Elaine Rosenthal of Colony Air Conditioning and Heating in Texas grew up in the HVAC industry.
Her dad started the company north of Dallas in the 1970s and has been at the helm ever since. Elaine’s mom runs the office for Colony AC and when she needed some help, Elaine offered to lend a hand.
“I had just gotten done with school, and I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go in,” Rosenthal said. “She needed some help at the office, I said, ‘Sure, I'll come and help.’ That was just a temporary gig until I figured out what I wanted to do, and 11 years later, here I am. … I've never really wanted to leave, the thought of leaving isn't even out there.”
Rosenthal’s brother is a technician in the field too, making theirs a truly family business.
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While Rosenthal was working on her degree, she was also working her way through college at a major fashion retailer with a reputation for some of the best customer service in the industry. Rosenthal brought this same heavy emphasis on high standards for customer service to the team at Colony Air Conditioning and Heating.
The desire to provide their customers with the best experience possible coupled with the many headaches that their old software was causing led Rosenthal to spearhead a search for their company’s next software provider.
After frustrations over the years with the old software and the workarounds that were required for going paperless, Rosenthal decided it was time for a change.
“It was a complete disappointment as far as the ease of us going into a paperless situation,” Rosenthal said of her previous software. “The benefits that we would receive after going through that, it was completely negated by all of the workarounds that we were having to do, and the headache that was coming from it.
“It just wasn't worth it anymore, so we knew that that product wasn't going to be for us.”
That’s where ServiceTitan came in.
Rosenthal and her team had interviewed ServiceTitan and competing software brands and kept circling back to ServiceTitan.
“We felt like we could grow with (ServiceTitan) the most, and that you guys were the most robust. We also like the fact that you are constantly coming out with new features and benefits, and it wasn't just stagnant,” Rosenthal said.
“I feel like with our previous software, they were delayed on everything that they were putting out for their contractors. They were coming out years and years later than any other software was coming out with things. It was very antiquated."
One unforeseen benefit of joining the ServiceTitan community for the Colony AC team was the timing.
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How ServiceTitan helped with Covid-19 response
Colony had been with ServiceTitan for two months when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Businesses were scrambling to comply with new regulations that were often changing by the week. It was a dizzying time to be trying to run a business.
Using the ServiceTitan software to convert office staff to fully remote work was seamless thanks to the cloud-based capabilities.
“And let me tell you, it has been such a blessing, just with the capabilities that ServiceTitan brought to us versus what our previous software was able to do,” Rosenthal said. “We were leaps and bounds ahead of where we could have possibly been.”
With the world on high alert, many customers were scared to have friends and family in their homes. So letting an HVAC contractor who they’d never met before in for a service call was a scary prospect.
The software helped Colony AC put customers at ease.
“Our customers have been very, very perceptive to ServiceTitan,” Rosenthal said. “We have Google reviews now that actually mention that the technician sent his picture, and customers knew what he looked like before he came to the door.
"With COVID going on, the customers really like that they got the technician's picture without a mask on, so that way they knew what he actually looked like.”
Scheduling appointments during Covid-19 with ServiceTitan
While the actual jobs themselves aren’t taking longer because of Covid-19, extra safety precautions may require additional time at each appointment.
One of the ways that Colony AC has been updating clients about potential delays and contractor location is through the ServiceTitan technician tracking feature.
“Clients have mentioned that they really like the technician tracking,” Rosenthal said.
“Our customers love that because if they're leaving their office, they can actually see, ‘Oh, he's further ahead than I am. I need to hurry home.’ Or, ‘Hey, he's 20 minutes behind me, so I've got a little bit more time that I can spend at the office.’”
ServiceTitan tools help keep contractors updated
When the Covid-19 pandemic was first becoming a national crisis, ServiceTitan was quick to publish playbooks to provide contractors with comprehensive guides to industry best practices for safety, customer communications, and profitability in the uncharted waters of Covid-19.
“I honestly feel like we are now part of this coalition of best practices organizations,” Rosenthal said.
By utilizing the tactics from the playbooks, industry trend updates, and mastermind groups, Colony AC was able to successfully transition their operations to meet Covid-19 safety guidelines.
“Some of the top contractors are accessible through your back pocket,” Rosenthal said of the accessibility to contractors and industry pros that the ServiceTitan community provides.
In addition to access to insider and expert knowledge, predictive industry trends, and more, ServiceTitan also provides features like:
Live data reporting
A dashboard that tracks KPIs and updates from field service calls in real-time.
Software linking for call booking, scheduling, dispatching, and billing
Targeted and automated marketing campaigns.
Two additional features that have been receiving high praise from ServiceTitan users during Covid-19 have been:
Communicating updates with text messages, technician tracking, and appointment reminders
Cloud-based software to manage your business from anywhere
The capabilities technicians gain with ServiceTitan can boost sales and aid in project planning.
Technicians in the field can enter notes, arrange logistics for equipment and materials, offer financing for cash-strapped clients, and communicate with the office easily through the cloud-based home services app.
The features that the ServiceTitan software provides improve customer satisfaction, increase profitability, and allow for scalability at any business size.
Partnering with ServiceTitan was the right choice for Colony AC before Covid-19. Once the pandemic hit, the Colony AC team was grateful to have a firm grasp of the software and the tools they needed to weather this ongoing storm.
For Colony AC and the rest of the world, planning for the pandemic wasn't an option, but planning for the unexpected was.
By having integrated systems, remote worker capabilities, and seamless communication options already in place, the team at Colony AC has been able to successfully transition their business to adapt to the changing times.
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive HVAC business software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and achieve growth. Our award-winning, cloud-based platform is trusted by more than 100,000+ contractors across the country.
Ready to learn more about what ServiceTitan can do for your business? Contact our team to schedule a demo today.
