Are any of you using paper based systems? Not necessarily for scheduling but for records keeping of customer info. I am considering a creating an individual file for every customer that will hold past work orders, maps, waivers, photos etc…
Anybody else do that?
or you could scan all that and put it in a folder in windows explorer
I have a paper file on every customer. It contains their window count/original estimate and every past invoice/work order. I could get by without it because most everything is on the computer too, but I started out using paper and I like multiple back ups.
Like Seth, I have paper copies of everything in the customer’s file. I also keep a 3 ring binder in the truck with me that has a 1 sheet version of all my customers’ records so if they call me out of the office, I can speak with competence
I dont understand why you would want to go paper. We have everything on the computer or in software that keeps it for us. Paperless is 2011. Paper is 1981. Lol. J\k, What ever works for you. I do like the 3 ring binder idea tho.
I have everything on computers now, they crash, servers go down, power goes out, files get corrupted, laptops get stolen, software companies go out of business, and most importantly, my wife/office manager can find stuff in a file cabinet in about 1/10th the time it takes to look it up on the computer. And when I am out on a job it takes forever to fire up the netbook, log on, and schedule an appt.
Awesome, I was thinking about the binder idea, do you update it every day, week, or what?
I have a three ring binders with all the estimates as well. It’s just a safety net. My BlackBerry has all my Outlook data in my pocket 24/7.
I think I miss the good ol days when everything was on paper. I think it was faster. Sounds crazy but my gut tells me it was faster. It’s 2011 now not 1976 so I guess I have to change.
i agree that paper can be quick but i really think this is a question of the size and depth of your company. We have used paper for years/ rolodex cards, estimate files organized by street address, on call customer files we keep by zone, re-occuring customers kept on a rolodex system…but this creates so much hassle…becomes very messy. in my opinion this is super slow. We are now moving over to a centralized computer system that will bring us down to filing only a couple of things by paper. With the size of company i run using paper invites huge amounts of potential human error with my office staff, that causes me to loose work and clients.
NO PAPER.
