Elite Sanitation Services’ Transition to ServiceCore: A Case Study

Transcript

Danielle Peotter: We’re gonna go ahead and kick things off. Thank you to everybody who’s dialed in today. We’re so excited to have you join us to talk about why Elite Sanitation Services chose ServiceCore. We’re in for a really interesting and exciting discussion, so thanks again for joining.

A few housekeeping items to kick us off. We are getting started a little bit late just to make sure everybody has a few minutes to get dialed in and settled. For anybody dialing in late or who wants to access this recording after the fact, we will be sending it out as soon as we are wrapped up. We will be opening up the opportunity to ask both Melissa and Jen, who I’ll introduce shortly, any questions that you want. Anything that you’re curious about or trying to figure out in the buying process or the consideration process about ServiceCore and Elite Sanitation’s experience. So please use the Q&A button at the bottom of your screen. You’ll see it; it has two little chat boxes. I will be keeping an eye on the Q&A to make sure that we are answering your questions, either serving those up to Jen and Melissa or answering them in the chat as they come up.

I will be your moderator today. You will hear from me at the beginning and the end. My name is Danielle Peotter, and I’m a VP of Customer Experience here at ServiceCore. So once you sign a contract with ServiceCore, my team—Jen, who I’ll introduce shortly, is a part of—is responsible for making sure your experience with ServiceCore is as supported, effective, and as joyous as possible, should we say. I’m really excited to have you all here, and I am even more excited to introduce our stars of the show. Jen Wilson is one of our Implementation Specialists here at ServiceCore. She is a part of a rockstar team of former operators on the ServiceCore side who help to support any customer coming in the door to get up and running in a way that both meets the needs of their business with somebody who understands the type of work they do and sets you up for long-term success in implementing our product.

And the star of the show today, Melissa Pedro, is joining us from Elite Sanitation Services. Jen will go into a bigger introduction, but we’re so grateful to have her here today to talk about her experience with ServiceCore. Last but not least, for those of you who stay on with us throughout the entire webinar today—and we, the content is going to be great, and so I would expect that you’re engaged in listening and want to be here for that—but we have a little bit of an extra carrot here. If you are on through the entire webinar today, you will be eligible to win a Yeti cooler. So stay tuned, and I will be sharing who won at the end of the webinar. And with that, I’ll hand it over to Jen and Melissa.

Jen Wilson: Thank you, Danielle, for that lovely introduction. I am Jen, as she said, and I’d like to welcome Melissa from Elite Sanitation Services. They are a portable sanitation company serving Southern Mississippi and Southeast Louisiana. They came to us from a former software company that they were having some problems with. So I’d like to start there, Melissa. Why did you guys originally choose that software company in the beginning?

Melissa Pedro: Well, honestly, we had none. Literally, everything was being written down on pad and paper and kept up with hard copy. My husband chose that because one of his colleagues was using it, so we didn’t really shop around and just went with them.

Jen Wilson: And what were some of the challenges that you faced with that company? I know you weren’t there for onboarding, but maybe throughout the course of using it.

Melissa Pedro: Well, I noticed a few years ago, I would hear little things about billing sometimes or if a dumpster was put on, it would take service off of something else. It wasn’t very user-friendly, so I never really put my nose in it a whole lot because it was his thing, but I noticed him complaining pretty often about things just messing up, things not going very smoothly. And then when I came on board, it just seemed like there was a better way; there had to be a better way. I had seen several different types of software in other companies that I had worked for, and this just didn’t float. It was very hard to keep up with everything; there was a lot of searching for stuff. So I kept kind of planting the seed that he may want to start looking somewhere else.

Jen Wilson: And what was that final straw that broke the back, and he was like, okay, we have to find something else?

Melissa Pedro: Yeah, about five or six months ago, he had just gotten back from Florida, things were kind of hectic, and we normally got our billing through with mail, and we’d go to the Post Office, and there would be no checks. Maybe one or two, but nothing like what we normally have. After about a week, he’s like, there’s something wrong, something’s wrong. Well, the software was saying that our bills were going out, that all of our invoices were being sent. After probably a month of this, we called some of our clients that we’ve been with for a very long time, and they had not received anything. We were told, or in our software, it was saying it was being sent out, but they weren’t receiving anything. So we called our provider and explained it, and he’s like, oh, well, you have this problem, you need to change your email. So we would change our email, then it would work again for about a week or two, and then we would have the same issue. So we’d call him back, he said, oh, well, you can’t use that email, you’re gonna need a new one. So we called our host and said we’re having problems, our emails aren’t going out, please help us, and they were telling us there’s nothing wrong. Well, the software company kept saying it’s on your end. This went on for about three months, and we finally got to the point where we were just fed up and kind of got irritated. We were told, not directly quoting, but basically that it was our problem, and we needed to figure it out. At that point, I was there for that conversation. My husband decided to look elsewhere. We just didn’t know where to even go because that’s the only one he’s ever used for many, many years.

Jen Wilson: Okay, so the straw that broke the camel’s back is you can’t bill, and if we don’t have money, you can’t do anything.

Melissa Pedro: Exactly.

Jen Wilson: So how did you find ServiceCore? How did you learn about us?

Melissa Pedro: Well, I love social media, so he actually got on a portable toilet network on Facebook and just put it out there, asking for recommendations for software. It was, I mean, within minutes we were getting responses, and the overwhelming response was ServiceCore. I didn’t know anything about it, but I’m a big reviews person. I like opinions. Anything I purchase, I’m gonna look it up, I’m gonna look at the reviews, do my research before I invest in anything. We saw that, and we kind of weren’t really ready to jump in at that point, but we were trying to figure out something else. Anyway, the next day, coincidentally, someone from ServiceCore actually called our office to see if we would be interested in the demonstration. All of us in the office were like absolutely, yes, please, let’s do it. And that’s where we started.

Jen Wilson: Awesome. What made us stand out outside of the information that you were receiving from the PTN post that you had put out? What made us stand out outside of other softwares? Did you look at other softwares before you signed with ServiceCore?

Melissa Pedro: Honestly, we looked around, but again, I look at reviews, and I kind of searched other things. What came up to me was that this one was the most user-friendly, and that’s what I need because we’re not technical people; we’re not computer savvy in a lot of ways. So anything that makes it easier to do, I was all for that. And once you saw the demo—it was within minutes—you know, the things that we were having issues with, it was like, and we had not even told them what our problems were. It was just so quick to see, oh my gosh, there’s all of our billing, there’s all our scheduling. It was a no-brainer, honestly.

Jen Wilson: So the demo sold you. That’s fantastic.

Melissa Pedro: Immediately. My husband, who was very, very skeptical, after we watched the demo, he was like, okay, okay. He actually said, I was trying to explain to somebody what it was like, and I said it’s like going from black and white TV to color. He goes, no, it’s like going from black and white TV to IMAX. And I was like, that’s very true.

Jen Wilson: What was your initial impression of the ServiceCore onboarding team?

Melissa Pedro: Well, at first, I was kind of nervous because I knew we were very busy, and I didn’t know what my schedule was going to be from day to day. What I loved was that multiple training sessions were set up through the week, and if I could make it, great, if I couldn’t, it was no big deal. There were a couple of times, probably more than a couple, that I had to reschedule, and I felt super guilty. I felt horrible because you’re taking time out of your life to help me. I was told more than once, and I’m gonna put this on a t-shirt or something, that I should give myself grace, and I was never made to feel guilty about it, pressured. It was on my schedule, on my time, and that was very, very helpful.

Jen Wilson: So it’s safe to say that you enjoyed your onboarding team?

Melissa Pedro: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I could have an issue, because I had to do—we did our onboarding kind of backwards—so I was doing a lot of this after hours on weekends trying to get all of our information in. I could text or email at 10 o’clock at night, not expecting a response, and get a response within minutes, and that just blew me away.

Jen Wilson: Fantastic. How beneficial was it to you and Mr. Sean while going through the onboarding process to have somebody familiar with the industry helping you implement this new software?

Melissa Pedro: That was completely unexpected, but it was really helpful in the sense that as we’re doing this, because this is a brand new software that looks nothing like what we’re used to, and I’m really not sure how to set it up or what all, how it functions, and the fact that the same language was being spoken. You’re aware of all of the things we have to deal with on a daily basis as far as drivers, billing, clients, all of those things, and so it just took my anxiety level from a 10 to about a 2, and it just made things flow a lot easier for me.

Jen Wilson: I’m glad to hear that. How has ServiceCore changed your day-to-day operations? Has it made it better?

Melissa Pedro: Oh, absolutely. With the previous software, we were printing our route sheets. Then we also had dumpsters, we had septics, and all of that, all of those were going on separate work orders and sending people in all different directions. Then if anything changed throughout the day, we had to stop our driver, call them, give them information, find out where it goes on the route, and put all that together. Now it’s seamless because you can do it on the computer, it goes straight into their app, it updates it, and there’s not a glitch. Instead of having to stop and spend all that time trying to edit your day, it basically does it for you. That was a huge improvement because it frees up so much of my time to where I’m able to do other things. I do my billing in about five minutes in the morning, then I pop on scheduling, I optimize the routes, and then I’m off to other stuff and done.

Jen Wilson: So you just mentioned that you do your billing in five minutes now. How long was your billing process previously with your previous software company?

Melissa Pedro: Oh, it was at least an hour or two at least, every day.

Jen Wilson: Every day?

Melissa Pedro: The thing also is—and I don’t even know if you want to jump to this, but this is where my brain just went—the billing, we were constantly running down our money, constantly making phone calls, sending out reminders in the mail. We were told that this is going to make your billing so much easier and your money is going to start coming in without you even having to go after it. We were like, yeah, yeah, whatever, and that’s the case. When we first got going, I think we had seven credit cards on file. Now, I don’t even know how many we have, and most everything is on auto pay. No one’s being tracked down, we’re not having to make those awkward phone calls. I mean, we’re still dealing with some stuff from the old system, but as far as everything that has gone in since we implemented and now, it’s very smooth.

Jen Wilson: Great. That’s great news. Is there any particular feature within ServiceCore—and I know that we really just hit on billing and how awesome that has helped and made your life better—is there any other particular feature that has made a significant impact on workflow?

Melissa Pedro: Oh, yeah, I want to say this, the quality control, the customer service. We have great drivers, but we’ve, in the past, not everyone has great drivers all the time, and we would have stuff missed or skipped or not done properly. This happened just two or three weeks ago. On the app, it gives the driver the option to email the client to let them know that their service had been finished or service was not able to be completed for whatever reason. Well, the driver, I didn’t know he did it, but he had put in there that it wasn’t able to be completed, and it got sent to the client. I got an email asking why the service wasn’t completed. I said I don’t know, let me check. So I went into ServiceCore, pulled up the picture, and there was this gorgeous picture of a power truck with a trailer with cones out in front of our toilet. I sent them that picture, and it was all good. They were easily satisfied and had no issues.

Jen Wilson: Perfect. How has ServiceCore addressed or resolved challenges that you faced with your previous software?

Melissa Pedro: Well, billing has had no issues. So where they were saying it was our problem and we needed to fix it on our end, it obviously wasn’t our end because the email is the same. We’ve not had the first issue with billing, and that was our biggest problem. The fact that there was no help—it was somebody that sort of tried to help but then said this is your problem, you need to fix it—I have had no problem with any question that I’ve had or any problem; it has been resolved within 24 hours. Even if it might have been me, as I’m learning, if I’m doing something wrong, it was explained. You know this, I would have step-by-step procedures emailed to me to make sure I was doing things correctly, and it was never a problem. I appreciated that so much because we’re not technical people, so whenever things like that come up and we feel kind of dumb or feel like it might be a stupid question, it hasn’t been an issue at all.

Jen Wilson: How easy was it for you to learn the platform and the software and implement it into your company on a day-to-day basis?

Melissa Pedro: Oh, for the office, it was very easy. Any issues that I had, which were minor, were easily explained and fixed. As far as the drivers, I had one driver that jumped right in, took off with it, had no problems, and was very happy with it. Another driver, she was not real happy with it; it was different, so she didn’t want to use the paper, the app. She was used to the paper. Anyway, she had a lot of complaints, but I reached out and talked to you about it. We set up training, you sent the training videos, and we did our training. After that, she never had another problem. Before that, she was telling me it was taking her to the wrong places, the app’s not working, but after the training, I guess it worked out because we never got any more complaints after that.

Jen Wilson: How do you see ServiceCore benefiting your business in the long run or in the future?

Melissa Pedro: Well, we were told that things were going to get so good and that our customers would start increasing, and our cash flow would pick up, and we were like, yeah, yeah, okay, whatever. But we were just mainly just wanting to get our bills out, honestly. We started off with a certain amount of trucks, and we were told, yep, you’re going to be adding trucks soon. We were like, okay, whatever, and yeah, we’ll be adding trucks probably in the next couple of days.

Jen Wilson: So you’ve been with ServiceCore now for approximately four months?

Melissa Pedro: Yeah.

Jen Wilson: And you’re already ready to add another truck?

Melissa Pedro: Right. We weren’t even using the routing in the first month, I think, just because we were doing things backwards, but yes, we’re about to start adding.

Jen Wilson: That’s fantastic news. So let’s get to the nitty-gritty. Is there anything about ServiceCore that you believe we could improve on to better assist you with your day-to-day?

Melissa Pedro: Just a couple of things, and they’re very minor, and not things that I would by any means say, you know what, I’m just not using this anymore. No, there’s a couple of things. The email, and it may be user error, there may be a way to do this, I just don’t know it. On the emails, if we don’t already have an email for a client and they finally provide us with one, to not have to go and find the recurring invoices and hook those to it. The only other thing would be on the reminders, like for the septic pumping, when you put that job in, that it would automatically prompt for a reminder.

Jen Wilson: So like a recurring reminder? I understand that, and we may be able to set that up for you. Anything that I’ve said, you know, oh, this would be nice to have or that would be nice to have, it’s like, oh, I’m gonna make a service ticket for that, and I’m going to send it to our team. So it’s nice to know that you’re listening, and it may not ever happen, but it’s being heard.

Jen Wilson: What advice would you give to any other company that was looking for software and was considering ServiceCore?

Melissa Pedro: If it’s something you’re even considering, I would do it. It took our organized chaos and made it a much smoother day. Everything that we were stressing about in the office every day is now so much easier. We’re still stressing, but it’s all bills, old things that we had before ServiceCore. I can honestly say this has changed our company for the better.

Jen Wilson: That’s fantastic. That was all the questions that I had for you. Danielle, did we have any come in?

Danielle Peotter: Yeah, a couple of questions coming in. And for those of you on the webinar, please feel free to put questions into the Q&A box down at the bottom of your screen. The first question for Melissa is: ServiceCore is one of the more expensive options out there. How do you justify the price, and is it worth it?

Melissa Pedro: I do justify it just because the increase in our accounts receivable, it’s no longer a hunt and find or chasing people down. It takes all that away, just because we have everyone on auto-pay now. It’s done when you do your billing, your money’s coming in at that very moment. Just that alone was huge, and I’m not paying someone to collect on that end. The other thing is the routing is a lot better. I’m not sure what the difference is or what is used in one or the other, but our drivers are getting in sooner, our gas bill has gone down, drivers are happier, and we’re saving money in those areas as well.

Danielle Peotter: Great, love to hear it. So another question for the two of you is: I don’t have time to onboard to a new software or even think about switching. How can I justify this, or what does it look like to switch to ServiceCore and get onboarded? Melissa, I know you all are pretty busy. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Melissa Pedro: Absolutely. I am one of the busiest people. I have a couple of businesses, I have kids, I have a farm; there’s a lot going on in my life. So when we would have our meetings, I would literally—and not in all cases, but some—I would have my laptop with me, I’d hook it to a hot spot, and I would be in the car going over things. Some of these meetings were 10 minutes, some of them were 30 minutes, but it was never a long process, unless I had questions. But it’s doable, it’s absolutely doable if you’re a busy person because I probably could have got it done a week or maybe 10 days sooner if I could have sat down and really committed my time to just then. But yeah, you can pretty much do this anywhere.

Danielle Peotter: Jen, same question to you on the implementation side. How do you think about approaching or building out an onboarding plan that works for busy customers like Melissa?

Jen Wilson: The best way to do it is the way that Melissa approached it. We set up three meetings a week that were set at the same time, same day every week, and there were times where again, she would be in the passenger seat while Mr. Sean was driving to the farm or hauling cows, and her and I would have this meeting with Mr. Sean listening in. Sometimes they’d be cut short, half an hour because they were simple cut-and-dry trainings, other times it might have went a little longer with some questions. But when somebody comes in as dedicated and motivated to get their life back and organize their business, I speak for the entire onboarding team when I say this, that lights a fire within us. We are just as excited to train you and get you moving in the right direction as you are too, so when you bring that energy to us, we double it and we make it happen for you.

Danielle Peotter: Yes, love it, it’s true. The team is fired up about it. So another question coming in that says, hi Melissa, thanks for sharing. How are you able to now use the extra time saved thanks to using ServiceCore? Sounds like billing alone is saving one to two hours per day.

Melissa Pedro: Oh, absolutely it is. Now we’re focusing on sales mostly, getting more toilets out and getting dumpsters out. We’ve actually branched out into new territory, so we can now focus on that a lot more, and it’s already starting to take off, that’s why we’re adding trucks. It’s helped out tremendously.

Danielle Peotter: Those are the three questions that have come in so far. Melissa, Jen, anything that we didn’t cover that you think is important for folks on the call to know?

Melissa Pedro: Yeah. First of all, I am super shy; this is not my wheelhouse by any means, but I just feel this strongly about it because it has helped us so much, and the onboarding team is so supportive and helpful. If you’ve helped us as much as you have in our small company, I know this will help other people, so that’s why when she asked me if I wanted to do it, absolutely yes. For me to put myself out here, that’s saying a lot.

Danielle Peotter: Well, we’re super grateful you’re here and came on to join us to tell your story. We’re so excited to see where your business goes and our years of partnership to come. Thank you so much, Melissa. We really appreciate you.

Melissa Pedro: Absolutely. Thank you.

FAQs

Why did Elite Sanitation Services switch to ServiceCore?

Elite Sanitation Services switched to ServiceCore after facing significant issues with their previous software, particularly around billing not being sent to clients, causing cash flow disruptions. The previous provider failed to resolve these issues, prompting the switch.

How did ServiceCore improve Elite Sanitation’s billing process?

ServiceCore streamlined Elite Sanitation’s billing process, reducing it from one to two hours daily to just five minutes. The integration of auto-pay and efficient invoicing eliminated the need for manual follow-ups and improved cash flow.

What impact did ServiceCore have on Elite Sanitation’s operations?

ServiceCore significantly enhanced operational efficiency by allowing for seamless scheduling and route optimization. It reduced time spent on billing and scheduling, freeing up resources to focus on expanding business operations.

How did the onboarding process with ServiceCore go?

The onboarding process with ServiceCore was flexible and supportive, accommodating Elite Sanitation’s busy schedule. The onboarding team provided training sessions and support that fit around their commitments, ensuring a smooth transition.

What are the long-term benefits Elite Sanitation expects from ServiceCore?

Elite Sanitation anticipates continued growth and efficiency improvements, including expanding their fleet of trucks due to increased business. The enhanced customer service and streamlined operations are expected to support long-term success.