Most AV companies lose 15-20% of potential service revenue to disorganized dispatch, missing follow-ups, and unbilled work. The leak isn't dramatic—it's death by a thousand cuts. Here's how to identify it and plug it for good.
Where Service Revenue Disappears
Unbilled emergency calls
Client calls Saturday afternoon—projector down before a Monday presentation. Your tech drives over, fixes it in 20 minutes, and leaves. Monday morning, the client expects a bill. It never comes because no ticket was created, no time logged, and your tech forgot to mention it. Two hours of labor at $150/hour = $300 lost.
Travel time not tracked
Your tech spends 45 minutes driving to the site, works for 90 minutes, drives 45 minutes back. You bill for the 90-minute service window but eat the 1.5 hours of travel. Do this 20 times monthly and you've given away 30 billable hours = $4,500.
Parts markup forgotten
Tech replaces a failed HDMI matrix. Parts cost: $850. Bill to client: $850. You forgot to apply your standard 20% parts markup. That's $170 left on the table. Multiply across all service calls and it adds up fast.
Follow-up service upsells missed
While servicing a boardroom system, your tech notices aging equipment that should be replaced. No system to capture this, no follow-up proposal sent. Potential $15K upgrade opportunity vanishes because there's no workflow to convert service observations into sales leads.
Invoicing delays
Service completed Tuesday, invoice sent the following Monday because you needed to "get around to it." Meanwhile, the client's AP cycle closes Friday and now payment is delayed 30 days. Cash flow suffers, and 5% of these delayed invoices never get paid at all.
Monthly Revenue Leak Example
Unbilled emergency calls: 2/month × $300 = $600
Travel time not captured: 30 hours × $150 = $4,500
Parts markup missed: 8 calls × $150 avg = $1,200
Lost upsells: 1 missed opportunity = $15,000
Unpaid delayed invoices: 5% × $20K monthly service = $1,000
Total monthly leak: $22,300 ($267,600 annually)
How to Stop the Leak
You don't need to overhaul your entire operation. Targeted automation at key chokepoints recovers most of the lost revenue:
Automated ticket creation from all channels
Phone calls, emails, client portal requests—all create tickets automatically with timestamps. No more "I'll handle it" service calls that never get logged. Every interaction becomes a billable record.
GPS-based travel time tracking
Mobile app tracks when techs leave the office and arrive on-site. Travel time auto-populates the invoice. No guessing, no missing charges, consistent billing across all service calls.
Enforced parts markup rules
When a tech logs parts used, the system applies your markup policy automatically. 20% on parts under $1K, 15% above—whatever your structure, it's baked into every invoice without manual calculation.
Upsell capture workflows
Service ticket includes a field: "Recommended upgrades or replacements." When filled out, it triggers a follow-up task for sales to contact the client. Observed needs become revenue opportunities instead of forgotten observations.
Same-day invoicing automation
When a tech marks a ticket "complete," the invoice auto-generates and emails to the client within an hour. Faster billing = faster payment = better cash flow and fewer write-offs.
Most AV companies think they have a sales problem when they actually have a service operations problem. You're doing the work. You're just not capturing the revenue. Fix the workflow, and the money you're already earning finally makes it to your bottom line.
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