Frequency Versus Recurring

It's important to understand the difference between "Frequency Period" and "Recurring" as they apply to customer jobs, so let's look at what each term means.

Frequency Period - This is a period of time that a customer has asked you to contact them again for a repeat service. Jobs that are assigned a frequency period are NOT automatically scheduled for each period (ie: a frequency period job of semi-annually is not automatically scheduled on the calendar every 6 months).

So you go through the process of scheduling a job and you select a frequency period in the "How Often" area:

Let's say you perform a service for Ellen on March 25th and she says she wants to be serviced every 6 months so you set her up with a frequency period of "Semi-annually", when you do a search the following year for "customers tentatively scheduled now", she will display so that you can contact her. 

Or when you log into The Customer Factor six months later, this customer will be on the home screen in the "Due to be contacted (based on frequency period)" category:

Again, the main thing to note is that the job is NOT automatically scheduled for 6 months later. What The Customer Factor does is simply let you know that Ellen is due to be contacted at that time so that you can schedule another appointment for her.

So the above is what a Frequency Period is all about. One of the most common questions we get goes something like this: "I scheduled a customer every month but the customer is not showing up on the calendar next month". 

And the reason? It's because the job was scheduled with a frequency period instead of with a recurring period which we're going to talk about now. 

Recurring Period - Customers who want you to provide your service(s) to them on a regular basis (every week, every month, etc.) are considered "recurring". All recurring jobs display on the calendar screens (daily/weekly/monthly) forever.

When you schedule the job as recurring you schedule the job just like you normally would but then you click the "Schedule Jobs as Recurring" option at far right under "How often". Then check "Copy all of the above..." checkbox which will bring down all the job information into the recurring area.

So using our fictitious customer Ellen again, she needs to be serviced every month regularly. There's no need to call her. She just told you to come by every month. So you schedule this customer on a "recurring" basis. 

Lots of recurring options to choose from, but in this case let's use "Every month on the third Friday of the month". Once this has been saved, all of your calendars will display Ellen's job on the third Friday of every month.

As a final note, we do have a "What is this" link next to the "How often?" Choose a Frequency Period or Schedule above as "Recurring" area at the bottom of every scheduling section. 

So you can always click this and read the difference between frequency periods and recurring periods.

Best regards,