In the old way of delivering service, truck rolls were a revenue generator. But with changing customer needs and increased technological capability, it’s time to question both the real costs and the future necessity of truck rolls.
What is a truck roll?
A truck roll can be defined as the dispatch of a technician to a customer's location for services such as inspections, repairs, and quotes. These locations are often distributed and can include homes, businesses, or remote work sites.How to calculate the true cost of a truck roll
Reported costs of a truck roll range from $150 to over $1,000 per visit. While ICwhatUC customers typically operate in a range of $300 to $450 per roll, that’s still too wide a range to identify a “standard” cost. Instead, businesses should know their own truck roll costs from a strictly dollars and cents perspective.When calculating your own truck roll costs, consider all the variables that go into it:- Vehicle costs: The truck itself, fuel, ongoing maintenance, insurance, and depreciation.
- Labour costs: Wage for technicians to be on the road, administrative wages for coordinating truck rolls, and the additional health insurance or benefits paid out for danger pay or injury.
Questioning the necessity of truck rolls
For decades, service providers assumed truck rolls were simply a cost of doing business. However, we’re now in a position where that is often not the case because of these two factors:1. Changing customer demandsCustomers no longer want to wait on hold, book an appointment five days out, and sit at home all day waiting for a technician. They want faster service and are totally fine using remote technology if it gets the job done.2. Increased technological capabilityIn the past, service experts relied on insecure and clunky technologies to help them in their jobs. Now, purpose-built technologies for product support exist and are more powerful than ever, helping experts deliver the fast, remote service that customers demand.Modernizing service delivery with video
Companies can reduce their truck rolls by up to 60% when using visual assistance, because of three main factors:- Time efficiency: With remote service, experts can spend more time with customers because they don’t have to drive everywhere.
- Eliminating the trip for small problems: Many issues can be resolved by the customer, they just need guidance. Video enables that instantly.
- Increased first-time fix rate: In instances where a truck roll is necessary, a visual triage of the issue means the expert is fully prepared the first time.
Support your customers remotely at their time of need
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