Beth Anderson and her husband were recruited out of the bar/restaurant industry to come back to the trades. They are a sociable, versatile and skilled partnership now working at Vancouver, Wash.-based Simpson Plumbing.
She says the customer service skills she employed working in the food-service industry are also a big plus in the trades.
» Want to grow your plumbing business? Click here to get a demo.
“I don’t know how to treat someone differently than how I want to be treated,” she says. “I don’t know how to not go above and beyond, from Day 1, with every interaction. Sincerity, honesty, integrity. I just carried that over into everything that I’ve done.”
Before owning a popular eatery called Little Jaded, her husband spent decades in construction; and besides customer service, Beth is also proficient in administration and HR.
Now, she’s office manager for rapidly growing Simpson Plumbing, which serves northern Washington and recently expanded service into Oregon. About 65% of the company’s revenue comes from plumbing, and the majority of the rest of income comes from an affiliated construction company.
Transitioning to ServiceTitan
Anderson came onboard at Simpson Plumbing in 2017, and was actively involved in the decision-making process to sign onto ServiceTitan. When the company was first introduced to the product, Anderson says she immediately saw the benefits but decided Simpson Plumbing wasn’t ready for the cloud-based software solution yet.
“I was like, this is amazing, but we didn’t have even one full-time tech, yet,” she says. “And then all of a sudden, we found a great new hire, and I was like, ‘OK, I think we can do this now.’ I think we have a tech that can actually utilize this tool.”
She believes managers in the trades sometimes get ahead of themselves.
“Even though ServiceTitan is great, you have to be patient and make sure you can really maximize all of the components,” Anderson says. “And with the cost, are you going to get enough back out so that it's not just an expense but it’s now considered a cost of running your business?”
That was a discussion Anderson had with her owner.
“We talked about the difference between what you pay to keep your business alive, growing and competitive, versus the expense just to be operating and owning a business,” she says. “It’s looked at a little bit differently when you’re actually having to pay employees, not just yourself. You have all these added expenses to look at. So, the timing was right when we made the decision.”
Since onboarding ServiceTitan in 2018, Simpson Plumbing has made six new hires.
“It’s now a family, a team, good people and we’ve got a great tool,” Anderson says. “Now, we literally cannot imagine a day without ServiceTitan. It would be devastating to us.”
The #1 newsletter for the trades.
Customer service and marketing
Anderson believes ServiceTitan is a huge part of why the service side of the business is thriving.
“I had to hire a full-time CSR,” she says. “That’s all she does, answer the phone, dispatch and work with the service techs. We split our duties into two, and now it looks like it needs to be three. And it’s ServiceTitan that has given us the opportunity to grow so fast.”
She says customers love the professional service Simpson Plumbing provides.
“Our customers here love us,” Anderson says. “They love the professionalism of the text messages we send, and knowing their name when they call.
“You answer the phone as if they’re your best friend and they just love that. And, the recorded calls are so helpful for everyone. The list is a mile long.”
She says ServiceTitan is why Simpson Plumbing’s online reviews have gone through the roof.
“We really used to struggle,” Anderson says. “I was embarrassed to have anyone look at our reviews when I first started. They were really bad. That was the reality at the time. Oh my gosh, we had a big hole to dig out of.”
ServiceTitan helped turn around the company’s reputation, she says.
“We tackled it,” Anderson says. “It was by hiring the right people and using the great resources we have with ServiceTitan. We take advantage of the Pro Products—Marketing Pro and Pricebook Pro have completely changed how we operate.”
For example, Anderson’s social media staff person recently ran a Valentine’s Day promotion. Within hours, the company was getting calls and booking jobs.
“Everything worked the way it’s supposed to,” she says. “When you use ServiceTitan the way it’s designed, you’ll be successful. There's no way around it.”
The software platform also saved the day when the company phone lines went down. A text-and-email campaign was devised that let customers know they could book by text and email.
“It was quick and easy to put together and went out immediately to our whole customer list,” Anderson says. “We didn’t lose a beat. And, now we know we’re prepared if something like that ever happens again.”
Buy-in from service tech
The company’s service techs are definitely onboard with the text/email aspect of ServiceTitan, Anderson says.
“When they leave a customer’s home, they say, ‘Hey, probably while I’m pulling away, you’re going to receive a text or an email asking about my service today,’” she says. “They add, ‘I hope I made you happy and you’ll call us back, again.’ It helps them close their sale, and it puts that bug in the customer’s ear.”
The great part for techs is that it’s automatic—they don’t have to call, email, or fill anything out, Anderson says. She adds that all the customer comments about employees are sent out to the techs so they can see what customers are saying and stay in the loop.
“Our techs love it,” she says. “They love the pricing. They love the estimates. Sometimes they get frustrated with changes and enhancements, and I always encourage them to be flexible. Everything is created to make their life easier or to get a better customer experience.”
Anderson says one of the best aspects of using ServiceTitan is that even with constant innovation, the workflow for techs doesn’t require large amounts of retraining.
“It’s very user-friendly, which is a big relief for me,” she says. “I’m not getting the ‘What-the-heck-happened?’ phone calls. At a company I used to work for, that could happen. You’d do a rollout and everything looked different. And if you missed the training, you were in trouble. That’s not the case with ServiceTitan.”
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.
