We continually release new and exciting functionality, including Pages, AI Walkthroughs, Reviews, and Payments, that help you work smarter every day.
But there are some overlooked core features that should be utilized on every job to make them run more effectively for teams and customers. This blog will cover two of those features: photo comments and user mentions.
1. “They get everyone involved in the conversation.”
In a recent class with American Home Contractors’ David Silverstein, he shared features that his high-performing roofing, exterior, and solar company utilizes every day.
One of the feature sets that he underscored that everyone should be using is comments, mentions, and annotations.
“Comments are great because you can mention other people and get them involved in the conversation centered around that photo.”
This nearly eliminates the chance for miscommunication because it’s clear to everyone what they should be looking at and talking about. His team is also great at leaving descriptions on photos with Quick Caption, so there’s plenty of context before the conversation begins.
2. “It helps handoffs from sales to production.”
On every Footprints Floors flooring project, numerous people and moving parts are involved, including customer service representatives, sales and office managers, field managers, install crews, and the homeowner. As the project progresses from the lead stage to final payment, points of contact change, which can increase the potential for communication breakdown.
That’s why photo comments and user mentions are key to keeping projects moving along smoothly.
Their Denver territory told us that once jobs are in progress, “[the field managers] are making sure all the homeowner’s questions are answered, making sure the crews have everything that they need… but they still have contact and communication with both the salesman and [office manager] if they need to.”
Being able to quickly tag a teammate on a photo and ask a question helps field managers keep their current projects moving along without stopping work or the work of the salesperson who’s moved on to closing their next few leads.
3. “I can help my team from anywhere.”
As a leading HVAC contractor in Chicago, Guardian Heating & Cooling’s team sees “the full gamut” of equipment the city has to offer. From steam and water heating to package and rooftops and units tucked in every nook and cranny of renovated buildings, they’ve seen and worked on it all.
But when new hires — even those with a decade of experience — join their team, they often run into a system that they’ve never learned or worked on before. CompanyCam’s communication tools go a long way toward helping their seasoned staff coach up new techs on what to do:
“I can have a technician at a customer’s home, and they’re uploading stuff. Immediately, I can look at it and help them out right then and there,” project manager Jasper Pitrello told us.
By encouraging constant communication, they help techs learn on the job without needing to spend hours training on different systems or poring over old manuals.
Comments and mentions lead to better team communication. And better team communication leads to building trust with your clients.
If you’re looking for more core features like these two to implement in your day-to-day, check out these articles:
We also host weekly classes showcasing these and other features and workflows that CompanyCam users utilize every day to help make their jobs run more efficiently and save time.
