The pandemic has provided pool and spa retailers, builders, and service professionals an unexpected boost in sales this summer. Savvy pool and spa professionals are already thinking ahead and coming up with strategies to sustain this rapid growth through the winter and into 2021. One of these strategies is processing profitable manufacturer warranty claims.
Although warranty claim processing may be tedious, once completed, these parts and labor claims can add up to significant revenue in months when cash flow has begun to slow down. As the cooler weather spreads across the country and the phones aren’t ringing off the hook, pool and spa professionals need to view that pile of warranty claims as a revenue opportunity. This is where business software comes to the rescue!
Automated Warranty Tracking
Using business software to automate the tracking of warranty claims has been known to generate enough additional revenue to completely pay for the cost of the entire software package! Most pool and spa businesses agree that their manual or semi-manual warranty tracking systems leave ‘money on the table’ when it comes to processing claims.
“By automating our warranty claims tracking, we have developed a significant, additional revenue stream in the winter months,” says Eric Cassidy from Valley Pool & Spa in Pittsburg, Pa. Cassidy says that the additional cash from warranty claims with manufacturers, both parts and labor, is money he is sure his company missed in the past. “All our warranty service work is now easily tracked within RB Pool & Spa software whereas before we used to manually keep a book for claims with manufacturers,” explains Cassidy. “Now we can easily track all claims to see what is open and hasn’t been paid and I run a weekly warranty report that has helped us find thousands of additional dollars of profit every year.”
Ditch the manual ‘warranty log’ for claims with manufacturers. This winter, implement a flawless system to track manufacturer warranty claims. The additional cash from these claims can be easily missed in the heat of the season without an automated tracking system within your business software. Manually keeping track of claims will invariably result in lost warranty revenue both on parts and labor. Be sure to run a detailed report in the slow months, and plan to run weekly reports during the summer season.
Warranty Reports & More
In addition to running warranty claims and returned goods reports, be sure your business software allows you to track backorders and inventory cost discrepancies to better manage inventory. RB Pool & Spa program allows users to stay on top of warranty claims and inventory by:
This winter, get an integrated software program that allows users to easily search inventory by department, category, vendor or description or a combination of these. Unique to RB Retail and Service Solutions is the ability to search inventory by typing any portion of an item's description which is a huge time-saver! The exclusive RB Simple Search can also be applied to a sale, sales order, service order, or similar. Now is the time to automate your warranty tracking and sustain this summer’s growth with a new ‘warranty claims’ revenue stream that improves cash flow throughout the winter and well into 2021.
About the author: Rachael Pritz
Rachael Pritz has been active in the pool industry for more than 20 years, which has provided her with an all-encompassing expertise in the trade. She worked at a local pool store while pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh, Pa. With her technical skills and industry knowledge, she joined the launch of RB Retail & Service Solutions in Pittsburgh in 2003. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
