Planning routes is complicated. Besides figuring out the best directions to give your field employees, you also have to consider traffic, weather conditions, construction sites, and other variables. This can take hours with only a handful of customers and a couple of field employees. But, if you have hundreds of customers and hundreds of field employees, this can take ages if it’s not entirely impossible.
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Manual Route Planning Also Produces Bad Routes
Spending the hours to plan routes manually would have been worth it if it actually resulted in good routes, but this is not the case. There are just too many potential outcomes and you need complex algorithms to produce good routes. So, routes that are produced with pen and paper would simply not be accurate or efficient.
Such shoddy planning will have a negative domino effect on your business. Using bad routes, your field employees would end up taking the wrong streets and getting lost. This will probably result in them arriving late at your clients’ addresses. If this happens frequently enough, you could end up losing your current clients. Even worse, you may be on the path to getting a bad business reputation.
There’s a Better Way!
Consider this: Instead of manually planning routes, use a trip planner. Using such routing software, it takes 30 seconds or less (and not hours) to plan routes. And, the routes will actually be optimized and accurate. So, your field employees will get to your customers in the shortest and most efficient way possible.
You can feed your client addresses into the system by copying and pasting the addresses, importing the data or uploading a spreadsheet. You can also customize the settings to fit your situation. For example, if you want to include additional parameters (such as avoidance zones, time windows, and service times) you can do so with the software.
Keep Your Customers Happy
Route optimization software let your field employees show up at your customers’ addresses on time more often. Your customers will love the commitment. In fact, they might love your high level of customer service so much that they recommend your business to their network of friends and family. Such personal recommendations are much more believable, not to mention affordable, than paid ads.
Your customers will also love the other things you can do for them with the software. For example, when a client calls you to ask where a field employee is, you can give them the accurate ETA right away. This is accomplished through the software’s GPS tracking feature which lets you know where your field employees are no matter where they are or where you are.
It’s Time to Make the Switch
You’re just one software away from saving time, saving gas, and making more money. What are you waiting for?
Do you have any questions? Please feel free to leave your comments below.
In addition, here are two questions to ensure you understood the positives of switching to a trip planner:
- What are the advantages of delivery optimization software over pen and paper-based route planning?
- How can a trip planner improve your customer service?
