Tasha Roberts never wanted to take over her family’s garage door business. But after her parents got into a serious motorcycle accident seven years ago, Roberts was left with a decision.
The Phoenix area company, ASAP Door Repair & Service, was born from her father’s entrepreneurial spirit in 1999. Roberts watched her parents grow the small commercial business to roughly $1 million in yearly revenue, her dad working with clients, her mom running the office. Its success was a point of pride within the family, but after the accident, which left her parents with lifelong injuries, everyone was concerned about its future. Would the company go under? Would it be sold?
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Roberts was already set on her corporate-finance career path. But she knew somebody had to step in and do something with ASAP.
She decided that somebody was her.
“It's not what I had in mind for my life, but you just never know what's going to happen,” Roberts said. “It was important to me to keep it running.”
Roberts threw herself into the company and learned the trades on the fly. She knew little about the garage door industry, so she watched YouTube videos on blueprints and estimating, and taught herself how to run the office. After two years, she transitioned the company from paperwork to software.
In the last year or so, Roberts was officially named owner and president of ASAP. One of her first big decisions? Switch the business to ServiceTitan.
The all-in-one software for the trades has led to record-breaking revenue numbers. But it’s also allowed Roberts to do something for herself:
Move her family, and expand ASAP to Charlotte, North Carolina.
A software that grows with your company
Transitioning to software five years ago was an easy decision for Roberts.
“We literally had everything written on a whiteboard with a bunch of technicians, and it was just crazy,” Roberts said. “Invoicing didn't get done right away. There was a huge list of collections, because you couldn’t easily manage that on paper with commercial.”
Adding software to streamline operations also meant Roberts could give her parents work to do within the business. It was important to her to make sure her parents would be financially OK.
But the first software they settled on wasn’t a great fit for a growing company. It didn’t record calls or have a dispatch function. It didn’t feature good reporting or customer communications. It wasn't user-friendly and didn't integrate well with QuickBooks.
A couple of years ago, Roberts’ friend in the trades showed her ServiceTitan. Roberts was amazed, but was concerned by its cost.
“My friend said it was totally worth it and that she made her money back right away,” Roberts said.
Convinced, Roberts took the leap in August 2021.
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The result?
“My friend was right,” Roberts said. “As soon as I started using (ServiceTitan), our numbers went up because I could actually see what was happening in the business instead of guessing.”
For example, in comparing the last two Januarys, ASAP is up 128% in revenue from 2022 to 2023. Sold estimates and sales have also increased. The company had a record $3 million in revenue in 2022, and is hoping to do $5 million in 2023.
Here are Roberts’ favorite ServiceTitan features:
Reporting: You can't grow your business without understanding what works and what doesn't. Roberts loves ServiceTitan's reporting tools, which provide robust analytics to help bring ASAP to the next level. “I use the reporting feature for everything,” she said.
Call Booking: Before ServiceTitan, Roberts had no idea just how many calls were being missed. That’s no longer a problem with the call recording and call booking features.
Customer Communications: Roberts has heard good feedback from customers who enjoy seeing which technician is coming, when they’re arriving, how far away they are, etc.
Roberts’ love for the software has become so intense that she sometimes feels like she’s an unofficial salesperson.
“Any time I meet somebody that's in the service industry, I ask what they're on and tell them they have to get on ServiceTitan,” Roberts said.
A proud family
Lately, those conversations have occurred in Charlotte. That’s where Roberts recently moved and expanded ASAP, with the North Carolina outfit primarily focusing on storefront glass and automatic doors.
The move culminated a busy first year as owner. Roberts rebranded ASAP, created a training program and made changes to the marketing team, all in hopes that the Phoenix location would be set for long-term, self-sustaining growth. Currently, they’re at roughly 15 techs in the field, including her little brother, who works in the welding division.
Managing that growth from afar is no concern for Roberts—thanks to ServiceTitan.
“I feel like I can go anywhere because I can see what's happening in my business at all times with the reporting, dashboards and the call recording,” Roberts said. “I don't have to be there to know what's going on.”
That’s a freeing feeling. Roberts sacrificed her career path to keep the family business running, and now with ServiceTitan, she can do something for herself and the business.
“Last month we had the best month ever in company history and I'm like, ‘OK, see, they can do that without me there. They're fine,’" Roberts said.
She still does daily Zoom meetings with her team in Phoenix, and helps with projects and training. Simultaneously in Charlotte, her small staff of two salespeople and one tech are trying to get the word out and establish their brand.
Roberts feels like she’s grown a lot in the past year as a leader. Along with making her own managerial moves, she’s attended events such as ServiceTitan’s Pantheon and continues to pick the brains of others who’ve had extreme success in the trades. It finally feels like she’s working on the business, instead of in it.
Even with her success, Roberts, a self-proclaimed “micromanager,” always feels like she can do more. But there are two people who are thrilled with what she’s accomplished.
Her parents.
“Yeah, they’re proud,” Roberts said, bashfully. “My dad is super excited for me.”
ServiceTitan Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and substantially elevate the trajectory of their business. Our comprehensive, cloud-based platform is used by thousands of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, garage door, and chimney sweep shops across the country—and has increased their revenue by an average of 25% in just their first year with us.
