How Margarita used Job Management Software to grow her business

Real stories from real customers.

It’s a thrill for us when we see how Geo’s job management software has helped so many businesses save time, improve efficiencies and work collaboratively. It’s also humbling when customers are excited about sharing the story of their journey with Geo.

We’re pleased to be able to share this special post with you about one of our loveliest customers, Margarita, and how partnering with Geo allowed her business to thrive, cut back on the unnecessary paperwork and give her and her partner their weekends back!

Margarita’s story

Margarita’s Cleaning Service is a company based in St. Mary’s Bay in New Zealand. It offers a domestic and commercial cleaning service across the central Auckland area.

Margarita Elevancini is the owner of the business, and grew it out of necessity. She admits that she didn’t expect it to turn into a real business, and was pleased when her husband, Andy, joined her and they hired more staff and contractors.

As the business grew it included cleaning commercial premises such as contracts for several high-end restaurants in Auckland won through customer referrals.

You could say business was going well.

There’s only so many hours in a day

The problem however that became increasingly acute was the growth in the administration side of the business. It was crippling and incredibly time consuming. A crisis point was reached when her business was covering homes rented to tourists visiting New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup.

Margarita recalls, “I used to go with a piece of paper to meet with a customer, and write down any particular requests they had and come up with a quotation. Then I would have to go home and put the information into Google calendar and a separate Excel spreadsheet.”

Quickly, Margarita and Andy learnt that they needed a new system. After all, how can one keep up with spreadsheets, Google calendars, accounting software that wasn’t integrated, and tons of loose paper?

Needless to say, Margarita and Andy were working through the weekends, handling the administrative side of their business. And it was exhausting.

On top of that, payments were coming in late because their invoices were often delayed. That meant their cash flow was staggered, making it all very stressful.

The search begins

Of course, Margarita and Andy looked at new accounting systems, like Xero. But they didn’t want to rush into setting up a new system until they were positive that it was the right one for them.

What she wanted for her business was:

• A mobile tool that could manage their job on the field
• An intuitive, user-friendly system to manage their jobs
• A system that would integrate with an accounting package
• A system that scales with her business
• Affordable

Of these, the most important was the coordination of jobs. Margarita said, “We used to physically print out job sheets for our contractors. They would have to come to my house each day to find out what jobs they were doing. There was so much wasted time coordinating jobs – particularly if there was a cancellation.”

After eight months of searching and feeling unfulfilled with other cleaning services management software, Margarita and Andy discovered GeoNext. They emailed and received quick responses that answered all their questions.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Discovering efficiencies with GeoNext

Margarita credits Geo for helping her and her husband get their weekends back. With GeoNext being so accessible from her iPad, Margarita can focus on their customers’ needs from the couch – or anywhere, really.

As an example, Margarita explained, “If someone has special cleaning needs, I can note that in the system. Everything is at my fingertips and I can handle things immediately onsite. Plus, I don’t need to reconfirm things with customers; everything can be managed in the field on a mobile device.”

And, their customers are also grateful for how responsive they are. Everything can be done automatically onsite, including preparing invoices and sorting out billing. This means response time is greatly sped up too. Furthermore, Margarita and Andy can find out which team is closest to which customer, and schedule jobs on the go. And should there be a cancellation, there’s a new job that can be immediately allocated. This means less time wasted for contractors, and a happier workforce.

Best of all, GeoNext will grow with their business. As Margarita’s Cleaning Service gains more clients, GeoNext will be equally scalable. All workers and contractors can use GeoNext on their smartphones or mobile devices, and can access the same system to manage their jobs when they want.

The return on investment

Since adopting GeoNext, Margarita and Andy have saved at least 25 hours per week on administration and account management. This is despite having double the customer base than they had at the beginning.

In fact, it took them four years to book 24 jobs a day. Six months after using GeoNext they doubled their jobs to 50 in six months – with less work to manage it!

For an affordable price, Margarita’s Cleaning Business was able to double in size, and provide a top-notch professional service to clients while giving Margarita and Andy back their weekends.

Can you put a price on getting back your spare time and streamlining your business?

Interested to see how GeoNext will benefit your business? Sign up for a free 14 day trial, or book a demo with GeoNext today!