ServiceMonster AMA

[jkowalski]

I've seen lots of talk about ServiceMonster on other threads. As I'm not a fan of hijacking others conversation I thought I would offer a new thread as an AMA (ask me anything) to address any concerns or questions.

Hi. I'm Joe Kowalski. ServiceMonster CEO, IICRCA board director, grandson-in-law to the late great Ed York, and son-in-law to former long term CEO of HydraMaster.

AMA!

PS. To the 3 people that asked questions in the hour this post was up at *** (as invited), I will have to address those here or through an article. They deleted my post. Not surprised but disappointed.

Mikey's Board for Life!! *double chest tap*

 

[knoxclean]

Joe in the old Full Circle days their program was set up so when a job was scheduled an email was automatically generated and sent to the customer thanking them and confirming the time and anything else you wanted. Then another was automatically send the day before as a reminder. Any chance of this being put into SM. I know we can do this manually but sometimes when things are hectic or its booked through an a pad if were out of the office it doesn't get done.

Will there be an option to upload our own post card designs and can the costs be brought down on mailing them?

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Do you think its possible that a large bi pedal ape can can go undiscovered in pockets of remote forest throughout america/canada and be responsible for thousands of anecdotal references?

 

[jkowalski]

Do you think its possible that a large bi pedal ape can can go undiscovered in pockets of remote forest throughout america/canada and be responsible for thousands of anecdotal references?

No Sasquatch.
Yes References. :-)

 

[jkowalski]

Joe in the old Full Circle days their program was set up so when a job was scheduled an email was automatically generated and sent to the customer thanking them and confirming the time and anything else you wanted. Then another was automatically send the day before as a reminder. Any chance of this being put into SM. I know we can do this manually but sometimes when things are hectic or its booked through an a pad if were out of the office it doesn't get done.

Will there be an option to upload our own post card designs and can the costs be brought down on mailing them?

we are currently working on a sprint (development iteration) which includes drip campaigns with direct mail, email, text, facebook, and twitter. This will allow for confirmations as requested. :-) I'm not sure where it falls in the dev cycle but, sprint are defined no more than 3 months out so I would expect to see it before the end of the summer.

 

[D Luke]

I've seen lots of talk about ServiceMonster on other threads. As I'm not a fan of hijacking others conversation I thought I would offer a new thread as an AMA (ask me anything) to address any concerns or questions.

Hi. I'm Joe Kowalski. ServiceMonster CEO, IICRCA board director, grandson-in-law to the late great Ed York, and son-in-law to former long term CEO of HydraMaster.

AMA!

PS. To the 3 people that asked questions in the hour this post was up at *** (as invited), I will have to address those here or through an article. They deleted my post. Not surprised but disappointed.

Mikey's Board for Life!! *double chest tap*

Hey Joe,

I'm one of the jokers that asked a question on the short lived *** thread.

Basically I just wanted to get your opinion on SM's perceived sluggishness on responding to customers' wants and needs and in developing new features.

It seems like you're always in a perpetual state of "coming soon" while your competitors (one in particular) are adding major features fast enough to make my head spin.

Are your development procedures that much different than your competitors' that it takes you longer to make changes and improvements?

Are you just not as willing to listen to what your customers are asking for and then act on that information?

Obviously I know you can't be everything to everyone, so not all requested features are going to make it in. SM seems like it's currently the best industry software (in my opinion) but at the pace things are moving, that won't be the case for long.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I think he has to remain as backward compatible as possible, while trying to anticipate ever changing platform and system software possibilities. I've tweaked enough code to imagine the enormity of that task.

Thus I'm still in a Visual Basic world with most of my software play.

Cool to know about your FIL and his FIL. Lots of different kinds of genius in our industry. Not all on the same page at the same time it seems.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Hey Joe,

I'm one of the jokers that asked a question on the short lived *** thread.

Basically I just wanted to get your opinion on SM's perceived sluggishness on responding to customers' wants and needs and in developing new features.

It seems like you're always in a perpetual state of "coming soon" while your competitors (one in particular) are adding major features fast enough to make my head spin.

Are your development procedures that much different than your competitors' that it takes you longer to make changes and improvements?

Are you just not as willing to listen to what your customers are asking for and then act on that information?

Obviously I know you can't be everything to everyone, so not all requested features are going to make it in. SM seems like it's currently the best industry software (in my opinion) but at the pace things are moving, that won't be the case for long.

My experience on forums has been the opposite, when i see vendors/posters being super aggressive i take a step back.
Usually they blow the hell up.

This may or may not be the case here, just my past experience with people on the interwebs.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I wish I could be so strong.

The bigger the jerk they are only brings out the worst in me.



The Hulk on Richard's PC

 

[dealtimeman]

Dear service monster guy,

Is nasa anywhere close to having a new reusable spacecraft yet?

 

[Shane Deubell]

I wish I could be so strong.

The bigger the jerk they are only brings out the worst in me.



The Hulk on Richard's PC

Yeah but you always find a way to mix humor into these situations

 

[jkowalski]

(edited and removed unintended draft)

My experience on forums has been the opposite, when i see vendors/posters being super aggressive i take a step back.
Usually they blow the hell up.

This may or may not be the case here, just my past experience with people on the interwebs.

Well, in the over 10 years we have been doing this, I have "witnessed" around 10 failed attempts to do what we do in the carpet cleaning industry alone.

I'm still looking for a competitor that pushes the envelope without conflicting their business model(s) or being shady. Seriously, I'm tired if inventing everything. :-)

 

[jkowalski]

Dear service monster guy,

Is nasa anywhere close to having a new reusable spacecraft yet?

Yes. 2017 is the projected completion date.

http://www.space.com/19299-orion-spacecraft-2017-flight-photos.html

 

[jkowalski]

I think he has to remain as backward compatible as possible, while trying to anticipate ever changing platform and system software possibilities. I've tweaked enough code to imagine the enormity of that task.

Thus I'm still in a Visual Basic world with most of my software play.

Cool to know about your FIL and his FIL. Lots of different kinds of genius in our industry. Not all on the same page at the same time it seems.

wow!! Gold star! Look for an up and coming article on a look behind our development process!

 

[jkowalski]

Hey Joe,

I'm one of the jokers that asked a question on the short lived *** thread.

Basically I just wanted to get your opinion on SM's perceived sluggishness on responding to customers' wants and needs and in developing new features.

It seems like you're always in a perpetual state of "coming soon" while your competitors (one in particular) are adding major features fast enough to make my head spin.

Are your development procedures that much different than your competitors' that it takes you longer to make changes and improvements?

Are you just not as willing to listen to what your customers are asking for and then act on that information?

Obviously I know you can't be everything to everyone, so not all requested features are going to make it in. SM seems like it's currently the best industry software (in my opinion) but at the pace things are moving, that won't be the case for long.

Thak you for taking the time to ask this again Art. This has prompted an article I'm writing to answer your questions. I'll let you know when we publish.

 

[Mike Draper]

not a question, but a request. on the orders page where I can see a visual of what invoices are out and owed to me, can you please make invoices that are past due turn red. There are many times of the year where I might have 20-30 invoices out and its hard to keep track of what is due without pulling a report or seeing when an individual invoice was created. Would be so much faster to see a past due in red so i can take action. Thanks.

 

[Mikey P]

??

Any invoice that's not paid should be in the "Invoices (Unpaid Balance)" on your home page...can't get much easier than that to keep track of..

 

[Mike Draper]

my bad, your right. Its easy and fast to scroll through 40 invoices and pull up each one indicidually to see which ones are past due or go run a report. Having them turn red wont save any time.

 

[Mikey P]

You want them to turn red after 30 days?

 

[Shane Deubell]

Mike, thats what quickbooks does....

 

[jkowalski]

not a question, but a request. on the orders page where I can see a visual of what invoices are out and owed to me, can you please make invoices that are past due turn red. There are many times of the year where I might have 20-30 invoices out and its hard to keep track of what is due without pulling a report or seeing when an individual invoice was created. Would be so much faster to see a past due in red so i can take action. Thanks.[/Q

not a question, but a request. on the orders page where I can see a visual of what invoices are out and owed to me, can you please make invoices that are past due turn red. There are many times of the year where I might have 20-30 invoices out and its hard to keep track of what is due without pulling a report or seeing when an individual invoice was created. Would be so much faster to see a past due in red so i can take action. Thanks.

Sounds good to me! We have lot's of this kind of stuff planned for SM6 but I'll get Alex to push this into a sprint. Thanks Mike!

 

[Mike Draper]

Thanks!!

 

[jkowalski]

As Promised

http://www.servicemonster.net/2015/04/17/the-servicemonster-development-process/

 

[D Luke]

Great article. Informative and actually interesting to read. Are you a fan of Jobs by chance?

Is the FB group only for users? I currently use industry software (not SM) but am weighing my options.

 

[jkowalski]

Thanks for the kinds words Art! Yes I love Jobs and Gates and Fielding and Burns-Lee. I'm an artist and an engineer.

FB group is only users I'm afraid. Have you done a walk through yet?

 

[jkowalski]

http://www.servicemonster.net/demo/

 

[D Luke]

Thanks for the kinds words Art! Yes I love Jobs and Gates and Fielding and Burns-Lee. I'm an artist and an engineer.

FB group is only users I'm afraid. Have you done a walk through yet?

I did about a year and a half ago. Demo was good. Rep was good. Just wasn't enough to make me take the plunge at the time. Probably had just as much or more to do with where my business was at the time.

The $300 setup was also a mental hurdle and really negates the no contract, cancel any time feature.

Doesn't mean I won't choose SM in the future if it makes the most sense, though.