There are obvious benefits to providing excellent customer experience, including building customer loyalty, increasing customer retention, and fostering word-of-mouth referrals for your field service business.
Technology has opened up many new opportunities to improve the customer journey, from the first customer touchpoint, right through to analyzing KPIs like first-time fix rates after a job is completed.
There are generalized software solutions such as Salesforce and HubSpot CRM that serve a wide variety of industries and business types. But business owners in the field service industry can benefit far more from field service management software that’s purpose-built for their industries (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and more).
The right field service management solution can boost customer satisfaction while saving time and improving the effectiveness of all employees, from back office CSRs and dispatchers to field service teams, leading to more booked jobs and increased revenue.
In this post, we share 12 tips on how to deliver the best customer experience. Then, we explain how our software, ServiceTitan, helps field service businesses to optimize customer experience, streamline field service operations, and grow.
12 Tips to Create the Best Field Service Customer Service
Invest in FSM software with top-notch customer experience features
Ask customers the right questions to ease concerns about pricing
Use proactive, consistent & clear communication methods with customers
Improve the efficiency of service delivery with dispatching software
Tip #1: Invest in Field Service Management Software with Top-Notch Customer Experience Features
Using FSM software to streamline your customer experience will instantly set your field service business apart from others that use disjointed and inefficient methods like paper files and Microsoft Excel.
For many field service businesses, particularly in trades like plumbing, HVAC, and electrical, trade-specific software offers a practical solution.
These service providers combine CRM, FSM, and business management tools into a single system, enabling you to:
Give your team a unified view of every customer interaction
Track leads and manage the sales process
Schedule and dispatch technicians efficiently
Generate and send estimates and invoices directly from the platform
Manage parts, inventory, and job costs in real time
By using one integrated solution, contractors eliminate the need for juggling multiple apps and reduce the risk of information silos or operational inefficiencies.
Note: For businesses with more complex needs, like managing large workforces, multiple business units, or preparing for rapid growth, Field Service ERP software goes a step further.
Tip #2: Improve Your Call-Taking and Job-Booking Process
Missed calls, delayed call-backs, and clunky job-booking experiences over the phone can be an instant turn-off to prospective customers. So, ensuring someone can pick up the phone as often as possible when customers call in, return missed calls quickly, and have a tight call-booking process can have a major impact on your business.
Just picking up the phone will improve your call booking rates and your customer service delivery.
ServiceTitan personnel Bill Powers (senior industry advisor), Chris Hunter (principal industry advisor), and Angie Snow (principal industry advisor) all feel that a 90% call-booking rate is attainable.
“The faster a business can get to a dedicated call taker, the faster they will grow,” Powers said. “And sometimes it’s an investment that people have to make and are afraid to make. But if they want to grow, that’s the first step.”
Tip #3: Ask Customers the Right Questions to Ease Concerns About Pricing
Asking a few simple questions not only helps your customer service team learn more about their customers’ problems and offer appropriate solutions, it also helps to build trust with customers.
Most customers simply want more information that leads them to finding a possible solution for their problem, says Angie Snow, ServiceTitan’s Director of Customer and Product Training.
“They want you to ask questions," Snow says. "They want you to find out more about the situation.”
One helpful way to achieve this is to use call scripts and checklists to train your CSRs and technicians to ask customers pertinent questions. Then, you can ensure that they meet your customers’ needs.
Tip #4: Show Empathy to Improve Customer Engagement
While a particular service or repair may be routine for your service tech, it may be life-disrupting for a customer. Show empathy and don't downplay or dismiss the customer's concerns–on the phone or in person.
“When you show up, if you don’t act like you really care, the customers aren’t going to care about you, because they want to know if you're empathetic with their situation,” says Joe Cunningham, a lifelong HVAC tradesman and founder of the Technical Arts Center in Houston.
They want to be heard, valued, and appreciated—the true hallmarks of a positive customer experience. When they feel valued and appreciated, Cunningham says they're more likely to
accept your positions, ideas, and solutions for the problem at hand.
Tip #5: Use Proactive, Consistent & Clear Communication with Customers
Customers view field service technicians with skepticism for a number of reasons, says Cunningham. Apprehension typically starts as soon as the tech steps out of his truck.
Most home services customers know little about the trades, he says, and many feel apprehensive about allowing a stranger in the home or have experienced poor service with previous technicians.
To overcome customer apprehension, your service professionals need to make your customers comfortable and aware of what they should expect upfront and through every stage of a job.
This is one of the areas where field service management software can be transformative. For example, ServiceTitan provides features such as automated job confirmations and SMS notifications that let customers know that a tech is on their way, and GPS tracking tools so they can track their location in real-time.
Tip #6: Improve the Efficiency of Service Delivery with Dispatching Software
When a customer calls for a repair or service, they don’t want to wait days or weeks for their problems to be resolved. They want to receive fast, quality service on the first visit.
Dispatch the best available field service technician to serve each call and ensure your techs are punctual to maintain a great customer experience.
Software with dispatching features like technician availability, skills ratings, and locations can help ensure you dispatch the right tech to the right job at the right time.
Tip #7: Build Trust with Digital Tools That Demonstrate Expertise
Most customers know very little about how their HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and other systems work.
"Clients want to deal with professionals who show concern, but speak with certainty and clarity, and are able to communicate with visual aids,” Cunningham says.
People feel comfortable looking at visual descriptions, photos, and diagrams on a simple service platform because it helps them clearly understand the problem, the consequences of putting off the repair, and possible solutions that fit their budget.
Try: Arming your technicians with the mobile technology to access job details, customer history, work orders, previous estimates, and photos to share with the customer at the job site.
Tip #8: Inspect the Whole System to Mitigate Further Issues
Cunningham says home service customers typically want to save money, time, and reduce hassle—and they want a company to offer options for achieving all three.
When field service techs fail to inspect the entire mechanical system when making a service call or providing an estimate, they miss an opportunity to build trust with customers and provide an overall better service experience. Customers also might blame you later when something else goes wrong and question why you didn’t discuss the issue during your initial visit.
“We can't give them options to solve problems if we don't know what the problems are,” Cunningham says.
Coach technicians to inspect the entire system by giving them access to inspection checklists and pricebooks so they can spot potential issues and create multi-option estimates that help customers with decision-making.
Tip #9: Offer Extra Value with Maintenance Agreements
Customers need regular maintenance checks to make sure small issues don't turn into serious, expensive problems.
Service agreements are a great way to offer extra value to your customers while ensuring a steady stream of revenue for your business.
The best customer service software helps you tailor maintenance contracts and service agreements to each customer, so recurring appointments never get missed and customer feedback remains positive, even during busy seasons.
Tip #10: Collect and Learn From Customer Feedback
Service calls aren't over when technicians leave the customer's premises. It's important to follow up to check if everything is working properly and whether the customer is satisfied with the result. Field service technicians can even leave their phone numbers so customers can call them in case they need advice.
Adopting a customer-centric approach will help you retain more clients and learn from their feedback:
Ask customers for their feedback when a job is complete. A good online review helps foster trust in your business. A less favorable review allows you to improve.
If you’ve provided a customer with an estimate, make sure you follow up. Following up on unsold estimates is a good customer-service strategy that can help you reconnect with potential customers and close more deals.
Tip #11: Train Your CSRs & Techs to Go the Extra Mile
Are your CSRs comfortable to talk to? How do they deal with customer complaints? And what can you do to prepare them to handle such situations?
What about your service technicians? Do you offer tech training on body language and communication skills as part of the onboarding process at your field service company?
Home services customers rave about technicians and CSRs who go the extra mile, or what HVAC company owner Travis Ringe refers to as "second-mile service."
“It's looking for ways to go above and beyond the call," Ringe advises. "It could be as easy and cliché as bringing up the trash can or the newspaper.”
Ringe's company in Arizona even offers customers “ladder service,” as part of its ticket-management process for maintenance memberships.
“Most of the homes in our area have 12-foot ceilings, and we have a large population of retirees…retirees and 10-foot ladders don't typically mix very well,” he says. “We'll use our ladders to change smoke-detector batteries, air filters, light bulbs, anything like that, and that's really gone a long way, and driven a lot of really happy customers and reviews.”
Investing in training for CSRs and technicians helps retain customers, deliver consistently strong customer service, and exceed customer expectations on every service call. Standardized, ongoing training drives continuous improvement across your team.
Tip #12: Track Staff Performance to Optimize Customer Satisfaction
Tracking customer service metrics (such as jobs booked, response times, and first-time fix rates) helps you identify what’s working, where teams need support, and how to consistently improve the customer experience.
When CSRs and technicians understand how their performance impacts customer satisfaction, they’re better equipped to deliver faster service, clearer communication, and better outcomes on every job.
The key is using these insights to coach, train, and drive continuous improvement.
How ServiceTitan Field Service Management Software Optimizes Customer Experience
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution for field service business owners that combines CRM, FSM, and business management tools into a single system.
It makes CSRs’ tasks simpler, gets technicians more involved with customer communications, and allows management to analyze day-to-day performance and find ways to enhance customer experience and improve business.
ServiceTitan field service software offers:
Call booking features that capture customer information instantly
Scheduling and dispatching that lead to higher customer satisfaction
Modern customer experience features like technician tracking and a customer portal
A mobile app that optimizes communication between techs, back office, and customers
Reputation management features that automate review requests
Here’s how it works.
Call Booking Tools That Capture Customer Information Instantly
ServiceTitan’s Call Booking feature provides CSRs with customer details before they even answer the phone. It gives them customer names, call occurrences, service history, and even special notes from techs, managers, or other CSRs.
With this information at their fingertips, your CSRs can immediately make a great first impression by greeting each customer by name and referring to previous work done for them.
New customers are swiftly taken care of, too. Using drop-down menus and custom prompts, CSRs can simply enter the customer information directly into their system, including job type or service request, start date, priority, and more.
ServiceTitan’s easy-to-follow call booking system allows CSRs to focus on their conversation with the customer instead of being distracted trying to type in crucial information. And there’s no need for CSRs to put customers on hold or call them back while they pull paperwork from a filing cabinet.
We even provide examples of call center script templates that can be used in your own specific business.
Note: For customers who prefer the convenience of booking online, with ServiceTitan, you can add a Web Scheduler or Chat to Text widget to your website and give customers an easy way to schedule a job or start a text conversation online.
Further reading from our ServiceTitan playbook:
Scheduling & Dispatching Features Lead to Higher Customer Satisfaction
ServiceTitan’s job scheduling and dispatching functionality prioritizes the customer’s needs, saves time, and is easy to use.
While on the phone with the customer, the CSR can view the job history, warranty details, customer location, tech availability, and even technician skill levels — all on the same screen. This makes it easier to book techs for jobs in similar service areas or with specific skills.
These dispatching features help CSRs send the right tech to the right job while ServiceTitan’s user-friendly mobile app lets techs quickly see the jobs they have scheduled for the day via job cards that display details of each job.
ServiceTitan also offers an add-on product, Dispatch Pro, with more advanced dispatching features. Using machine learning, Dispatch Pro’s algorithm runs thousands of scenarios to find the best technician for every job. This, plus its intuitive dispatch board automations, saves your dispatchers' time, improves customer satisfaction, and maximizes profit.
Modern Customer Experience Features
Whether customers contact you via phone or online, ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience software offers the following features:
Full service history for clients' addresses, so CSRs are informed about the customer, the property, previous repairs, and more, from the first time they click the green call button.
Technician bios delivered via text (including a photo and fun facts about them) to make customers more comfortable with people coming into their homes.
Automated appointment reminders via SMS to let customers know when their tech will arrive. This reduces no-shows without your customer-service team spending hours on confirmation calls.
GPS tracking tool so customers can track their technician’s location in real-time to check that they are on schedule for the appointment.
Customer self-service portal that allows customers to take self-service actions based on the data already in ServiceTitan, such as paying invoices, accepting estimates, self-scheduling, and getting information on upcoming appointments, work history, and service agreements or memberships.
Knowing the customer's name and job history helps techs and CSRs personalize the customer experience, provide better customer service, generate more business via customer referrals, and build a strong network of online reviews.
“It really makes it much more personable, so when the tech gets to the door, we can help build that long-term customer, because the relationship already started before they even show up,” says Jay Kline, operations manager at Penguin Air & Home Services in Arizona.
A Mobile App That Streamlines Communication Between Techs, Office, and Customers
Many of the features that make CSRs’ lives easier also help field service technicians.
For starters, ServiceTitan eliminates nearly all phone calls between techs and CSRs and puts all customer information right at the technician’s fingertips.
With ServiceTitan Mobile — available on iOS and Android — techs can do the following on-site:
Access customer information when they’re carrying out work, including customer profiles, service histories, prior invoices, voice notes, and more.
Complete digital forms and checklists for inspections or specific jobs to help foster accountability and make sure your techs consistently follow best practices.
Create multi-option estimates with photos and descriptions at different price points to let customers browse presentations on the tech’s tablet and choose what fits best for them.
Offer flexible financing from a range of options through our partnerships with leading financing providers. Customers can view their monthly payment plans and terms and obtain instant access to the funds they need.
Generate automated invoices and take instant payments. Customers can enter credit card information directly into their tech’s mobile device, or follow a link via text to submit payment online.
Upselling Tools to Boost Customer Relationships and Growth
Selling and optimizing membership agreements can significantly boost relationships with customers and increase revenue.
To help manage new and existing contracts with customers, ServiceTitan’s Service Agreement Software provides key features that simplify contract management and add value to your customers.
Regular maintenance becomes clear, trackable, and efficient with features like:
Recurring services: Manage prepaid maintenance services, add them to your existing schedule, and provide outstanding customer service for all customers.
Renewable contracts: Renew contracts wherever it’s most convenient for you and your customers: out in the field, in the office, or via membership renewal estimates generated in ServiceTitan.
Discount management: With ServiceTitan, creating and managing membership discounts becomes easier. Techs don’t need to calculate anything on the spot, and customers gain visibility over their invoice savings.
By providing the option to pay for memberships, you give your customers peace of mind that their systems are regularly inspected and maintained.
Email Marketing Campaigns That Boost Upselling
ServiceTitan’s MarketingPro provides powerful add-on features for sending hyper-targeted email campaigns to specific audiences based on customer data already collected in ServiceTitan.
The software lets you set audience lists that focus on specific customers, such as those you wish to offer memberships, or who have yet to respond to an estimate, so you can follow up at whatever interval you choose and maximize sales opportunities.
Sending targeted emails is easy. Choose from our huge range of email templates, adjust the text to fit your campaign, and deliver to your chosen audience.
This ensures that your customers are receiving the services they need and that your business is leaving as little money on the table as possible.
Just by following up on unsold estimates, we’ve seen contractors improve their bottom line by as much as $1 million in a single year.
Reputation Management Features That Automate Review Requests
Asking customers for feedback after every job shows you care and provides you with valuable information. Responding to feedback is equally important as it builds trust and strengthens customer relationships.
ServiceTitan’s customer experience software automatically sends survey requests to customers after a job has been completed. This makes it easy for customers to share their experience on an online review site (Google, Yelp, etc) while it’s still fresh in their minds.
We also offer a reputation management tool that automates sending review requests to customers, lets you reply to reviews, and gain insights into which techs they relate to. Our software notifies you when customers leave a new review, allowing you to check and respond to those reviews right on the ServiceTitan platform.
Mike Losoya III, integration manager of Mike’s Plumbing and Electric in McAllen, Texas, says ServiceTitan helped him boost the company's reputation, SEO, and online authority.
“We went from under 100 reviews across all social media pages, and now we're up to nearly 400, just by integrating our social media accounts with ServiceTitan,” Losoya says.
Learn more from our guide on reputation management.
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Call Recordings to Refine CSR Training
With ServiceTitan, every call is recorded and logged into the relevant customer’s account.
Field service business owners love this feature for the accountability it provides. It allows contractors to better coach new customer service representatives on how to handle customer interactions and refine training for CSRs who need it.
It also means that business owners can negotiate with customers when there is disagreement or nonpayment, with background intelligence that is as accurate and well-documented as possible.
Reporting Tools That Track KPIs for Continuous Improvement
Being able to monitor individual phone calls with customers is great for training and accountability. But ServiceTitan also gives field service business owners even more valuable insights into their CSRs’ and technicians’ performance via our scorecards.
Contractors can see how many calls their CSRs are booking, what percentage of potential business they’re booking, how long they’re taking to do it, and more. They can also zoom in on individual calls to see what might have gone right or wrong, and where improvements can be made.
For technicians, ServiceTitan users can track metrics like first-time fix rate, number of memberships sold, and average response times. This data provides business owners with critical information on the quality of service their technicians provide.
In addition, ServiceTitan offers customizable dashboards and reports to track company metrics like total revenue, total sales, total average sales, total job average, call booking rate, and total conversion rate. You can even look at this over an 18-month trend (or weekly trend) to keep an eye on how your business is running.
See These Features in Action: Schedule a Free Demo
As field service businesses continue to embrace tech-forward solutions, it’s becoming more important for contractors to deliver excellent customer service with the right tools. An integrated field service software solution that helps you manage customer relationships, optimize operations with a mobile workforce, and grow revenue, has become essential.
ServiceTitan provides the features for your staff to manage all your day-to-day customer relationship management (scheduling appointments, dispatching, etc.) with everything else that keeps your business running smoothly:
By consolidating these workflows into one powerful platform, ServiceTitan helps field service businesses work smarter, grow faster, and deliver excellent customer service.
To learn more about how ServiceTitan’s various tools and features can improve customer experience and grow your field service business, schedule a call today.
ServiceTitan Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and substantially elevate the trajectory of their business. Our comprehensive, cloud-based platform is used by thousands of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, garage door, and chimney sweep shops across the country—and has increased their revenue by an average of 25% in just their first year with us.
