Work Scheduling and Efficiency

Work scheduling can be the most time consuming part of starting up your computer consulting business. You have to schedule when you'll be seeing your clients and for how long. Here are a few tips for scheduling.

As you start out, you may have to schedule for weekends and evenings, but you want to start phasing that out as soon as you can. If those are the only appointments you have, there's a problem. After you can pay the bills and get established, only do night and weekend work for major emergencies and major upgrades that should only happen a couple times a year.

In order to avoid these weekend and evening schedules, charge a premium for off-hour services. As a marketing tool, you can offer service agreements that don't include some or all of the premiums.

Another way to schedule more efficiently is to create a two or three hour minimum for service calls. This way you won't be visiting more than 2 or 3 clients per day. It'll save you money on tolls and keep you from spending your entire day in the car.

Additionally, schedule your work in advance. If you know you'll be in a certain neighborhood next week, give your clients a call and try to set up an appointment. Schedule work proactively so that it meets your schedule when you can.

Learn more about scheduling your work efficiently in the full article (link above).

Blogged by Joshua Feinberg