By Marvin Joles III

As we get into the New Year, in most regions this time of year hits us in our slow/off part of our work season. Most the asphalt industry business owners I know, use this time of year for maintenance, education, staff hires, training, tax prep and field prep. In a recent episode of Blacktop Banter, I interviewed Shawn Boyce with Brothers Paving and we went into detail about something that could have as big of impact on a business’s success as anything, job costing with software.

Now we know there are tons of CRM, Estimating/Invoicing, Mapping, Job Costing and Team Organization Software out there. But with so many of them out there, it begs the question of WHY? Why are there so many, who is really using them and are they worth it?

Shawn went into detail about the one he founded and how they use it at Brothers. He stated there are 1000s of users of that one, which shows there are many business owners using the complex and detailed one he uses, and that it must be working, as Shawn’s company has been using theirs for over a decade. He went on to tell listeners about how they had an increase in gross sales over around 30% once the sales team started using it, and pointed to efficiency being the reason.

Now, there are some software programs that are simple estimating/invoicing/email style. Some add calenders for projects and team communication, and some add a lot more interactions like mapping, job costing, customer interactions, employee time sheets and more. There is something there for everybody no matter the stage of your business. Lets be honest, when you do a site visit and can have a very detailed proposal put together and in the decision maker’s inbox in 5-minutes…that makes an impression.

The same way you strive for the service team to be more efficient as your business grows, so they can squeeze out more driveways or more square footage each day, you should be doing that in your office/sales/team/customer side as well for efficiency, and if you already are doing that, you should be trying to improve on it as well. I would challenge you and your team to make this 2023 season one where you take a really good look at your system and see if you can do anything on the tech or software integrations to produce a more efficient system within your business and something more put together for your clients, so as you don’t fall behind somebody, or a company who is… because the “up and comers” who are contactors and property managers/owners are adapting tech and software a lot easier than others, and they want to work “Smarter, not Harder”. Tech in asphalt, does that now. Like, Right Now.

If you know of other areas that tech and software can help out in, feel free to reach out and tell me. You can contact us though any of the Social Media apps out there at @blacktopbanter or email me at marvin@blacktopbanter.com.

Marvin Joles III, Owner of Wis-Coat Asphalt Maintenance and host of Blacktop Banter podcast. You can listen to and watch
Blacktop Banter podcasts by visiting https://blacktopbanter.com