By Lynn Wise

The success of your franchised home service business may hinge on the strength of your brand, a well-planned business model, documented operations manuals and a solid relationship with your franchisees.

But making your business practices more efficient is an avenue you might also want to consider to stand out from your competition, meet regulatory compliance and rely on specialized expertise and technology.

Outsourcing your accounting and call center teams is one way to handle complex financial tasks professionally and make your customer and call booking services more dependable.

Standardized Practices

For a growing franchise, multiple accounting teams across 10, 20, or more locations can complicate financial data consolidation. As your franchise continues to grow, the challenge of compiling financial information will only get more difficult, especially if each location is using different processes and technology.

Managing separate call centers across multiple locations can make it challenging to standardize scripts, maintain service quality, and upgrade technology efficiently. Scaling each customer service team to expand or shrink based on demand is nearly impossible with an in-house call center.

As a home service franchise, you and your franchise owners know that you need to hire skilled plumbers, electricians and HVAC technicians to properly service your customer base. The same is true of your accounting and call center staff.

As your franchise grows, having access to well-trained accounting professionals who are using the same digital technology means you can have a standardized practice and a team who are well-versed in the latest financial regulations. They also understand the complexities of the software they use to manage your books and make recommendations.

And a scalable call center allows your franchisees to adjust their level of service based on their demand, giving them an elasticity and adaptability that several in-house customer service teams can’t match.

Know When to Grow

Since these financial and call center businesses focus on one or two disciplines, they know what criteria and background to look for when hiring staff and since many of these tasks can be done remotely, they can choose candidates from all over the country.

That means you can provide your franchisees with experts in their field, giving them the peace of mind they need as they plan to grow their business.

But it isn’t just the franchise owner who can make plans to expand, having improved financial reporting and analysis allows the corporate team to build growth strategies based on solid data.

Outsourcing agencies generally provide their financial expert with advanced software for data analytics and automated tools that improve workflows. This provides your franchise development group with a level of detailed information about daily operations, the franchise’s financial health, revenue streams and profitability.

This helps franchisors understand the best territories to open, the types of services to offer at various locations and even when to pitch to potential investors.

Having the right data helps you know when to grow.

Optimizing Your Operations

Your franchisees probably understand the ebb and flow of their area’s demand, but that doesn’t mean they can easily scale their team up during peak times or down when call volume decreases.

By outsourcing your call center, you can leverage their economy of scale to meet the right demand for each of your franchised locations while outsourcing your accounting team provides you with the right financial professional for your company’s needs. Outsourcing not only helps companies save as much as 70% on their staffing costs, it doubles their workforce and provides them access to the most qualified professionals.

In addition to the direct savings, having a team that understands industry regulations means you reduce your risk of non-compliance. An outsourcing provider implements advanced controls that ensure there are checks and balances in place to monitor your financial compliance.

Having the right financial team and call center staff in place allows you and your franchisees to focus more on your core business functions. Your home service franchise makes money by repairing broken pipes or installing new HVAC systems—services you should be focused on instead of worrying about financial risk or a poor customer experience.

By streamlining your operations, you ensure the heart and soul of your business remain at the forefront. This allows you to stand out from your competition, provide the right services for the customer base at each location and refine the strategies you need to scale your franchise.

Lynn Wise is the founder of Contractor in Charge, a company offering organizations services such as accounting, dispatch and customer service representatives for the home service industry. She is also the author of “Build It, Grow It, Sell It! Nine Steps to a Thriving Contracting Business.” Wise has spent the last 35 years as the successful owner of multiple small businesses, including a plumbing and heating repair company and a remodeling company. For more information on Contractor in Charge, visit https://contractorincharge.com/.