Dispatch Procedures by Ruth King Last week I was leading a seminar for a distributor and the question about what a dispatcher was supposed to do came up. As a result, I wanted to give you my thoughts on dispatch.   Depending on the size of your company, and whether you do residential, commercial or both, some of these activities may not apply.  However, the basic job description and job activities will apply to all positions. The role of the dispatcher is to PROFITABLY take care of customers, technicians, and his or her boss.  The dispatcher can make or break the service department.   If she is a great dispatcher, the technicians will be happy, productive and take great care of your customers.  This generates profits...as long as your pricing is correct. If the dispatcher is rude to customers, doesn't know how to take care of the technicians, routes poorly, and doesn't do paperwork well, then you will have a poorly run service department, unhappy technicians and a decreasing customer base. Your dispatcher has a key role in determining how efficient the technicians are.   She knows to know where they are at all times, what their technical capabilities are, and how their personalities interface with different customers. All technician movements must go through your dispatcher.  If a customer calls any manager and requests a service call or installation (if your dispatcher handles installation scheduling), that manager must refer the customer to the dispatcher.  No manager can pull a technician from a job or send a technician to a job.  Sometimes this is very difficult for managers to do.  However, it must be done since pulling technicians and double scheduling technicians decreases productivity and increases costs. One of the greatest areas of friction I see is with the service department doing start ups for the construction department.  The dispatcher is often the last to know when a start up is necessary.  Communication is the key.  When sales are won and the jobs are progressing, the job managers must tell the dispatcher when the start up is scheduled for.   This can be an approximate date. However, it can be scheduled when the manager tells the dispatcher how long he will need that technician and whether a helper is also needed.  Then, the dispatcher will assign the technician to that job and will not pull that technician(s) until the job is completed. To contact Ruth King call 800-511-6844 or send an email to ruthking@hvacchannel.tv This article is reprinted with permission from the February 6, 2005, issue of Contractor Cents.