In fact, your very livelihood depends on it. Because no one pays for a car door that isn’t unlocked or junk that isn’t hauled away.
As President Trump announced a “national emergency” in the US, it’s important that you take the necessary steps to protect yourself and your service business during the Coronavirus.
So what precautions should you take to protect yourselves, your employees, your service business, and your customers during the Coronavirus pandemic?
1. Maintain proper hygiene
As a service pro that goes out into the field and into clients’ homes, the importance of proper hygiene cannot be stressed. Proper hygiene helps to kill any viruses that may be on your hands and keep you and your field techs safe during the Coronavirus pandemic.
1a. Wash your hands often
The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends that you wash your hands often. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water to help prevent the virus from spreading.
1b. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
If you’re in the field, on the road, or can’t access soap and water, use a hand sanitizer made up of at least 60% alcohol. You’ll need to cover the entire surface area of your hands and rub them together until they’re dry.
1c. If you can’t find hand sanitizer – make your own
Hand sanitizer is in short supply right now, so your best bet might be to make your own.
Here is a simple recipe that you can follow in order to make your own hand sanitizer to use in the field and in your service truck.
1d. If all else fails – use soap and water
If you’re reading this, then you can’t find sanitizer or the components to make your own. The next best thing is to keep jugs of clean water, a bottle of liquid soap, and paper towels in the back of your service van. It’s not ideal, but it’ll do the job.
2. Maintain proper client etiquette during the Coronavirus
As a service pro, you’ll often be in clients’ homes or in close contact. Here’s what you need to do to keep yourself and your clients protected during the Coronavirus outbreak.
2a. Maintain 6 ft of personal space
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that it’s possible to spread the Coronavirus from person to person. Therefore, it’s safest to maintain 6 ft of personal space between yourself and customers as well as any pets in their home to limit personal contact and any chance to transfer. Prior to your arrival, ask customers to crate their pets or keep them isolated in another room in order to limit all personal contact.
2b. Wear gloves, masks, and booties
No matter if you’ve just touched your steering wheel, etc., your gloves, booties, and mask will help to create a physical barrier that helps prevent contamination in the customer’s home while keeping you and your techs safe from coming into contact with any contaminated items.
2c. Use digital payment methods
Paper money can carry more germs than a household toilet. Not only that but paper bills can transport live flu for up to 17 days. That information alone should be enough to make you want to switch to a digital payment processor, like WorkizPay, conveniently located inside of your Workiz Field Service Software.
2d. Go no-touch
Now, more than ever, it’s important to limit contact with infected surfaces, both inside a client’s house, in your service van, and more. Using voice services such as Workiz Voice, powered by Alexa, can help you manage your service business just using the power of voice (and without touching any contaminated surfaces.)
3. Encourage employee sick leave
Now more than ever, it’s crucial to encourage employees to take time off at the first sign of illness and to stay out of the office until well again. This is necessary to help prevent the spread of any illness and especially the Coronavirus. Additionally, If a technician is sick, it’s always helpful to have subcontractors on call to handle any work overload.
4. Take stock of your inventory
Coronavirus isn’t just a public health emergency, it’s creating massive uncertainty when it comes to the supply chain. Here’s how to protect your service business and make sure you have the necessary parts and supplies to work in these uncertain times.
4a. Know what you have
With Coronavirus creating disruptions to the supply chain, it’s more important than ever to understand and track your inventory levels.
With an inventory management system, like Workiz Inventory Management, you’ll know your exact stock levels, down to the container level, benefit from real-time tracking, and receive alerts when you’re running low because preparedness is crucial now more than ever.
4b. Order Enough Supplies for 3 months in Advance
Changes to the supply chain will mean that it will be harder to source parts and could be more expensive. So, you’ll need to diversify your suppliers and rely on more than just one.
You should also plan to purchase enough inventory for at least the next 3-months in order to protect against supply-chain disruptions and protect your service business’ profits because you can’t expect to keep on working if you can’t get the parts and supplies that you need to do the job.
5. Protect your service business financially
President Trump has approved $50 million dollars in emergency funding for small businesses that may need a little extra financial cushion in these uncertain times.
5a. Small business loans
These are low-interest loans of up to $5 million which will be available to small businesses which have been impacted by Coronavirus. The United Small Business Administration (SBA) has developed Lender Match, a free online referral tool that connects small businesses with participating SBA-approved lenders within 48 hours.
