Offering Packages and/or Subscriptions with ServiceM8

[Senior Tech Support]

Hi serviceM8 community.  I'm a current serviceM8 client who loves the software!  I'm looking for a solution to offer Service Packages (think pre-purchasing a set amount of hours at a discounted rate that can then be used in the future for any of our services) to customers but ServiceM8 currently doesn't offer that type of functionality.  I need a way to promote, offer and sell the product (ideally through my website), and then track customer purchases and use (as they use the hours).  

For example:  Today a customer purchases a "package" of 5 hours of our service at a discounted rate.  Then one later  week they call us and need us to come help them with a job that takes 1.5 hours leaving them with 3.5 hours left in their "package".  The following week they call us for a job that takes 3 hours leaving them with .5 hours left in their "package".

Is anyone already doing something like this or something similar through ServiceM8 (via a workaround) or using another piece of software that either does or doesn't integrate with ServiceM8?

Really hoping someone can offer any guidance or suggestions.

Signed,

A frustrated small business owner. :)

[Digital Data Designed, LLC]

Hello Tony,

My name is Miciah, a Certified ServiceM8 Partner and part of what my team does also is work with ServiceM8's API to develop custom solutions to augment ServiceM8 to fit unique workflows which ServiceM8 does not natively support.

Your situation is actually common and has been brought up a few times in the past.

While we could definitely look at a custom solution, there may be a fairly "native" workflow available to explore first. Assuming you are integrated with an accounting package (such as QuickBooks Online), you could take payment for the discounted package of services, and then apply that payment to their Customer record in the accounting package to where their record shows they have a credit available. Then when then have a Job which can use all or a portion of that credit, when you send the Invoice from ServiceM8 you can use that credit to pay for all or a portion of the Invoice. Granted this workflow does require some actioning within the accounting package and not within ServiceM8, and the credit is not presented within ServiceM8 so knowing the client has a credit / discounted package purchase is not readily visible without some additional tools (such as Custom Fields or Notes) and even then they would have to be updated manually.

Could a custom solution be more elegant? Perhaps, but there is obviously some additional cost to consider there. However hopefully this may be a viable workflow for you to try, and if not my team is happy to discuss a more custom alternative! https://www.dddesigned.com/plan-a-call

[Senior Tech Support]

Thanks a lot for your response.  While that does seem like a workable solution, it's more manual than I'd prefer.  I'd be interested in a exploring a custom solution, especially if you've already done something like this in the past for someone else.  Please let me know how we can proceed.