Our apologies for the length of these articles, but a Reader's Digest version just won't work.
The Service Agreements feature is available in our Pro Plan. If you are not in the Pro plan you can upgrade your subscription at Settings/Billing & Subscription.
Summary
Service Agreements allow you to bundle a series of Work Orders that have an Initial "up front" service, with a contract, followed by Recurring services. For example, create an Initial termite service for $1000 and an annual Recurring service for $125 as one bundled package. You'll email the Agreement to the customer to review and sign before starting service.
Key Points
Before starting, become familiar with fillable PDF Forms, Work Order Templates, and Document Templates
Map out the Agreement types you want create
Create the Agreements
Creating Service Agreements takes a lot of preparation and time. This is not something you can do in 30 minutes. You need to have experience with fillable PDF Forms, Work Order Templates, and Document Templates before creating a Service Agreement.
For more information about creating fillable PDF forms, see: Settings - PDF Forms
Also see this video for more information about fillable PDF forms:
For more information about Work Order Templates, see: Settings - Work Order Templates
Also see this video for more information about Work Order Templates:
For more information about Document Templates, see: Settings - Document Templates
Service Agreements is a full-service feature that includes contract date management, eSignatures, renewal dates, renewal notice generation, and agreement status management (active, expired, cancelled, etc.)
Service Agreements allow you to bundle a series of Work Orders that have an Initial "up front" service, with a contract, followed by Recurring services. For example, create an Initial termite service for $1000 and an annual Recurring service for $125 as one bundled package.
For the Recurring service you can automate up to four Renewal Notices that send out 30 days before, 1 week before, 1 week after... or any time frame of your choosing.
After you create your Service Agreement Templates you can quickly use them to create a Work Order series that includes your initial and recurring Work Orders, contract, renewal date, renewal fee, and more.
Map out the Agreement types you want create
Ask yourself (and answer) the following questions for each agreement you want to create:
Will the agreement have an initial service? (This will be the same as creating a one-time Work Order)
Will the agreement have a recurring service? (This will be the same as creating a monthly Work Order series, for example)
For both of the above you'll create a Work Order Template: a one-time Initial service and a recurring Work Order seriesWill the agreement have a contract?
If yes, create the fillable PDF form that will be used in the Agreement or use an existing contract from your Settings/PDF Forms, if you have oneWill the agreement be renewable, such as a Termite service?
If yes, determine how much of a 'heads up' you want to give the customer. You can offer up to four renewal emails, such as 60 days before, 30 days before, 7 days before, 30 days after (which would be the final notice)
Answer these questions for each Agreement type you plan to have.
Before Getting Started You Should Have Ready
A fillable contract PDF Form in Settings/PDF Forms. If you want different contracts for different services, have one ready for each service.
An Initial Service Work Order template for each service type (termites, initial commercial service...) in Settings/Work Order Templates
A Recurring Service Work Order template for each service type (termites, monthly commercial service...) in Settings/Work Order Templates
Watch this video to get an overview of creating a Service Agreement.
To create your Service Agreement Templates go to Settings/Service Agreements.
Click the New Service Agreement button in the upper-right corner.
The New Service Agreement page appears with four components available for the agreement, each one is optional.
Name - Give the template a name.
If your agreement is going to have an initial service (at a higher price, for example) click + Add One-Time Initial Service: and then click the drop-down list and select the initial service for this agreement. The drop-down list contains the names of the Work Order templates you created in Settings/Work Order Templates.
Click + Add Recurring Services: the service can be the same as for the initial service or a different service you created specifically for the recurrence.
Click + Add Contract Information: and select the contract for this agreement from the drop-down list box. This is the PDF form you have uploaded in Settings/PDF forms. This is your contract form that will be attached to the agreement. If there is no contract email skip this portion.
A note about the PDF form check boxes
If your PDF file has check boxes you must update the property of each check box to:
Check box style = Check
Export value = Yes
To to this, right-click the check box and click the Options tab.
A note about the PDF form customer signature
The signature box for the customer signature field must be labeled as Customer Signature or Customer_Signature in both the PDF file and in the merge field in Settings/PDF Forms. Anything else and the field will not hold the customer's signature.
PDF form Customer Signature box
Merge Field in Settings/PDF Forms
The email template appears.
If you have created an email marketing campaign or have edited the document template emails, using Placeholders should be familiar to you. Text entered here will be in the email sent to the customer.
Use the Placeholders on the right to personalize the email. The content of the email should describe what the service includes and what it doesn't include. Use a call-to-action style of writing. Add a blurb explaining why you're the best choice for this service. And, of course, thank the customer for their business. The following is example text you can use:
Dear {Customer Name},
Thank you for giving {Company Name} the opportunity to provide your {Service -
Service Description} for the property located at {Service Street 1} {Service Street
2}, {Service City}, {Service State} {Service Zip}.
Please review and sign your agreement through the link below.
{Button to Portal}
Thank you,
{Company Name}
If you want the customer to sign the contract online, include the Placeholder {Button to Portal} with some text such as:
Please click the button below to view and sign your contract.
{Button to Portal}
It will appear in the email like this:
When the customer clicks the Review & Sign button, it will take them to their customer portal where they can sign and pay for the service.
Note The Customer Portal must be turned on for the customer to view and sign the agreement. For more information see: Online Portal - Getting Started Guide 1 of 2
For more information about Placeholders, see: How Placeholders work
Add Renewal Information
If your agreement is going to be a renewal to a service, such as an annual termite inspection, click + Add Renewal Information:. If there is a renewal fee, enter that amount in the Renewal Fee box. Click the Renews check box and select how long the renewal period is.
Click the + Add link. If you've worked with Document Templates this final section should look familiar to you. The renewal content is separated into four sections:
Days when the reminder email is sent
Content of the PDF attachment (usually a contract that the customer will sign and return)
Design your template, same as Document Templates, determine how the Service Agreement form will look
Email, the content of the email
Days when the reminder email is sent
Automate Renewal Notices to send out 30 days before, 1 week before, 1 week after, or any time frame of your choosing.
Renewal Notices will only generate if the Service Agreement created for the client has a recurring work order series. An initial work order is not needed to generate Renewal Notices.
Under the New Reminder tab, enter a number for the number of days the reminder is to be emailed:
30 days before is a good start as it gives the customer an advanced notice
Click the + Add button to set the number of days for the second reminder, 7 days before should be good
Click the + Add button to set the number of days for the third reminder. Depending on your policy for letting renewals expire, you can go 1 day after, or 10 days after...
Click the + Add button to set the number of days for the fourth (and final) reminder.
Content of the PDF attachment
Content - Text entered in the Content box appears in the PDF attachment in the Renewal email sent to the customer. Change the text based on the reminder, such as, First Notice, Second Notice, FINAL NOTICE...
The Placeholders work in the same fashion as they do for your Invoice, Work Order, Marketing emails... Put your cursor where you want it and click the appropriate placeholder. For example, put your cursor after Hi and click {Customer Name}. This will insert the customer's name in the email.
With each reminder that comes closer to, or passes, the renewal date, change the wording to reflect a greater sense of urgency.
In the 30 days before reminder, for example, use a 'Hey, this is a heads up' tone in your wording and explain the benefits of continuing on with the service.
In the middle reminder$, explain why it'$ necessary to continue the $ervice and how the lo$$ of coverage can co$t hundred$ of dollar$ to fix a problem without a warranty in place.
In the final reminder up the urgency in your wording. Anticipate something unpleasant, unpredictable, and how it is unknown if the problem will come back. Explain how a loss of warranty coverage can affect the resale value of the building and the extra charges required to reinstate their service if the problem returns. Make this reminder a call to action.
Design your template - This section is identical to Document Templates only you're designing the Service Agreement, which looks exactly like the printed Invoice.
For more information about creating Work Order Templates, see: Settings - Document Templates.
Preview button - Whenever you see a preview button always click the Preview button. The image below shows the difference between a printed Invoice and a printed Service Agreement.
Email - This is the email that is sent to the customer. It will contain the PDF file you typed above in Content.
In the middle right of the page, give the Service Agreement a name.
Click the Create Service Agreement button to save the agreement.
See the video below:
Service Agreements is available in our Pro Plan.
Continue on to Service Agreements - Part 2, Creating the Service Agreements