Would be great to know what all tools you experienced guys are using to keep a track of all your projects and customers. Thanks in advance!
Spreadsheet end of
just saying
Historically some software admin packages were tied to particular operating systems..
and/or specific vendors, with associated annual licence fee's if you wanted to keep up-to-date with latest bug fixes etc..
And some licenced packages could only be run on a single device without paying additional fees!!
But as the Kerch says.. current easily available spreadsheets are so flexible..
allowing you to collate pretty much anything and everything you want in any format that's good for you...
with easy searching, sorting, highlighting, printing, export, import functions...
and can be converted or run directly between various operating systems..
So unless you are after some really specialist tools...
Then I would just get your head around whatever is the standard spreadsheet on your preferred device..
and start creating some columns for each of your data fields..
And as time goes by, if you want to add extra info onto your systems... just insert some extra rows or columns..
Since going self employed in 1999, the spreadsheets I initially set up were just the obvious basics like;
customer name, contact info, job no, cost, date paid etc..
But these have expanded over the years with other stuff I didn't initially think about..
It can be useful to implement a numbering scheme for customers as well as jobs..
and include both numbers in all correspondence quotes/invoices/e-mails/letters etc..
A surname and/or address are not always fixed to one customer..
So using a ref number can make it easier at a later date if you need to search back through a particular customers work history..
e.g.
Over the years I've had some customers change their name due to marriage/divorce..
And some customers have moved multiple times to different addresses..
Some addresses have had new customer move in I've then done work for..
Plus the classic landlord who owns multiple simultaneous addresses..
Some other info I keep includes stuff like;
Number of repeat customers -vs- new customers per year..
Where new customers found my contact details..
Quantity and value of quoted but rejected jobs..
Quantity and value of completed jobs per customer, and number of years they've been a customer..
In addition final payment date, also added dates of site visit, quote sent, work start, work end.. and method of payment..
Type of work carried out; Alteration/Rewire/CU/Faults/EICR/Security/Comms/Part-P...
Customers with multiple sites/properties..
etc..
etc..
So now I can easily list any data for every job & every customer, I have ever done..
sorted however I need to it be listed; Job, customer, value, type of work, calendar year, tax year, etc.. etc..
So far my various spreadsheets do all that I need..
They are stored / backed up on multiple devices or drives at least once every week..
My "active" copies are on a personal cloud drive that I can access from my PC / Laptop / Phone..
whenever and wherever I want.
So its "Spreadsheet - end - of" from me as well!
Guinness
