Running a successful call center involves more than just managing customer calls and booking jobs. It’s about building customer relationships and delivering professional, personalized service every time a customer calls your business.
With always-on, trusted coverage, ServiceTitan’s Scheduling Pro delivers on all fronts. We're not just fielding calls. Our trained agents take care of your customers. Whether you've stepped away for the evening or need extra hands on deck, we've got you covered.
Christian Jasserand, who now leads the Scheduling Pro Live Services team, says the platform started about four years ago handling calls for two home service companies in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. Once acquired by ServiceTitan a year ago, it morphed into Scheduling Pro, with a team of 130 agents who handle calls and live chats 24/7 for hundreds of home service companies across the U.S. and Canada.
“Every call is a moment of truth,” Jasserand says. “We do it right, we get the booking, and we build brand loyalty.”
In this recap of a recently aired on-demand webinar, learn how Scheduling Pro works to not only help you win more jobs at any hour, but also obtain more satisfied customers with less time, effort, and attention from you and your team.
The #1 newsletter for the trades.
Answer calls quickly with a dedicated workforce manager
To answer every customer’s call quickly and efficiently, the dedicated workforce manager for Scheduling Pro works to ensure the right number of staff is always available at the right time, says Graham Jones, Senior Manager of Live Services.
In the first quarter of 2023, he says, the average wait time for customers was 25 seconds from the time a call was forwarded to Scheduling Pro until an agent answered.
“Someone with a major issue at home isn't willing to wait very long before calling a competing company. Answering the call quickly is the best first step toward converting that call to a booking,” Jones says.
This speed and efficiency for inbound call management contributed to Scheduling Pro achieving a 69% booking ratio on all bookable customer calls in Q1.
“Our focus is on building a team that is as flexible as possible, and to achieve this, we focus on an all-in-one coverage approach,” Jones explains.
Rather than creating queues or dedicating agents to specific clients or trades, Scheduling Pro trains all of its agents in both Live Chat and Live Voice.
“Our training is focused on preparing our agents with industry-specific knowledge, so they can understand a customer's issue, ask the right probing questions, and provide the right information to your techs before they visit the job site,” Jones says. “Our agents work quickly and efficiently, with the average duration of our phone calls lasting around 3 to 3.5 minutes total talk time speaking to a knowledgeable and caring CSR.”
Scheduling Pro hires agents with a background in customer service to answer calls for a variety of companies providing home services, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, garage door, pool cleaning, and more. During calls, they collect information on every interaction, whether it’s a bookable lead or a general inquiry, then make the handoff to your team.
“Our goal is obviously to make the booking, but no matter the outcome of the call, you will receive info on every interaction we handle, and it's sent to you immediately after the interaction is finished,” Jones says.
Scheduling Pro trained agents can also make a fully confirmed and verified appointment for your customers for a future date and time, or send a same-day service request or emergency escalation directly to your on-call or dispatch teams.
“With our focus on answering the call quickly and showing customers we care, our abandon rate on calls for Q1 this year was 4.2%. This ensures we have a lot of opportunities to convert that remaining 95.8% of calls into a lead, or ideally a booking,” he adds.
An easy emergency escalation tool
Without ever logging in to your ServiceTitan account (there’s no need!), a Scheduling Pro agent can escalate an emergency job directly to your on-call technician, says Jeff Martin, Senior Engineer, Adoption.
“First, we qualify that the job meets the criteria as an emergency escalation, then from there the technician is notified via text message, robo call, or email,” Martin explains. “Once they go ahead and accept that notification, they actually create that job in ServiceTitan, and it transfers over to their ServiceTitan mobile app.”
If the on-call tech ignores or declines the notification, you can configure the system to then notify a backup on-call technician or the office staff.
In the Scheduling Pro dashboard, high-level configurations allow you to control your on-call technician schedule by setting the time frames allowed for escalations, scheduling multiple on-call technicians, or setting different schedules based on different trades, service zones, or ZIP codes.
Onboarding industry-trained agents
Thinking about adding Scheduling Pro to your call center’s toolbox? Just keep one thing in mind before you dive in, says Roxanne Vedral, Senior Live Services Supervisor.
“Our service is not a one-size-fits-all solution or plug-and-play,” she says.
“Each client is unique, and while there are limits on what can be customized, each account needs time and attention to ensure we understand your expectations,” Vedral adds. “Refining the setup of your account allows us to provide agents with the proper information so they're empowered to consistently deliver the service you want.”
And because each client is different, Scheduling Pro strives to hire agents who can think on their feet and pivot from call to call with ease.
“We invest in a thorough recruiting, training, and quality enforcement program,” Vedral says. “After our three-stage recruitment process, successful candidates begin a four-week training program, starting with a deep dive on the company and our tool, followed by mock calls and shadowing sessions with tenured agents, and eventually taking live calls with your customers.”
Agents participate in quality assurance checks throughout the four weeks, then enter a three-month probationary period upon graduation.
One point to clarify, Jones says, is that “industry-trained” agents does not mean they have experience as actual service technicians working in the field. Rather, agents learn the industry language and terminology, understand what equipment might be needed, and know exactly what actions the tech might take on the job site.
“And, more importantly, get the right information to send to your technicians so that before they even leave your office, they have almost all the details they need to be able to show up with the right tools and the right equipment for that job,” Jones says.
The company also recently updated its onboarding policy to include a meeting between the industry-trained agents and customers before flipping on the live services switch.
“A brief meeting with our team to review live services expectations, make refinements to your account upfront, and educate you on how our team will represent you,” Vedral says. “This meeting is critical to creating a successful launch experience and to help you achieve the results you want sooner rather than later.”
Once you're up and running with Scheduling Pro, send any feedback to support@scheduleengine.com.
“Our amazing support staff is made up of subject-matter experts on both the technical and live services side. We'll work closely with you to address any concerns that arise,” Vedral says.
>>Ready to try Scheduling Pro? Click here for a demo.
