You can drown in dashboards and still not know if your business is healthy. These seven metrics cut through the noise.
1. Billable utilization
The percentage of paid hours that are actually billed. The single most important efficiency metric in field service.
2. Average ticket
Revenue per completed job. Small increases here flow straight to the bottom line.
3. First-time-fix rate
How often you solve the problem on the first visit. Higher rates mean happier customers and lower costs.
4. Customer lifetime value
What a customer is worth over the entire relationship. This is what justifies your marketing spend.
5. Lead-to-job conversion
How many inquiries become paying jobs. A leaky funnel wastes every marketing dollar.
6. Membership / recurring rate
The share of customers on recurring plans. Recurring revenue is the foundation of a sellable business.
7. Days to payment
How long it takes to actually collect. Fast payment is the difference between thriving and scrambling.
Written by
Theodore Ochsen
Founder, Chameleon-CRM
Theodore is the founder of Chameleon-CRM. He writes from real experience running repair shops and thousands of hours building the software that helps service businesses dispatch smarter, retain customers, and grow.
Discussion(2)
- J
Jordan M.
May 30, 2026We tightened our dispatch zones after reading something similar and added almost a full extra call per tech per day. Wild how much was hiding in plain sight.
- A
Alicia R.
Jun 1, 2026The good-better-best estimate point is so true. Average ticket jumped once we stopped giving a single number.
