Stop Paying for Time: How Performance Pay Transforms Your Techs' Results

Your CSR is your first salesperson. Are you training them like one? Bill Brown sits down with Nicole Rivera, Director of Sales and Marketing at Jill’s Office, to break down how to train CSRs for home service companies. Nicole walks through the exact system Jill’s Office uses: 14 days of training and shadowing before a single live call, a “Quality Week” in week three, and every call scored across 7 categories and 38 criteria. In this episode: How to onboard and role-play new CSRs before they touch the phones The three-week training timeline, start to finish Using course platforms like Thinkific or Trainual alongside ServiceTitan Call handling scripts (and why they don’t read them word for word) The 7 audit categories and how often to audit Hiring and personality tips (and why the “unicorn” doesn’t exist) Gamification and outbound calls to raise booking rates and customer experience Get the free CSR Playbook from Jill’s Office: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/form/DxabQ4S7wFBebcUW3Yfs?utm_source=servicetitanpodcast Book a call with Nicole: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/booking/t7yla8NzLTJn6pVbsZZd Learn more about Jill’s Office: https://jillsoffice.com Join 11,000+ contractors in the ServiceTitan Hacks Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/servicetitanhacks Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@billbrown-servicetitanhacks More from ServiceTitan Hacks: https://st-hacks.com

Financing is one of the top topics inside the ServiceTitan Hacks community, and it is also one of the least understood. In this episode, Bill Brown sits down with Eric Howarth, SVP of Business Development at GoodLeap and the former head of the financing side of Contractor University at EGIA, where his actual job was grading finance companies on behalf of contractors. As Bill puts it, Eric is not a rep who got handed a rate sheet. He is the guy who used to audit the rate sheets. The core of the conversation is one idea most contractors miss: approval rate and take rate are not the same thing. Approval rate sounds impressive, but the number that actually pays your bills is take rate, meaning did the customer accept the offer, and did they accept it for the full amount you needed to close the job. A quote that gets countered from a 19,000 dollar system down to a 7,000 dollar approval does not show up as a lost sale. It shows up as a repair, and the missing margin never gets counted. Bill and Eric also cover why the counteroffer is a deal killer, why zero interest equal pay plans carry high dealer fees and tend to approve only the highest credit bands, the case for leading with the lowest possible monthly payment plus a no payment option for cash buyers, how debt to income and modeled income really drive approvals, and why the car industry's methodical, payment first approach works. Eric closes with how contractors can pull their own numbers from ServiceTitan and their current lenders to see what they are actually leaving on the table. Whether you use GoodLeap or anyone else, the takeaway is the same: learn both sides of the equation before you choose a finance partner. Learn more about GoodLeap and get connected with Eric's team: https://go.st-hacks.com/13200156 Not in the ServiceTitan Hacks group yet? Join about 11,000 HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors: https://go.st-hacks.com/13203376

Contractors have four options when the phones are ringing off the hook: hire and train internally, use a generic answering service, turn on AI, or bring in a trained live team. Bill sits down with Nicole Rivera of Jill's Office to walk through all four, with no sales pitch. Nicole has been at Jill's for over 10 years, since it was a six person company back in 2015. She came in while closing down her own first business, one she ran for six years without understanding her numbers or how to delegate. In this episode: Why Bill's first CSR hire failed, and why he says that was on him, not her Why an outside answering service can never function like your internal CSR, and what to decide before you sign up How Jill's schedules directly in ServiceTitan, what their onboarding looks like, and why they keep a ServiceTitan consultant on staff to fix client setups Why booking rates vary so widely between companies, and how your brand reputation pre-qualifies the caller before a Jill ever picks up How they handle pricing questions, service call fees, and minimums on the phone Outbound: unsold estimate lists, lead follow-up, and the three attempt cadence spread across days that gets their best results The AI conversation: why some callers now assume they've reached a bot, why Jill's is still building an AI overflow option, and Nicole's point that "we can't trick people" And the answer to the question everyone asks at trade shows: who is Jill? Learn more or book a discovery call at jillsoffice.com. Turnaround to start forwarding calls is about 48 hours. Home Service Hacks is hosted by Bill Brown, licensed HVAC contractor and founder of the ServiceTitan Hacks community. More at st-hacks.com.

Every contractor who has looked at AI for their phones has had the same private thought and hasn’t said it out loud. What happens to the person answering them right now? Marcelle Flowers has an answer, because she made that call on her own payroll. She owns and runs Armstrong Plumbing in Sacramento. She is also the COO of Broccoli AI, the company that makes the voice agent she put on her own lines. Customer and vendor at the same time. That is on the table in the first two minutes of this episode rather than buried in a disclaimer at the end, so you can weigh everything she says accordingly. She did not want AI anywhere near her business. Two guys knocked on her door and she assumed they were selling chocolate bars for a soccer team. What we get into:  • The five answering services she burned through before any of this, and the $5,000 a month one that turned out to be a bigger mess than the last  • What she paid her own CSRs to cover weekends, and why that broke too  • The CSR who told her straight out “this is scary,” and who still works there today  • Whether anybody got fired, and what actually happened to her headcount  • The one I could not stop chewing on: if AI takes the easy calls, your CSR is left with nothing but hard ones all day, with no easy wins in between to catch her breath. What does that do to a person?  • Why the owners who want to fire everyone and run on AI are usually the ones nobody wants to work for  • What she sees from the vendor side that she could not see when she was only the customer No booking rate stats, no ROI math, no pitch. Just the operator version, including the parts that did not go well. Links in the show notes:  • The AI Voice Vendor Scorecard: score up to three AI phone vendors side by side on 27 questions before you sign, including whether they actually book into ServiceTitan, which a lot of them don’t → https://go.st-hacks.com/scorecard  • Broccoli → https://go.st-hacks.com/broccoli-pod  • The ServiceTitan Hacks community on Facebook → https://go.st-hacks.com/fb-group Broccoli AI is a ServiceTitan Hacks partner. Marcelle Flowers is COO of Broccoli AI and the owner of Armstrong Plumbing, a Broccoli customer

In this episode Bill from Service Titan Hacks interviews Ryan Shank of Sharewillow about performance pay for contractors—what it is, how it differs from commission, and why aligning pay with outcomes drives better technician behavior and company metrics. They cover key metrics to include (average ticket, callbacks, tech-generated leads, Google reviews, job time), Sharewillow’s ServiceTitan-powered audit and plan-building process, the Sharewillow app that shows effective hourly rate and leaderboards, and practical tips for rollout and avoiding common pitfalls. Listeners leave with simple best practices for designing performance pay plans, examples of what works for sales techs versus installers, and next steps to request a free audit or demo. Get the free audit here: https://go.st-hacks.com/sharewillow-free-audit

Host Bill Brown sits down with JB from AquaClear and the ReferPro team to explain why happy customers and good reviews often don’t produce referrals — and what actually does: automation, easy submission, accurate attribution, and meaningful incentives. The episode covers practical fixes (same-day and drip texts, group handoffs, technician incentives, and store-credit payouts), real results from a $200-per-referral program, and how to set up and measure a program that scales referral revenue. Join 11,000+ contractors in the ServiceTitan Hacks Facebook group: https://go.st-hacks.com/fb-group More ServiceTitan, AI, and automation playbooks: https://st-hacks.com

Host Bill Brown sits down with David Hargrove of Kali Refrigeration and Andy from SmartAC to unpack how Kali grew memberships from 500 to nearly 2,000 in about 18 months. The conversation covers practical tactics—phone scripts, CSR incentives, technician spiffs, SmartAC sensors and ServiceTitan integration, credits and tiered plans, virtual monitoring, and measuring customer lifetime value to justify marketing spend. Key takeaway: membership growth is driven by retention and continuity—use technology, operational alignment, and simple incentives to increase lifetime value and compounding revenue over time. Join 11,000+ contractors in the ServiceTitan Hacks Facebook group: https://go.st-hacks.com/fb-group More ServiceTitan, AI, and automation playbooks: https://st-hacks.com

Should HVAC contractors put pricing on their website? Bill Brown sits down with Jeff from Travis Crawford HVAC, who did it, plus Brad Felix, VP of AI at Contractor Commerce. Jeff says leads that come through their online pricing close roughly 20 to 25% higher than a standard "call for a quote" lead, with average tickets up about $1,500 to $2,000. Around 30% of buyers end up choosing a different system than they first planned. In this episode: What worried Travis Crawford HVAC before publishing prices, and how the sales team reacted Close rate and average ticket results from online pricing leads Good/better/best options, financing links, and choosing the right system How CSRs and techs use online estimates to qualify leads How AI answer engines and agentic shopping are changing how homeowners pick a contractor Common mistakes with online pricing Chapters: 00:58 The pricing debate 03:23 Concerns about transparency 04:51 Sales team reactions 06:10 Closing rates and ticket increases 08:11 Selecting the right system 09:39 Financing options 11:09 Brand visibility 12:20 Customer interaction approaches 14:41 Qualifying leads 18:41 Shifting to AI in home services 23:52 The future of AI and consumer interaction 28:31 Mistakes in online pricing 36:47 Adapting to how homeowners decide Put pricing on your website with Contractor Commerce: https://www.contractorcommerce.com Join 11,000+ contractors in the ServiceTitan Hacks Facebook group: https://go.st-hacks.com/fb-group

AI marketing for contractors in 2026 is changing fast. In this episode, Bill Brown and Kyle Sattler break down how Google Maps, YouTube, and AI Mode are reshaping local search visibility for home service businesses 🚀 Kyle shares how SoGood Team helps HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and electrical contractors dominate Google Maps and AI-driven results—without wasting money on outdated SEO tactics. Learn how activity, alignment, and accountability drive real growth through better systems, smarter marketing, and consistent customer experiences. What you’ll learn: • Why most growth problems aren’t lead-related, they’re operational • How to fix misalignment between marketing and customer experience • The role of CSRs, training, and accurate booking data in scaling up • Google Maps strategies that actually move the needle in 2025 • Why YouTube and Google Business Profile are key to AI visibility • What “AI Mode” means for SEO and how to prepare before it replaces blue links • The surprising role Reddit plays in Google’s new ranking system • How to earn better Google reviews that boost authority and conversion 🎧 Guest: Kyle Sattler, Chief Process Engineer at SoGood Team 📍 Website: sogoodteam.com Join the ServiceTitan Hacks Facebook Group 👇 Connect with 11,000+ ServiceTitan power users. Access free resources, AI automations, and revenue-boosting tactics tested in the field by contractors like you. https://go.st-hacks.cc/servicetitanhacks

ServiceTitan veteran shares 15 years of trade tech evolution and the future of recruiting in plumbing, HVAC, and beyond 🚀💧 Discover how Bob Beall, owner of Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Pittsburgh, scaled from 3 trucks to 40 while adapting to ServiceTitan and modernizing recruiting to attract Gen Z talent. In this episode of Home Service Business Hacks, Robert discusses: • The transition from Yellow Pages to PPC and cloud-based software • Lessons from being one of the original ServiceTitan users • Strategies for training, recruiting, and retaining young tradespeople • How technology and AI are reshaping plumbing businesses • His mission to give back through his new “Bob is the Plumber” podcast and training school 🎁 Giveaway: The first few listeners who fill out the form at bobistheplumber.com get a free swag bag! 👉 Connect with 11,000+ ServiceTitan power users. Access free resources, AI automations, and revenue-boosting tactics tested in the field by contractors like you. Join the ServiceTitan Hacks Facebook Group: https://go.st-hacks.cc/servicetitanhacks Guest: Robert Beall Owner, Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Pittsburgh Website: mrrooter.com/pittsburgh YouTube: Bob is the Plumber Facebook & Instagram: @bobistheplumber