Holding the Line: The Critical Role of An Emergency On-Call Dispatcher

Zack Kays’ primary job responsibility is not emergency call dispatch. He’s the software administrator at Intelligent Design Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Solar & Electric.

Improving internal systems and processes is his primary gig. However, Kays has extensive customer service experience, and he excels in the role of emergency call dispatcher.

That job entails taking over the company’s main phone line at night. And being on call at all hours. Kays has learned to manage his own work-life balance – as well as master the balance between the needs of clients with urgent problems and the ability of techs to respond to those problems. 

“Knowing what the technicians [view as] wins makes the job so much easier,” Kays says. 

In other words, Kays needs to evaluate the calls he receives late at night and determine if they require an immediate response or can wait until the morning.

Kays recalls a series of late-night calls from a homeowner who demanded service within 10 minutes. Kays tried to reason with him, and eventually found out other companies in town had stopped responding to his calls. 

“When you're doing dispatching and running a trade business, sometimes you have to know when to fire the customer,” Kays says.

Obviously, clients call after-hours with real emergencies. Kays remembers one client who’d just gotten out of surgery and her HVAC system failed. When it was determined her system was broken beyond repair, Intelligent Design donated a new system to her.

That’s one heartwarming end of the spectrum. Kays also respects the notion that you can’t overwork the same techs with constant late-night customer issues.

“The techs are just as important as the clients that pay you money,” Kays says. “If your techs aren't going to the jobs, then you don't have clients to begin with. So you have to treat them both equally.”

Zack Kays recently joined ServiceTitan’s Jackie Aubel on the “Toolbox for the Trades” podcast, which included Kays’ thoughts on:

• [12:11] How to prioritize after-hours calls

• [17:53] The best way to prepare CSRs and dispatchers for emergency calls

• [20:14] Using ServiceTitan for emergency calls

• [22:12] How emergency call dispatchers support techs during dangerous weather conditions

• [24:47] Why techs should be treated like clients

To hear more stories from the trades, subscribe to “Toolbox for the Trades” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or anywhere you get podcasts.