Recommendations In Workflow - Not?

[linolakesptac]

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum so please forgive me if this topic has already been covered. I have been using Manager for a number of years now and my biggest complaint is the fact that entering recommendations is completely out of the normal work flow. I think it would be great (and a dramatic time saver) if you could enter recommendations from the revision screen. I know that RO Writer has a declined services button that automatically puts everything into a recommendation. With Mitchell being a superior product (little kissing up never hurts) I would expect that they would have something like it.

[ricmorin]

Welcome to the Forum.

Unlike some other forums, we won't scold you if a topic has been covered before.

We have discussed this before. I was thinking if they tied those together, users would have to go through the revision screen EVERY time they wanted to make a recommendation. I like the fact that they are separate. Now I'm not tied to both, but can make one or the other.

It's worth bringing up again to see what others have to say.......

[linolakesptac]

I see your point, but I think that would be much easier. I mean aren't you basing the recommendations off the revisions anyway? I just find that during the day I never end up needing to go back to the vehicle screen.

[brianp87]

I see the advantage and disadvantage. I never use the recommendations until after the customer is given the chance to preform those items. If they then decline then I input them. I do this as to not have to type something that is not necessary. I like the idea but only if it had a pop up maybe and asked to you want to add this revision as a recommendation.

[ricmorin]

I see your point, but I think that would be much easier. I mean aren't you basing the recommendations off the revisions anyway? I just find that during the day I never end up needing to go back to the vehicle screen.

I suppose it's all in how you operate. For us, our recommendations are not based or tied into revisions at all. We are not predisposed to creating a revision for every recommendation, either. Sometimes we do, but not always. Some recommendations may be for work we don't perform. Others may be dated a year out, so we may not create one now where prices could change, etc. Many are watch items that help us to keep an eye on things for our customers.

I do agree with you that a connection exists. An auto-create recommendation feature certainly has merit and I'm sure we'd use it occasionally. I'd hope that if such a feature were to come to fruition, they'd make it optional with a switch of some sort.

There's so many different ways to utilize this software. M1 does a good job of accommodating that. Keep the ideas flowing cuz they listen to us!

[ricmorin]

After rereading the OP's post, I think he simply wants access to recommendations from the Revision screen, not necessarily a link between the two. I erroneously inferred that with the mention of that inferior product.

I really like that idea.

I could certainly foresee programming difficulties trying to make that feature automatic.

[timbre4]

The original logic (which some follow) is that Recommendations come first, right off the Tech Worksheet findings by the tech. "Hey we found this, do you want us to fix it?" If Yes you work up the details in Revisions.

To base Recommendations off of existing Revisions, what would you have the program do with the parts & labor details to tell customers something they could understand?

[madmoneymike5]

The original logic (which some follow) is that Recommendations come first, right off the Tech Worksheet findings by the tech. "Hey we found this, do you want us to fix it?" If Yes you work up the details in Revisions.

Their answer as to yes or no often depends on if it's a safety or just a nuisance item, how bad the problem is, and to my main point, "How much does it cost?" In order to answer that question, you need to have an estimate/revision written. As I see it, revisions and recommendations go hand-in-hand. A recommendation generally requires a revision, and a revision generally results because of a recommendation. To have both is redundant/double-work. Also, for what it's worth, "Revision" is confusing to me. What is a "Revision?" It's an estimate, right? Why not just call it what it is?

Our natural flow is customer calls in and sets appointment -> Customer shows up, often adding more to their original list of complaints about their vehicle because they forgot about something when they originally called in -> Tech worksheet is printed -> Tech writes down cause of problems and any other recommendations -> Service writer creates estimates and calls customer -> Customer accepts or declines -> Work order is written for the work approved and parts are ordered; work declined should automatically become a note printed on the final invoice saying that it was declined on such and such day -> Parts are checked in and work is completed -> Paperwork turned in by tech to service writer -> Service writer verifies part numbers and prices and enters distributor's invoice numbers on each part installed -> Service writer turns work order into invoice and calls customer -> Customer pays

So, if I could wave a magic wand and change TeamWorks, I'd say abracadabra and:
1. Add a "Here Because..." tab between vehicle and order. This page would have the symptoms and canned jobs on it. Information on this screen could/should be pulled from Scheduler. This would lead to the tech worksheet printout that we hand to the techs.
2. Move "Revision" to the left of Order and to the right of the above "Here Because..." tab.
3. Change "Revision" to "Estimates", add a second-tier of estimates (revisions) to each parent tab (revision/estimate) as we often give the customer a choice between aftermarket and factory parts for the same repair recommendation. As it is, we occasionally run into the problem of running out of "SubEst" tabs.
4. "Sell Revision" changed to "Sell Estimates" and add an option to mark estimates as approved, declined, delete, or ignore. Any estimates marked as declined should be automagically added to the work order as a note only that states the recommendation was declined. Declined estimates would go into a tab of their own to the right of "History" labeled "Declined Estimates" and displayed in a format similar to the way History is displayed now so that they could be kept for our own records. (Additionally, there would be a way to sell this declined work should the customer change their mind.) Approved work would behave as it does now. Delete would delete the estimate instead of saving it to the "Declined Estimates" tab (for use when customer chooses aftermarket parts over factory, or whatever your reasons are for not wanting to save it). Ignore would just leave the estimate on "Estimates" tab; perhaps the customer hasn't made a decision yet on that particular estimate...

This is all just me thinking out loud. This is our natural flow at our shop; your mileage may vary.

To base Recommendations off of existing Revisions, what would you have the program do with the parts & labor details to tell customers something they could understand?

For what it's worth, I didn't understand your question here. Maybe you could elaborate or someone else can 'splain it to me?

[timbre4]

To base Recommendations off of existing Revisions, what would you have the program do with the parts & labor details to tell customers something they could understand? For what it's worth, I didn't understand your question here. Maybe you could elaborate or someone else can 'splain it to me?

Simply this; a Revision is just a list of parts and labor that does not tell a story that a customer can relate to as a Recommendation [recipe] can. "I'm not sure what this is trying to say honey, it's just a list of stuff". [ingredients] The Revision can contain multiple categories, which one do you want to use?

[mestude]

reviving recommendation and revision......For those of us in the CRM program there is an automatic email that is sent to the customer for vehicle recommendations but not revisions.....and Im not sure about the rest of you...I use my revisions as recommendations. "hey we found this. It will take this to fix it and the cost is this." That is in my revision. so if the customer declines the revision Mitchell classifies it as declined work.
I think If you make a revision it should automatically go to recommendations, and if you sell it revision the recommendation deletes. that would be nice to see. What ever you type in for the complaint or what you found in the top box. that would automatically copy and paste itself into vehicle recommendation.

[Jeff @ Able Auto]

I agree. I will write revisions and then forget to add them to recommendations, or get busy and not get back to it. CRM is dependant on recommendations and appointments. If the progarm just picked up on the labor line in revisions and tagged it to recommendations it would be a HUGE time saver as well as a money maker! Just my $2.98.

[timbre4]

Each Revision can hold multiple Categories; how do you program which one of those to use for each Recommendation? You may be placing a Note entry in the Revision now but that is free form typing on the user's part and not be reliable data to program with. The Recommendation describes the issue identified and what the resolution should be; the Revision unto itself cannot do this. That is why Social CRM used Recommendations to speak the customers' language.

Keep the ideas coming, this is going to take a while.

[ricmorin]

I DO like the idea of linking the two together, but cannot see a practical way of automating it. Perhaps a link can be created after the Revision and Recommendation are made? Then sell a revision and it's linked recommendation goes away. Yeah!

[timbre4]

I forgot to mention in reply above that we did get much closer to that concept when Transferring Revisions to flash the Recommendations list in front of users. There is no magic wand logic applied but at least users got the opportunity to clear any Recommendations that were being addressed by approved Revisions. For those who may not have realized the program does this, here's a view of that dialog during Revision Transfer:

recdel.png (25 KiB) Viewed 6175 times

[madmoneymike5]

How about...

An option in the settings (much like enforce mileage, checking state inspection dates, etc) that when an order is converted to an invoice, check to see if there are any revisions remaining. If yes, ask the user if they'd like to add any recommendations. If they click yes, display the recommendations window for each non-empty revision. When done, resume the conversion to invoice. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. You could potentially ignore any revision that doesn't have at least a part, labor, or sublet item on it---that is, ignore notes.

I suspect some shops have technicians enter recommendations in addition to or in lieu of writing on the tech worksheet. The service writers then take those recommendations and build the estimates. (We're thinking of going to this format...)
I also suspect that some shops (like us for the time being) skip the recommendations altogether. Instead, they just take the handwritten notes on the tech worksheet as a guide for building estimates.

Case in point: Whatever changes you make, they probably ought to allow for both "styles" seamlessly.

[timbre4]

The resistance to Recommendations seems to come from where they are in the workflow; if they come after Revisions nobody wants to do them because by then they don't see the point.

The workflow you're thinking of adopting is more in line with what we had in mind all along. The first thing is to get the basic nature of the repair issue recorded (tech worksheet) then put in form that Manager SE can remind me about and I can market with (Recommendations). When time permits, work up the numbers for fixes and ask for approval now or also be reminded later on. (Revisions)

My fear is if it's not being recorded on technician worksheets (simple) it is less likely they are creating Recommendations (a little work - easier if you keep canned text for these).

[madmoneymike5]

I can see why you did it this way. But the cliche about leading a horse to water applies here. Some may not drink your Kool-Aid and instead, put the cart (revisions) before the horse (recommendations). The option I described above could perhaps streamline things for those who prefer bourbon instead of tequila. Yay for cliches!

[madmoneymike5]

Put another way, you guys designed it such that recommendations drive revisions. But recommendations don't directly turn into work orders, where thanks to "Sell Revision," revisions do. What I'm trying to say is that, for some shops, it probably ought to be *declined* revisions drive recommendations so as to eliminate needless redundancy if they choose to operate that way. The software could (should?) handle both methods...

[timbre4]

it probably ought to be *declined* revisions drive recommendations so as to eliminate needless redundancy...

That's a very legit angle to consider; declined service feeds marketing mechanism to followup....

[ricmorin]

Our workflow is that any work to be done now has a revision made. Any work to be done later a recommendation is made. Any declined work gets a recommendation made after the fact. I'd vote for a third component: declined work.