These actionable tips will help you speed up your report turnaround and increase your profits.

Why is fast report turnaround important?

We live in a modern age where clients have high expectations from their suppliers.

As technology gets better and your competitor's systems get slicker, clients expect a high level of high quality. And they don't want to be kept waiting for reports.

The asbestos surveying industry and many others are highly competitive. So with high client expectations, you need to be just as fast as your competitors.

Fast report turnaround has benefits to your cash flow too. The faster you can turn around reports, the faster you can invoice clients!

Divide-and-Conquer

If you have a large job, you might want to consider splitting your team into groups.

By surveying different parts of the building simultaneously, your surveyors will have less idle time.

You'll get through the work faster and reduce site re-visits.

Free up Key Staff Members

Make sure key staff members who perform "bottleneck" tasks like quality-control, have time to complete them.

Highly-qualified staff should do work that needs high-qualifications.

Pick Your Suppliers Wisely

If you rely on suppliers such as laboratories or floor plan designers, choose suppliers with fast turnaround.

Look for local, efficient suppliers with good Service Level Agreements.

Stop Switch Tasking

Allocate time in your diary to work on tasks to completion.

We're not designed to juggle lots of tasks at once. Try to complete jobs before moving onto the next one.

Speed up Your Floorplans

Many surveyors think the fastest way to draw a floorplans is:

• Draw an on-site sketch.
• Finish floorplans in the office using software like Visio or Sketchup.

Some surveying apps have in-built floor planning. However, mobile floor planning systems are often slower than an on-site sketch, followed by an office-based plan.

Stay Organised

If your office whiteboard is your source of knowledge, you're probably doing something wrong.

Use modern software to keep track of multiple jobs at once. You should be able to see the status of your outstanding jobs at all times.

Automate Your Report Writing

An average asbestos survey takes around two hours to create in Word.

By automating your report-writing using modern software like Flow Mobile Surveying, the same report takes minutes.

Join Up Your Systems

Do you have separate software for scheduling, invoicing, customer relationship management, and surveying?

Consider integrating your software. You'll have less data entry to do. Your workflow will be smoother and faster.

Conclusion

A primary reason why small businesses fail is a lack of funding or working capital.

By improving your report turnaround, you'll get paid faster and improve your cashflow. You'll be less likely to run into financial difficulties.