Everyone wants more stops per day. The question nobody asks often enough is where the extra stop is supposed to come from.
Why it matters
There are only three places to find it. You can take it out of drive time, which costs nothing and is where almost all the room is. You can take it out of the time spent on site, which costs service quality and eventually comes back as a callback. Or you can take it out of the technician’s evening, which costs overtime and, after a few months, the technician.
How you notice it slipping
Stop counts rise while revenue per route stays flat — that is shorter visits, not better routing. Or stop counts rise along with overtime, which is a longer day wearing a disguise. Healthy improvement looks different: the same hours, fewer miles, more completed jobs.
What to do
Never read stops per route on its own. Put it beside miles per stop and actual finish time. If all three move the right way together, the gain is real and it will last. If only the stop count moves, you have borrowed the improvement from somewhere else and the loan will be called in.