In his final year studying information technology at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., Georgios Gounaris met a relative of the owner of Cyprus Air, an HVAC company, and he says they instantly bonded over their similar nationalities.
“Greeks and Cypriots are very similar,” Gounaris says. “He was part of an organization that was all Greeks and Cypriots, therefore that's the name, Cyprus Air. And I'm from Greece, so there was a connection there.”
After graduation, Gounaris stayed in Virginia and found work as a valet, and also dabbled in direct marketing. “Eventually, I got a little tired of the overnight shifts and all that comes with the valet industry,” he says.
Gounaris reached out to his friend about a potential position at Cyprus Air, and the friend suggested he visit the family business to inquire about any open positions.
“I walked into the shop, met one of the owners who happened to be there that day, and told him a little bit about my background in IT and being first-generation in the U.S.,” Gounaris explains. “I think there was a connection, because that's how this company started. It was immigrants that came here. They built this multimillion dollar company from the bottom up.”
Starting a Career in HVAC
The owner offered Gounaris a position as a dispatcher, and he joined Cyprus Air in 2014.
“I was speaking on the phones, dispatching, answering customer concerns—very basic procedures,” he says. “Almost immediately, I saw there was a lot of potential in the business.”
Around this time, Gounaris says, Cyprus Air was going through the process of switching out their “very, very, basic” customer relationship management (CRM) platform.
“There was no recording of phone calls,” he says. “There was no automated tracking of everything that has taken place with the customer.”
Because of his background in IT, Gounaris took interest in the migration and wanted to know how the new software would improve business efficiencies.
“We were growing as a business at that point—growing quite rapidly actually,” he says. “But our processes were old. I mean, we used to do the schedule by printing out the jobs, laying all the papers on the floor and kind of making it into a puzzle to see if the areas that we can easily send everything matched correctly. And of course, we didn't have any GPS trackers in the trucks. We had to call technicians to find out where they were.”
Gounaris made it his mission to improve business operations and efficiencies, but he says the second CRM platform the company selected still didn’t offer the right features to move the business forward.
“I saw firsthand how our team struggled, our dispatcher struggled, our customer service representative struggled,” he says. “The workload just kept increasing, but our processes were so outdated.”
In late 2017, Gounaris says Cyprus Air upgraded their CRM platform again, choosing ServiceTitan.
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Making the Switch to ServiceTitan
As they prepared to implement ServiceTitan’s field management software, Cyprus Air promoted Gounaris to senior operations manager.
“I was the main point of contact when the ServiceTitan project started,” he says. “And ever since that day, pretty much, I have been the main point of contact for ServiceTitan and for all the projects with Cyprus Air.”
Today, Gounaris mainly focuses on training Cyprus Air employees and management on the operations and procedures he implemented in ServiceTitan.
“It's quite exciting,” he says. “To be honest with you, ServiceTitan is one of my favorite companies to work with. You guys are outstanding. And I feel like it also satisfies my dream of working in the IT world.”
Why Cyprus Air Decided to Partner with ServiceTitan
ServiceTitan, Gounaris says, was clearly the right choice, and a couple of reasons stand out.
‘Really, there were two main factors,” Gounaris says. “It was the constant change, the constant improvement. Our feedback was actually taken into consideration. And it's the fact that...this is going to sound a little cheesy, but the owners were in the trades. So, it felt to us as if they would understand our needs more.
“It's your guys' team, it's the nonstop improvement, listening to your customers, listening to the feedback, and always providing the necessary support—sometimes even above and beyond what the scope of your work is in as far as helping us.”
Gounaris further explains the benefits of using ServiceTitan HVAC software over other platforms to help run his business:
On ServiceTitan Dispatching Software
“Right now with ServiceTitan, we have the audit trail, so we know who created the job, who moved the job, who dispatched the job, and who closed the job. We didn't have all of that with the old systems.”
Gounaris says the audit trail in ServiceTitan’s dispatch software “saves his life” as a dispatcher, because it significantly reduces the need for techs to call in from the field since all of the information is readily available via a mobile device.
On ServiceTitan Forms
“We have over 100 forms in our jobs in ServiceTitan. Each of them triggers an alert, and has a sequence of operation—we utilize this a lot.
“Anytime we need to order a part, a technician has a form that says ‘order part.’ He fills out that form and then our ordering department gets an automated message. It eliminates the need for the dispatch to go in, check the notes, extract information, create a ticket, and all of that.”
On ServiceTitan Call Recording
“We'll listen to the call recordings,” he says. “We have pre-job and post-job forums with each month's audit. We’re using our campaigns 100%, our marketing campaigns, we're using our call regions. Recently, we figured out that we had a problem with one of our robo-dials and we had a 50% abandon rate on some campaigns and even 100% on certain campaigns. So, with the help of ServiceTitan, we were able to figure out the problem and resolve it. And we’ve seen a tremendous change on our dashboard now with accuracy of information.”
On ServiceTitan Payments
“Right now, we’re looking into launching ServiceTitan Payments, because we absolutely want to utilize that automated credit card renewal update,” Gounaris says. “Those things will transform how we operate as a business altogether.”
On ServiceTitan Customer Support
Gounaris says he spends so much time working behind the scenes with ServiceTitan’s product team, they often joke how it feels like he’s a part of the ServiceTitan team. As far as support for Cyprus Air, Gounaris says it’s nothing short of top-notch.
“We have a very direct communication with ServiceTitan, and so far everything is addressed the moment it comes up,” he says.
On How ServiceTitan Affects Revenue
Gounaris says the numbers speak for themselves, with Cyprus Air almost doubling revenue since switching to ServiceTitan four years ago. He credits the rise in revenue to the accuracy of ServiceTitan’s reporting, as well as all the ways the platform optimizes his business operations, from scheduling and dispatch to marketing efforts.
Thinking About Switching to ServiceTitan?
ServiceTitan’s all-in-one cloud CRM solution—easily accessible from a smartphone or mobile tablet—helps skilled trades optimize their customer relationship management. Our end-to-end system can help with the following business needs, and more:
Contact management
Scheduling support
Client interaction tracking
Scalability and customization
Mobile access and support
Database management
Marketing and campaign management
Workflow automation, employee management, and dispatch
Seamless integration with direct mail, email marketing, project management, financial reporting (QuickBooks), payroll, invoicing, billing, and other tools
Sales automation and lead management
ServiceTitan HVAC Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive HVAC business software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and achieve growth. Our award-winning, cloud-based platform is trusted by more than 100,000+ contractors across the country.
