File folder for each customer?

[walker-talker]

Those of you that use a file cabinet, do you have a file on each customer or is this a waste of time and space? I am currently using Lawn Monkey and have an electronic file of each and every customer. I was thinking of starting a file folder for each customer (probably only active weekly customers) so that way I could place the return invoice in each folder. I would also keep a copy of a map of how to get to the house in each folder, along with notes and such.

Does anyone do this?
Thanks
MATT

[nu83]

Yes I do both, I have a real file and an electronic file for each customer. It is very helpful for me and saves me a ton of time looking for invoices. If a customer ever calls with a dispute over services or payments you can quickly look at invoices.

[bubble boy]

yeah we have a file for each too.

but its because i'm anal. i also back everything up on cd. keep a copy off site. and keep a paer trail on everything. in case of computer failure, fire, etc.

[devildog]

paper and computer files. paper files are those items that would not typically be on the hard drive; route check lists, customers "love" notes, record of projects & phone conv. its the "anal" thing in all of us. with regards... devildog

[Darb]

What do you mean? You mean you guys actually keep records?

I just thought I would beat The Lawn Chopper to the punch. You know?.... I really am getting to like his posts.

[walker-talker]

I guess it is a little bit anal. I get it from my dad I guess. He's a retired accounant and keeps records of EVERYTHING. I remember his dad, my grandpa, use to keep EVERY receipt and I mean every....even from the grocery store. I am not that anal, but thought it might be a good idea, like nu83 said, if there was a dispute, you can bring it up quickly if it's on file.

Thanks
MATT

[Mueller Landscape Inc]

We have files on all our customers along with every penny they have paid, check #'s, maps, pictures of their property, special notes, phone conversations, crew comments, complaints, praises, etc. We can e-mail their bills, fax their bills, debit their credit cards, and send them 1st class. The only thing we keep on real paper is the route sheets with the handwritten start and stop times that the crews use. All this is in our "Clip" program which is backed up regularly.

[danp]

walker-talker,

Have you considered using a scanner to maintian old records? I have used this method to maintain records in my previous business, and it seemed to work well when integrated with the standard industry applications.

Just a thought!

Dan

[KLR]

we use Real Green's Lawn Assistant 3 software...no need for paper, everything mentioned above is stored in customer file on computer (notes, pictures, the whole 9 yards) and backed up daily on two seperate zip disk, one goes home with me, one stays at office in safe

[Darb]

Just a word of warning. I have a great friend that is a General Contractor and he was using backing up his bookkeeping program on 5 different zip discs. He found out that 4 of the 5 zips were bad. Problem was he found out when his computer crashed. He called in his computer guru and he fixed the computer and was able to retrieve alot of the bad harddrive. Thankfully, he had paper records to fill in the remaining missing information.

[bubble boy]

i have nightmares about bad disks...

"good" disks are not much more $...cd 's should be ok. zips i have never used. what is their advantage???

[GroundKprs]

Any backup tool, machine, or data system is only as good as the hardware and the whole backup system. Does the backup mower just sit until you really need it? And then you find a problem with it, too?

Digital backup is only as good as the hardware, also. And hard drives, floppies, CDs, Zips, tapes, etc. do wear out. Are you secure enough in your digital backup system to format your hard disk and reinstall all your software and data? Even when the tape with all current data breaks when you go to do the reinstall (yeah, happened to me, LOL - NOT)?

A real business system will use something like a RAID storage. 3 to 5 hot swappable hard drives with all data written simultaneously to each drive, and any drive can be removed for secure off site storage.

Think about it: would you be hurting if someone stole everything on your computer workstation? Or if a fire turned your computer workstation, or whole building, to ashes? But paper backups are even more susceptable to physical damage, and very difficult to reconstruct completely. Easy to have 2-4 copies of your digital records in different places - want to try that with paper?

[LawnLad]

We keep a paper file for each regular customer and the "on request" customers. We also keep a digital file in a database for each customer. On the computer we keep notes, billing, work orders, etc. In the paper file we keep signed contracts, letters to and from, returned surveys, notes from meetings, and past project folders.

Here is how the drawer is set up:

Regular customer gets....
- Hanging file folder with last name on tab - alphabetical order
- Contract folder (holds original contract, renewals, change orders)
- Financial folder (copies of budget, relevant invoicing, etc.)
- Correspondence folder - surveys, letters, etc.
- Profile notes - hand written notes/info that is the basis for our data base profile notes
- Past projects folders - each installation job gets a folder - when it's done in the installation drawer and ready to file for long term, it gets placed in the customer folder. Some customer may have none, some have 5 or 10 depending on the number of projects we have done for them. This way we can look up easily what we planted and where for warranty work.

On Request customers get a regular manilla folder - sorted alphabetically with all the other on request customers. A copy of a work order and bill and notes are placed in the folder. Sometimes we will do mulch for a customer each spring - so each spring that info will go into their folder. At a glance I can tell what we've done for that customer. The fatter the folder the better. We cull through the file every so often to pull out those that we haven't worked for in a while, or contact them to see if there is something we can do for them.