What is demand service?
Demand service is unplanned service in response to an equipment failure or emergency. The maintenance literature calls the underlying approach reactive or run-to-failure maintenance: nothing is done until something breaks, and then the job is to restore function. In commercial services, demand work is usually billed on time and materials, often at premium rates after hours.
Why it matters to a revenue leader
Demand service is often high margin and hard to forecast. For a revenue leader its larger value is as an entry point: a customer who needs an emergency repair is a candidate for a planned agreement, and every demand job at a site without an agreement is a sales lead. The reverse risk matters too. A company that relies on break-fix revenue has thin visibility and weak customer ties compared with one built on agreements. The U.S. Department of Energy's O&M guide notes that even under preventive maintenance contracts, repairs and emergency work are often billed on time and materials.
Example
Fictitious numbersA fire and life safety company completes 640 demand jobs in a year, 410 of them at sites without a service agreement. Sellers follow up at 150 of those sites and sign 48 new inspection agreements, turning one-time repairs into recurring revenue.
"How many of last month's demand jobs were at sites with no agreement, and who followed up on each?"