First Service Mechanical experienced ServiceTitan’s excellent customer support—even before joining

When looking for a new field service software, there was one quality that First Service Mechanical, a commercial HVAC company, had to have: great customer support. 

That’s because the Salt Lake City-area shop had been burned before.  According to Caitlin Elkington, who does everything from accounting to administration for First Service, her team had struggled for years with another software company, with no one to turn to for help.

“(The ongoing) customer service was nonexistent,” Elkington said. “(The software) was just not giving us what we needed. (It was) not worth the money or time investment we were putting into it.”

Fed up, Elkington looked into switching to ServiceTitan, the software built for the trades. 

Right off the bat, the ServiceTitan sales rep was “really good at addressing all of our concerns,” Elkington said. The rep sent her training videos and even connected her with a current ServiceTitan customer so Elkington could learn more about real users’ experiences.

“ServiceTitan, even before having it, was giving us a very, very good customer service experience,” Elkington said.

That was enough to convince her. In September 2022, First Service left its old software behind and joined ServiceTitan.

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Onboarding can be a challenge. It shouldn’t be painful. 

When First Service began using its previous software, red flags emerged almost immediately. 

For starters, the software wasn’t properly set up, so it “never worked right,” Elkington said. And with no customer support in sight, First Service had to come up with workarounds just to perform simple tasks.

“It probably took a year to find out who (our customer success rep) was,” Elkington said. “But then (they were) still very unreachable and unhelpful.”

Thankfully, First Service’s onboarding experience with ServiceTitan has been radically different. Elkington’s team was set up with onboarding specialists who answered questions, provided training and ensured ServiceTitan was set up to fit First Service’s workflows.

“That’s the whole point, is to customize (ServiceTitan) to your company, because no two companies are going to have the exact same needs,” Elkington said. 

After a successful onboarding, Elkington couldn’t help but feel skeptical about being passed from their “super awesome” onboarding specialist to a customer success manager (CSM). “That’s where we got dropped last time,” she said, recalling her “terrible” experience with a different software.

But Elkington and First Service were quickly introduced to their new CSM—and they hit it off right away.

“He was a good, funny guy to talk to every other week,” Elkington said. “And that is a (...) sign of a good customer service manager, is to just be a good person first, know your product and you'll have a good experience.”

A team (and a community) ready to help

As much as First Service’s administrators love their CSM, they know they don’t have to depend on one person for help. 

Here’s how ServiceTitan guarantees that its users have multiple resources to discover new information, tricks and solutions:

• The Certified Administrator program: The Certified Administrator program is a self-taught curriculum that provides admins with a deep understanding of the software so they can get the most out of ServiceTitan—and help their coworkers do the same. 

• The Torch Network: When Elkington is feeling stuck, she first turns to ServiceTitan’s user community, the Torch Network, for help. The Torch Network gives users a place to help each other troubleshoot issues, provide product feedback, network, and share success stories.

• Leadership committed to transparency: In a recent town hall, ServiceTitan’s founders led a conversation about their commitment to customer service. They announced they’d regularly hold these town halls to share information with their users and gather feedback. For Elkington, this “reaffirmed (...) that customer service is their No. 1 goal,” she said. 

It’s not just customer support. It’s a partnership.

Today, Elkington knows that if an issue arises—or if she has product feedback—she will be heard by ServiceTitan’s customer support teams.

“(ServiceTitan) very much has a culture of, ‘If you want (the software) to do something, tell us and we'll see how we can make it work, (...or) help you find a solution in the meantime,’” Elkington said. 

That’s given her even more faith in the company.

Recently, Elkington learned their CSM had been promoted, and would be handing First Service over to another success manager. In the past, that would have made her nervous. 

But not anymore. 

“(Our CSM) is awesome,” Elkington said. “But I'm sure whoever else is (assigned to us), if they keep with the ServiceTitan theme, they should be awesome, too.”