When we talk about return on investment in the retrofit business, it’s usually because we’re talking to customers. Guiding them through the ROI of retrofit projects and explaining the most meaningful metrics is one of the best ways to get them on board with a project. Who could turn down the opportunity to save money and even increase their margins?

Great question. Because today, we’re going to talk about how you can see a great return when you invest in retrofit software.

Using retrofit software can help you conduct audits, create proposals, and implement projects up to 70% more quickly. That kind of efficiency helps you work faster and win more projects, ultimately generating more revenue for your business and enabling your business to scale quickly.

Let’s take a closer look to help you understand how and why the right retrofit software is such a great investment for your business.

How Does Retrofit Software Help You Streamline Your Operations?

When you talk to a customer about a lighting retrofit project, you probably frame the ROI in terms of what how much your customers save. And in fact, that’s also a pretty good framework when it comes to talking about retrofit software.

Here are four major ways that the right software can help you streamline your operations, saving you valuable time and money.

1. Save Time on Entering Data
   You work with a ton of data every single day. You shouldn’t have to take up your valuable time copying and transferring it from one spreadsheet to another. With retrofit software, you can use your tablet or smartphone to capture all the data you need, then instantly add it to your project proposals and plans.

2. Save Time on Choosing Solutions
   With a helpful assist from retrofit software, choosing the right solutions for your lighting projects can be accomplished faster than ever. A good software platform can also help you easily add finance and rebate options to make your proposals even more attractive to customers.
   
   
3. Save Time Creating Amazing Proposals
   An attractive, engaging proposal will make your customer want to say yes. But creating an amazing proposal can take a tremendous amount of time. With retrofit software, you can create detailed, graphic-packed proposals in an instant that will win your customers over.
   
   
4. Save Time on Project Management
   Delivering on-time and on-budget depends on great project management. Retrofit software makes it easy to create purchase and work orders, track your progress, and generate reports, keeping your projects right on track.

What Tools Does Retrofit Software Offer?

Successful projects depend on accuracy and precision. But it wasn’t that long ago that retrofitters used a pencil and paper when they went out on audits (and, in fact, some still do). If you want to get serious about precise execution, retrofit software offers the right tools for the job.

Take, for example, the data capture tools retrofit software can offer. These include things like a good mapping utility, a photo platform enabled for markups, a complete checklist of questions, and an easy way to compile all your data. These tools help reduce the chance for human error, and ensure your projects come off without a hitch.

Another valuable tool offered by retrofit software is a library of proposal templates. As we mentioned before, creating eye-catching proposals is a great way to keep customer attention. To help you with that process, good retrofit software should offer an easy-to-use mechanism by which audit data is transformed into actionable proposals. That’s certainly what we had in mind when we created SnapCount, which comes pre-loaded with professionally designed templates.

The same principles apply when it comes to project management tools. It’s not just that they help you save time — the real advantage of these tools is that they help you to execute your projects with more precision. Delivering this consistent level of quality not only helps you improve your project win rates, it also keeps your customers happy and often compels them to share their experience with others.

Streamline Your Processes and Grow Your Business With the Right Retrofit Software

Having all those tools in one place isn’t just a matter of convenience. That kind of efficiency also makes it easier for you to scale up your business. When you improve the quality of your audits, you win more clients. You can also do more business when you streamline your project implementation through integrated ordering, project tracking and closeout procedures made possible via retrofit software.

And by keeping all your audit and project information in one place, you reduce the chances of costly mistakes. Rather than copying data from spreadsheet to spreadsheet (or from notebook to spreadsheet), the right retrofit software stores your data in the cloud and provides you with a single source of truth for important project information.

When it comes to your business growth strategies, retrofit software has an important role to play. But only if you use it effectively to take advantage of these efficiency gains in order to scale what you do.

Choosing the Right Retrofit Software

By now, it’s clear that the right retrofit software can offer some impressive returns. It can help you work faster, improve your accuracy, streamline your processes, and manage your ongoing projects. All this adds up to more profitability for your business.

But how do you choose the software that’s right for your needs? We recommend that you start by answering a few key questions:

1. Is your software prepared for surprises?
   No two retrofit projects are exactly alike. But can your retrofit software handle a curveball? If you choose a minimalist software package, it may not be equipped for those surprises that inevitably come up on a job — which will cost you more in the long run.

2. Do you need the software to scale your business?
   We said retrofit software can help your business scale — but is that part of your game plan? What does success look like to you, and how much are you planning to grow?
   
   
3. What kind of support do you want?
   Free software is great, but it rarely comes with much (or anything) in the way of technical support. If there’s a problem when you’re out in the field, how quickly will you want it resolved?
   
   
4. Do you want a greater return on your investment?
   The right retrofit software can help you earn more business, streamline your projects, and complete, and collect more quickly. If you’re investing in software, doesn’t it only make sense to choose the one designed to offer the greatest return and cash flow?

The answers you give to these questions can help serve as guideposts as you consider the retrofit software options available. When you define what you’re trying to accomplish and what you need from a software solution, you can make the choice that’s right for your business.