Rescue Air on Objection Handling, ServiceTitan, and Hatch AI

Here's a recap of our webinar on Objection Handling and the Art of Persuasion.

The speakers were:

• Michael Hirsh: Cofounder of Rescue Air
• Tim Geisenheimer: CRO at Hatch

Catch the full recording here.

Webinar recap

Objection handling tips

We started out with a discussion on objection handling, inspired by the book "Never Split the Difference" by Chris Voss, a hostage negotiator. Here are the top takeaways:

• Tactical empathy: Reflect back to the customer what they're feeling to show understanding and build rapport, such as, "It sounds like you're frustrated with this."
• Labeling: Call out and label the objection directly, acknowledging it instead of avoiding it, to create a space for resolution.
• No-oriented questions: Use questions designed to get a "No" (which feels safer for people) rather than pushing for multiple "Yeses," creating a feeling of control for the customer.
• Mirroring: Repeat the last few words the customer said to encourage them to expand and elaborate, which fosters deeper understanding.
• Paraphrasing and seeking agreement: Paraphrase objections and listen for "That's right" to confirm the customer feels heard, rather than a dismissive "You're right."
• Pause and silence: Allow a moment of silence after an objection. This gives the customer time to think and often leads to them providing more information.
• Handling price objections: Acknowledge price concerns calmly, e.g., "It seems like the price is higher than expected," instead of immediately trying to lower it or defend it.
• Addressing timing objections: Use financing options or a strategic approach to make the purchase more accessible, emphasizing empathy for the customer’s situation.
• Follow-up tactics: Use strategic follow-up campaigns, like sending a simple text that asks for feedback or "Have you given up on this project?" to re-engage customers.
• Contextual conversations: Leverage detailed notes from past interactions for follow-ups. This creates a personalized and relevant experience for the customer, enhancing trust and engagement.

Free one-sheet: 10 Phrases to Use When Responding to Objections

Rescue Air's successes with ServiceTitan + Hatch

In this part of the conversation Michael from Rescue Air shares his company’s backstory and experience using Hatch, especially in combination with ServiceTitan. Here's a summary:

• Rescue Air’s background: Michael talks about how Rescue Air was formed. His nephew Josh moved from Virginia to Texas, and after working at a larger company together, they decided to start their own HVAC company, drawing on both their trade experience and lessons learned from past mistakes. They emphasized the importance of having consistent processes to ensure success.
• Adopting Hatch: Initially, Rescue Air struggled with communication and using inside sales reps (ISRs) effectively. They had difficulty gaining traction with text follow-ups and faced confusion among customers. A friend recommended Hatch, and after onboarding over a year ago, the company saw excellent results, particularly for rehashing sales leads. Even employees with no technical knowledge of HVAC or plumbing could close jobs using Hatch's communication processes.
• Integration and process: Hatch allows Rescue Air to streamline communication and makes it easy for staff to manage follow-ups and close deals efficiently. The person in charge of Hatch at Rescue Air, who had a background as a dispatcher, manages leads, closes jobs, and coordinates with technicians for complex cases. This system has proven effective even without deep technical expertise.
• Lessons learned: Michael emphasizes the importance of having a dedicated person for managing Hatch, as it is not a part-time role in a high-volume business. He shares that initial assumptions about Hatch being easy to manage proved incorrect. Proper setup and support from Hatch helped Rescue Air avoid common mistakes and establish accountability among service technicians, improving the quality of estimates and overall performance.
• Impact of Hatch: The use of Hatch has increased closing rates and improved communication. Michael discusses the cultural shift among technicians, who now prepare more thoughtful estimates knowing they will be followed up on. Hatch also provides more transparency, with homeowners being more open in text messages than in phone conversations.
• Communication preferences: The conversation explores the modern preference for texting over phone calls. Michael and the interviewers agree that people are more likely to respond to texts due to the convenience and directness, avoiding long phone calls. Texting has proven to be a more effective way of engaging customers, aligning with today’s fast-paced communication expectations.

Using AI

This part of the conversation discusses the integration and impact of AI in home services, with a specific focus on how Hatch AI is used at Rescue Air and by other businesses. Here's a summary:

1. Embracing AI at Rescue Air: Michael from Rescue Air shares that his company embraced AI early and uses various AI tools daily. He mentions a book called Co-Intelligence that discusses responsible AI usage, emphasizing collaboration and efficiency. He personally uses AI tools, like ChatGPT, to assist with routine tasks such as writing professional emails. Overall, Rescue Air has been open to AI, recognizing that staying ahead of the curve is crucial.
2. AI adoption mindset: Michael highlights that younger team members are especially open to using AI and view it as a natural evolution of technology that can help them in their work. There hasn’t been significant pushback, as the company has maintained an open-minded approach, choosing to use AI tools that make sense for their needs.
3. Hatch AI overview: Tim describes Hatch AI as an AI-powered customer service representative (CSR) or inside sales representative (ISR) that automates customer communication. It can qualify leads, follow up on estimates, and handle initial inquiries, reducing the need for human CSRs to manage repetitive tasks. Hatch AI can perform actions like booking appointments in ServiceTitan or moving leads through sales pipelines. It aims to optimize efficiency and free up human CSRs to focus on more complex or strategic tasks.
4. Addressing AI objections: Tim acknowledges common concerns about AI, such as fears around job displacement and change management. He reassures that Hatch AI is not meant to replace jobs but to enable CSRs to handle more meaningful work or tackle additional tasks like outbound sales. The AI handles routine tasks, freeing up time and resources.
5. Collaborative use of AI: Michael emphasizes the idea of using AI as a collaborator to improve processes. He shares how Rescue Air uses AI for marketing campaigns, like sending automated blasts to customers for service promotions. AI helps engage leads quickly and handle large volumes of responses, ensuring only qualified leads are passed to human reps for scheduling and further interaction.
6. Future opportunities with AI: Michael also discusses plans to use AI for marketing across multiple service lines, like when they eventually add electrical services. He sees AI as a way to leverage existing customer relationships by promoting new services efficiently.

Q&A

• Appointment quality question: An attendee asked about issues with appointment quality when setting appointments via text. Michael and Tim respond, with Michael stating that Rescue Air hasn't encountered problems. He explains that their system, which includes appointment reminders through ServiceTitan, ensures appointments are managed smoothly. Tim adds that reminders are particularly important for reducing no-shows in non-urgent service sectors, like solar.
• Follow-up responsibility question: Another question concerns whether the person who provided an estimate should handle follow-up. Tim clarifies that best practice involves an inside salesperson or Hatch AI initiating follow-up conversations. Michael shares that Rescue Air used to have conflicts between inside sales reps (ISRs) and technicians over closing jobs, but they redesigned their compensation model to encourage teamwork and eliminate competition. This new model promotes collaboration and transparency.
• Effective follow-up messages: The host reads out several effective follow-up messages shared by attendees. Examples include reminders like “Where should we go from here?” or “Would you like me to dismiss those estimates?” which often prompt responses from customers. The host also mentions that Hatch AI can ping leads to keep conversations going.
• Hatch AI clarifications: One participant asked if Hatch AI is integrated into Hatch's messaging system. Tim explains that Hatch AI is an add-on feature. The conversation also touches on the AI’s ability to qualify leads through automated text messages, making communication easier for customers and CSRs. Michael mentions that Rescue Air asks customers for their preferred communication method—text or call—to improve engagement.
• Using AI for communication: The host explains that Hatch AI automates lead engagement, asking qualifying questions and handling repetitive interactions. By the time the lead is handed to a human, much of the initial work is already done, saving time for CSRs.
• Campaign verbiage and AI suggestions: An attendee asks about Hatch AI’s capability to make text campaign suggestions. The host clarifies that Hatch AI focuses on automating customer interactions directly rather than providing suggestions for human-written text campaigns. However, there are some tools to help prompt the AI effectively.

Watch the full recording here.

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