from Gas Engineer Software

I wrote an article over 4 years ago that compared Gas Engineer Software (GES) with ServiceM8. One of the major differences was with how forms work across the two softwares. GES works in an ‘appliance first’ way – You set up the appliance on GES and then complete forms against that appliance, which means that […]

Guide your Customers to help them help you

Something that I believe is overlooked in the service industry is the ‘Customer Guidance’ aspect. When was the last time you looked at the guidance you provide to your customers throughout the visit / quoting / work process in terms of what they can expect, what they might need to do and what happens next? […]

Knowing when NOT to use ServiceM8 to solve a challenge

I normally publish tips on how to solve business problems with ServiceM8. Today’s a little different though – I know you won’t believe me, but not all business challenges are best solved with ServiceM8 ;o) A good example of this is enquiry email auto-replies. If all of your customer enquiries come into a business email […]

Use ServiceM8’s arrival window to give an appointment slot instead of a fixed time

You’d be forgiven for thinking that when confirming appointments and sending booking reminders to your customers, you’re limited to confirming either a fixed time, or just the day of arrival. However, that’s not the case! If you switch on the Services add-on, ServiceM8 will offer an ‘arrival window’ setting. To access this setting, make sure […]