The Background

Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa offers premium pool service and repairs to the heart of America’s Wine Country: Sonoma, California.

Husband and wife team, Saul and Jolie Rozema aren’t just focused on a pool’s chlorine level, total alkalinity, and cyanuric acid level, but equally important, on the clients they serve. Each weekly visit requires pool cleaning, chemical testing, and maintenance of the pool.

The Problem

In the past, all of their pool maintenance notifications were filled out by hand. However, these paper forms caused additional work. The tags that were left could easily get lost. In addition, clients would often inquire about the services provided.  If the wind had blown leaves into a pool shortly after a service call, they couldn’t be sure if a cleaning had actually occurred. Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa needed a process more reliable than paper forms. 

The Solution:

In January 2013, Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa addressed this business challenge by turning to GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for businesses. Thousands of organizations leverage Canvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps that improve their data collection and productivity. Businesses can search from over 21,000+ ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application store that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. Many of these apps are designed specifically for pool service and pool repair companys. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

They started with apps from the GoCanvas Application Store, including the ‘Weekly Pool Service Report’ from Canvas’s partnership with Deluxe. Deluxe has decades of experience with business forms and GoCanvas was a perfect match to help Deluxe create mobile versions of their forms. While Saul and Jolie hadn’t been customers of Deluxe previously, they love using their mobile forms.

Now Saul fills out his service reports on his tablet. With GoCanvas he can:

• Include a time stamp and GPS location capture for his work, so clients can rest assured that the service was performed.
• Add photos of his work to better explain any issues or malfunctions that need repair, reducing time spent explaining issues to customers.
• Track the chemicals he uses at each job, and time spent on both repairs and cleaning.
• Email a customized PDF to clients with his work, including the photos, and any repairs that their pools may require.

The Outcomes

Saul has ditched the clipboard for a tablet, having turned all his forms into mobile apps. Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa has seen dramatic results from their switch, including:

Real-Time Savings

Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa has saved hundreds of hours due to optimal communication with its customers and faster invoicing. Previously, Saul took down all service notes with pen and paper, and would leave a tag at the pool. Yet clients could easily lose their tag receipts for cleanings from wind or other weather factors. This slowed down their sale cycle as well as customer response time.

Communication was also difficult before switching to GoCanvas. Coming back to perform repairs on a swimming pool took longer as well. Customers were often confused by what service was needed. This confusion required extra time on the phone explaining issues or additional visits to clients’ homes at no cost. Today, Saul fills out the form once on his iPad. All his service tags go immediately to the cloud. Instead of retrieving carbon copies, customers enjoy clean PDFs. Instead of long technical notes, customers get easy-to-understand visuals of the problem.

GoCanvas saves Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa time in multiple ways. Saul and Jolie have less administrative work. All the service tags, including photos and any notes, go immediately to the cloud. With bulk downloads in Excel or CSV files, it’s easy to integrate this information into their own systems.In addition, customers have a better understanding of the work done from the beginning, and so have fewer questions or concerns. This means less time on the phone and more time doing billable work.

Differentiation from Competition

Additionally, GoCanvas differentiates Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa. “One of my biggest selling points,” Saul says, “is the digital service tag.” While competitors continue to leave paper, Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa’s customers get branded PDFs straight in their inboxes. They love getting his emails with visuals. “Some look forward to it every week,” Saul explained. Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa’s business has never been better. Today the company only relies on word of mouth, coupled by their web presence. “We have a wait list now” Saul notes, “and we’re not even in the Yellow Pages anymore.  It’s just our reputation and our website.” Still his waiting list grows due to customer referrals.

“I can’t imagine any service-type business not profiting by using GoCanvas. From landscapers to pest control, I don’t see a single type of industry that wouldn’t benefit from optimizing productivity and presenting your clients with professional e-mail-based communication.” –Saul Rozema

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process. For instance, as their pool supply materials change, it’s easy for them to upload a new list of materials and new prices into their GoCanvas apps. They don’t need to rely on IT support or have any knowledge of coding. With GoCanvas, it’s a simple drag-and-drop interface that anyone can use. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas it is a frictionless process at no additional cost.  

With one switch, Sonoma Valley Pool & Spa has saved paper, time and money that has more than paid off its investment in mobile apps. GoCanvas has given this company an easy-to-use mobile experience that allows the company to focus on doing quality work for all their customers.  

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.