On a hot, busy morning in June, an urgent call came in to Gulfshore Air Conditioning & Heating Inc., in Niceville, Florida. A customer needed help with his 10-plus-year-old air conditioning system, which was freezing up in the midst of a heat wave.
Finn, Gulfshore’s new virtual voice agent from ServiceTitan, answered the call and booked a technician to arrive that afternoon. By that evening, the AC was fixed, and the company had made a $1,185 investment in Gulfshore’s services.
Except for the technician, the entire process was fully automated. Finn had been on the job just two weeks.
Her arrival has been well-received by Gulfshore customers, who have seen shorter wait times. And, of course, it means more automation of job booking for the company, and that saves Gulfshore from missing out on business, including in this case when the call came in after hours.
“It’s a job that potentially, historically would not even have happened,” said Vincent Payen, senior vice president at ServiceTitan and GM of Pro Products.
And Finn is not, historically, what you would expect in a virtual agent.
A name, a personality, and a warm reception
Reactions to Finn have been positive, with customers reporting an enjoyable and efficient experience. That was among the goals that Gulfshore Marketing and IT Manager Krista Landen set for Finn when she decided to give her a name and a personality.
The company’s marketing team held a Facebook competition to solicit names that would tie in to the company logo, which features a dolphin.
“There were a few cutesy ones that were kind of like dolphin related or sea creature related … but Finn just took the cake,” Landen said.
Unlike automated answering services programmed to direct callers to specific departments, Finn can do more than just answer a call. With access to all of ServiceTitan’s data, Finn operates like a real person, interacting with customers to find out why they are calling and what they need.
And because ServiceTitan’s AI Voice Agent is synced with ServiceTitan’s Adaptive Capacity, it can book jobs using real-time availability, instead of just flagging it for a followup call. The voice agent can be accessed as a standalone feature or as part of Contact Center Pro,
Gulfshore owner Steve Reynolds tried out his company’s AI voice agent during a recent test call to Finn from his cellphone.
Finn: "I see that you're calling from this phone number ending in 3703, is that still a good contact number for you?"
Reynolds: "Yes."
Finn: "OK. Am I speaking to Steve Reynolds?"
Reynolds: "Yes."
Landen sat in on the call with Reynolds.
“It was just really exciting to see in his eyes exactly how impactful this is going to be for our customers,” Landen said. “Finn already knows who you are, knows where you live, knows what's going on.”
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Press 1 to decrease wait times
Now, when customers call in they are asked whether they want to wait on hold for a human agent or speak directly with Finn. Customers who choose to speak with a human also are given another opportunity to speak to Finn after they’ve been on hold for a while.
Wait times have been significantly shortened since Finn’s arrival, and future plans include making Finn the first point of contact for all calls after hours, on weekends, and on some slower days, Landen said.
She’s careful to be clear that this is an opportunity, not a downsizing. ServiceTitan’s AI voice agent can all but eliminate missed calls during business hours and handle after-hours and weekends without burdening anyone by being on-call.
As Gulfshore’s workload drops in the fall and winter, Landen says there is potential for Finn to do more of the service scheduling work, allowing employees to focus on other priorities.
“It’s my job to support the team members that feel a little threatened by the implementation of AI or automations,” she said. “This is opening up an opportunity for you to advance and achieve more in our organization.”
AI Voice Agents, once available only as a feature in Contact Center Pro, is now available without a Contact Center Pro subscription. Book a demo to get started with AI Voice Agents today!
