Jared Rohrs doesn’t play favorites.
As the IT manager for John Henry’s—a residential plumbing, HVAC and electrical shop serving Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska—Rohrs is used to solving problems based on data, not his feelings.
“I'm like Switzerland,” he said. “I'm friends with everyone, I'm allied to no one, so I do what's best for the company, (...) not the individual.”
For the rest of the team at John Henry’s, it wasn’t always easy to stay as neutral as Rohrs. Dispatchers, especially, struggled. If a tech had low sales, for example, a dispatcher might take pity and assign them to a cushy job—regardless of the tech’s ability to close a deal.
In April 2023, it became easier for John Henry’s dispatchers to become impartial. That’s when the company started using ServiceTitan’s Dispatch Pro.
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Dispatch Pro uses machine learning and historical data from ServiceTitan to automatically assign techs to jobs based on sales performance, skill and proximity to the next appointment.
Some of the assignments were surprising. Rohrs remembers a manager asking him why one tech was getting so many re-piping jobs. In a few clicks, Rohrs saw that “his lead turnover to construction was four times higher than anybody else,” he said.
“That's the beauty of Dispatch Pro,” Rohrs added. “It looks at the hard data and makes the decision for you, and takes the human factor out of it.”
Tap into powerful data
Dispatch Pro is designed to make life easier for dispatchers by automating their most complex tasks. But for Rohrs, the software comes with plenty of other advantages:
Identify top performers: Before using Dispatch Pro, “we never looked at the lead turnovers in plumbing service,” Rohrs said. In a few short weeks, Dispatch Pro gave John Henry’s clean data around lead turnovers, so the team can better recognize techs who perform well.
No hard feelings: Dispatchers can say goodbye to awkward conversations around why they’re assigning some techs to lucrative jobs over others. With solid data to point to, Rohrs said it’s easier for dispatchers to say, “It’s not me, it’s the computer.”
New insights, fast: It didn’t take long for John Henry’s to set up Dispatch Pro. Within three weeks, Rohrs said the team was already getting new, data-backed insights—and the software only gets more accurate with time.
Spend time in the field, not the truck
Lincoln, Nebraska is a relatively “compact” town, Rohrs said. But John Henry’s has been steadily expanding its operations in Omaha, a much larger city.
With more service areas to cover, limiting techs’ drive times has become even more important.
“If I have people getting paid, but not producing anything because they're having to drive (...), I am decreasing my overall chance of making money,” Rohrs said. “If I minimize those in every way, shape or form, it pays me huge dividends.”
Instead of a stressed-out dispatcher mapping out customers’ addresses to reduce drive time, Dispatch Pro automatically routes techs to nearby jobs. The software also ensures techs never exceed a maximum drive time, keeping fuel costs low and productivity high.
And with less time spent navigating traffic, John Henry’s can fit in more appointments—and make more money. As the shop continues to grow, these process changes can really make a difference, Rohrs said.
“If we can squeeze in one more call,” Rohrs said, “that's how we really start to maximize our days, weeks and months.”
