A few years back we were meeting with an Operations Manager about some potential construction projects. While our team sat talking with him in his office, his laptop kept pinging. Ping. Ping. Ping. Every two seconds. What was going on? A dire emergency? Ping. Ping. Ping.
Nope. Those were just maintenance requests from his sites. He told us this was just his normal day. Well, his normal day, night, weekend, holiday… We discovered he had not had a holiday meal with his family in over a year. As one person handling a large number of locations, he just couldn’t get on top of all the requests–and they came at him constantly.
Right then and there, we said we need to put this construction project aside and talk about our National Maintenance Service Program. We need to get you your life back.
If this situation rings a bell (or a ping or maybe a phone notification’s buzz), here’s how Gallant will work to get your life back while also improving the customer experience and your company’s bottom line.
Get Maintenance Calls Answered–By Someone Other Than You
It is not feasible for you to manage an organization with sites across a region or the country and be personally responsible for taking every call and overseeing every maintenance need the sites have. You need to be managing the big picture, not worrying about an overflowing toilet in Albuquerque or an electronic sliding door off its track in New Haven.
We’ll set you up with a dedicated team that will field these requests and see them through to resolution. Even more, we’ll structure the process for reaching out based on what works best for your company’s infrastructure. Need to have maintenance filter through you? Fine. You’ll know whom to reach out to when you have a need. Ok if requests come direct from the sites? Perfect, we’ll provide you with a process for initiating this. Want work orders to come through your job request system (such as SMS Assist or Service Channel)? Great. We’ll set up a bridge to connect our systems. Prefer us to follow a process specific to your organization? We’ll collaborate with you to make sure we’re set up to respond and execute accordingly–whatever it takes to get the maintenance request system flowing smoothly from you and your sites.
Standardize Your Maintenance Program
Using our existing infrastructure and network of partners (electricians, plumbers, painters, etc.) across the nation, we will develop a set process, which will include the aforementioned request method as well as procedures for approving the service, performing the repair and invoicing. No matter where in the country the site is located, you can count on the procedure being the same, which will remove the tediousness and variability of you having to find and execute solutions on your own city-to-city, location-to-location.
This standardization can also lead to a more consistent experience store-to-store, happier on-site team members (because now they aren’t suffering through the problem as long or responsible for fixing it) and more predictable maintenance costs.
Rely On Our Network Of Vetted Service Professionals
“How hard is it?” the uninitiated may wonder. “I’ll just hire Pete The Plumber to fix my burst pipe.” Well, if you’re just dealing with one site and Pete The Plumber is down the street, it’s not that hard at all (especially if you live and work in the area). But, spread that out to ten locations, 50 locations, hundreds of locations across an equal number of cities… Well, then it becomes a challenge to find experienced, trustworthy service professionals who can fix the issue to the standards you require to maintain consistency across facilities.
When you’re partnering with us, no matter who walks in your door to fix the problem, you can be assured we have vetted that repair person, and they will follow protocols we’ve set up to address the issue. Even more, because we are working with these partners regularly, we can often leverage our buying power to secure better rates.
Save Money Over Handling Internally
Building on the above difficulty of finding and vetting repair people, it’s also incredibly challenging to set up your own internal system for managing maintenance. We’ve spent years upon years building the infrastructure to manage the maintenance needs of a fleet of stores. To rival that, you’d have to hire staff, build a call center, purchase work order management software (and get trained in using it), obtain insurance for liability from repairs and develop a network of service professionals… It’s a lot of work and a lot of investment.
Partner With An Organization That Stands Behind Its Work
It’s rare. But, it happens. And, we know how frustrating it can be to try and chase someone down if a repair isn’t fully resolved. That’s not the case with us. We guarantee our work, and you know where to find us. After all, you have the aforementioned dedicated team to which you can reach out.
Even more, our work is insured. If there’s an injury while the work is being performed or after, our insurance company is handling the claim. So, that’s another concern we’ve removed from your side of the equation.
Develop A Searchable Database of Repairs
We keep track of all the repairs we oversee, so, over time, that historical data can provide us with valuable insights.
For instance, you may come to us with a leaky roof. A leaky roof? Didn’t we just fix that four years ago? We can look in the database and see that, yes, we did fix it four years ago, and it shouldn’t be leaking again this soon. We can then investigate the previous repair, talk to the roofers that were out there and determine what’s needed to address this.
Even more, we can use the database to look for patterns. Regular issues with a site’s toilets might point to bigger problems with the pipes and plumbing system. In this case, by analyzing the historical data, we can spot an issue no one was aware of and provide a longer-term solution.
Seamlessly Upgrade To Multiple Service People / Construction
Repairs don’t always fall within the purview of a single discipline and can often escalate. Fixing the damage from a burst pipe could involve plumbers, drywallers, painters, electricians, floor specialists, etc. A fallen tree could take out a roof and a wall. A fire might be a matter of tearing down what’s left and rebuilding…
A lot of maintenance companies don’t have the capabilities to handle projects that are that big while construction companies don’t have the desire to touch a project that small. But, a major advantage of working with us is that we specialize in maintenance and construction, so we have no problem with these “medium” projects. For us, escalating to a construction project is seamless. We just walk down the hall and invite one of our construction specialists to join our conversations with you.
Take Projects Off Your And Your Team Member’s Plates
Our National Maintenance Services Program keeps expenses manageable, improves the experience at your locations, helps your bottom line and frees up you and your team members to do the work you need to be doing. At the locations, this means freeing up managers from having to solve maintenance issues on their own.
For you, as a C-level or senior level operations or facility manager, it can be life changing. Think of all the calls you won’t have to field anymore. In the case of the Operations Manager from the beginning of this article, he actually got to spend a relaxing Thanksgiving with his family that year. He had gone from a plate overfilled with responsibilities to a plate filled with turkey and all the trimmings and he was very thankful indeed.
